"I love walking into a trap, don't you?" - The Thing.
Ah, the Fantastic Four. Never has there been a more troubled group of superheroes when it comes to making a successful film franchise. Most people will be familiar with the two Fantastic Four films directed by Tim Story released in 2005 and 2007 and the most recent attempt by Josh Trank in 2015, which seems to have killed off any hope of seeing the iconic team return to our screens anytime soon. But the failure to land a trilogy in the mid 2000's and a reboot so bad its own director ranted about it on Twitter is not all there is to the Fantastic Four's torrid time on the big screen. Back when Batman and Superman where flying the flag for superhero films, infamous B-Movie producer Roger Corman funded a feature length film based on the Marvel Comics team. Made on a budget of around $1 million, it afterwards transpired that despite the cast and crew's best efforts, the film was never intended to be released. Thankfully, bootleg copies of the film have ensured the film's survival, and we can now view this fascinating part of film history for ourselves. So, let's dive right into the crazy world that is the unreleased first ever Fantastic Four film.
Hoping to harness the power of passing comet named Colossus, scientist Reed Richards (Alex Hyde-White), his best friend Ben Grimm (Michael Bailey Smith) and siblings Sue (Rebecca Staab) and Johnny Storm (Jay Underwood) travel to outer space. However, exposure to the comet's power causes their craft to crash back down to earth, and the four of them each gain unique powers. News of their survival reaches the ears of old acquaintance Dr. Doom (Joseph Culp), who blames Reed's previous experiments for his disfigurement. With Doom threatening to wipe out New York and pesky villain the Jeweller (Ian Trigger) also on the loose, the Fantastic Four must quickly learn how to use their new gifts in order to save the day.
But the standout character of this crazy adventure is Joseph Culp's Dr. Doom. With his metallic costume and booming voice, Culp certainly has presence as the Fantastic Four's arch nemesis. However, the joy of this performance is his theatrics, which range from classic comic book villain to absurdity. He's given all the cliched villain lines you could imagine, and Culp has a tendency to wave his arms around with almost every word he says. My favourite part is when he starts using sign language, the funniest use being a scene during the film's third act. Whilst making his threats to our heroes via a television screen, he tells them that they have "twelve hours to surrender", and he actually air writes the number 12 backwards as he says it! The film's secondary villain, the Jeweller, is not as memorable. Although the makeup is pretty good, especially for such a limited budget, he isn't at all threatening. Whilst it's cool to get two villains, something uncommon in an origin story, I wish we could have had more screen time for Dr. Doom and his sign language rather than the Jeweller.
It's actually quite difficult to give this film a review, considering it was made solely for the studio to keep the rights for the characters and was never officially released. Not that the cast and crew doing the best they could knew anything about that, and so the end result is a really bizarre experience. Let's take a look at the characters first, starting with the four principal heroes. Alex Hyde-White is our leading man as Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic). He's given the most development of any of the team, as we explore his college life and friendship with Victor Von Doom. He leads the expedition into space as well as encourages the team to use their powers for good. He's a decent lead overall, not given too many cringe-worthy lines, just not the most convincing portrayal of a superhero you'll see. Speaking of cringe-worthy lines, most of those are handed out to Jay Underwood's Johnny Storm (the Human Torch). Portrayed as the "cool kid" of the team, he spends most of his time telling lame jokes and is pretty useless up until the last ten minutes of the film. Whereas Johnny is handed all the bad dialogue, Rebecca Staab is handed little to no dialogue whatsoever. Her power of invisibility suits her character the best as she is pretty much invisible before and after she gains her powers. No time is dedicated to the blossoming romance between her and Reed, making it very rushed and unconvincing when she starts saying things like "I love you". The closest we get to a backstory for her is that she's always fancied Reed, but that's it. Benn Grimm is the muscle of the team, and Reed's closest friend. Despite his loyalty, his encounter with the comet turns him into a rock-skinned creature, affectionately known as the Thing (played in costume by Carl Ciarfalio). Grimm becomes the focus of the film after the accident, as we see him leave the team and hide himself away because of his monstrous appearance. These moments of the film are handled well, showing how isolated he feels and how much he doesn't fit in with the rest of the world, even with some rather goofy moments.
But the standout character of this crazy adventure is Joseph Culp's Dr. Doom. With his metallic costume and booming voice, Culp certainly has presence as the Fantastic Four's arch nemesis. However, the joy of this performance is his theatrics, which range from classic comic book villain to absurdity. He's given all the cliched villain lines you could imagine, and Culp has a tendency to wave his arms around with almost every word he says. My favourite part is when he starts using sign language, the funniest use being a scene during the film's third act. Whilst making his threats to our heroes via a television screen, he tells them that they have "twelve hours to surrender", and he actually air writes the number 12 backwards as he says it! The film's secondary villain, the Jeweller, is not as memorable. Although the makeup is pretty good, especially for such a limited budget, he isn't at all threatening. Whilst it's cool to get two villains, something uncommon in an origin story, I wish we could have had more screen time for Dr. Doom and his sign language rather than the Jeweller.
Whilst the cast do their best with the dialogue, the crew clearly struggle to work with the small budget to create convincing special effects. You have to feel sorry for them, as there's no way they could make a superhero film with good effects with the studio's money. What we end up with is a series of very ropy CGI for the Human Torch and rubbery looking stretched limbs for Mr. Fantastic. Praise must go to the makers of the Thing's costume, which looks just like the comic book and is also quite expressive. The superhero costumes are very cheap looking, just standard blue costumes with the number four. The costume for Dr. Doom is arguably the best and as previously mentioned, the Jeweller's appearance is well realised.
Other creative decisions are a bit hit and miss. I can't think of many other films that show a POV shot from the perspective of a blind person, and the action scenes don't appear to have been choreographed too carefully. There's also some inconsistent editing, which is probably due to the rushed production schedule. The final encounter between Mr. Fantastic and Dr. Doom is poorly handled, with only three punches involved in the whole thing and a very silly "death" scene involving a green screen effect. Whilst these choices completely take you out of the film, it does give The Fantastic Four a certain cheap charm. There's things in this film that you'll probably never see in any other, and for that reason alone, I do recommend it.
So there you have it, the first attempt to introduce one of the most iconic superhero teams ever, and it was never intended to be viewed by anyone. Made purely to keep the rights to eventually make the 2005 reboot, it truly is a unique genre film. Kudos must go to the cast and crew for doing everything in their power to make the film work, and special mention to Joesph Culp for making Dr. Doom so menacing and yet so funny at the same time. Not many actors would be able to achieve that. I'll be back next month with a review of another cult classic. Until then, enjoy Mr. Culp's memorable turn as Doom in the clip below!
