It wouldn’t be hyperbole to say that Saul Bass was one of the most influential graphic designers of the 20th century. He designed the original globe logo for AT&T, the Geffen Records logo, and the Girl Scouts logo that was used from 1978 until the “redesign” in 2010. In Hollywood, whether working on posters, title sequences, or storyboards, Saul Bass was nothing short of iconic. In addition to designing the title sequence for Psycho, Bass storyboarded the shower scene and even made a rough cut proof of concept to prove that his version of the scene would work. His adventures into filmmaking garnered him an academy award for his documentary film Why Man Creates, and two nominations for the short films Notes on the Popular Arts and The Solar Film. But, Phase IV was Bass’ sole venture into feature narrative filmmaking.
Phase IV, airing on TCM Underground, is science fiction that would fit into the subgenre that Scarecrow Video calls “When Nature Goes Amok.” After some sort of cosmic, perhaps extraterrestrial, event, ants develop a preternatural intelligence intent on killing humans and/or bringing all lifeforms on Earth to the next level of existence. In its own way, Phase IV almost acts like a horror version of 2001: A Space Odyssey crossed with Night of the Living Dead. A group of humans descent on a sealed observation dome where they hold a stand-off with the ants who attack with increasingly ingenious methods.
The best and worst part of Phase IV is Saul Bass. His visual aesthetic creates arresting images, and Phase IV has some of the best images of malicious ants in the history of cinema. Scene by scene, Bass is able to create effective sequences, but, in its own unique way, Phase IV doesn’t hold together as a whole work. Each part of Phase IV, on their own, is phenomenal, but they add up to a whole that is just ever so slightly off. It’s a work that demands to be seen and dissected, if only to figure out why it doesn’t work as well as it should.
Phase IV airs on Turner Classic Movies on Saturday late night at 2:15am
