This Island Earth

Like many 50s sci-fi movies, This Island Earth (TIE) has gotten a bad rap. It was lampooned in Mystery Science Theater 3000's movie, but it's really not a bad movie. Mockery isn't proof of fault. One can mock just about anything. TIE tried hard to be a grander epic about aliens and alien worlds. It must be admitted that it didn't quite reach its lofty goal. It's definitely a cut above the usual B movie, but not quite up to an A level. It is, however, a must see for a tour of 50s sci fi.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Cal Meecham sets out from Washington DC in his private military jet. He's on his way back to his California lab to resume work on turning common lead into fissionable uranium. As he comes in to land, his plane's controls go dead. A strange green glow takes over his plane and lands him safely. He decides not report it, as UFO sightings ruin careers. Back in his lab, he receives some miraculous small electrical parts from a mysterious Unit 16. He next receives an instruction manual from Unit 16 for a bizarre machine called an "Interociter." When completed, the Interociter receives a video message from a man with an unusually high forehead and white hair, named Exeter. He invites Meecham to join a group of scientists working on "world peace." The Interociter "kit" was the test to see if Meecham was worthy.
Flown to Exeter's estate by a pilotless plane, Meecham joins a collection of famous scientists, all of whom work in atomic research. The scientists are all cagy with each other, suspecting mind-control tricks by Exeter. Meecham, Carlson and Dr. Ruth Adams all decide to make a break for it. Carlson is killed by the Nutrino Beam. Meecham and Adams try to fly away in a small prop plane, but are pulled inside Exeter's flying saucer by a green beam. Exeter reveals that he's from the planet Metaluna. Meecham and Adams are being taken there to create uranium, which the Metalunars need for their planet's defensive Ion Shield. Another race, the Zahgons, are making war against Metaluna, steering asteroids and meteorites down onto the planet.
Once on Metaluna, it is clearly too late. The Ion Shield is failing and meteorites are raining down on the already ruined surface. Exeter takes pity on Meecham and Adams and helps them escape in his saucer. Before they get away, however, a worker drone (called Mu-tants) attacks and injures Exeter. It also gets aboard the saucer before they leave. While en route to Earth, the Mu-tant attacks Adams, but dies of his wounds. When the saucer gets to Earth, Exeter beams them down in the plane they had. He has no options, as his ship is out of energy. He crashes into the sea as a fireball. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
In TIE we have several tangents and twists to the advanced aliens story threads. These are fun to watch. The Metalunars are not quite evil and not quite good either.
The tale is sweeping in scope, with so many unresolved sub-plots that it gives the viewer plenty of stuff to ponder on, well after the movie is over.

Cold War Angle
The Cold War is quietly in the background in TIE, but it's there. All those scientists were working in atomic research. Exeter offers Meecham a chance to work toward world peace (instead?) Also, the war between the Zahgons and Metaluna, especially the devastation on Metaluna, serve as a warning preview of future war. Others have commented that Exeter's recruiting of top scientists for his uranium project, was reminiscent to America gathering up the "free world's" scientists for weapons research.

Notes
Aliens Among Us -- A subtle element in the first half of TIE is the notion of advanced aliens living secretly among us.

No Smart Zombies -- The Metalunars' "Plan A" (they actually called it that) was to use The Converter to remove the free will of nuclear scientists. The goal was to produce scientist drones who would unquestioningly work to solve Metaluna's problems. In this, there's a subtle commentary on the world of government research project work. Exeter finds that "converted" scientists lose their initiative. That spark of inquisitiveness, such as what Meecham exhibited at the Interociter kit, was gone. The Metalunars could not make smart zombies.

Plan B -- Exeter wanted to try being Mr. NiceGuy and coax the scientists into doing the needed research. This may have worked, but Metaluna did not have the luxury of time to find out. Hence, the need to simply abduct Meecham and Adams and force them to do their work on Metaluna.

A Creature's Second Chance -- The costume for the insectoid "Mu-tant" creatures on Metaluna was proposed for the 1953 movie It Came From Outer Space but was rejected by director Jack Arnold in favor of the cycloptic potato-things. Perhaps the big brain bug-man was too obviously menacing looking for the advanced-but-benign aliens in It came.... But, like many sci-fi props, it went into "inventory", not the dumpster. The "highly advanced" quality of the aliens in It came... explains the incongruity of the Mu-tants having such big brains for supposedly menial laborers on Metaluna.

The Noble Alien -- Exeter is an interesting twist on the potential invader. He has sympathy for the earthlings. He's torn between his desire to save his home world, yet respect for Earth. His cohort, Brack, is more of the typical invader alien. Brack would just as soon "convert" everyone, and blast with the Nutrino Beam any who step out of line. Metalunaa's leader, The Monitor, is smug about their superiority and intention to take over Earth as their new home. Exeter argues that they could live in peace among the earthlings. In the end, Exeter gives his life to return Meecham and Adams to the Earth.

Two and a Half Years? -- The promotional posters proudly state that TIE took 2 and a half years "in the making." The final result does not look like 2.5 years of continual effort. Since the Mutant alien costume was created in 1953, it's possible that the idea and even some initial shooting began then. The project may well have gone "back burner" a few times. There are three very distinct "acts" to TIE, which lend themselves to big breaks -- Act 1:The early jet / lab / Interociter, Act 2: The Exeter estate, Act 3: To Metaluna and back.

Old Home Coming -- Make note of the house used as Exeter's estate. It was on Universal Studios' back lot and so got used in many movies. We'll see it again in Tarantula ('55) and The Creature Walks Among Us ('56). There are more in other genre too, such as westerns, etc.

Bottom line? Definitely check out TIE, and not the MST3K version. It's not one of the memorable epics of '50s sci-fi, but neither is it the failure that MST3K fame implies. It is one of the milestones of '50s sci-fi.

Revenge of the Creature

Even before they were done making Creature from the Black Lagoon ('54) Universal Studios and director Jack Arnold were laying the seeds to a sequel. They changed the ending in the first movie to be ambiguous so it would be plausible to bring the gill-man back. Their instincts were correct. The first movie turned out to be very popular. When they set about doing the second movie, it was only part sequel -- it professed to tell the continuing story -- but it was also a remake -- telling the same story in a slightly different way. Fans of the Creature series often consider this second installment to be the weakest of the three, perhaps because it recycles much of the original plot. The third movie, The Creature Walks Among Us offers some new story elements.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Two scientists return to the Black Lagoon, aboard the Rita 2, to capture the gill-man. They explode some floating dynamite charges around the lagoon. When the unconscious gill-man floats up, they put him in a tank and head home. They take him "Ocean Harbor" (an aquatic amusement park) in Florida for exhibition and study. They revive him, but have him chained to the floor in the big exhibit tank, along with all the other ocean life already on display. The lead scientist, Clete Fergusson (John Agar) and obligatory beautiful female scientist Helen Dobson (Lori Nelson) are trying to train the gill-man to understand spoken commands. After one session, gill-man breaks his chain and escapes -- amid much pandemonium. He escapes into the sea.
Later, he reappears outside Helen's motel room. He follows her and Clete upriver to Jacksonville and crashes their celebration party at a riverside restaurant. Gill-man snatches Helen and swims off. He is hunted down by an army of policemen with searchlights. Eventually they find him. The lights anger/confuse him, so he puts Helen down. A hail of bullets throw him backwards into the water. There's the exact same ambiguous floating down footage from the first movie. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
If you're a Creature fan, this movie is a second helping of your favorite meal. The acting is much better than its B-budget would imply. There is a lot more action, so the movie moves along at a fairly brisk pace. It's also fun to spot the re-use of footage from the first movie. More on that below. Also, watch for a very young Clint Eastwood in his first movie role. He got a small talking part as the intern lab assistant. His hair is a total hoot!

Cold War Angle
None. Like the first Creature movie, which this is just more of it, the story is about scary creatures, not commies.

Notes
Creature, Mark II -- The gill-man's costume in Revenge is not simply the re-use of the first. Since the gill-man had to do more walking on land in this movie, they had to modify the eyes so the stunt man could see better. The modified eyes were incorporated into the underwater costume too, for continuity, but you'll notice some shots where the gill-man's costume does not have the "egg" eyes. These are shots from the first movie's footage.

Aqua Kong -- The plot line is a close mirror to the story of King Kong. An expedition travels into the mysterious jungle and discovers a rare "freak" of nature. They bring it back to civilization to exhibit and study. The creature is smitten with the beautiful woman. He breaks his chains and escapes. He abducts the woman, but is stopped and killed (almost). There are many little copied elements, if you're looking for them, such as at the display tank where the many photographers' flashbulbs drive the gill-man crazy.

Dip Redux -- Many of the first movie's scenes were reshot, but essentially the same. One of the most blatant was having the second beauty, Helen, don a white swimsuit and go swimming in the clear spring water. The creature then swims along beneath her in almost the exact same manner. The producers were apparently not ashamed of simply doing it again, if audiences liked it.

Inevitable Love Interest -- Like the first movie, and most movies, for that matter, Revenge has the usual boy-likes-girl (who is also liked by another boy) sub plot. It's fairly shallow, to the point of trivial. Given the surprise popularity of Gill-Man from the first movie, it's a little odd that this plot feature got as much air time as it did.

By Any Other Name -- The exhibit and research facility is called "Ocean Harbor," but is actually shot at a real sea-attraction park called Marineland. Located on the coast just south of St. Augustine, Marineland was one of the first touristy attraction sites which were beginning to cater to the growing tourism industry. Years before SeaWorld and decades before Disneyworld. The post-war prosperity put millions of Americans on the road looking for interesting diversions. The producers of Revenge used Marineland, but made up overlay signs that said "Ocean Harbor" for wherever "Marineland" or "Marine Studios" appeared. Watch for them and you'll see. They're just overlays. Still, Revenge gives modern viewers a peek at mid-50s pre-Disney Florida tourism's modest beginnings.

Bottom line? If you liked the first Creature movie, Revenge will be fun. If you didn't especially like the first movie, the second one will feel shallow and predictable. For the sci-fi fan, there's really no "science" in the fiction. It's a monster movie.

Conquest of Space

Producer George Pal gave us the sci-fi landmark Destination Moon in 1950. He then gave us the timeless classic War of the Worlds in '53. This, his third epic, was a grand effort, but fell shy of his earlier triumphs. On paper, it should have been another mega-classic. The team members from the earlier hits were reassembled. Pal as producer, Haskin directing, Lydon on screenplay, O'Hanlon writing. Conquest was also based on a popular book. Yet, despite all this pedigree, something fell short. Conquest would not go on to be remembered as one of the 50s mega-classics. Some of this obscurity may be due to Conquest being in the "serious" science fiction sub-genre, like Destination Moon and Riders to the Stars which tried to depict a plausible space-traveling future. Audiences were becoming much more entranced with saucers and weird aliens.

In some ways,Conquest is a remake of the basic story line from Destination Moon -- a crew are the first to land on a celestial body. They struggle to survive and yet courageously return. This time, instead of the moon, it's Mars. As a remake goes, however, it's worthy. The Technicolor is rich and the sets well done. This is an A-level production which at its release was the 2001: A Space Odyssey of its day. All the melodrama, however, starts to get in the way of the techno-gee-whiz.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Based aboard a rotating wheel space station, workmen prepare a big flying wing of a rocket ship. A group of potential crewmen train for what they think will be a moon landing mission. As the work nears completion, they find out that the real mission will be a landing on Mars instead. While aboard "The Wheel", we're introduced to the phenomenon of "space sickness" -- a mental breakdown due to workload and confinement for long periods. One of the crew candidates is scrubbed because of one such breakdown. Nonetheless, the multinational crew are chosen and embark for the long journey to Mars. After departure, it's found that General Merritt's old friend, Sergeant Mahoney, stowed away. On the way to Mars, a communications antenna is damaged and must be fixed via spacewalking crewmen. Just as the repairs are completed, the customary meteor arrives, threatening to hit the ship. General Merritt manages to fly the ship out of the way, but one of the crewmen on EVA is hit with micrometeoroids (like bullets) and killed. The General is also starting to show odd behavior, doubting whether their mission is proper or is an affront to God. Their evasive action puts them behind schedule, but they arrive at Mars. While attempting to land on Mars, the General has another bout of delusion and tries to abort the landing. His son, Captain Merritt, manages to take control and brings in the flying-wing lander to a rough but successful landing. The others go out to explore, but the General, now fully delusional, is venting rocket fuel in an attempt to blow up the ship. His son discovers this and the two struggle. The General's pistol discharges, killing him. Mahoney comes on the scene just then and accuses Captain Merritt of murdering the General. The rest explore a bit more, but pronounce Mars a dead planet. Despite this, Imoto discovers that his earth flower seed sprouted in martian soil. Earthquakes cause the escape rocket to shift off of perpendicular. They get it righted and blast off. On the way home, Mahoney and Captain Merritt make up and declare that the dead General was a hero, the man who conquered space. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The color, the sets, models and background paintings are very visually rich. The whole image is a great snapshot of the future as people in the mid-50s imagined it would be. More tidbits in the Notes section below.

Cold War Angle
There is actually a subtle anti-war tone to the movie. No overt talk of nuclear dangers or menacing enemies. It is notable, however, that among the conspicuously international crew candidates, there is no Russian. Americans would "conquer" space with a few other nationals along for the ride, but NO Russians. There is also a poorly explained urgency to the mission. What's the hurry? Back in the Cold War, it was pretty common that WE had to get something before THEY did.

Notes
Based on the Book -- In 1949, Willy Ley wrote the book "The Conquest of Space," which speculated about how mankind might travel to other planets. This book was illustrated by space artist Chesley Bonestell. This book would become the inspiration for the movie.

From News Stand to Silver Screen --
From 1952 to 1954, Collier's magazine ran a series of stories about mankind conquering space. These were repeats by Ley and Bonestell of their 1949 book, but this time Collier's added material from "rocket scientist" Werner von Braun. Bonestell's new illustrations were clearly the prototype for the look of Conquest. People felt that mankind was on the verge of taking to the stars. The Collier's series expressed that giddy optimism.

Mired in Melodrama -- The screenplay for Conquest added weak human interest sub-plots which almost negate the gee-whiz optimism that the visuals convey. The screenwriters were all experienced in their craft, so it's puzzling why such amateurish characterizations are so prominent. The comic relief moments are almost cartoonish. The whole leader-gone-mad sub-plot seems out of place.

Earth-bound Man? -- A possible "message" to Conquest is that man is a fragile creature who may not be ready for the rigors of space travel. Certainly, people wondered about this, and other movies touched on the theme too, such as Riders to the Stars ('54). Our not being mentally ready yet was cited by the aliens in It Came From Outer Space ('53). General Merritt's dementia was foreshadowed in the breakdown of Roy early in the movie.

Navy In Space -- One thing that strikes the viewer is how much life aboard the space station is presumed to duplicate life aboard a navy ship. It's not overtly stated that the military should (or will) be the agency which "conquers" space, but from the ranks and uniforms and the navy-life scenes, that message comes through. Space ships will be like earthly ships.

Religious Fanatic? -- On the surface, it seems like Conquest is blasting Christians as dangerous religious fanatics. This notion, that anyone who believes in God simply MUST be wacko, would be much more popular in later decades, but it was uncommon in the 50s. For that reason, the General's dementia deserves a closer look.
Actually, General Merritt was not the stereotypic religious fanatic. His son comments that he had never seen him carrying around and reading the Bible before. Instead of headaches or paralysis, the General's "space sickness" took a paranoid turn. He had rational misgivings about the Mars mission from the start, pre-dementia. His repressed misgivings are expressed in Bible verses dealing with sinners being punished by God. He once quotes from Psalm 38, then later from Psalm 62.
Throughout all this, God is not mocked. Indeed, only the "religious" man had the courage to go outside and give the dead Fodor a proper burial. The other non-relgious crewmen were at a loss for what to do.
The notion of impudent mankind trying to meddle in God's domain, is treated as a credible issue. In this, the pattern of the Tower of Babel is drawn. Prideful mankind thinks they can build their way into God's realm. God foils that plan. General Merritt's dementia seems motivated by a fear that this divine retribution could be coming again.

Enemies Become Friends -- The writers of Conquest imagine a multinationalism in space. Most notable are two former enemy nations: Imoto is from Japan and Fodor is a German-accented Austrian, (as a stand-in for Germany). Imoto gets to make a little speech about why Japan went to war (lack of resources). Fodor gets to be seen as the cherished son of a classic "mama". By 1955, it was starting to become okay to look beyond World War 2.

Picture in Picture -- At one point, the crew of The Wheel are watching a movie with many scantily clad dancing girls (much like sailors aboard a ship). The movie is a lavish musical number with many gold bikini clad pseudo-harem girls dancing while Rosemary Clooney sings about love "...in the desert sand." This clip is total non-sequetor to the high-tech space environment. What's interesting, is that it's NOT stock footage recycled. Clooney had not done any such movie. This dance number must have been staged and shot just for this scene in Conquest. Random act of musical. Gotta love 'em.

Bottom line? Conquest is an almost-epic. It's definitely an A-grade sci-fi movie, so it's well worth watching. The human story part gets in the way sometimes, but the visuals more than make up for it.

1954

This was almost as big a year for 50s sci-fi as 1953. The genre was maturing and several sub-genre were taking shape. The notables of these were the giant-bug flicks, begun by Them! and the two rubber-suit monster types: the man-sized monster, typified by the gill-man in Creature from the Black Lagoon and the "giant" rubber-suit monster destroying model cities, defined by Godzilla. Amid all that, swirled B-movies both thoughtful and silly. Here they are in chronological order.

Riders to the Stars -- the second in Ivan Tors' "Office of Scientific Investigation" trilogy. Astronauts train for a dangerous meteoroid capture mission.

Killers from Space -- the second sci-fi B movie from the Wilder team. Almost retro, even in '54. The forerunner of alien abduction stories. Starring Peter Graves.

Creature from the Black Lagoon -- the grand daddy of all later man-in-rubber-suit monster flicks. One of the famous classics.

Devil Girl from Mars -- a low-budget British film with a cool twist. Mars women need to abduct earth men.

Them! -- this is the granddaddy of all the later giant atomic bug flicks. A classic.

Gog -- the third of Ivan Tors' OSI trilogy. High flying spy plane causes a super computer to kill off America's rocket scientists.

Crash of Moons -- a movie compilation of Rocky Jones, Space Ranger TV episodes. The old movie serials find new life on the small screen.

Tobor the Great -- a kid's sci-fi movie starring a big robot which can be controlled telepathically. Commie spies are out to steal Tobor.

Target Earth -- a low-budget B in which a handful of citizens elude a killer robot in a deserted city.

The Snow Creature -- another low-budget Wilder production about a Yeti captured and brought to Los Angeles.

Godzilla -- the granddaddy of all flicks featuring a "giant" monsters (men in rubber suits) destroying model cities.

Stranger from Venus -- a low-budget remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Monster from the Ocean Floor -- a low-budget monster movie by Wyott Ordung, the writer of Robot Monster ('53).

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea -- Disney's retelling of the classic Jules Verne tale. Big name actors, big budget and lavish color, but the Nautilus almost steals the show.
----

In memory of Charlton Heston

Heston died Saturday night at age 84. He didn't star in any 50s sci-fi, but did star in several big sci-fi movies of the 60s and 70s. He starred as Taylor in Planet of the Apes ('68), and Thorn in Soylent Green ('73), but a connection between Heston and 50s sci-fi is his portrayal of Robert Neville in Omega Man ('71). This movie was a remake of the story "I am Legend", written in 1954 by Richard Matheson and first made into a movie in 1964, starring Vincent Price. The recent Will Smith remake, using the original title, still doesn't follow the book very closely, but neither did Omega Man. Still, it's a string of sci-fi tale that stretches back into the 50s. Rest in peace, Mr. Heston.

Monster from the Ocean Floor

On the surface (no pun intended), this movie has little going for it for the sci-fi fan. It fits better into the monster/horror genre, as the monster isn't created by science gone awry. It "just is." However, there is some family pedigree that makes Monster from the Ocean Floor (MOF) a candidate for this study. First off, it has Roger Corman as the Producer. This was his first solo effort as Producer. Corman would go on to give us several more B-grade sci-fi films which would regularly make peoples' so-bad-they're-good lists. Secondly, MOF features Wyott Ordung as Director. Ordung wrote the screenplay for Robot Monster and helped on the screenplay for Target Earth. With these men involved, it merits at least one sitting.

Quick Plot Synopsis
While on vacation in Mexico, a young beautiful blonde woman hears about a "devil" monster which has taken several villagers over the years. She meets a dashing, handsome and single marine biologist and the buds of romance begin to sprout. She becomes determined to find out about this monster and do something about it. Her new boyfriend can only muster condescension. Pablo, an old local (actually played by Ordung) tells of a one-eyed beast which rises from the surf at each full moon. It just so happens that the next night is a full moon. Julie is frightened by a cow loose on the beach. She catches a glimpse of the creature in the surf before fainting. The next day, only the cow bell remains. A local old woman decides that Julie must be sacrificed to the beast to appease it. Pablo is her minion. He tries three times to get her killed off, not by feeding her to the creature, but by letting a shark get her, or her scuba tanks sabotaged. (just how this would appease the beast is unclear). Pablo has a change of heart and gives up the plan. Her boyfriend, Steve, is moving on to another area to research. She stays to look for the monster. On one excursion, she apparently snags the monster with her boat anchor. She sends some of the scraped off goo to Steve. He analyzes it and decides that she was right, there is a monster and rushes back. He arrives just as Julie is scuba diving alone to find the monster. She does, screams under water, and faints (also under water). Steve jumps into the mini-sub to go save her. He does this by ramming the sub into the creature's one big eye. He pulls limp Julie up to the surface. She's fine. They kiss and ride off together. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
The premise is pure monster story, so there's a familiar plot pattern to just sit on the couch and mindlessly enjoy. Yes, you can predict just about every event, but that's part of the charm. The mini-sub is almost the real star of this movie -- the actual hero. It is pretty cool.

Cold War Angle
As a simple monster story, there's almost none of the Cold War themes in it. The only thin connection is Steve and Julie musing about whether the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll somehow caused the monster, since it first appeared in 1946, though half a world away. None of this is developed, however.

Notes
Mixed Heroine -- One notable feature of MOF is how it centers around Julie, rather than the men. In some ways, she's a foreshadow of the (later) liberated heroines of the later decades. She (alone) feels the altruism to help the villages by finding and confronting the mystery beast. The men around her are too self-absorbed or flagrantly chauvinistic. "You're a lovely girl, Julie, but lovely girls just don't go running around worrying about non-existant sea monsters." Yet, for all her noble resolve, the Julie character is still saddled with the usual frail-female stereotypes. She screams and runs at the slightest things. She trips over nothing while running away (a movie female staple) and faints. Julie, the conflicted-heroic, is an interesting study in character development.

Scuba Sells! -- Underwater cinematography made Creature from the Black Lagoon a big hit. Audiences thought it was cool. MOF gives them a lot more underwater footage with little more going on that a diver swimming or the min-sub puttering along. The visuals themselves were presumed exotic enough on their own. Later movies would include scuba footage too, to tap into the craze, so having so much of it in MOF makes it noteworthy -- even if it comes across as padding today. Back then, it had appeal.

Star Sub -- The one man, pedal powered minisub gets a LOT of screen time. It's as though Corman and Ordung were personally very impressed with the big boy toy and might have come up with a movie in which to star it. The mini-sub was developed by Aerojet General (a weapons contractor) as a possible Navy scuba tool. When a government contract didn't pan out, they offered it for sale at Abercrombe & Fitch. The pedal-propelled model sold for $4,850. This was a very heft sum in 1954, over a year's pay for the middle-class working stiff. Working guys couldn't afford it, and rich guys don't pedal-power things. (too much like work). It's not too surprising that they didn't sell like hot cakes, despite Corman giving them a plug in the credits.

Pre Jaws -- In some of the underwater footage, where Julie is searching for the monster, the background music has a very familiar two-note pattern as the tension builds. John Williams may have unknowingly been influenced by movies like MOF when writing the score for Jaws. Watch MOF and listen for yourself.

Monster: Man-made or All Natural? -- Like many monster movies (as opposed to sci-fi), the one-eyed thing "just is." The dialogue describes it as shapeless, like an amoeba, but this looked too silly on screen, so Corman had a more shape-ful quasi-octopus monster grafted in. There's a bit of vague conjecture that A-bomb tests. The old fisherman villager, Pablo, conjectures that sometimes "nature, in her way, do many strange things." Science is not clearly to blame for this beast, so it's left as "just is."

Poor Production -- One inescapable feature of MOF is the very B-grade production quality. The photography is okay. The sound track, however, is all over the place. At times, when it's a musical score over some underwater footage, it's almost pleasant. At other times, the natural sound and dialog has been overdubbed with stock sound effects (swooshing water in a tub) and re-dubbed voices which sound like they were reciting their lines while standing inside of steel drums. As intrusive as the poor sound is, it's nowhere near as surreal as the total dubbing in Beast of Yucca Flats (1961), so one has to admit, it could be worse.

Bottom line? MOF doesn't try to be much, so in that regard, it doesn't fail much either. There's nothing compelling or thought provoking. It's just a plain ol' monster story with the usual elements. For the 50s sci-fi movie tourist, it's worth at least a stop to see the man who gave us Ro-Man, Wyott Ordung (both his directing and the man), as well as see Corman's first production. It's not a movie worth buying, but renting...maybe. Watch for free, certainly.

Stranger from Venus

Somewhat unfairly, this movie is sometimes called a cheap knock-off of The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51). Actually, this low-budget British movie does have a little life of its own. It's more of an offshoot than simply a low-budget remake. There are many similarities, one of which is inescapable -- having Patricia Neal as the female lead. But there are several differences too. These are noted in the Notes section below, but overall, the basic plot premise is the same. A stranger comes from outer space, hoping to deliver a message to the leaders of earth. "Be very careful with this nuclear power thing you've just invented. You're about to become a menace to other planets." This remake was done with almost no special effects and barely anything that could pass for action. It would not be hard, at all, to imagine Stranger from Venus (SFV) as a stage play set mostly in the inn's lobby. Nonetheless, the result goes down a few alleys that The Day the Earth Stood Still did not.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Amid some reports of a UFO, a stranger arrives at a rural English inn. He has odd behavior, but otherwise looks normal. The ship that dropped him off caused a woman's car to crash (bright lights blinded her), but he has miraculous healing powers, so she survives unhurt. The stranger (who never does give a name) finally tells everyone (about six people) that he is there to prepare the way for messengers from the planet Venus. Everyone believes him, more or less. The woman, Susan, (played by Patricia Neal) has a fiancee who is a bureaucrat. The government cordons off the area so that no one can get in to find out more, or get out to tell what they've seen. This way, the rest of the country is kept ignorant. The government conspires to capture the returning Venusian ship when it comes to pick up the Stranger and deliver the official messengers. They hope to learn of the advanced technology for their own nationalist benefits. Meanwhile, the stranger and Susan begin to have feelings for each other. The meeting with British officials did not go well, as he can read minds and knows of their duplicity. They lay out a magnetic trap to disable the ship when it lands. The stranger warns them that any foul play will mean the mother ship will simply destroy all life on the earth. Susan's scheming fiancee redeems himself by returning the stranger's stolen communication device. The stranger warns off the ship just in time to prevent its capture, but this also strands him on the earth where he cannot stay alive much longer. The movie closes with him sitting alone by a pond, fingering Susan's scarf lovingly. The camera looks away, and then back. He's gone. (Venusians just vanish when they die). The end.

Why is this movie fun?
Seeing a remake of TDESS is fun, if only to see what the writers kept from the original story, and what they changed. Patricia Neal's performance is not remarkable, but her playing the female lead (again) gives the remake a kinship to TDESS.

Cold War Angle
As in TDESS, the message is that nuclear arms are a huge threat. Mankind is being told to step back from the brink before it's too late. That feeling that the world was teetering on the edge was quite pervasive in the 50s. Movies which dealt with this brink had a resonance with audiences.

Notes
What's the Same? -- What did SFV have that TDESS did too? A stranger who comes to earth to deliver a warning about mankind's reckless nuclear ambitions. He's mild, kindly, though a bit stoic. He's a healer. He and the female lead develop a bond. The earth risks destruction if it misbehaves. Earth men are an untrustworthy bunch. The stranger cannot stay.

What's New? -- In SFV, there is no robot like Gort (or any robot at all). The stranger is not really the official messenger, but a mere landing coordinator. (He still delivers the message anyway, though) He doesn't die and come back to life. He actually develops a romantic interest in Patricia Neal (they kiss), rather than the purely platonic relationship between Klaatu and Neal. The stranger came from a specific place we've heard of. The stranger doesn't leave on the ship. The ship leaves him, stranded on a world in which he cannot survive for long.

Asteroids' Secret Revealed -- One interesting bit from SFV is that the Stranger says the asteroid belt is actually the debris from a planet whose civilization failed to heed the Venusian's warnings and continued to play fast and loose with weapons of mass destruction. SFV is clearly in the cautionary tale sub-genre. Planet Earth, don't let this happen to YOU!

Budding Conspiracy -- The cultural notion that governments were covering up the truth of UFOs was gaining traction. In SFV, the area around the stranger's landing site is sealed off by the British government. No info in, no info out. In the movies we've seen thus far, governments (usually through the military) will take charge of an alien landing situation, as in TDESS, or Invaders from Mars ('53), but there had been no attempt to cover it up. SFV may be one of the first movies to depict government as controlling and suppressing the truth about an alien landing. This is a notable shift for "government" from protector to conspirator.

Faint Christ -- Where Klaatu was a much stronger allegory for Jesus, (see notes on TDESS, 1951), the Stranger has only a few of those traits. This weakens the character noticeably. The addition of the understated romantic link moves the Stranger character further from Christ model (unless you subscribe to that Jesus and Mary theory). Unlike the Christ-like resurrection and departure to the heavens which Klaatu had at the end, the Stranger is left behind to die. The writers may have approached the Jesus analogy from the other side of the coin. The TDESS writers focused on the deity side. Christ rises from the dead and goes up into the heavens. In SFV, the writers may have focused on the humanity side of Jesus. Christ suffers death as a man to save others.

Bottom line? SFV is an extremely low-budget film with almost zero special effects. If you like lots of rockets or saucers or creepy aliens or explosions, SFV will frustrate or bore you. There is a LOT of standing around and talking. However, if you liked TDESS for its premise, SFV may interest you as an exploration of paths TDESS did not take.

Pre-50s

Before the golden era of sci-fi, the 1950s, there were a few early pioneers which helped pave the way. Science, and space travel were still a bit too fanciful to really capture audiences' imaginations. Nonetheless, a few film makers dared look into the future, or to the stars for their fiction. The movie serials of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers belong in this era too.

Aelita: Queen of Mars -- an obscure 1924 Soviet film about a Russian engineer shortly after the revolution, who creates a ship to travel to Mars. There, he finds a monarchy which oppresses its workers. They spark a proletariat revolution on Mars. The sets and costumes for "Mars" are dramatically Constructivist.

Metropolis -- Fritz Lang's 1927 epic about the world of the future in which the elite's party in penthouse gardens while the workers toil in a grim underworld. The sets, lighting and directing are good examples of the German Expressionist style.

Things To Come -- 1936 British film tracing the history of "Everytown" (London) from the 1930s to 2061. Based on HG Wells book, "The Shape of Things to Come," but actually better than the book. Traces the destruction of old world civilization by a devastating World War and the rebirth of a new world order -- and the launch of a moon mission!

Buck Rogers -- serials ran the late 1930s, remade into a feature film in 1953.

Flash Gordon: Looks like I need to review these.