Robert Skotak

Wonderful biography of a multi-talented master of low-budget moviemaking. Danish native Ib Melchior was a screenwriter and director of The Angry Red Planet, Time Travelers, and Robinson Crusoe on Mars among other works. The behind-the-scenes detail is great from the problems with various special effects on Angry Red Planet to the use of a young man with birth defects who called up and asked to portray a silent, pathetic mutant in Time Travelers. Lots of commentary on Melchior and his productions from cast members and crew and other various moviemakers. Early on, Melchior joined a touring group of actors in his efforts to become a director, deciding he needed to start by learning to act. On the stage, he expanded into set design, he worked his way up to making short documentaries, eventually he brought his wealth of knowledge to making feature length movies. Of course, not everything was a success...at least not for Melchior whose story for Swiss Family Robinson, to follow Robinson Crusoe on Mars, was stolen by Irwin Allen and aired on TV as Lost in Space. Reads well, with plenty of photos.… (más)