ecl@ahuta.UUCP (ecl) (11/28/84)
THE FILM ENCYCLOPEDIA: SCIENCE FICTION by Phil Hardy
A book review by Mark R. Leeper
Less than a year ago I saw for the first time and reviewed a book
called THE PSYCHOTRONIC ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FILM by Michael Weldon. I
considered this to be the best reference book on science fiction, fantasy,
and horror film I had seen in well over a decade. I stand by that
assessment. The heavyweight reference books in the field were Walt Lee's
REFERENCE GUIDE TO FANTASTIC FILMS and Donald C. Willis's HORROR AND SCIENCE
FICTION FILMS: A CHECKLIST, both published in the early Seventies. These
were the best works for finding out about that film that the local
independent station was showing at 3 AM, Sunday morning. The early
Seventies were a long time ago. There has been no updating of Lee and while
Willis did write with a follow-up, HORROR AND SCIENCE FICTION FILMS II, it
is a bit inconvenient to have to look up films in both books. Two general
books on films MOVIES ON TV by Steven Scheuer and especially TV MOVIES by
Leonard Maltin good books and are helpful, but neither is complete on genre
films and Scheuer consistently underrates genre films.
So when PSYCHOTRONIC came out, it was certainly the most complete
reference work on genre films to have been published for quite a long time.
Now another good book has been published. The book is THE FILM
ENCYCLOPEDIA: SCIENCE FICTION by Phil Hardy. He does not cover the entire
genre, he covers only films with some science fiction content. Hence, he
does not list KING KONG, but does list KING KONG VS. GODZILLA. He lists
only films released theatrically in this country, not made-for-tv films.
Within those bounds, Hardy is dependable and complete. I consider myself
something of an expert on science fiction films and I had a really hard time
finding science fiction films that do not have entries. Most unlisted films
I have found are really fringey: DR. X, THE APEMAN, THE HAPPINESS CAGE, MAN
MADE MONSTER. They tend to be more horror than science fiction. Where
Hardy really shines is in his coverage of foreign science fiction films.
Minor Italian, Mexican, and Japanese films are included and I have yet to
pick one that I have seen that Hardy does not cover.
For each film covered there is a review of at least a paragraph in
length, followed by credits and cast. The reviews are pretty reliable.
Hardy knows the good films from the bad ones, generally, though on a few his
opinions seem a bit off base. The listings are by year which means that it
can be used as a reference on specific films or one can go through page-by-
page to get a good overview of the history of the science fiction film, or,
better yet, one can just browse the book. Overall, the book is a really
pleasurable one to read and the work put into it justifies the apparently
steep $25 price tag. If you do not want to buy it for yourself, have your
library buy it for their reference section.
(Evelyn C. Leeper for)
Mark R. Leeper
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