User Reviews

Of course Bass, who as you know is Mr. Title Sequence Animator (Hitchcock, Golden Arm, Goodfellas...) is not what you'd call an Actor's Director. But while I won't say that the wooden vagueness of the dialogue scenes was deliberate, I will say that it is entirely functional. You don't even see an actor for the first ten minutes - you see extended macro-photography of (real) ants plotting to take over the world, and THEY are brilliantly characterized. That lead-in clarifies that what we are watching is some kind of experimental film; which is reinforced by the bizarre abstract obelisks the ants construct for their nefarious designs, not to mention the repeated shots of ants crawling out of holes in people's palms - hmmm where have I seen THAT before? But it's not arid or obscure - it's gripping and extremely creepy. Yes, the characters vague out over time - what starts as a classic 50s sci-fi study-them-or-blow-them-up debate becomes lost in panic and impotence, and the teenage girl they rescue barely enters the foreground long enough to establish a character. And yes, this absolutely serves the material, as these researchers find out that they're in the petri dish themselves: lab rats don't have personalities. The scene where the lone ant gathers the dead is absolutely terrifying, because it evokes sympathy and empathy: pesticide as inter-species class war. And the 'happy' ending is anything but, and is spectacularly perverse, wrong in exactly the right way. The lights come up on you shaking your head in astonishment.

I've always wanted to watch Phase IV, the lone directorial effort of famed graphic designer and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Saul Bass. Bass was best known for his title sequences, including the animated cut-outs Otto Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm and his groundbreaking graphic design work on Hitchcock's North by Northwest and Psycho. He also designed some of the most iconic logos in history, including AT&T, Warner Brothers and United Airlines.

Starting in the 1960's, Bass moved beyond creating title sequences for films to visualizing, storyboarding and even directing key scenes and sequences. He'd get a strange credit for this: visual or pictorial consultant. On some films (like Spartacus, where he designed the gladiator school and storyboarded the final battle) he simply set things up for the director. On others, like West Side Story, where he filmed the prologue, storyboarded the opening dance and created the end titles, he set up the full direction the film would take. And on Psycho, Bass was integrally involved in that films shower murder sequence, going so far to create the boards and test footage that convinced Hitchcock how the scene should be shot.

This leads us to the only movie that Bass would direct on his own, 1974's Phase IV. A failure upon release, it finally found an audience via television and video. It's also the first film to depict a geometric crop circle, predating the first crop circles that were found in the UK.

A cosmic event has caused ants to undergo rapid evolution and a hive mind that scientists are struggling to investigate. Within the desert, those ants have created large towers and geometrically perfect designs that force the locals to abandon the area, except for one family.

Scientists James Lesko (frequent Robert Altman actor Michael Murphy) and Ernest Hubbs (Nigel Davenport, the original voice of HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey) have set up a sealed dome to study the ants, as well as house the aforementioned family that has not left. Soon, they are at war with the much more organized and effective ants.

After the ants invade the lab, one of the townspeople, Kendra (Peter Sellers' widow Lynne Frederick, who also appears in Schizo and Four of the Apocalypse) becomes convinced that the ants are angry at her. Bass was obsessed with ensuring that Frederick had no trace of her British accent in this film, making her run her lines over and over again. She also had to wear a tight corset so that she could appear sixteen years old instead of her real age, twenty. Also of note, Linda Blair was almost cast in the film but the budget couldn't afford her.

Kendra abandons the lab, sacrificing herself to save everyone else as Hubbs and Lesko argue over how to best deal with the ants. Lesko wants to communicate with them while Hubbs wants to destroy them before being stung to death and falling into a hole. Lesko decides to follow Hubbs plan and destroy the queen, but instead, he finds Kendra alive. He decides that the ants don't want to destroy the human race, but instead make their two worlds work together.

Originally, Bass filmed a four-minute long montage sequence that ended the film, showing what life on new Earth would be like and how evolution would change Lesko and Kendra. This was cut by the distributor and would not be seen until 2012.

This is the kind of movie that could only be made in 1974. This is a pre-blockbuster big movie unafraid to suddenly have long moments of gorgeous music and long elegiac shots of insects going about their daily lives. The moments of human interaction feel boring by comparison. From the posters for the film, audiences were probably expecting a Bert I. Gordon style film and were rewarded with a trippy meditation about mankind's place in the cosmic consciousness.

Obviously, this film is a major influence on Panos Cosmatos' first film, Beyond the Black Rainbow. It was also one of the first movies featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 during the KTMA era.

Colonies of ants suddenly band together and form a mass collective intelligence that threatens mankind's status as the dominant species on the planet. Coldly pragmatic scientist Ernest D. Hobbs (an excellent performance by Nigel Davenport), his earnest assistant James R. Lesko (a solid and likable Michael Murphy), and frightened teenager Kendra Eldridge (a sweet and appealing portrayal by the ravishing Lynne Frederick) must figure out a way to stop the ants before it's too late. Director Saul Bass, working from a quirky and interesting script by Mayo Simon, tells the fascinatingly bizarre story at a deliberate pace, maintains a solemn cerebral tone throughout, and concludes the film on a boldly enigmatic note. Moreover, there's a pleasing ambiguity to the narrative; no explanation is ever provided for exactly how and why the ants have become so cunning and organized. Another key triumph of this movie is the way it manages to make the ants seem extremely alien and unknowable, yet somehow still familiar and strangely sympathetic at the same time. The dry and desolate locations convey an eerie feeling of isolation and vulnerability. Dick Bush's stunning cinematography boasts a wealth of remarkable visuals, with the breathtaking micro-photography in particular of the ants and their perfectly structured society rating as truly something to behold. Brian Gascoigne's spare groovy score further enhances the overall off-kilter vibe. Those seeking cheap thrills and obvious jump out at you formulaic shocks will be deeply disappointed. But if low-key, smart, and ambitious out of the ordinary sci-fi fare flies your proverbial kite, then you should find this minor cult item to be a rewarding viewing experience.

After "2001: A Space Odyssey" came out, science fiction suddenly came into it's own as a "serious" venue for film drama. Movies like "The Andromeda Strain", "Logan's Run", "The Forbin Project", and "Soylent Green" addressed human-caused futurological disasters in a style that stressed dialog and ideas over force fields and ray guns. Of course, this all ended with "Star Wars", "Alien", and "E.T." - unfortunate for hardcore scifi fans. Now they're all Space Cowboys... and you know where that's at.

"Phase IV" belongs in the previous category of "thinking man's" scifi - and provides plenty of atmosphere and subtle effects for the "eye candy" crowd. Not many explosions - but live insect actors in some of the most remarkable animal sequences seen on film. The movie also sports a Pink Floydesque sound track that complements the mood of otherworldliness during the (obviously) non-speaking ant scenes. The lack of explanation of the studied ant phenomenon pulls you into the attempts at discovery by the two scientists - just what is it that they want? (well, what do humans want, anyway?)

Unfortunately, we never really learn more as the ending drops off with the two LEAST interesting characters supplying an uninspired ending. For me, Michael Murphy, as the young computer "genius", and Lynne Frederick, as the naive spoiled brat, really were miscast. Dull, and Duller. Someone like Michael York would have been a better choice than Murphy, who showed no intensity at all. The girl was simply too young for this role - a more mature young woman as a scientist would have added immensely to the story. However, Nigel Davenport, as the old, aggressive, and maniacal scientist is great and holds the story up until his inevitable demise. He, alone, makes a Formidable Foe for the Forceful Formicidae. See it, if only just for the great photography.

Saul Bass's "Phase IV" lies within the interstices of science fiction and horror, and adds an unexpected element: that of sheer awe and mystery.

As a partial inspiration for his film, Bass likely had the 1971 faux documentary "The Hellstrom Chronicle" in mind. "The Hellstrom Chronicle's" thesis is that insects will be the ultimate inheritors of the Earth. Bass, best known as a creator of film titles (most notably for many Hitchcock classics), was also a great admirer of Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey". He even wrote a brief letter of appreciation to Kubrick that is reprinted in Jerome Agel's book "The Making of 2001". "Phase IV" itself seems a demonic inversion of Kubrick's film, offering, as it does, a rather different view of human destiny.

Cosmic disturbances appear to have caused strange alterations in the behavior of ants. Instead of ordinary mounds, enormous towers bearing massive ant colonies have been discovered in the desert. The ants have also become aggressive, and are mounting nocturnal attacks upon local farmers and their livestock. In addition to a tremendous collective intelligence and purposiveness, the ants seem to have developed a virulent form of venom. A pair of scientists--the leader of whom exudes rationalist, anthropocentric arrogance--establishes a laboratory in the vicinity to study the phenomenon and to put an end to it.

(Note: SPOILER ALERT!) I know: Just another 1950's B-movie retread about mutant insects thwarted in their evil plot for world domination by good, old-fashioned pluck and scientific know-how, right? Wrong! The ants--normal-sized, by the way--are more than a match for each of man's contrivances. By using their superior social organization and intelligence, and by fearless self-sacrifice, the mutant ants bring the humans to their knees in short order. The film's end leaves little doubt as to man's future, and eerily implies that the ants have a plan for a new "Adam and Eve" that is rather different from that of humanity's supposed "creator".

For the "species-traitor", it is exhilarating to see the ants, through their disciplined single- mindedness, triumph over the arrogant scientists. I doubt, however, that this theme endeared "Phase IV" to the movie-going public. In fact, given the film's mood, ending, and inadvertent demonstration of the power of quasi-fascistic social organization, it is easy to understand why *Phase IV* is not better known--and why Saul Bass, alas, never directed another film after this one. Highly recommended.

There's really nothing wrong with this evil bug movie, and it makes me wonder why Mystery Science Theater 3000 used it in one of their episodes. Okay, so maybe it's dated and a little pretentious, but basically all movies from the 70's are dated by now, and as far as pretentious goes, well, this movie can afford to be pretentious because it is very artistic and has a style all to it's own. There is no science fiction movie out there quite like it. Saul Bass is a great credits maker and an even better director. The lead actor (whose name I seem to have forgotten at the moment...Michael something...) is a great choice and the rest of the cast, which is very small, turn out fine performances as well. This movie proves that you don't need a huge cast to have a good, thought provoking movie. While some may think it is boring, with a long credits sequence and endless lab scenes, a true film fan will appreciate it for it's uniqueness and fascinating style.

I saw this film about fifteen years ago on T.V. and would dearly love to own it on DVD. This was one of the only films that credit sequence genius Saul Bass directed and he injects verisimilitude into what could have been a very hokey sci-fi idea. The idea of antagonistic armies of ants suddenly working together becomes terrifyingly real thanks to Bass' wonderful macro-photography. I remember one sequence vividly where the scientists poison the huge ant colonies with a yellow liquid. We see in great detail how a series of soldier ants sacrifice their lives to bring the liquid back to the queen so she can digest it and thereby make the next generation immune to the poison. Genius!

There's always the fear that films you fondly remember don't hold up to a second viewing but it would be great to find out. This is a classic science-fiction film of the seventies - intelligent, high-minded and utterly bleak. Please, to whoever makes these decisions, please can we get the DVD!