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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- A very unique student film., 28 April 2007 Author: emasterslake from United States
This was the student film that George Lucas did way before he became successful in cinema.4 years before he made the THX 1138 film. He created this short film which is very well written.The whole short has to do with THX, an individual trap in a sick twisted world. Which he tries escape throughout the whole short.It's very different from the full length film. But those who are curious to know what the earlier version is. This one's definitely an early version.All great director start somewhere in their careers. And this is a fine example of a student film.It's available on the THX Director's Cut DVD.
3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- for a student film, I look at this as still retaining a special, surreal power, 4 February 2006 Author: MisterWhiplash from United States
Sure it may be no-budget, sure it may be using film equipment and film stock that's not to the 'studio' standard. But, as someone who has come out of being a film student, I look at George Lucas's award-winning student short film with a good deal of awe. And Lucas, who has described himself as being a filmmaker who is split between the avant-garde and the more 'mainstream' films (the latter personified film-wise in Star Wars and Indiana Jones), goes to the extreme of his powers with his visual prowess. It is surreal in that it tries to express an idea through an unconventional means, with a story but without being stuck to it by any means. And because it's so short there's only so much time to get the message across with such little film.Electronic Labyrinth takes just a slice- the more action packed and suspenseful slice- from what would become the feature film of THX 1138, using absolutely no dialog. That to me is a phenomenal, but very dangerous, step to take. There's always the chance, especially with young, experimental filmmakers, to go into the over-indulgent, or rather just to go in over your head with abstract concepts that just don't connect out of likely just not being well made. Here the quasi-beating over-the-head of image and sound works, because it's a film about technology, about the control of it over people, and it makes a very basic kind of statement of going against the overwhelming power of it. The hero of the film for almost all of the film does a lot of running, down corridors, down spacious, domineering spaces, leading up to a sort of bleak ending.It may not get enough thematic ground like the feature-version does, and the lack of dialog sets a kind of gap between a viewer not ready for the combination of twistingly sci-fi visuals of the screens and numbers and videos and such. But it's got guts, and that's what I like to see in student films; the cliché that this is a "sign of things to come" is not far from the truth (ironically, after the feature-film of this, it would go more towards the mainstream for Lucas, but you never know).
2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :- Good student film., 2 January 2005 Author: Boba_Fett1138 from Groningen, The Netherlands
This early student film by George Lucas is an unique one. The visual style and the style itself are what makes this movie very watchable, although not for everyone.This movie is interesting to say the least. Interesting because it was made by George Lucas, the man behind the Star Wars saga and the Indiana Jones trilogy. But also on its own this movie is a interesting one to watch. The movie is filled with some very typically strange student film camera positions and scene's. No, there is not much story but the directing make this movie a good and watchable movie although some people, if not most, will probably not like it very much, the whole movie might seem just strange to them but for the real movie and science-fiction buffs this is a real must see along with "THX 1138" which is the remake of this movie, made by George Lucas as well.Dan Natchsheim is acting terribly bad, even though he hasn't got any lines at all. It's really quite laughable at times. Thank God the acting is not the most important thing of the movie. It really is the style that makes the movie, the sets and the sound are also pluses.Recommendable to all movie and science-fictions buffs, for everyone else, just skip it!8/10
2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :- Interesting sci-fi debut for George Lucas, 24 December 2001 Author: arp2500
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** This is the student film, made by George Lucas (during his days at the UCLA film school), that his first feature film 'THX 1138' was based on. I believe the complete title for the student film was 'THX 1138: 4EB (The Electronic Labyrinth)'. If you have not seen this film, you may or may not want to read this review, because I will be explaining the film in detail... and the movie is only about 15 minutes long. So read at your own risk. Also, If you have not seen the feature film version of 'THX', you may want to see the student film first.(note: I am not sure where this film would be available, it seems to be rare)OK, on to the movie! This student film encapsulates the main ideas presented in the last half of the feature film version, in particular the final chase scene. When the film opens, we are introduced to THX's mate, who gives about the only piece of dialog in the whole film and sets up the action to come. We then watch THX run through various obstacles and places that seem to be mysteriously monitored and booby trapped by technicians that are never given a location as to where they are. they are just there, somewhere, watching THX. THX escapes, just as the technicians close in to capture him (which is not explained either), running away into the outside sunlight. I think it's safe to say that the student film and the feature film are both very different and very much alike at the same time. The feature film gives us an antiseptic landscape who's population sports clean shaven heads and seemingly doped up and programmed minds. This is not the case in the student film, where people not only have hair (that idea probably came later), but the people in the student film seem very coherent as to what is going on around them. Also, in the feature film, robotic police officers are the ones responsible for tracking down THX (though some mysterious technicians are shown working with the robots).The student film touches briefly on the theme that THX is unhappy with his mate, who claims to not be interested in a relationship that involves love. In the feature film, THX's mate is the one who encourages THX to love her, and ultimately to run away from his life. However, even though there are these differences, the one thing that remains constant and really ties the two films together is the use of environment. Disembodied sounds, unexplained animations that appear on screen like some targeting scope, and the use of stark corridors and rooms are all elements that appear as part of the environment of both films. Lucas uses very vague (or hardly any) suggestions as to what is all happening on screen. This can be seen in the feature film as well, but much more apparent in the student film. The student film is almost at an experimental level in it's vagueness. We see things that pop out of nowhere, but somehow make sense in a 'far off future' sort of way. It actually helps not to know certain things, as to suggest that what is happening is so far removed from our own experience in the present, that this has to be taking place in the future (maybe even in another dimension). This same vagueness can be seen in all of the Star Wars films, where not everything is explained in 'Star Trek technical Manual' style. Some things are better left to the imagination.As a student film, and especially for one made in 1967, this is a fairly good film. It wont come across to most folk as entertaining, maybe not even understandable, but that is because of the level at which the film works. The film also shows a bit of rough new comer film making. There are moments of forced acting, where it looks like Lucas told the participants to do certain things and they just went through the motions. There are locations that THX runs through that are very obviously parking lots. Lucas even uses an elevator car as a sort of sonic torture chamber. But somehow all of these things come together for an interesting sci-fi debut from the guy who would later bring us Star Wars.
8 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :- Without this, no "STAR WARS", 29 September 2004 Author: MovieAddict2009 from UK
George Lucas developed this film during his days in film school. It impressed his teachers and eventually gave him the courage to make "THX 1138," a full-length spin-off which was his theatrical debut and featured the talents of Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasence.This was the basis for that spin-off, which is much shorter and doesn't feature any of the complicated themes of the semi-remake. Personally I feel the remake is far superior because of its advanced storytelling, visuals, acting, and love story, but that's just me (and I have a feeling most people probably like the remake better, too, but...).The point remains that without this, George Lucas might never have impressed anyone. He might never have made "THX 1138." He might never have made "American Graffiti," and there would be no "Star Wars" because he wouldn't have convinced anyone to lend him the money.There would be no THX sound on DVDs. There would be no ILM. There would be no Indiana Jones, no Luke Skywalker, nothing.Hard to imagine, isn't it? All because of one small 15-minute, cheaply-produced short film...
3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :- in this case, the remake was better, 13 May 2002 Author: CryFi from Lansingburgh, New York, USA
I have watched this film on the DVD Short Cinema Journal - 1:10 - Chaos (Short 10: Chaos). It's nice that this is available, and it is incredible to think this was the director who went on to such bigger and better things. Even THX 1138 is better than THX 1138:4EB! Sound (appropriately enough) is the most interesting thing about it.
Eyewitness account of THX becoming a feature from the short., 10 June 2007 Author: wayne-350 from United States
The film departments of UCLA and Southern California University had an annual film competition for students from both schools at a time when they and New York University were about the only schools in the country offering a degree in cinema. In 1967, I attended the showing at UCLA's Royce Hall, and George Lucas's THX-1138 was a standout work among many very good ones. Not only was it the audience's favorite, but the judges awarded it best picture. Lucas was called to the podium to accept his award. He seemed nervous and shy at the microphone, but then startled as he was interrupted at the microphone, apparently a surprise to all on stage, by a lawyer from Warner Brothers who announced that Warners was offering whoever won the competition the opportunity to turn it into a feature. That was of course George. It seemed an eternity while he stood speechless, mouth open. Warners already had the young Francis Ford Coppola under contract, so they assigned him as producer to George. I then saw the resulting feature "THX 1138" in 1971 at a theater in Hollywood. It was not great commercial success, but as we all know, the success of the George Lucas career is legendary.
For certain points, 1 February 2006 Author: Svet HROUCHOFF from Luxembourg
When this film was realised I was in my seventeenth I have seen a part of it in 1975 on TV, there were some scenes that marked me. & to tell the truth I did not know the title neither who realised it at this time, I have discovered by pure hazard on DVD this year of 2006. Personally, after "Metropolis 1927" from Fritz Lang, this film will be completely a part of all other films in this dimension; the concept of the story is intelligent. There is no pass, no future, no present. Earth born constructing androids, to control human, it is a underground world, it is a dream to be a perfect world, where everything is under control, but sometimes it happens that in this perfect world, there are sometimes failures, as we call "emotions" which is totally forbidden because the human couldn't bring yet to a machine. & if he could like in "Blade Runner" where human creating "replicants" "Hate, Anger, Love, Fear"= Memories. THX 1138 EB4 has shattered the whole system of this old Hollywood machine, & brought us this vision, how far our imaginations can go, but how far can we go in our imaginations?? Stephen King mentioned once, "Imagination is the most powerful thing you can possess"
The Beginning..., 14 August 2005 Author: moviemanMA from Massachusetts
In the late 1960's, Hollywood was starting to go downhill. Movies were being made to please an older audience and not branch out towards a younger audience and just get more people. It was in California that the revolution would take place. This student film was one of the starting points in the right direction.A young man attending USC by the name of George Lucas made a little film that would change his life and others around him. He called it Elecrtic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB. It is only 15 minutes long but it gets across a message that was just right for the time. That rebel yell that the people were waiting to scream out. To rise up against authority. This film was the launch pad for Lucas and his career as a film maker.Electric Labyrinth is about one man's escape from the grip of oppression in a futuristic society. He and everyone else it seems is under surveillance and the only way to get out is to run. THX 1138 is the name or title of the man on the run. Although the movie is short, it seems like we connect to the person. We all feel like just running away sometimes. Although we don't know much about the man, we feel for him. All attempts at stopping his man seem futile. They can dish out anything, but little can stop the determination of someone.This is what would spawn a feature length production of the film starring Robert Duvall as THX 1138 and also would help Lucas on his way to directing bigger things like American Graffiti and what would make him a house hold name...Star Wars. In 15 minutes Lucas was able to shock the cinema world and help change the industry to what we see it as today. This little project would lead to advances in movie making, editing, and overall appeal of a movie. Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorcese, and many more were part of the revolution in cinema that would bring people back to the theaters.
A note on the music:, 24 September 2004 Author: courboin from Philadelphia, PA
The soundtrack seems to feature two works from the "Virgil Fox plays the John Wanamaker Grand Court Organ Philadelphia" LP, released on Command Classics in 1964 (and available today from the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ, the Organ Historical Society and other pipe-organ organizations and various commercial sites). The pieces are "Fanfare from Parsifal" by Wagner and Fox's arrangement of Bach's "Come Sweet Death." The Wanamaker Organ is the largest playing pipe organ in the world and is noted for the incredible richness of its tone. For the short film, Lucas seems to have slowed down the playing of the pieces by about a half or a fourth, giving the eerie effect.
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