Cosmostology Movie Review
The Hound doesn't want to flatly declare that the supposedly genuine UFO occupant dissected in Alien Autopsy was a fake. Just that he can name plenty of makeup effects specialists who could have done a better job. Some of them were even active in Hollywood back in 1947. Here are some Golden-Age studio craftsmen who concocted never-before-seen examples of the uncanny and unearthly for the cameras:
JACK PIERCE. Head of Universal's make-up department in the 1930s and ‘40s, this former projectionist, cameraman, and stuntman designed their classic gothic characters like Frankenstein's creation (and its Bride), the Wolfman, and the Invisible Man. Before Oscars were awarded for makeup achievements, he gained special industry trophies for both The Mummy and Island of Lost Souls.
LEE GREENWAY. Genre fans (especially Rick Baker partisans) argue over the effectiveness of his best-known creation, the hostile vegetable humanoid in 1951's original The Thing. For a look at Greenway's alternative Thing concepts that were never used, see the book Making a Monster by Al Taylor and Sue Roy.
WILLIAM TUTTLE. Chief of MGM's makeup department from 1950 to 1969, Tuttle won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's first-ever makeup Oscar (on behalf of George Pal's fantasy The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao) in 1964, and also did memorable work on The Time Machine and Logan's Run.
THE HOUSE OF WESTMORE. The Westmores are a showbiz dynasty. George Westmore founded cinema's first official makeup department in 1917. Monty Westmore masterminded Fredric March's metamorphosis in 1932's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the Westmore name appears on each Star Trek series extant. Bud Westmore presided over the makeup team behind Universal's 1950s sci-fi cycle beginning with The Creature from the Black Lagoon (rumor has it the gill-man was modeled after a Mexican iguana) and continuing with Tarantula, The Mole People, The Monolith Monsters, and more. Frank Westmore's memoir The Westmores of Hollywood, a fascinating family portrait, cites the Metalunan mutant from This Island Earth as Bud's personal fave.
PAUL BLAISDELL. Operating at the low-budget end of the scale, Blaisdell nonetheless fashioned ferocious mutations and aliens (sometimes wearing the suits himself) for Roger Corman and others, in drive-in greats like It! The Terror from Beyond Space and The She Creature. His grotesque dwarf E.T.s in Invasion of the Saucer Men are simultaneously the screen's definitive bug-eyed monsters and little green men.
BEN NYE, SR. An apprentice to the Westmores, Nye was appointed to lead 20th Century Fox's makeup department after WWII and invented David Hedison's insect headpiece for 1957's The Fly. He retired as Planet of the Apes went into production, hiring John Chambers to usher in the modern era of makeup f/x.