PHASE IV @ 50

 

Celebrating its 50th anniversary today is the classic science fiction macro-photography masterpiece, Phase IV, which had its theatrical release on September 6th, 1974. Inspired by an H.G. Wells short story from 1905, Empire of the Ants, the film featured groundbreaking cinematography of its insect stars, and may have provided the instigation for the crop circle phenomenon to boot!

The idea for Phase IV was apparently hatched over cocktails in 1971, when Peter Bart at Paramount had dinner with Raul Radin and asked him, "What's cooking?" Radin responded, "an ant story", though he actually had nothing. Radin subsequently called graphic designer, Saul Bass, who had a friend who worked with ants and they quickly agreed to work together. Bass was hired as the film's director, though he was mostly known as a graphic artist, creating title and credit sequences and posters for feature films, with a list of credits that included such major releases as Psycho, Spartacus, Ocean's 11, West Side Story, and dozens of others. Ken Middleham, the wildlife photographer who shot the insect sequences for Phase IV, also shot the insect sequences for the documentary The Hellstrom Chronicle. Both feature extensive use of macro-photography of insects.

The film tells the story of an isolated research station in Arizona that comes under siege by a colony of mysteriously evolved intelligent ants. This hive mind organism begins creating megalithic architectural structures in the desert and engaging in tactical assaults on the research station in response to its various provocations and experiments. The activities of the ants are depicted in striking macro-photography scenes, where real ants are shown performing a variety of seemingly intelligent behaviours, many of which beg the question of how they were coaxed to perform so perfectly on cue. There's even a scene where the ants create a crop circle, the first known appearance of such a construct on screen. The film predates by two years the first modern reports of crop circles in the United Kingdom and it has been cited as a possible inspiration or influence on the pranksters who started this phenomenon. Though the setting is in the US, actual principal photography was done at Pinewood Studios in England and exterior locations were shot in Kenya. In addition to the spectacular insect photography, the film is also notable for featuring real computer systems, like the GEC 2050, rather than faked props.

While the film was a solid flop in its theatrical release, it began accumulating a cult audience as it made its way onto TV movie night broadcasts, and further solidified its cult standing by being featured in an early episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Contemporary critical reviews were mixed, with Jay Cocks of Time saying the film was "good, eerie entertainment, with interludes of such haunted visual intensity that it becomes, at its best, a nightmare incarnate", while A. H. Weiler of The New York Times wrote, "For all of its good, scientific and human intentions, 'Phase IV' cries for a Phase V of fuller explanations." Perhaps it didn't help that an extended ending montage showing the post-revolution impacts of the new "ant empire" was chopped out of the final edit for the theatrical release and lost for decades before being rediscovered and included as bonus material on later HD remastered discs and streaming releases. As a result of its box office failure, it was the only feature Saul Bass ever directed.

I saw the film as a kid on TV in the mid 1970s and immediately fell in love with it. The idea of an evolved, intelligent hive-mind ant colony was a totally unique conception for me, long before the Borg would appear on Star Trek, and it remains a theme that has stood the test of time quite well. I've recently watched it again in a lovely HD version and it retains a maturity and sophistication that make it an essential title in the realm of '70s science fiction classics. The astounding insect photography alone is worth the price of admission, and a cracking good story to boot makes it all a worthy viewing experience.