When a celestial event captivates the world, it leads to scientific curiosity as well as prognostications of doom and despair. However, it passes without much incident, as such events do, and the public interest moves along. However, it has left its influence upon the earthlings. Not on human beings, but on something much smaller. A seemingly insignificant species is about to take a great leap forward …
Different types of ants have lost their aggressive tendencies toward one another. They’ve begun working together in ways they never have before, exploring together, eradicating predators with coordinated attacks, and even building strange monuments.
Dr. Ernest Hubbs (Nigel Davenport) is the first scientist to recognize these massive behavior shifts, and he convinces a committee to fund his exploration of the topic. He convinces games theory and language afficionado James Lesko (Michael Murphy) to come along with him in an attempt to understand the behavior as well as concoct methods to keep those strange ants in check.
Neither of these learned men are prepared for what they face.
At first, the ants are quiet, removed, impossible to stir. However, when Hubbs initiates an attack upon those strange monuments, he hurtles mankind into a war against the insect world unlike any ever waged before. His pride prevents him from recognizing the threat for what it truly is.
Soon enough, the last family of farmers in the area will feel the brunt of that assault, and while Mr. Eldridge (Alan Gifford), his wife Mildred (Helen Horton), and their hand Clete (Robert Henderson) will not survive first contact with the enemy, their niece Kendra (Lynne Frederick) will and sides with the scientists until such time as she can see an airlift to safety.
Unfortunately, escape is not an option. The ants, supercharged with intelligence and the will to destroy their enemies, concoct method after method to remove their enemy … and possibly woo the others into a strange sort of service. Can mankind take a stand against these strangely evolved beings, or will it fall? Famed second unit director and titles/graphics designer Saul Bass got a shot at a feature length film, and the result is a slice of speculative fiction that raises lots of questions about what it means to be sentient, a curious blend of monster movie and gritty science fiction. The production studio had no idea how to handle the material, and therefore tried to sell it as a creature feature—Them (1954) in miniature—but Phase IV (1974) remains a hallmark of unease and speculation, a more earthy approach to the sorts of big, philosophical questions Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke asked in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
There is a famous story about one deluded man’s efforts to destroy ant invaders onto his farm. Carl Stephenson’s “Leiningen Versus the Ants” first saw publication in the December 1938 issue of Esquire, and it has stuck around the public consciousness in one form or another ever since. I have a copy in the classic anthology, Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural (available in hardcover from the Everyman Library, these days), and it remains a gripping read about technology, hubris, and the price of defying Mother Nature. Basically, it recounts a proud farmer in the Brazilian rainforest’s efforts to hold his plantation against approaching soldier ants, which have run off all the other locals. Worth tracking down and reading for fans of dark adventure fiction.
The marketing for Phase IV pretty much slated it to be a feature length science fiction spin on “Leiningen Versus the Ants,” which is a disservice. There is a sequence about a third or halfway through the film, which finds the Eldridge family fighting a similar war, but it is brief, moody fare. The rest of the film is much more cerebral, a clever approach to a topic full of potential. Sadly, the testing of Bass’ original cut wound up with negative notes aplenty. The lengthy prologue and epilogue, which were visually based instead of expository (thus playing to Bass’ strengths, really), were given a voice over narration and recut in order to salvage the material. In fact, the whole picture saw compromises, cuts here and there. And a poster that is purest nonsense in terms of the movie it is trying to sell. And radio spots that talk about ants turning Earth into a graveyard, which once again play up the man versus nature pulp angle that is not properly represented in the film.
Phase IV is a much meatier and provocative yarn than such compromises and marketing materials give it credit for. Thankfully, material from the original, image rich epilogue has been salvaged from Bass’s Collection held at the Academy Film Archives. Thanks to the fine folks at Vinegar Syndrome, who have released a 4K UHD/Blu-ray package for the film, we can get a better sense of what audiences saw (the theatrical cut) as well as what those first test audiences saw, and let the film more or less stand on its own two legs—or would that be six legs?
In either form, Phase IV has some impossible to deny charms and provocative ideas at play in its script and execution. It also has some pulpy elements—not restricted to a so-called scientist who is more of a rugged individualist and ego-driven bastard than a man of reason and the rigorous scientific method. Nevertheless, though I rather dislike the trope, there is some truth to it. Scientists are just as human as anyone else, and capable of falling into headstrong behaviors as well as appealing more toward ideals of community and teamwork.
Nigel Davenport brings gravitas to the thankless role of the hubris driven Hubbs. His character might not have triggered the change in the ants, but he’s the instigator of the creatures shift to becoming a direct threat. He makes plenty of lousy decisions, but Davenport’s gift is in his relentless (often unsubtle) performance as a man driven by demons we never really get an explanation for but nevertheless get a full sense of. The character sees himself as a shark, swimming among lesser creatures, unable to grasp the idea that he is not the center of the universe and is, in fact, all the more vulnerable because of his pride.
Michael Murphy, on the other hand, plays a much more human character. Lesko is intelligent but compassionate, he’s concerned about the young woman whose family lies dead on their doorstep, but he’s also trusting in what his colleague Hubbs keeps saying about calling for help and about the ants. Of the two men, Lesko makes the most headway, divulging a rudimentary translation of some of the ants’ signals to one another, and Lesko is the one to actually break the barrier and establish a crude two-way communication. The ending of the piece is one that has little interest in pursuing this line of thought, choosing instead to feed into xenophobia and terror, which calls for a change in Murphy’s character that doesn’t quite feel organic. Not a slam on the actor so much as on Mayo Simon’s script, which calls for the character to abandon his principles. The events that lead up to this may convince some, but it felt far too rushed for my preference. Nevertheless, the character is a 180 degree switch up from some of the roles that Murphy has played, which are cemented in my memory banks—I’m thinking of the incredibly cold blooded killer in Cloak & Dagger (1984), which is that film’s tour de force. This one is more in line with the sympathetic character he played in the original Count Yorga, Vampire (1970), charming and thoughtful and given to occasional, believable screw-ups. Love his performances.
Sadly, Lynne Frederick is not given a whole hell of a lot to do. She’s a kind of idealized teenager (played by a far too beautiful and developed woman in her 20s), and Bass’ direction called for some explicit removal of emotional connections to eradicate any kind of romance angles. The possibility is evident in the sub-subtext, but when she’s on screen, Frederick looks uncomfortable being there, and Simon’s script basically treats her as a curious, third wheel for the proceedings. Ah well. She’s essential in the ultimate conclusion (which does away with all the hard fought platonic qualities to her character’s relationship with Lesko, as she seems to be the Eve of a new breed of humanity).
The look of the film is particularly striking. This is a visually rich experience (unsurprising, given Bass’s history with graphic design and storyboarding), realized with terrific lighting and cinematography from Dick Bush. The real star of the piece’s visual, however, is the close up work with actual ants from famed nature photographer Ken Middleham. How he wrangled ants into certain behaviors and then managed to capture it on film is a magic trick I cannot work out and don’t particularly care to. His work is powerful, provocative, and rich with emotion. Between Bush and Middleham, the picture excels as a work of speculative fiction art.
The sound of the film, I should add, is also unique. Brian Gascoigne, Stomu Tamashta, David Vorhaus, and Desmond Briscoe had hands in composing the score, which ranges from moody electronics to mind bending elements that complement the imagery in unexpected but nevertheless perfect ways.
It’s a shame the picture didn’t get a better treatment in its marketing campaign. Bass never helmed another feature length project (though he did helm numerous shorts), and that’s a tragedy. He has a terrific sense for how to compose and capture rich visuals.
The Vinegar Syndrome release will hopefully help this often overlooked picture get new eyes. It presents a lovely transfer of the theatrical release in both 4K UHD and Blu-ray edition, but it also faithfully recreates the preview version (with original epilogue) from the best possible elements.
Taken on its own terms, Phase IV is a cool as hell movie, which also manages to pluck disturbing chords. While it echoes some of the speculations evident in film and fiction of a more serious, science fiction bent, everything about the picture is ultimately unlike any other movie. It’s an individual exercise, and even its altered, theatrical form has numerous interesting moments and ideas on offer. This is a movie best seen late at night or well before the sun is about to rise in the morning, when the mind is open to dreamy ideas expressed in unusual visuals. Viewed in such a way, it offers one hell of a ride.
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Phase IV is available in DVD, imported Blu-ray, 4K UHD/Blu-ray, and VOD editions.
Writing for “A Strange Incident in the Arizona Desert: Phase IV (1974)” is copyright © 2024 by Daniel R. Robichaud.
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