Earth vs. The Flying Saucers

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (EvFS) is the flagship of 50s sci-fi B movies. It has all the hallmarks of a typical B movie: shot in black and white, much stock footage, low-budget props, etc. That said, EvFS is still the best of its breed. The acting is good (for the most part). Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation of the saucers is great. His saucers have more "life" than any model on a string could attain. The basic premise of hostile aliens invading the earth with flying saucers was a classic. EvFS would be a significant influence in Tim Burton's 1996 movie Mars Attacks.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) heads a nascent satellite program, but all of his satellites blow up or fall from orbit. A saucer buzzes Dr. Marvin and his wife as they drive to the base. Despite a call from Dr. Marvin's father-in-law (Morris Ankrum), they launch the next rocket. A saucer descends on the base. Troops open fire. The saucer is invulnerable, but one of the robot-like aliens is hit. The other alien-bots use heat beams to destroy the base. Only Dr. Marvin and his wife escape because they were in a deep bunker. The aliens came from a defunct solar system, intent on taking over the earth. They want earthlings to surrender peacefully so their new home won't be a ruin from the battle. Mankind is defiant. The aliens give earth 56 days to think it over. The time is used, instead, to develop an anti-saucer weapon. Dr. Marvin and staff develop a magnetic disruptor which makes the saucers unstable. When the fleet of saucers finally arrive over Washington DC, a whole fleet of disrupter-beam equipped Ford flatbed trucks is there to greet them. A mighty battle rages. Saucer heat beams destroy much, but the trucks take their toll too. Saucers wobble and fall into a variety of DC landmarks, including the Washington Monument. Finally, the last saucer falls. Earth is saved! The end.

Why is this movie fun?
It's hard not to enjoy this classic of 50s B sci-fi. It has everything a 50 sci-fi fan loves. The acting is reasonably good, the pacing is pretty good too, so even someone who isn't a fan of the genre could be suitably entertained.

Cold War Angle
EvFS is a classic allegory of Cold War tensions. A hostile force seeks to invade and take over. In the mid-50s, the threat from communism was never far from viewers' minds. The caustic Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev would say, later in 1956 "We will bury you!" would say later. When, in the movie, the earthlings decide to fight the saucers, an Army general says: "When an armed and threatening power lands uninvited in our capitol, we don't meet him with tea and cookies!" Such was American popular sentiment towards the threat of communism.

Notes
Stock Footage Fun -- amid the usual clips of P-80s and V-2s (Checkers!) and other military clips, are stock disaster clips. Storms, fires, destruction. For the sci-fi fan, there are also snippets recycled from earlier sci-fi movies. There are battle scenes cut from War of the Worlds ('53) and The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51).

Cheap Suit -- The aliens walk about in crude robot-like suits with faceless bullet-shaped helmets. The fit and finish of these suits is quite poor when you get a good look at them.

Alien Glimpse -- The brief scene in which the real alien (head) is exposed, reveals the taxonomy that would become archetypal: big head, tapering to a small neck, large almond-shaped eyes, tiny mouth. They're also said to weigh little, being fairly weak and frail. Of the many sorts of invading aliens seen thus far in the 50s, some were simple -- men in leotards Killers from Space, if not just plain people Devil Girl from Mars and Flight to Mars and giant humanoids: The Thing. A very few hostile (or at least frightening) invaders were not humanoid: Invaders from Mars and War of the Worlds. The alien in EvFS appears to be an early showing of what would later become the presumed "true" shape of alien life forms.

Bottom line? EvFS is well worth watching. Fans of 50s sci-fi will enjoy it. Family members of fans of 50s sci-fi can tolerate it. In many ways, it is the epitome of the B grade 50s science fiction movie.

The Creature Walks Among Us

This is the third "Creature" movie. Universal left their options open at the end of second with the exact same ambiguous ending. While sequels to sequels tend to be poor fare, gill-man fans tend to regard Creature Walks Among Us (CWAU) as being as good as the first.
CWAU shares many B-movie weaknesses. It follows formula plot elements that were hallmarks of the first movie, but it also ventures into some new material. This new ground gives CWAU some muscle of its own. The first movie had a tiny bit of science blather about evolution. The second movie didn't bother. The third, however, tried to re-inject some science into the fiction.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A rich scientist mounts an expedition to find the gill-man who has escaped into the Florida swamps. A local fisherman reports being attacked by a man-like "diablo" so they investigate. Using an underwater radar device (not sonar), they track him down to a narrow bayou. Here he attacks their small boat, but is set on fire by spilled gasoline. Badly burned, the gill-man collapses. The scientists take him back aboard their 100' yacht and head for San Francisco. They've bandaged him up (head to toe) and are monitoring his vital signs. During the trip the complex soap opera develops. Dr. Barton (Jeff Morrow) is the rich, but jealous husband. Mrs. Barton (Liegh Snowden) is the blonde babe no longer in love and resentful of her husbands attempts to control her. Dr. Morgan (Rex Reason) is the concerned friend. Jed Grant is the buff playboy helper. Innuendo and misunderstandings keep the pot simmering.
Along the way, the doctors find that gill-man's gills are too badly burned to supply his body with oxygen. An x-ray reveals that he has lungs but that they're collapsed and closed off. They operate to open them. He can breathe air now. They also comment about how the burns have cause the fish-like layer to fall away, and a more human-like layer of skin to develop. Gillman awakens and interrupts Jed forcing himself on Marcia. He then dives into the sea, but must be rescued before he drowns.
Back in San Francisco, Gill is taken to Dr. Barton's estate and put into an electrified pen with some other animals. He looks somewhat longingly to the water's edge, but is docile. When a mountain lion gets into the pen and kills a sheep, Gill kills the big cat. When Dr. Barton pistol-whips Jed and puts the body in Gill's cage (to frame him for the murder), Gill goes nuts, tears up the house looking for Dr. Barton, finally killing him. Gill then wanders off the estate. With everyone in funeral attire, there's a mild suggestion that Dr. Morgan will come to call on the widow Barton when a respectful time has passed. The movie closes with Gill walking down the beach towards the sea. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Once you've gotten into the gill-man saga, the plot of CWAU takes it to a new level which is more thoughtful than simply another monster movie. It's also fun to see the team of Jeff Morrow and Rex Reason again -- two good actors -- who starred in This Island Earth ('54).

Cold War Angle
The first two gill-man movies had none. This third one doesn't either. There is a thin connection to man exploring space, but not all space themes are Cold War themes.

Notes
Creature, Mark III -- The original movie had two gill-man suits -- a smaller one for the underwater shots, and a larger one for the above-water shots. The second movie, Revenge, made two new gill-man suits along the same lines. For the third movie, they didn't put too much into a new gill-man suit. They created a new gill-man head and hands, but dressed him the crude sailcloth shirt and pants so as to not have to make more. For the pre-changed gill-man, they used footage from the first two movies. The only scenes which needed a new gill-man suit was where he attacked the small boat and was burned. These scenes are so quick and dark, that the lower quality Gill-Man III is not apparent.

Nature vs Nurture -- Arthur Ross, who co-wrote the original opted for a more thoughtful script. Are we what we are because of our genes, or because of our environment? Dr. Barton is excited that the gill-man is becoming more human. The fire burned away his "old self", releasing the new. "Change the metabolism and man will change." Dr. Morgan disagrees. Science can't create a new species. They may have altered gillman's skin, but inside he's the same. As though mankind would not be fit for space travel until he evolved into something better. This is a natural sort of thought for scientism which denies there being any divine element to man. How else to define man? Our human physiology is all we have. This is reminiscent of the premise underlying The Island of Dr. Moreau. Give animals human shape, human features, and they'll become people.
The Nurture part comes where the scientists theorize that the Gill-man as a "new" man will behave good or bad, depending on how he's treated. The assumption of the Tabula Rasa.

Star Man? -- A notion floated in the dialogue is that ordinary humans are "built" for the earth and not suitable to space. The scientists pontificate about how the aquatic gill-man was "built" for life in the water. Man, therefore, was "built" for terrestrial life. That build would not work in space, they say. "We all stand at a crossroads between the jungle and the stars." If gill-man could become a new creature, maybe man could too. Since the changed gill-man could not really become human, the inference is that man can't become this Nietzchean over-man either.

Spiritual Metaphors -- Some aspects of CWAU have spiritual parallels. The before-creature is the old "animal" nature -- rash, violent, lustful. The after-creature is the new "human" self. He's no longer lustful or rash. He's violent only as defense. At the end, he's violent but driven by a sense of justice. There's also a parallel to the biblical "fall of man" described in the Book of Genesis, in that the before creature was innocent. He needed no clothes. After the change, he needed clothing. There's also a parallel to New Testament verses which talk of the old man having to die (metaphorically) before the new man could emerge. This adds some twist to the movie's title. Our own struggles with our animal side with our divine. Dr. Barton and Jed Grant are examples of those who gives in to their animal side. Dr. Morgan and even Marcia Barton are examples of people who maintained morality.

Old Home -- Dr. Barton's estate was one of Universal's stock houses. Used in many movies, such as Tarantula

Bottom line? CWAU will appeal to gill-man fans. Since it's not simply a re-remake of the first two "Creature" films, it has some appeal to others too. It's a bit lighter on the action but more cerebral. It's worth a watch.

World Without End

While not especially well known, World Without End (WWE) is actually a pretty good sci-fi movie. Keep in mind that it's the 50s, so special effects and sets will be minimal. Nonetheless, WWE could easily have been a Star Trek episode 10 years later. Swap out Hugh Marlowe and the other three for Kirk, Spock, Scotty and McCoy and you'd have a solid Trek episode. WWE features reasonable acting, a good pace and some still-relevant social commentary. The look at post-apocalypse earth didn't break any new ground, but overall effect is quite watchable.

Quick Plot Synopsis
"Man's first trip into space" is a rocket carrying four men, sent to orbit Mars. On the way back, they encounter a "time displacement" that accelerates them to near the speed of light. They're rocket crash lands on a snowy, mountainous world. The four get out and explore the earth-like world. It turns out to be earth, but hundreds of years in the future. They're attacked by a giant spider (dog size) and grossly disfigured cavemen. When they seek shelter in a cave, they find a steel door to an advanced civilization living underground. The undergrounder men are milk-toast, the women are all tall 20-somethings in short skirts. The men refuse to help the 50s men fix their ship, half out of spinelessness at having to face the mutated cavemen (radiation sickness descendants) but half out of stirred up intrigue by one of the underworlders who is jealous. Hugh Marlow is stealing his girl. The intrigue man is discovered for who he is, exposed by a non-mutated girl (20ish) from the surface. The underworlders agree to help the 50s men make weapons to face the cavemen. They make a bazooka. (?!) With their trusty bazooka, they corner the mutates in a cave. Hugh Marlow challenges the leader to hand to hand combat. He wins and the mutates disband. Buoyed by such a victory, the underworlders come up and start building houses on the surface. Mankind resumes its place. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
The pacing is good and the plot full of things going on: a trip to Mars, a crash landing, attack by mutant cavemen, a secret underworld civilization, murder intrigue and cavemen vs. a bazooka. (sakes!) The scenario is intriguing enough to carry over the weak parts. This is a good look into the psyche of 50s atomic angst and bunker mentality.

Cold War Angle
WWE is built upon the assumption that Cold War would eventually turn "hot" and be as bad (or worse) than imagined. Amid WWE's social commentaries, is the resignation that nuclear war would happen and it would wipe out all that mankind had built, turning men back into savages.

Notes
Prop Watch -- The model rocket in WWE is the same one used in Flight to Mars ('51). It was a cool 50s style rocket. It was fun to see it going back to Mars.

Time Warp -- While this plot device would become common to the point of cliche in later years, it was pretty novel at this point. Time displacement was a background feature in The Twonky to explain how the mischievous future robot got to 1953. WWE may be the first sci-fi movie to feature time travel by humans.

Life After Armageddon -- The 1952 movie Captive Women (more speculative fiction than sci-fi), looked at America many generations after the much-expected nuclear war. They have many similarities. The normal people live underground. The mutants rule the surface. Among the mutates, there are some which have become normal again. The normals are weak and somewhat corrupt, though they have great women. In the end, the underworlders and the surface dwellers reunite.

Ultimate Bunker Mentality -- The "normals" who lived underground are like the logical extension of 50s bunker survivalists. H.G. Wells even touched on this in his 1898 novel "War of the Worlds" when his artilleryman character (on Putney Hill) expounded on his plan to live (with others) in the sewers and tunnels under London, learning science, keeping civilization alive. The underworlders are a likely result of what the artilleryman's dream would have turned into.

Sexy Awaits -- Totally incongruous for the story line, though of great interest to teen male movie goers, the women of the future are all 20-somethings with great figures and go around dressed in low-cut dresses with very short skirts. Their attire is much like that of the martian women in Flight to Mars and as spoofed by Abbott and Costello in their ...Go to Mars romp in '53.

Creeping Weakness -- One of the social commentary messages in WWE is that people are becoming complacent and weak. The "pioneers" are the standard of tough self-reliance. Men of the 50s were already getting soft. By 2508, the men were all cowardly milk-toast. Being safe and comfortable was all that mattered to them. Our four men from 1957 re-ignite the pioneer spark in the underworlder men.

Bottom line? WWE is a good tale. While not as much high-art as Forbidden Planet, it has enough plot and thought to entertain even viewers who aren't already 50s sci-fi fans.

Forbidden Planet

This is THE big science fiction movie of the 1950s. While the genre was becoming cluttered with low-budget B movies, Forbidden Planet (FP) was MGM's no-expense-spared A-level production. Sci-fi had hit the big time. FP has a grand epic quality. It has thoughtful writing and lavish production which set a very high bar for sci-fi movies for decades to come. Each decade seems to produce its own benchmark sci-fi epic. The 60s had Kubrik's 2001, the 70s had Star Wars. For the 1950s, it was Forbidden Planet. The narrative structure: a quasi-military crew in a space cruiser (with hyper-drive) encountering strange adventures (and lost advanced civilizations) on distant planets, would form the basis for Gene Rodenberry's Star Trek and many other sci-fi movies. In fact, the pilot for the first Star Trek series bears many resemblances to FP. Star Trek, in turn, had a powerful influence on later sci-fi.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The United Planets Star Cruiser C-57D traveled (with hyper drive) to the distant planet Altair IV to check on a scientific expedition which had failed to report in for almost 20 years. Once in orbit, an ominous voice warns them to stay away. (hence the title) They land anyway and find Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) and his 19 year old daughter Altaira ("Alta", Anne Francis), the only humans on the planet. All of the others were killed by some mysterious force on the planet 20 years ago. Morbius has created an amazing robot named "Robby". Morbius refuses to leave Altair IV. While Commander Adams (Leslie Nielsen) is awaiting new orders from earth, several of the ship's officers are smitten with lust for the attractive, and highly naive Alta. A mysterious invisible beast damages the cruiser, then in another attack kills one of the officers. Morbius tells the commander about the Krell, an advanced civilization which flourished on Altair IV 2000 centuries ago, but were mysteriously wiped out in one night. He had been studying their texts, learning a little of their secrets, and using some of their mind-tool machines. Eventually, the invisible beast attacks the ship again. It is caught in a force-beam fence, and blasted with every weapon the crew had, but this simply enraged it. The beast kills a few crewmen, then leaves. Back in Morbius' lab, the Doctor tries the brain enhancer machine but is mortally wounded. Before dying, he tells the Commander that the invisible beast is Morbius' "id" -- his dark side come to life and with limitless power. Alta wants to go to earth with the Commander, but Morbius objects. The Id Beast attacks the house. The Commander, Alta and Morbius run deep into the Krell lab. The Id monster eventually begins to melt through an impenetrable door. Morbius tries to disown the beast, but cannot. It is him. For a moment, the beast is stopped when Morbius swoons. Exhausted, he tells the commander to arm a planetary self-destruct device. He tells the Commander to take Alta off the planet. He would remain with his Id Beast to keep it distracted. The survivors fly off and watch the planet explode. The Commander waxes eloquent about the future of mankind, with Alta in his arms. The end.

Why is this move fun?
FP is simply an excellent movie. There's action for those who love action. There's gizmos for those who love gizmos. There's even a lot of cerebral depth, for those who like movies that make them think.

Cold War Angle
FP is devoid of the usual Cold War allegories. It is, instead, a space drama on a Wagnerian scale. There is a background message about technology being potentially dangerous, but this has only a loose connection to the Cold War.

Notes
Shakespeare in Space? -- It is often repeated that FP is based on Shakespeare's play, "The Tempest." This is only partially true. Some of the main characters have close parallels, but the overall plot line is too different for any claim to have been based on it. Similarities: Morbius, the sage and powerful father, a conjurer who learned ancient "arts", lines up well with Shakespeare's Prospero. Altaira, his lovely and naive daughter, lines up well with Miranda. Robby the Robot somewhat corresponds to the sprite Ariel, though this is a weak comparison. The "Id monster" could be seen as Caliban, but this is almost too much of a stretch. Morbius and Altaira living alone on their planet matches up with Prospero and Miranda marooned on their island. Then there is the coming of the ship that brings the strangers, one of whom the daughter falls in love with. Differences: Shakespeare's Prospero was marooned on his island, Morbius chose to stay there. Prospero caused the storm that wrecked the ship, bringing his rival to the island. Morbius did not want the strangers to land. Prospero's whole plan was to get even with his rival (who exiled him) and reclaim his throne (Duke of Milan). Morbius does not wish to return.

Robby, the RoboStar -- The robot in FP almost steals the show. Most movie robots were crude "tin men". Robby's form is highly designed. His apparent mechanical brain was very high-tech for his day. (Computers were mechanical 'difference engines' in the 50s) He would become a pattern for many other sci-fi prop robots to come. He even got his own sequel The Invisible Boy the next year, in which he plays a co-starring role. He would be featured in several TV show episodes including a Lost in Space episode. Audiences took quite a shine to Robby. No other sci-fi movie prop, by this point, had such fame.

They're NOT After Our Women -- The movie's poster uses the stereotyped image of the robot/monster carrying off the swooned voluptuous babe. The artist even suggested angry "eyes" with the little gyro wheels. Such suggestion sold tickets, even if it was a lie. This scene never occurs in the movie. Robby is the benign helper character, not the monster. He was NOT after anybody's women.

Saucer Men -- It is interesting to note that advanced space ship of earth's future will be a flying saucer. By the mid 50s, the saucer was becoming iconic of "advanced civilizations." So, it was natural enough that MGM has the United Planets Star Cruiser C-57D be a stereotypic saucer. This time, however, the saucer was piloted by earth men.

Navy in Space -- In the post-Vietnam era, it may seem a bit odd that the crew of the Star Cruiser was so overtly military. The ranks and jargon was thoroughly Navy. The comic-relief character, Cookie, was a blatant lift from WWII movies. While things military fell out of favor after Vietnam, in the 50s, the military still had an heroic aura to it.

Power of Purity -- A little plot feature almost lost in editing, is the notion that Alta has some semi-mystical nature powers because she was untainted by sexual feelings. A deleted scene involves Doc and the Commander talking about the myth of the unicorn and the power virgins had over them. Alta had a sort of Eve-in-Eden relationship with animals -- even an otherwise deadly tiger. Her implied virginity or purity, was the source of this power over nature. Commander Adams, in the role of the serpent, aroused physical lust in her. Once he had, her mystical bond with nature was gone. She was a fallen, normal, human like the rest.

Fallen Man -- Another subtle plot feature dealt with the inherent fallen (sinful) nature of man. Morbius had imagine himself from an Arminianist's point of view -- that is, essentially free of mankind's sinful nature. Confronted with the Id Monster -- the manifestation of his own evil thoughts -- he came to realize that the Calvinists were right. Man always carries inside him, a dark side that is not simply primal, but inherently evil. The Krell, likewise, had fooled themselves into believing they were essentially good, only to discover that their own dark side, given sufficient power, was stronger than their good side.

50s Moderne -- Morbius' house exudes the "international style" that was ultra "modern" in the mid 50s. The echo of Art Deco (such is often seen in "50s" diner styles) was stuff of the prior generation. The spartan, open and airy look would linger on in popularity until the late 60s, when an inward-looking and darkish neo-tudor style replaced it.

Bottom line? FP is the pinnacle of sci-fi movie for the 50s. It clearly inspired much that came after it. It is well worth watching -- and owning.

The Atomic Man

This British movie is on the periphery of sci-fi. It is predominately a crime drama in which the typically cocky and irreverent journalist annoys almost everyone while proving his hunch to be true. The sci-fi twist is that a nuclear scientist, found shot and floating in the Thames, finds himself 7.5 seconds in the future. While he is the title character, he's more of a MacGuffin than an active character. Who is he? Who wants him dead, and why? The annoying reporter becomes obsessed with solving the mystery. Another small thing that keeps Atomic Man (AM) marginally within the sci-fi orbit are a couple of the stars. Faith Domergue plays the reporter's girlfriend. She starred as Ruth in This Island Earth ('55). Joseph Tomelty plays one of the police inspectors. He was the professor in Devil Girl From Mars ('54).

Quick Plot Synopsis The movie opens with a man running through the night. He is shot and falls into a river. Later, the police fish him out, alive but unconscious. A reporter named Delaney thinks he recognizes him as an American nuclear physicist named Raynor. The doctors remove the bullet, but during the operation, his heart stops (for 7.5 seconds). Afterward, he regains consciousness, but babbles nonsense phrases. Turns out that it can't be Raynor, as a Dr. Raynor is still at the nuclear lab in London. Minor inconsistencies keep Delaney undaunted. It turns out that a corporation which mines and markets tungsten wanted to get rid of Raynor and blow up the lab. The scientists were on the verge of synthesizing tungsten. The corporation created a double for Raynor via plastic surgery, in order to create a nuclear overload in the lab's reactor. The real Raynor escaped before he could be disposed of, but when he "died" for 7.5 seconds, it put his mind 7.5 seconds in the future. The corporate operatives continue to try and kill the real Raynor, and blow up the lab. All of this unravels due to Delaney's persistence. The overload of plutonium is found in time. All is safe for a sappy psuedo-romantic ending. The End.

Why is this movie fun? The gimmick, a man whose mind is 7.5 seconds in the future, is intriguing enough to shore up an otherwise pedestrian crime drama. The scene in which they figure out that his meaningless blather is actually him answering the questions before they were asked, is rather clever. You can also get a glimpse of the naive early notion in which radiation has a magical quality to it. It could do almost anything.

Cold War Angle There is a modest amount of tension from the dangers of atomic energy, but nothing of commies or nuclear war. The villain is a corporation trying to maintain its monopoly.

Notes Philosophy Fiction: Phi-fi? -- The scientific rationale offered for why Raynor was 7.5 seconds in the future was weak, but here's how it goes: When Raynor's heart stopped, time stopped for his body. His mind, energized by prolonged exposure to radiation, continued to live. When his heart resumed beating, his body resumed in "normal" time. Since his mind continued "in time" for those 7.5 seconds, having his body resume "time", then pushed his mind into the future. All this hinges on the presumption that "time" is tied to life. When life ceases, time (for that person) stops. This draws from existentialist philosophy more than it does science. Time is the experience of consciousness. Perhaps there is a Phi-fi sub-genre?

Drugs & Time -- Raynor's mind is 7.5 seconds ahead of his body. To make the two synch up, the doctors give Raynor an overdose of "paramine" (sp?) to almost stop his brain function. Despite admissions that they (the doctors) really have no clue what they're doing, it works. Raynor's mind and body are back in synch again.

Evil Corp. -- The villain in Atomic Man is a shadowy corporation which has a monopoly on a rare element: tungsten. They seek to eliminate a potential threat to their monopoly with mobster-like methods. The secondary hero in the tale is Raynor, who was trying to use science to synthesize that monopolized element. This follows the populist conspiracy theories that greedy companies are denying mankind advances. We saw this earlier in The Man in the White Suit ('51) -- albeit in more humorous form.

Bottom line? Atomic Man is primarily a crime drama mystery story. Who shot the mystery man and why? At that level, it has little appeal to sci-fi buffs. The gimmick is unique, though. So, more zealous fans of 50s B sci-fi may enjoy it. Better, though, if you can borrow the DVD from the library, rather than buy it. One watching is enough.

Indestructible Man

Indestructable Man (IM) is certainly a B-movie, but it's only just barely a sci-fi B-movie. For the majority of its runtime, it's a routine pulp crime drama. The only sci-fi link is the brief scene of a misguided doctor who uses some electroshock gizmo to revive the dead man, played by Lon Chaney Jr. Someone looking for aliens, saucers or rockets will likely be annoyed by IM. It's primarily a comic-book-grade crime tale. However, for fans of 50s sci-fi, there are a couple little bits that make it worth watching (provided it's free. Purchasing a DVD would be a waste).

Quick Plot Synopsis
"Butcher" Benton is on death row, set up by his crooked lawyer and two accomplices, for an armored car robbery which they all committed. Benton is executed (gas chamber), but his body is "bought" from the morgue by a doctor's lab assistant. The doctor is experimenting on some vague cancer cure but needs a human body to experiment upon. Naturally, it's Benton's body. The electroshock treatment brings Benton back to life, but has also transformed him in an indestructible man. Nothing can penetrate his skin. He kills the doctor and assistant, then heads to Los Angeles to settle the score with those who set him up. He also kills a few people along his way. When he gets to LA, he kills the two accomplices and the lawyer but eludes the police because he hides in the sewers. The police go after him down in the sewers, with a bazooka and some flame throwers. These don't stop him, but force him up into an electrical power station. While trying to escape, Benton climbs up onto a moving crane which eventually (big surprise!) touches a high voltage line. Benton is dead, again.

Why is this movie fun?
It takes a bit of digging to find some redeeming features to IM, but there are a few. A young Joe Flynn plays the bit part of Dr. Bradshaw's assistant. He would become more famous as Captain Binghamton in the mid-1960s' TV sitcom McHale's Navy. Also interesting was the whole search-the-sewers-of-LA scene. This imagery debuted in Them! (June 1954) and re-used in The Snow Creature (November '54). Imitation as sincere flattery.
The plot device of an unhurtable man would get used very differently in M.Night Shamalan's Unbreakable (2000). M.Night went for the noble/heroic side. IM stoops to the grim noir side.

Cold War Angle
There really is no connection to nukes or the Cold War. IM is almost pure pulp crime comic book. No straining of analogies or abuse of metaphors could stretch it into a Cold War angst story.

Notes
Gotta Love Them Sewers -- Los Angeles must have been very proud of their sewer system. IM parroted Them ('54) in stating that there are over 700 miles of sewer tunnels beneath LA. Wilder had his snow monster skulking around down there too in The Snow Creature ('54). It won't be the last time a monster gets down there. If you've lost your monster, save time. Look in the sewers of LA.

Patchwork Plot -- It's hard not to notice that the story line of IM is cobbled together from previous works. Take a banal crime drama. Insert a few pages of Dr. Frankenstein (complete with the criminal brain angle). Cut back to the trashy crime story. Graft in the part about looking for the monster in the sewers of LA. End the chase with a kill-the-monster-with-high-voltage segment. Wrap it up with a light-hearted and/or romantic non-sequetor, and Viola! You've got script. It's just that easy. In many ways, the pulp crime plot is reminiscent to that of Creature with the Atomic Brain ('55)

Naive Danger -- IM taps into the somewhat tired stereotype of the naive scientist as the cause of everyone's trouble (and his own demise). Oh sure, he is out to do good for humanity, but with a reckless naivety. Therein lies the age-old cultural mythos -- anxiety about how "science" brings mankind danger, even if well intentioned. This theme isn't so much explored in IM as it's just capitalized upon for a plot device: a sure sign of it being a cultural myth element. (and why do the assistants always come up with the criminals?)

There's More Than One? -- An odd little bit of script writing occurs about half way through. Benton has killed the first accomplice (Joe) and just got done killing the second, Squeemy Ellis. A crowd gathers around the dead man to gawk. Eva comes up behind a man in the crowd who tells her that it was Squeemy. "You mean, Squeemy Ellis?" she asks. Huh? How many "Squeemys" could there be? Was this a common name among LA riff-raff? Bizarre.

PERMANENT Press -- The electoshock not only gave Benton impenetrable skin, it made his clothes indestructible too. In the sewers, the police shot him with a bazooka, (which only gave him a tummy cramp) and torched him with a flame thrower. But, when he tired of that and left, his clothes were perfectly fine. Amazing! Perhaps the miracle fabric is the secret to his indestructibility.

Dark Side / Light Side -- The notion of being indestructible has been cast as both a good thing and bad. Superman was an early example of it being a good thing. In 2000, M. Night Shyamalan would use it too in his Unbreakable. Here we have the dark side of that same power. This is more of a Cold War worry personified. If we can't hurt the communists, they could do whatever they wanted...

Bottom line? IM is probably best skipped if you're easily annoyed by pulp crime stories (suave detectives, shapely dames, brutish criminals, etc.), because that's what it is, for the most part. But, if you're a hard-core devotee to 50s sci-fi B-movies, seeing the formulaic scenes are like figurines of the Statue of Liberty or Mount Rushmore -- cheap copies of something impressive. The sci-fi fan will know the original and smile at the homage.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

This is, perhaps, the flagship of 50s sci-fi movies. Even people who know nothing of this golden period of sci-fi, know this movie. Despite a relatively low budget, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (IBS) has A-level acting and great directing. It holds up very well to viewing even 50+ years later. Very few 50s movies can match this. While IBS is not the first of the alien takeover sub-genre, nor would it be the last, it is certainly the penultimate example of it. The story itself is powerful enough that it's spawned three other remake movies.

Quick Plot Synopsis

The movie opens with a disheveled and frantic Dr. Miles Bennell ranting in a hospital emergency room that "they" are out there. A kindly doctor decides to listen instead of writing him off as pure looney. In a flashback, Miles tells how he was called back from a convention to his small town practice. Many residents are reporting mysterious ailments or that a loved one is "not themselves". At first, Miles treats the complaints somewhat condescendingly. Viewers are given many hints of the looming problem. All this changes when Miles' friend Jack finds an almost-formed body -- a copy of Jack. MIles races to Becky's house (his love interest) and finds another copy body of her in her basement. He takes her (sleeping) to his house. The four of them speculate about what to do, but find four big seed pods in Miles' greenhouse, which pop open and start forming copies of them. The telephones are in control of the pod people, as are the police. Miles sends Jack and his wife to run away for help. He and Becky elude capture and get to MIles' office in town. There, Miles sees that pods are being delivered to all the surrounding communities. The two are discovered and pods set up for them. Instead, they escape and run into the hills. Again they elude capture, but too weary to stay awake, Becky sleeps for just a second. While Miles was kissing her, she changes into a pod person right before his eyes. Miles runs, all alone now, escaping only by running onto a crowded highway. No one stops for the raving mad man.Flash forward to hospital emergency room. No one believes Miles' crazy story until an ambulance driver brings in a truck crash victim who was buried under a pile of huge seed pods. The truck came from Miles' town. Finally believing Miles, the doctor alerts the police and calls the FBI. The world is saved. The End.

Why is this movie fun?

The acting in IBS is good. Almost none of the actors come across as people reciting lines. The pacing is tight. The mood of paranoia is inescapable. This movie is still powerful and evocative, even to 21st century audiences long since spoiled by huge-budget special effects. It's a tightly done thriller

.Cold War Angle

This point has been debated. Traditionally, IBS is cited as an expression of the creeping takeover of communism. Others have argued that it's an expression of the creeping takeover of McCarthyist nationalism. More on this in the Notes section.

Notes

Commies or McCarthy? -- IBS can be seen as an allegory of the oppression of the McCarthy era. There certainly was a strong pressure to conform to official "patriotic" expression. Somewhat in support of this, the producer, Walter Mirisch said that he wasn't trying to produce an anti-communist allegory. Of course, he didn't say he was producing an anti-McCarthy flick either, just "a thriller, pure and simple." However much one might dislike McCarthyism, this view doesn't quite fit. Listen carefully to the dialogue about the pods being without emotion, having no use for love or feelings. This fits the communist ideology far better than McCarthyism. The communist citizen was to be a cog in the modern state machine. Individual desires were to be subsumed to the collective will, etc. etc. McCarthyism, for all its many faults, was far from emotionless.

Pod Heritage -- IBS wasn't the first in the alien takeover sub-genre. In movies, The Man from Planet X ('51) had the townsfolk under mind control working for the alien. It Came from Outer Space ('53) had the aliens creating zombie-like duplicates of the townspeople to help fix their space ship. Then there was Invaders from Mars ('53) in which the martians used little brain stem implants to turn the townsfolk into emotionless minions. In all these examples, the telltale symptom is the lack of emotion.

Pod Lineage -- IBS would not be the last of the alien takeover sub-genre either. Aside from the outright remakes in 1978, 1993 and 2007, there would be I Married a Monster from Outer Space ('58), which is not as dumb as it sounds, Invisible Invaders ('59), The Brain Eaters ('60) and The Day Mars Invaded Earth ('63). Others fit too, so this list is partial.

Plot Hole -- There is one odd quirk in the plot, which the '78 version tried to clear up. When the pod duplicate is done replicating the human, what happened to the original's body? It's implied that the pod-duplicate assumes the "life" of the host, such that there should be two Jacks or Beckys after the transformation, just as there were two just before. Perhaps they're buried or disposed of by the pod-duplicate. We never see this, so it's not clear at all. Yet, at the climax of the movie, Becky changes to pod-Becky within the same body. A bit incongruous. The '78 version would fill this in by having the original human body quickly decay into dust, leaving only the pod-duplicate.

Two Endings -- The movie is said that the movie originally had a depressing ending. (It ended with Miles looking into the truck full of pods) The studio objected and wanted a more hopeful ending, thus the flashback beginning, (which lets us know that Miles gets away throughout the whole movie), but also the mobilizing of the authorities that saves us all. Actually, this optimistic ending is closer to that of Jack Finney's novel upon which the movie is based. In the novel, Miles finds and sets fire to a field of pods. The survivors then woosh up into space, abandoning their plan to colonize the earth. It should be noted that the '78 film would revert to the depressing ending. The pods win.

Is This Really Sci-fi? -- One might argue that IBS is thriller, but not sci-fi. After all, there's no space ship, or saucers, or ray guns or creepy aliens (if you don't count the gooey foamy pod things). That's all true, and people looking for those things will probably be disappointed. However, listen to "Dan's" explanation of the pods. They drifted through space and fell to earth. They are able to duplicate other life form patterns and then assume their minds. In the novel, this is just what the pods do. It's a pod life. Granted, there's not a lot of sciency mumbo-jumbo associated, but there is the alien life form angle which definitely IS sci-fi.

Bottom line? Rent it. Watch it. IBS is worth watching, whether you're a sci-fi fan or not. It's just a great classic American film.

1955

The middle year of the decade saw a few enduring classics, but mostly obscure B-movies. Producers found that there was a market for low-budget B grade sci-fi. Matinee or drive-in fodder, especially for double features, B-grade sci-fi didn't have to be too fancy to be entertaining. It wasn't a year of innovation, so much as it was a year of repeating already-successful plot formulae. Here are 1955's sci-fi movies in chronological order:

Conquest of Space -- is George Pal's almost-epic tale of a realistic vision of a future trip to Mars.

Revenge of the Creature -- is the sequel to the popular "Creature from the Black Lagoon". Here, gill man is brought to Florida and pretty much repeats the first movie's plot.

This Island Earth -- is a sci-fi classic. It's an intriguing tale of aliens who try to recruit earth's nuclear scientists to help them stave off interstellar defeat.

King Dinosaur -- is an ultra-low-budget movie about an earth expedition finding "dinosaurs" on a rogue planet.

The Quatermass Xperiment -- is actually a fairly well done British film about an amorphous creature from space which comes to earth in an astronaut.

Beast With a Million Eyes -- an incorporeal alien who feeds on fear, causes animals to attack people, but love triumphs. Very low-budget.

It Came From Beneath The Sea -- is a classic Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animation monster movie about a giant octopus which terrorizes San Francisco.

The Creature With the Atomic Brain -- is a low-budget, but somewhat innovative zombie film. A vengeful mobster uses electronically re-animated dead people to extract his revenge.

Tarantula -- amounts to another installment in the giant bug sub-genre begun by Them! in '54. A mad scientist looking for synthetic food creates giant animals. His tarantula escapes and terrorizes.

Godzilla Raids Again -- is Toho's sequel to Godzilla. Here, he battles another dinosaur-thing, laying waste to Osaka in the process.

Day the World Ended -- is a post-apocolyptic tale of seven people who survive in a sheltered valley. Radiation-spawned mutations lurk in the shadows.

Phantom from 10,000 Fathoms -- is a very cheap recast of the Godzilla theme, but with a human-sized rubber suit monster.

Bride of the Monster -- is an ultra-low-budget crossover sci-fi / horror flick. Only Bela Lugosi, in his last speaking movie, saves it from the dumpster of total humiliation.