![]() Spacecraft models and props are janky, special effects are laughable, and the limited understanding of actual space travel is preciously quaint. This film is probably the epitome of Eisenhower-era B-movie cheese. When the South Hemis nation attempts to beat the North to Mars and crash-lands on a nearby moon, the two powers must work together and fend off vicious space monsters so they can return to Earth safely. Ĭoppola’s take on the material, subsequently retitled BATTLE BEYOND THE SUN, became a schlocky monster film, albeit one with the conviction and resourcefulness of a young director with something to prove.īATTLE BEYOND THE SUN (presented above in its entirety) concerns a space race between a unified Earth’s two latitudinal hemispheres, set in a then-future 1997. Coppola’s first task under Corman was a daunting one: westernize an existing Soviet sci-fi film entitled NEBO ZOVYOT for American audiences. That same year, Coppola found work as an assistant to legendary B-movie producer Roger Corman. It’s a playful move on Coppola’s part to deceive us using only the boundaries of the frame– an effective trick that hints at Coppola’s budding desires to challenge convention and redefine the language of cinema. Coppola shoots wide and straight-on, capturing the action dispassionately until we pull back to reveal that these characters are actually actors rehearsing for a play. This brief snippet shows an intimate scene between newlyweds, as the husband tries to cajole his timid new wife into sex. It doesn’t appear to be dubbed, so for the sake of this article I’ll assume it’s Coppola’s. The only clip I’ve been able to find, presented above, makes no mention of whether the footage belongs to Coppola or Umgelter. The film, shot in black and white, was yet another stag/nudie comedy. However, recutting and adding new footage to German director Fritz Umgelter’s film MIT EVA FING DIE SUNDE AN earned him a full director’s credit. Also shot in 1962, THE BELLBOY AND THE PLAYGIRLS was more of an editing job than a directing one. ![]() His next work, however, exists in bits and pieces around the internet. Some of these have been lost to time, such as his first work– 1962’s TONIGHT FOR SURE– a softcore comedy meant to titillate rather than entertain. ![]() A full five years before he earned his graduate degree from UCLA, Coppola had already made several feature-length films. What’s interesting about the beginnings of Coppola’s career is that his work found wide distribution before he even graduated. It was during this time that Coppola cut his teeth with shorts like THE TWO CHRISTOPHERS and AYAMONN THE TERRIBLE. Influenced by the works of Elia Kazan and Sergei Eisenstein, Coppola was a member of the earliest wave of directors to directly benefit from a dedicated filmmaking program. It wasn’t until he enrolled in graduate school at UCLA that he began formally studying film. This led to substantial training in music and theater, capped by a bachelor’s degree from Hofstra University. Suffering from polio during his childhood, Coppola entertained himself by putting on puppet shows and dabbling with the family’s 8mm film camera. His recent films may only have a fraction of the power of his early work, but Coppola’s place in the annals of cinema history is undeniable.īorn in Detroit, but raised in New York City, Coppola found his love for film by way of the theatre. Indeed, the Coppola family dynasty is something of a phenomenon– there’s his daughter, indie darling Sofia Coppola, as well as his filmmaker son Roman (and that’s not even counting more distant family like Jason Schwartzman or Nicolas Cage). His inherent genius, which has cost him considerable grief throughout his career, is abundant enough to be passed down to his offspring. ![]() He’s a giant of the art form, with a handful of movies that have redefined film as we know it. Few figures in the world of cinema cast a shadow as long as Francis Ford Coppola’s. ![]()
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