Taking on The Blob: In NPR spot, prof remembers sci-fi film
Taking on The Blob: In NPR spot, prof remembers sci-fi film
September 15, 2008
"The Blob" lives.
At least it does in the eyes of Rowan University Radio/Television/Film Professor Keith Brand, whose story celebrating the 50th anniversary of "The Blob" recently aired on National Public Radio's popular "All Things Considered" program.
Brand has close connections to "The Blob," a low-budget science fiction film that has achieved cult-like status over the past five decades. He grew up in Phoenixville, Pa., home to the Colonial Theatre, where scenes from the movie, starring Steve McQueen, were filmed.
In the movie's most iconic scene, the crowd in the film is seen running screaming from the Colonial to escape "The Blob," which Brand describes as a "gooey alien that grows to enormous proportions feasting on the bodies of unsuspecting Pennsylvanians."
Brand notes in his story that "The Blob" premiered during the Cold War, at a time when Americans were both fascinated by aliens and fearful of Communism.
"Films like ‘The Blob' made the most of our fears about an increasingly polarized political world where nuclear technology was out of control," says Brand.
Brand, who co-hosts the weekend morning show "Sleepy Hollow," on Philadelphia NPR station WXPN, moved to Phoenixville in 1963, five years after the release of "The Blob." He graduated from Phoenixville High School in 1974 and remembers seeing other important films in the 1903, 600-seat Colonial Theatre, a former opera house that's now under restoration.
"I vividly remember seeing ‘The Godfather' there with my brother in 1972," says Brand. "Although I was unable to articulate it then, this was a cinematic experience that was passing into oblivion."
To hear Brand's segment on "The Blob" or to read his essay on the subject, visit: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94486445
To hear Brand's segment on "The Blob" or to read his essay on the subject, visit: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94486445.
At least it does in the eyes of Rowan University Radio/Television/Film Professor Keith Brand, whose story celebrating the 50th anniversary of "The Blob" recently aired on National Public Radio's popular "All Things Considered" program.
Brand has close connections to "The Blob," a low-budget science fiction film that has achieved cult-like status over the past five decades. He grew up in Phoenixville, Pa., home to the Colonial Theatre, where scenes from the movie, starring Steve McQueen, were filmed.
In the movie's most iconic scene, the crowd in the film is seen running screaming from the Colonial to escape "The Blob," which Brand describes as a "gooey alien that grows to enormous proportions feasting on the bodies of unsuspecting Pennsylvanians."
Brand notes in his story that "The Blob" premiered during the Cold War, at a time when Americans were both fascinated by aliens and fearful of Communism.
"Films like ‘The Blob' made the most of our fears about an increasingly polarized political world where nuclear technology was out of control," says Brand.
Brand, who co-hosts the weekend morning show "Sleepy Hollow," on Philadelphia NPR station WXPN, moved to Phoenixville in 1963, five years after the release of "The Blob." He graduated from Phoenixville High School in 1974 and remembers seeing other important films in the 1903, 600-seat Colonial Theatre, a former opera house that's now under restoration.
"I vividly remember seeing ‘The Godfather' there with my brother in 1972," says Brand. "Although I was unable to articulate it then, this was a cinematic experience that was passing into oblivion."
To hear Brand's segment on "The Blob" or to read his essay on the subject, visit: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94486445
To hear Brand's segment on "The Blob" or to read his essay on the subject, visit: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94486445.