VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED - Ron Goodwin - "The Midwich Cuckoos" (1960)

You know how it goes this time of the year, so I'm really trying my hardest to get into the season, so I thought I'd throw an early present at you, because, really, nothing says Peace, Love & the Holidays like freakin' out of control kids, and the kids in "Village Of The Damned" are about as out of control as you can get!

The very rico suave George Sanders is Gordon Zellaby to perfection! Nice pad!! I'm jealous!!

But I'm a lot more jealous of your 27 years younger than you, wife, the knockout Barbara Shelley as Anthea Zellaby! You go George!!!

It's a proud moment, George is going to be a father!!!

Then they find out that every female in the village of impregnatable age is in a motherly way, and not every couple in the village is dealing with it so good!!

Enter David Zellaby portrayed by Martin Stephens, supposedly the most famous child actor in England in the 50's & 60's! Martin got tired of acting and became an architect!!!

Here you got your classic "the locals" versus "the blondie outsiders!" Take another look, and see if you think "the locals" stand even half a chance! Stupid kids!!

Oh, Yeah, the local kids' Dads are a lot smarter than their kids!! Since they've got nothing else to do but get snockered at the local pub all day, they decide to take it into their own hands like the mob in "Frankenstein!" Not real smart!!

At this point, it's time to start thinking about how we can just all get along!! Hey, David, little buddy, it's cool, we were just joking, really!!!

George focuses on the brick wall so his real thoughts won't be known, as he prepares his mind for the ultimate sacrifice in order to save all of mankind!

I have to admit the music in this movie is very weak, and almost non-existent for a good deal of the film, and there's not really even a theme to speak of, but just as they saved the world from these brats, they saved the movie for us music lovers by having a very cool, albeit very short, ending sequence. It had to be short, after all, they blew them to kingdom come, so there wasn't a whole lot left to talk about!!

The ironic thing, is that the composer of the music for this film, Ron Goodwin is, or was, one of the swingingest guy we've had the pleasure to write about here. A child prodigy, who had his own swing band when he was a teenager, called "The Woodchoppers," Mr. Goodwin was one amazing cat!! Working all genres from swing to easy listening, he composed music for a little under 100 films, and he also released this classic outer space LP "Music In Orbit" or as it was known in the UK, "Out Of This World" produced by none other than George Martin in 1958!

Ron started off as a pianist, then switched to trumpet, and when he wasn't doing anything else, he was being used as a background singer!!! Go search him on imdb.com, it'll only take you about 30 minutes to read his bio! Wow!!!

I liked this movie when I first saw it, and it totally sucked me in again when I viewed it recently! So, spread the cheer, and get together and watch it with some friends!!