Number 60 - It Came from Outer Space - Ray Bradbury

 

I've set the picture to Extra Large because it's a bloody enormous book.  This is a proper coffee table book if I ever owned one (and I own a few).

To celebrate the centenary of the man himself, I had to read one of his books, and this is one I hadn't read yet.  Back in the early 50s, Bradbury wrote a screenplay for the first science fiction film made in 3D - which was of course It Came from Outer Space - if it wasn't, there would be a different film poster on the cover of the book...

This is a fascinating slice of history.  It was compiled by Don Albright (Ray Bradburys friend and agent for many years) for Gauntlet press. It was a limited run and signed by Bradbury so if you can get a copy online you're lucky.  This is an ex-library copy so is probably not as valuable as it could be (although it does tell me that the American library system must have its good points if it stocks oddities like this).

Basically, this starts with a couple of fairly dry academic essays about the impact of the film.  That's followed by the original short story that inspired the film, and then several different treatments of the screenplay in various stages of its evolution.

The progression from one to the next  is an insight into how the creative brain works.  We start with the story about human's landing on a planet inhabited by intelligent spiders - this was the original short story.  We then see the rejection letter that Bradbury recieved for both this story and A Sound of Thunder.  That anyone rejected A Sound of Thunder is a great consolation to a sometime writer like myself.  It confirms that some editors just don't know what they're doing and there's still hope for me.

Next up is a typewritten first draft of Bradbury's treatment for the film.  This still has the title "The Atomic Monster" on the front of it, and several corrections in pen.  Also the central character's (Putnam's) profession changes almost randomly throughout this first version.  Often this is the cause of the corrections, but there are still places where he's described as a reporter and not as an astronomer.  The ending is very different to the film we know.

The second version of the story seems to be a cleaned up version of this, with the crossings out and the corrections no longer visible.  

The next version is typed more cleanly again and has inserts with extra material.

The final version has a lot more of the material we recognise from the finished film, and is nearly twice as long as the other versions.  It also contains a monologue by the sheriff which is used as the centrepoint for Bradbury's story Touched with Fire.  I have no idea which came first, this screenplay or that short story.  I know the story was in a 1954 collection, but where was it before that?  

We're then treated to a whole slew of promotional material from the film, including two short story adaptations of the film script.  I might be mistaken but this may well be the first film where the aliens are described as Xenomorphs.  

All this and an extra little short story called Troll Charge that Bradbury co-wrote whilst working for the studio, this is a beautiful insight into the creative process.

If you can get hold of a copy,. it's well worth it.