CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

WakenPayne Mind you this can be a strange viewing for some people. But if you have worked on a student film yourself, even if it is just one from a High School Film and TV Class you will appreciate this movie and all the work George Lucas put into it quite a lot more than as an average movie watcher.The plot of this movie is basically that a man by the name of THX 1138 4EB is running away from the society he was a part of.So it might be a thin plot. You might not like it but if you've worked on a student film then this will be appreciated a whole lot more. And even on it's own unusual merits this is a decent watch, at least in my opinion.

FieCrier 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.

arp2500 ***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.

capnmarvel After seeing the theatrical THX 1138 and enjoying its feel very much, I was hyped to be able to see this student project. Let me say that, first and foremost, most of the shots in this film are of absolutely nothing happening. Shots of mainframe computers and other such gadgetry probably lent this film quite an alien feel in 1967, but now it merely fills time waiting for the plot to advance. For 15 minutes, you watch as the story of THX slowly unfolds, how he runs to escape his sterile surroundings and finally reaches his goal.Probably the most remarkable thing I noticed about this movie is how things changed and how they stayed the same for Lucas in his later pictures. He still treats his actors like action figures. However, I noticed the utter lack of 'cute ideas' that spiced up even the theatrical release of this film. Very monochromatic in emotion and execution, but still gripping in a very real way.