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(1926–2004). American director and producer.
For what emerged from the unlikely collaboration
of Yeaworth and Harris was The Blob—perhaps not one of the best, but surely one of the most distinctive and
memorable science fiction films of the 1950s. Its amorphous, pulsating silicone
represented an original variation on the monster-from-space theme, and filming
on location in Pennsylvania allowed Yeaworth to effectively employ unusual
settings like the railroad-car diner and the small-town movie theatre where the
Blob oozes menacingly towards the audience. Yeaworth also had a flair for
innovative camera work, as in the scene in a store where stars Steve McQueen
and Aneta Corseaut are strangely filmed from a disconcerting low angle; then,
relating this to the image of the Blob slithering across the floor, we suddenly
realize that we are being given a Blob's-eye view of the proceedings.
Most impressively, unlike almost every other teenagers-versus-monster movie of
the era, The Blob insists upon treating its youthful protagonists with
the utmost respect; the brilliantly cast McQueen and Corseaut may be
inexperienced, but they are keenly observant—more so than the film's adults—and they take the responsibilities thrust upon
them very seriously. Amidst scores of crudely made films that sought to extract
money from teenagers' pockets while portraying them as fools, The Blob
almost uniquely imbues its teenagers with a gawky gravitas that would not be
observed again in American films until, perhaps, George LUCAS's American
Graffiti. Just about Yeaworth's only misstep was his use of Ralph
Carmichael's jarringly inappropriate, jazzy score which not only failed to
enhance the film but was sometimes at cross purposes to it, as in the scene
where McQueen and Corseaut contemplate their impending deaths to the accompaniment
of soft, romantic music.
Less heralded, but equally accomplished, was Yeaworth's next production,
The 4D Man. The film is again based on a familiar science fiction
trope—the scientist who develops immense powers and turns into a
homicidal madman—but this time the scientist in question has a perfectly
reasonable motive for murder: the boss at the laboratory is unfairly
taking all the credit for his scientific discoveries. Just as The
Blob projected an authentic vision of small-town America, The
4D Man departs from stereotypes of isolated inventors building
contraptions in their basements to offer a truer picture of the ways
that scientists actually work and interact with each other. Yeaworth
again provided his film with visual panache in its imaginative depictions
of a man passing through solid objects, and he was again blessed with
gifted unknowns as his stars—Robert LANSING
and Lee MERIWETHER. He was also again cursed
with a terrible Carmichael score, but it seemed a small price to pay
for an otherwise superb production.
Yet the partnership of Yeaworth and Harris took a
disastrous turn with their third and final collaboration, the ill-conceived Dinosaurus,
which stranded Yeaworth and company on a remote island setting, far from the
realistic American social contexts where he excelled, and saddled him with an
undistinguished cast, a dull storyline about revived dinosaurs and a caveman,
and a script that foregrounded lame attempts at humor, which was hardly
Yeaworth's forté. While The Blob and The 4D Man compel viewers to
keep watching, Dinosaurus drives viewers away, making it a film that is
rarely discussed because so few people can bear to sit through it.
Perhaps taking the failure of Dinosaurus
as a omen, Yeaworth then returned to the marginalized milieu of Valley Forge
Films, for which he directed one additional feature, Way Out (1967), a
streetwise look at drug addiction that, like The Flaming Teen-Age,
eventually moves into spiritual territory. While unashamed of his ventures into
secular entertainment, as evidenced by his commentary provided for the DVD
rerelease of The Blob, and purportedly active at times in design work
for theme parks, Yeaworth otherwise kept focusing on expressions of his
religious beliefs, such as the Billy Graham television specials that he
produced. A lifetime of such Good Works testifies to a deep, genuine faith that
undoubtedly, after his recent death in an automobile accident, has earned
Yeaworth a place in Heaven. Yet now that he has finally arrived at the Great Screening
Room in the Sky, he may be bemused to find that the only Yeaworth productions
being shown for the amusement and enlightenment of the Elect are The Blob
and The 4D Man—films offering striking proof that the Lord
indeed works in mysterious ways.
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