Searchers, The (1956 U.S.) - (Dir: John Ford from the 1954 novel The Searchers by Alan LeMay) Ben and Luke come across the slaughtered Jawas at the Sandcrawler.

The editing and pace of Star Wars is similar to that of Seven Samurai. Shichinin no samurai (Seven Samurai) (1954 JA) - (Dir: Akira Kurosawa based on his original screenplay) Peasant turned Samurai/ Farm boy turned Jedi.

Wilcox based on Shakespeare's The Tempest) The most obvious visual element taken from Forbidden Planet is that of Morbius' creating a hologram of his daughter, the angle of the shot is nearly mirrored in A New Hope when R2 projects the hologram of Princess Leia for the first time in front of Luke. Star Wars, impossible task (destroying the Empire's Death Star).until plans stolen from the base itself are ingeniously used to find the Death Star's weakness and.you know what happens.įorbidden Planet (1956) - (Dir: Fred M. based on the 1951 book The Dam Busters by Paul Brickhill) Dam Busters, impossible task (destroying the German base).until a British scientist devises an ingenious plan to knock out the industrial base. 'The guns, they've stopped', 'Watch for enemy fighters'ĭam Busters, The (1954) - (Dir: Michael Anderson Sr. Twelve O'clock High (1949) - (Dir: Henry King based on the 1948 novel Twelve O'clock High by Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay, Jr) Some lines in ANH are quite similar to those in this film. One man's mission to infiltrate the Death Star (based on weaknesses found in secret plans), and destroy the Death Star.with help of the rebel alliance. One man's mission to infiltrate the Nazi gas plant, get the secret plans and destroy the plant.with help of Czech allies. Sabotage Agent (Adventures of Tartu) (1943) - (Dir: Harold S. Han Solo's a Rick-type character, Ford seemed to channel Rick (not Bogart) as Han Solo a little shady with a heart of gold. Interesting to think that the whole Greedo/Han scene has gone back and forth and Lucas finally decided Greedo would shoot first and Han shooting next.Lucas pointed out that he didn't want Han to be a murderer. The scene was filmed so Strasser went for his gun first. He suggested that Strasser go for his gun first, which Veidt (who plays Strasser) pointed out would be more consistent with the Strasser character. Note that the crawl was used before the Flash Gordon Serials.Ĭasablanca (1942) - (Dir: Michael Curtiz based on the 1940 unpublished play Everyone Comes to Rick's by Murray Bennett and Joan Allison) Major Heinrich Strasser was originally supposed to be shot in cold blood by Rick (Bogart) but, Bogart claimed that this made Rick no better than a murderer. (see other Oz influences in ESB and ROTJ below)įlash Gordon Conquers the Universe (Purple Death from Outer Space) (1940) - (Dir: Ford Beebe & Ray Taylor from Alex Raymond comic strip - 12 part serial) The opening crawl and the soft wipes connecting the scenes. Before Dorothy sings 'Over the Rainbow' she has a small paragraph leading up to the song itself: It's not a place you can get to by a boat or a train, It's far, far away, behind the moon, beyond the rain. Obi-Wan disables the tractor beam (really the look of that scene) compares to a scene at the Witches castle, both have an area surrounding them with a seemingly endless pit or chasm. The Emperor's hologram and the Wizards image are very similar The wicked witch disappearing and Obi-Wan disappearing Tin Man, Lion and Scarecrow disguising themselves as the Witches guards and Luke and Han disguising themselves as Stormtroopers We could easily see influences from the Wizard of Oz, especially the C3P0 being similar to the Tin Man (though we know the visual influence was from Metropolis) the Tin Man made noise when he moved as did C-3PO Wizard of Oz, The (1939) - (Dir: Victor Fleming based on the 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum)

Note: the first didn't have a Foreword, but was named 'The Menacing Power'. Goodkind - 12 part serial) The opening crawl might have been taken from this serial, the second episode carried the crawl, but not the first. Phantom Creeps, The (1939) - (Dir: Ford Beebe and Saul A. If money is all that you love, then that's what you'll receive.' LEIA: 'You needn't worry about your reward.

HAN: '.Look, I ain't in this for your revolution, and I'm not in it for you, Princess. SCARLETT: 'Are you tryin' to tell me you don't believe in the cause?' SCARLETT: '.But you are a blockade runner!' Both are blockade runners who are manly with a sensitive side (tend to work only for themselves until it gets right down to it then they pitch in), both classic anti-hero material: Gone With the Wind (1939) - (Dir: Victor Fleming, George Kucor and Sam Wood based on the 1936 Pulitzer Prize (1937) winning novel Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell) Some people compare Rhett Butler with Han Solo.

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