While monitored and pursued, a man races to escape through a futuristic labyrinth.Lucas had had an idea for a long time "based on the concept that we live in the future and that you could make a futuristic film using existing stuff". Fellow USC students Matthew Robbins and Walter Murch had a similar idea which Robbins developed into a short treatment, but Robbins and Murch lost interest in the idea, whereas Lucas was keen to persist.Because of the USC's Navy connection, Lucas was able to access filming locations which would not otherwise have been available to him: the USC computer center, a parking lot at UCLA, the Los Angeles International Airport, and the Van Nuys Airport. Much of the filming was done at night, with some at weekends.This film's value is in the fact it is a root. By itself, it is a very good student film, but still just that: a short student film. But we know what came of this. It turned into a feature-length film, it caught the attention of Steven Spielberg, and soon we had "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones". Without this, we would have none of that, and Harrison Ford would be unemployed.

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.

I recently watched the newly released director's cut of 'THX 1138' on DVD, a very fine edition. Included in the 'extras' is this original student project. It is obvious, watching it, that untrained actors are used, and set props are minimal. It is the same story as the feature movie, only 'bare bones' at 15 minutes and with student actors. Still, it showed Lucas' potential, and is interesting in that respect. 'THX 1138' is a superior movie in every respect.It is always interesting to see student projects from current directors. While it rarely gives us insight into their technique, it is interesting to witness the growth.

***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.