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(1930, Fox) Maureen O’Sullivan, El Brendel, John Garrick, Marjorie White, Frank Albertson, Kenneth Thomson. The setting is New York in 1980. In a visually stunning lab sequence, a team of scientists revive a man from 1930 who was struck by lightning and killed in mid-golf swing. It’s El Brendel, of course. They decide to call him “Single O,” because in this future world everyone has numbers instead of names. Babies are delivered to parents by machine rather than the good old-fashioned way. Everyone has flying machines instead of cars. Brendel is soon befriended by John Garrick (J-21), who wants to marry the beautiful pre-Tarzan Margaret O’Sullivan, but isn’t allowed to by the government. Before long Garrick is on an expedition to Mars to improve his social status and possibly get the government to change its mind. Brendel stows away with him for good measure. The sets in this film are AMAZING—even today. There are also any number of songs and musical numbers scattered throughout this unique early talkie, one of which is similar to the Busby Berkeley numbers of the period. Brendel’s humor is a bit creaky in places but his big “musical hats” number is most amusing. This is first American-made science fiction talkie, costing over a million dollars to make—an astonishing sum for the time. From a nice 16mm original print.
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