It Conquered the World (1956)
An entertaining & well-acted classic Corman low budget gem
1956: A Taste of the Times
1956 was a very busy year in the area of science and technology and helped form the basis of our own modern world in the 21st Century.
The first transatlantic telephone cable goes into operation
Dr. Albert Sabin develops an oral polio vaccine.
Ampex Corporation demonstrated its first commercial videotape recorder.
The first known airborne US hydrogen bomb was tested over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
The Bell X-2 rocket plane set a world aircraft speed record of 3,050 kph.
IBM’s Model 305 computer was capable of storing 20 megabytes of data. WOW!
IBM lab leader Reynold B. Johnson developed a way to store computer data on a metal disk instead of on tape or drum.
The first commercial disk drive, called RAMAC (random access method of accounting and control) used 50 disk platters, each 2-feet in diameter and held (a whopping!) 5 megabytes of data! It was the start of the disk drive industry and many thanks to them.
The first all-colour TV station was NBC-TV in Chicago.
The neutrino, an atomic particle with no charge, was produced at the Los Alamos laboratory in the US.
The cosmic-ray neutron intensity monitor collected the first evidence indicating the existence of the heliosphere, the region of space dominated by the Sun. The edge of the heliosphere is a magnetic bubble-like medium and is located far beyond the orbit of recently demoted Pluto. The region is influenced by the sun’s magnetic field.
The computer mouse was invented. The point-and-click graphical interface was introduced by an MIT group working on the Whirlwind computer. The mouse was originally referred to as an "X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System." (Not a very furry or friendly term!)
Patent applied for "machine vision device,” now known as bar code scanner technology. (Ding!)
Bell Telephone began to develop the visual telephone.
The newly developed ion microscope made atoms visible.
It was first proposed that “free radicals” caused aging, indicating that antioxidants may slow the process.
Soft contact lenses were invented.
MD Ross and ML Lewis reached 22.8 km in a balloon while Dr Edward Purdy Ney and colleague, John Winckler, built a pyramid-shaped balloon that set a world altitude record of 27 miles. It carried instrumentation for meteorological and cosmic-ray research.
Produced & Directed by Roger Corman
by Roger Corman
Written by Lou Rusoff, Charles B. Griffith
Music by Ronald Stein
Cinematography: Fred E. West
Edited by Charles Gross
Distributed by American International Pictures
Running time: 71 minutes
Cast
Peter Graves: Dr. Paul Nelson
Lee Van Cleef: Dr. Tom Anderson
Beverly Garland: Claire Anderson
Sally Fraser: Joan Nelson
Russ Bender: General James Pattick
Taggart Casey: Sheriff N.J. Shallert
Karen Kadler: Dr. Ellen Peters
Dick Miller: First Sergeant
Jonathan Haze: Corporal Manuel Ortiz
Paul Harbor : Dr. Floyd Mason
Charles B. Griffith: Dr. Pete Shelton
Thomas E. Jackson: George Haskell
(Spoilers Follow....)
“It Conquered the World” concerns an embittered human scientist who guides an alien creature called Zontar from Venus to the Earth, so that it can bring peace to our troubled world by ridding humankind of its feelings and emotions. The scientist, however, is totally oblivious to the terrible consequences of his actions.
The alien creature from the planet Venus secretly wants to take control of the Earth by enslaving humanity using mind control devices and as part of its nefarious plan, it makes radio contact with the disillusioned scientist who agrees to help. Our well-meaning but naïve scientist believes this alien intervention will bring peace to the world and save humanity from itself and its inevitable demise.
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A “what if?” imaginary synopsis of “It Conquered The World” by the film’s director, writers and cast:
Corman: Well, we begin the film with credits rolling, along with a strident music score by Ronald Stein and a horizontal white line of the type that you see across monitor screens. This seamlessly transitions to a screen in a satellite launch and monitoring control room. Do we now have your attention?
Karen Kadler: My character, Ellen Peters announces that an unidentified object has been spotted. My colleague, Pete Shelton played by Charles B. Griffith declares that all aircraft should have been out of the area twenty minutes ago. Just three minutes from launch, our project manager, Dr Paul Nelson played by Peter Graves observes that a commercial airliner is just off course. He also proudly announces that “man is finally ready to move into space.”
Lee Van Cleef: Meanwhile in Washington, D.C., Secretary Platt played by Marshall Bradford is meeting with my character, Dr Tom Anderson. From my point of view as Anderson, I’m there to plead with Platt to cancel the satellite project. I was not all that surprised when told that the first satellite launched had exploded in orbit. I knew that "it was a warning” which I had already anticipated three years before the launch. I firmly believe that "alien intelligence watches us constantly." Imagine how I felt when I was told the satellite had already been launched!
Peter Graves: My character, Paul Nelson and his wife Joan are later having dinner at the Andersons’ home, As we finish dinner, I state that the satellite has been in orbit for three months and all is well. Joan gets a bit annoyed with all the shop talk, but Tom’s wife, Claire played by Beverly Garland is more concerned about Tom and his delusions.
Tom draws me over to his radio, tunes in a station and informs me that the sound he is now hearing is the planet Venus. He then asks me to “listen to it…..listen to the voice.” What can be heard appears to be nothing but humming and static. What would you think if you were in my place?
As if on cue, the phone rings. The project informs me that the satellite left its orbit and has flown out into space. From my character’s perspective, this simply means that “the scientific achievement of the 20th Century has disappeared.”
My wife and I quickly leave the Anderson’s and drive to the nearby installation where I’m told by Pete Shelton that "its back". I confidently state we’ll bring the satellite down for a full examination.
Beverly Garland: Early the next morning my character, Claire Anderson discovers her husband at the radio set in the living room talking to something or someone on board the satellite. My husband informs me that the creature from Venus is on the satellite and will be coming to Earth “to save us.” Picture what I’m thinking and feeling as my husband tells me that it’s what he’s” been predicting for years” and that ‘it’s good!”
Lou Rusoff: We continued the story with the team bringing the satellite back the next day, but not without a hitch! Instead of the satellite returning to the designated landing area, it crash lands ten miles south of the Anderson home, in the vicinity of a cave and hot springs. The location’s importance becomes apparent later on in the story.
Beverly Garland: Out of the blue Tom tells me, "he's alive, he survived the crash!" What else could I say at this point but, "Tom, you’re a sick man." All that my character Claire could think to do was go into town and hope that Tom would be better when she returns.
Corman: OK, so the Venusian creature that we see exiting the satellite looks like a cross between a giant pickle and some kind of deformed crustacean! I didn’t have a million bucks like “Conquest Of Space,” “This island Earth” or “Forbidden Planet” to make this film you know. Still, if Klaatu from “The Day The Earth Stood Still” could do it, Paul Blaisdell's alien pickle could also cause electricity all over the world to fail! And it wouldn’t cost us an extra buck!
Anyway, I firmly believe that my alien depiction will seem quite conservative when the time comes for us to make contact with alien species who will no doubt come in an infinite diversity of forms.
Lou Rusoff: The story continues with the Nelson car stopping on the road and the power off at the installation, along with the phones not working. To add to the tense atmosphere, we had Ellen Peters remark on how quiet it is, while her colleague, Floyd Mason played by Paul Harbor reminds her that “it is always quiet in these mountains,” to which comes the retort, “not this quiet.”
Corman: We included other elements in the film to ratchet up the pace, suspense and tension such as;
3:03 p.m. being the time when all the clocks stopped.
Eight people on a list who are destined for mind control devices.
at-like flying devices that home in on their prey and sting them leaving an electrical device embedded in their neck, which is what happens to the sheriff, the symbol of town authority. General Pattick, another symbol of protection and authority while walking to headquarters, encounters one of these flying bat-creatures and is also stung by it. Both men are now under the control of the Venusian. (I kinda think our little bat creatures looked pretty neat!)
Panic erupting among the people in town.
No communication with the outside world as the wire service has broken down.
Anderson possessing the only working vehicle and water supply despite the fact that that electricity, combustion engines and regular water supply have been disabled.
Lee Van Cleef: You know, after watching this film, some people have told me that I’ve got the kind of stare that can flail the skin off people and pierce their souls. Hhmm. Might prove to be useful in future roles? I’m thinking...westerns perhaps? [Goes off into a brief reverie / daydream]
Corman: Ah, Lee…The story…..
Lee Van Cleef: Anyway, after my character Anderson tells Nelson about what’s been going on, Nelson doesn't believe him and asks me why I haven’t been resisting the alien. I tell him that the Venusian is here on Earth to “rescue mankind from itself,” not to conquer the Earth. The way I see it, it is human stupidity that “restrains Man’s progress” and I’m firmly convinced that what the Venusian is offering is “ultimate freedom.”
After all, how often have we seen instances of people convincing themselves of the truth of something, no matter how delusional, which then can often assume its own sense of logic and becomes a part of their own world view? Any argument or facts to the contrary are dismissed out of hand, even as something as reasonable as Paul’s statement; “I’d have to take a look at anything that would change the world and me so completely.” Good advice for any generation….
Corman: You guys know me and how I like to keep the action in my films rolling and carry the audience along with it. Well, these days the audience is pretty darn fearful of possible invasions from foreign powers and Communist conspiracy threats and such. This will always be the case. If it’s not fear of Communists like we have today, it’ll be of something else in the future. Fear and playing on that fear is such a powerful motivating and manipulative force. So, in the film back at the installation we have General Pattick informing the technicians that, "we’re in the midst of a Communist uprising” and that “they've sabotaged every power source in the area." He then orders the staff to remain at the installation while the city of Beachwood is evacuated.
Lou Rusoff: The action continues with Nelson’s wife, Joan being stung by a bat creature. Then the newspaper editor of The Clarion, (our symbol of the freedom of the press, information and ideas) Haskell is cruelly shot by the Sheriff for refusing his order to get out of town and in order to put an end to his paper’s “stack of ideas and notions.”
The Sheriff tells Nelson he is going to place him under “protective custody,” when he confronts the sheriff over the shooting of Haskell. After a physical struggle with Nelson, the sheriff, under orders from the Venusian, tells Nelson, "you're to be one of us...Get up, you're free."
Notice the use of euphemisms: “protective custody” in place of “imprisonment” or “detention.”; a state of collective servitude and control being equated with being “free” and the current state of affairs where “there are no victims,” only “the Released.”
I’ll bet you anything that even 60 or more years from now you’ll see similar elements to what I have just described being played out but in a different context and set of circumstances.
Peter Graves: My character, Nelson arrives to find the installation closed. I find General Pattick there and he informs me that the staff was relocated (another euphemism Lou?) to a nearby air base and that I, along with my wife, should join them. As the general offers me a ride in the jeep, I begin to feel that something is wrong. I feel compelled to act so I hit the general on the back of the neck with my gun, throw him out and take over the jeep.
Lee Van Cleef: Nelson drives up to my house where he confronts me and accuses me of being a murderer. I confess to Nelson about my role and try to convince him about the positive aspects of the alien’s ultimate plan for humanity. Before he left, Nelson merely called me a traitor who is not just “betraying part of mankind” but is “betraying all of it.” He’s an intelligent man. Then why can’t he see the benefit to humanity that will result from assisting the Venusian? According to Claire I just “had an undeserved stay of execution" as Nelson had a gun on me! If I knew that I would have stared him to death! Ha! Ha!
Corman: Killer stares? Don’t be silly Lee. Flying bat control devices! Now, that’s something! Fits in beautifully with the action and drama about to be unleashed as Nelson arrives late to his house after having to use a bike when his jeep stopped running. Not realizing that the lights are on, both outside and inside the house, he is greeted by his wife. Joan is behaving strangely (even for a wife) and is concealing a control device which she throws at her husband. She then calmly takes off for a walk leaving Nelson to go a few rounds with the control device. It rapidly degenerates into a no disqualification match with Nelson impaling and killing the aerial varmint.
Sally Fraser: Ever heard the term, “Better off dead than Red?” Well, that’s given new meaning when my character Joan Nelson returns from her walk expecting her husband to be like her: controlled for the rest of their lives. As soon as I tell him that will in fact be the case, he shoots and kills me!
Corman: Now think for a moment about what it must take for a husband or wife to take the life of their spouse in the belief that they are saving them from something far worse than death itself! A scenario almost too horrible for an audience to contemplate….
Beverly Garland: It transpires that my character’s husband has been directed by the alien to kill Nelson as he “knows what he is fighting for and must be killed.” I feel I must find out as much as I can about the Venusian and try to prevent Tom from carrying out the alien’s orders.
I manage to find out that the Venusian is located at Elephant Hot Spring cave because he needs a climate similar to his home planet, Venus. I also discover that Joan has been controlled.
Karen Kadler: What Claire doesn’t know is that back at the installation, two of the control devices were used on Pete and Floyd. My character, Ellen wakes up and notices that the power is back up and all the equipment is functioning. While going to make coffee I notice two dead control devices. Suddenly, Floyd gabs my neck with both of his hands and that’s the end of me. I tell you it was mighty cold lying on that floor considering how little I was wearing! I guess there was a reason for that......?
[The guys feign complete innocence and ignorance as to what she is alluding to]
Beverly Garland: Now, we come to a part of film that I’ll remember for a long time to come. I really wanted to throw as much feeling, emotion and drama into my role as the script and story would allow.
After my husband refuses to listen to my appeals, he leaves the house to meet Nelson outside. In a rage I contact the alien on the radio and threaten to kill it. I take the rifle that Tom left on top of the radio and leave the house. I then steal Joan's station wagon and take off to confront the Venusian at the cave.
Peter Graves: Meanwhile, my character, Nelson informs Anderson that Joan is dead. I tell him I felt that “she wasn't my wife; she was a product of (Anderson’s) work."
Beverly Garland: While you were questioning Anderson, I entered the cave looking for the source of all this misery and mayhem. I manage to find the fiend and confront it with feelings and words of rage and defiance. I mock it by shouting at it, “Hiding in a cave; afraid of light?” I challenge it to "go on try your intellect on me...you think you're going to make a slave of the world...I'll see you in hell first." I empty my magazine clip of resistance by declaring, “I still have the courage of my convictions” and “I hate your guts….I’m going to kill you!”
I then empty the rifle’s magazine into the creature but with no effect. At least I meet death standing and defiant instead of living obediently in servitude on my knees.
Peter Graves: Yes, both Nelson and Anderson hear it on the radio back at your house. It seems to trigger something in Anderson who decides that he will help by going to the cave and kill the creature.
Corman: Now, the energy of this film is maintained from the death of Claire in the cave by a quick succession of quite entertaining scenes;
The comical Pvt Ortiz, who while looking for food, hears Claire's screams, enters the cave and fires at the creature. He manages to escape and returns to his unit to report on what has happened.
BANG!
Nelson discovers Ellen's body at the installation, enters an office and shoots Pete, Floyd and General Pattick who is only wounded.
BANG!
Anderson, meanwhile comes across the Sheriff blocking the road leading to the cave. The Sheriff fires at Anderson, but Anderson circles around on foot and barbecues him with a portable blow torch.
BANG!
The wounded Gen. Pattick heads for the cave in a jeep but is ambushed by Nelson who is now on foot. Nelson manages to shoot and kill the general.
BANG!
While Nelson drives to the cave, the army boys have entered the cave and open fire on the Venusian, but this just makes it grumpier and draws it outside. A bazooka is then employed but this just puts the alien in a really foul mood.
BANG!
A touch of redemption along with payment for past sins is always a good touch to add. And so we have Anderson on the scene ordering a cease fire. He decides to flame grill the Venusian with his blow torch (and death stare) but it attacks and kills him before it too dies.
BANG!
We finally end with Dr. Paul Nelson's closing observation about Dr. Tom Anderson and others like him who…….
Peter Graves: Let me get this one Roger. I think I still remember it:
"Man is a feeling creature, and because of it the greatest in the universe. He learned too late for himself that men have to find their own way, to make their own mistakes. There can't be any gift of perfection from outside ourselves. When men seek such perfection they find only death, fire, loss, disillusionment and the end of everything that's gone forward. Men have always sought an end to our misery but it can't be given, it has to be achieved. There is hope, but it has to come from inside, from Man himself."
Lee Van Cleef: Hey Roger! You got any westerns in the pipeline?
Corman: I’ll let you know, Lee, I’ll let you know……
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Points Of Interest
There’s no escaping the fact that “It Conquered The World” was a low budget movie with special effects to match that will cause audiences to chuckle. This is more than made up for by the film’s energy and its surprisingly above-average cast.
Peter Graves will always be remembered as Mr. Phelps from the TV series, 'Mission: Impossible.' In “It Conquered The World,” Robert Graves gives a solid performance as the scientist who maintains his integrity despite his friendship with his friend and fellow scientist turning sour due to the latter’s misguided betrayal of the human race.
Van Cleef we know from his work in movies such as 'The Good, The Bad And The Ugly' and 'Death Rides A Horse'. In “It Conquered The World,” Van Cleef gives a strong performance as an obsessed, disillusioned and bitter scientist who is intent on selling his soul to an alien devil.
Stunning Beverly Garland gives an excellent performance as a desperate wife struggling in vain to drag her husband away from the precipice he is about to fall from to be swallowed up by an abyss of evil. As Garland confronts her husband and the Venusian, we cannot help but almost yell out to her, “Go Girl!”
In 1966 there was a why-bother remake by Larry Buchanan called "Zontar the Thing from Venus."
Despite its shortcomings, the film works on many levels including interesting characters and the moral choices they make, complex and thoughtful plot, playing on ‘50s Cold War fears, and so on.
If there was a Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Aliens, Zontar would receive its protection considering how many times he was shot, bazookad and blow-torched! Zontar was seen as creature who was being subjected to extreme violence. This was why the movie was originally given an 'X' rating in England, and nearly banned. The movie's director argued that the alien was not in fact an animal, but was instead an intelligent being. On this basis the ban was removed.
Roger Corman came up with the idea for the design of the creature believing that since Zontar came from a big planet, it would have evolved to cope with heavier gravity than Earth's gravity and would appear to be somewhat squat in stature. Paul Blaisdell who built the creature thought that the camera would make it look bigger. Just how frightening it was can be judged from Beverly Garland’s reaction when she first saw the creature: "THAT conquered the world?" together with her kicking 'It' over…….Another case of definite mistreatment, if there ever was one!
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
A mix of superb sci-fi adventure and imaginative, intense and suspenseful thriller!
1956: A Taste of the Times:
In the area of great sporting events & achievements:
The Olympic Games are held in Melbourne, Australia. The Netherlands and Spain refused to compete in support of Hungary following Russia’s invasion. 45 athletes from Hungary defected during the games. Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq boycotted the games as a protest over British and French involvement in the Suez Canal crisis. China also boycotted the Games in protest at the inclusion of athletes from Taiwan.
Australian swimmer, Murray Rose became an Olympic champion winning the first of his three gold medals at the Melbourne Games in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay.
Light heavyweight boxer Rocky Marciano announced his retirement with a record of 43 knockouts and having won every fight in his professional career.
At age 21, Floyd Patterson became the youngest boxer to win the heavyweight crown when he knocked out Archie Moore.
Directed by Don Siegel
Produced by Walter Wanger
Screenplay by Daniel Mainwaring
Based on The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
Music by Carmen Dragon
Cinematography: Ellsworth Fredericks
Edited by Robert S. Eisen
Production company: Walter Wanger Pictures, Inc.
Distributed by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation
Running time: 80 minutes
Box office: $3,000,000
Cast
Kevin McCarthy as Miles Bennell
Dana Wynter as Becky Driscoll
Larry Gates as Dan Kauffman
King Donovan as Jack Belicec
Carolyn Jones as Theodora "Teddy" Belicec
Virginia Christine as Wilma Lentz
Jean Willes as Sally Withers
Whit Bissell (uncredited) as Dr Hills
Richard Deacon as ER doctor
The film you are about to be acquainted with is called “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” which was adapted from the screenplay from Jack Finney's 1954 science fiction novel, The Body Snatchers.
(Spoilers Follow.....)
Picture a small fictional Californian town by the name of Santa Mira. Like many other towns, Santa Mira moves at its own leisurely pace and folks travel well-worn paths through life governed by the predictable surety of routine… That is… until one day when the neat folds of Santa Mira’s routine were torn asunder by an extra-terrestrial invasion that began with spores from space that grew into large seed pods, which were capable of reproducing duplicate replacement copies of the good folks of Santa Mira. Each pod, as it reached full development, could assimilate the physical characteristics, memories, and personalities of any sleeping person placed in close proximity.
What emerged from this duplication process were mere husks from which all human emotion had been snatched away from the sleeping citizens of a sleepy little town in a slumbering nation.
Join us as we follow a local doctor, Dr Miles Bennell who attempts to uncover this invasion and hopefully stop it from spreading….
The introduction to “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” with its forceful and strident music heavy with brass instruments and drum roll suggests the approach of something ominous. The direction from which the danger is approaching is suggested by the sky-ward direction of the camera shot and the clouds rolling rapidly across the view.
A disheveled and seemingly delusional Dr Miles Bennell has been arrested on a California highway and taken to the local hospital's psychiatric ward. There he pleads with a psychiatrist, Dr Hill and the attending physician, Dr Bassett, “You must listen! You must understand me! I’m not insane!” He then relates to them a story that “started last Thursday”…..
Flashback……
“Something evil had taken possession of the town.”
Miles had been called home to Santa Mira from a medical convention by his nurse, Sally Withers who told him that several patients had called in insisting that their relatives and friends were not who they seemed to be.
While driving to the office, Miles and Sally almost ran over young Jimmy Grimaldi who was fleeing from his mother. According to Mrs. Grimaldi, “it’s nothing, he just don’t wanna go to school.” Rather an understatement considering the level of Jimmy’s panic! Added to this, the Grimaldis had unexpectedly and uncharacteristically shut down their vegetable stand, apparently because it was too much work.
The mystery deepened when Miles learned that many of the patients no longer needed his services even though he was told by Sally that previously “they couldn’t wait to see you!”
A fabulous vision of fifties femininity in the form of former girlfriend, Becky Driscoll wafts into the office. Becky informs Miles that her cousin, Wilma “has a…delusion” and believes that her uncle, Ira “is an impostor.” Miles assures her that he’ll visit Wilma later.
Later on, a terrified Jimmy Grimaldi is dragged kicking and screaming to Miles's office by his grandmother. He cries out “don’t let her get me!” and declares that his mother is not really his mother. For Miles, the suspicions grow as more dots are joined.
“There’s something missing.”
Miles and Becky pay a visit to Ira and Wilma. Wilma’s highly expressive face tells the story and adds force to her belief that as far as she is concerned “that special look is missing” from Ira and that “there’s no emotion…just the pretense of it.” Miles explains away her concerns by suggesting that “the trouble is inside of you.” He also suggests that Wilma agrees to see a psychiatrist friend of his.
"Epidemic of mass hysteria?"
Later that night on their way to dinner, Becky and Miles encounter the town psychiatrist, Dan Kauffman who mentions that he had seen many unusual cases of people claiming that their loved ones had somehow changed. He puts it down to it being a “strange neurosis” stemming from people “worrying about what’s going on in the world.”
The next scene reveals an empty restaurant, where Miles and Becky learn that it has “been this way for two weeks.” Suddenly Miles is called to the house of Jack and Teddy Belicec where they discover a seemingly lifeless and featureless parody of a human being on the pool table. Their jangled nerves (and ours) are given a further jarring when the cuckoo clock’s sudden clashing cacophony erupts into the tense breath-holding stillness of the scene.
The inert body has “all the features” of a man “but no detail.” Added to this mystery is its lack of finger prints. In answer to Jack’s wife’s question, “whose face…tell me that?” it slowly becomes obvious that the body is taking on Jack's features. We know the answer to the question posed, “How much does it weigh?” when it is discovered that it bleeds from a hand as did Jack when he cut his own on a piece of glass. As Miles tends to Jack’s cut, he almost ironically comments, “I’m afraid you may live.”
For the audience, Miles’s words to Jack now begin to take on new meaning when he takes Becky home to her father's house. Her father seems normal but notice as he emerges from his basement, stating that he was working in his workshop, the sinister sounding music suggesting something far less innocuous.
Now switch scenes to Jack’s place to hear his wife hysterically scream out to her husband, “It’s you! It’s you!” Suddenly she sees the body’s eyes snap open causing her to shriek out in a manner akin to Dr Frankenstein from a classic horror movie, “It’s alive! It’s alive!”
While Jack and his wife are at Miles’ place, Miles suddenly “had the feeling that Becky was in danger.” He quickly decides to rush over to the Driscoll place where he felt that “something was wrong in this house.” He then breaks into the basement and discovers another humanoid creature transforming itself into Becky. He soon discovers Becky asleep upstairs and carries her away from the house and danger.
“Reality becomes unreality”
Miles and Jack enlist the help of Dan Kauffman but both the bodies at the Belicecs' and Driscolls' are missing. Dan suggests that “what you saw was the body of a murdered man” in Jack's poolroom and that the lack of finger prints could be explained by the fact that the dead man “took them off with acid.” In addition, according to Dan, the cause of death had been too small for Miles to notice in his initial examination. He also explains that Miles thought he saw Becky's double because he had been so unnerved by the presence of the body at the Belicecs'. The conclusion: “The mind is a strange and wonderful thing!”
When Police Chief Grivett arrives at the Drisscoll house after being called by an indignant and outraged Mr Drisscoll, he informs the shame-faced gathering in the basement that a burning body matching the description of the mystery body at the Belicecs’ was found burning outside of town.
Everything seems to be back to normal until our hearts start to pump furiously when Miles hears a sound in the basement which turns out to be…….the gasman! Miles’ comment, “I guess I’m a little jittery” sums up the lingering pervasive fear that is generated by an event such as the one they experienced-real or not! Can even the gasman be trusted?
The next day things seem to be going well, perhaps too well. At “Le Grifon” antique shop, Wilma tells Miles that she feels better about Ira and doesn’t need to see Dan. Next, Miles sees Jimmy sitting happily next to his mother in his office waiting room! Sally makes the pertinent comment, “he certainly made a quick recovery.” If something seems too good to be true, it usually is….
“Something or someone wants this duplication to take place”
Later that night, at a barbecue with Becky and the Belicecs, Miles stumbles upon seed pods in his greenhouse. The pods open and disgorge unformed humanoids that begin to take on the form of those at the barbecue.
It is the pitchfork held by Jack that guides the camera and us to each of the bodies in turn. Miles hurriedly tries to call the FBI in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Washington D.C. but is not surprisingly told by the operator that “all circuits and dead or busy.” We don’t need three guesses as to why that is so!
Miles surmises that the pods may be the result of “atomic radiation” or they are some kind of “weird alien organism.” At any rate, Miles destroys the creatures, but understandably struggles and hesitates when it comes to destroying the body that resembles Becky.
Miles and Becky and the Belicecs decide to split up and get help from outside of town. While Miles and Becky stop at a petrol station, Miles tries to reach the FBI again. As he does so, the gas station attendant places two pods in the boot of his car. Fortunately Miles was aware of what happened and he incinerates the pods further down the road.
The full horror of the alien invasion becomes apparent when at Sally's house Miles witnesses through a window that not only has Sally been transformed, but that she calmly acquiesces to having a seed pod placed in the crib of her newborn baby!
Suddenly Miles is discovered by a police officer and the chase is on as Miles and Becky are pursued by the police and numerous pod people.
In a marvelous piece of film noir, we have the couple being pursued through the dark shadows of streets made slick by a recent shower of rain. The suspense is heightened as Miles and Becky hide out in Miles's office. As they take cover behind a storage cupboard door, a guard or police officer peers through a grill set in the door. All the while their faces are lit from above by the light from the room outside coming in from the grill. Adding to the suspense and sense of danger, the scene is played out to the accompaniment of an ominous drum roll.
“It’s a malignant disease spreading through the whole country.”
Miles and Becky understand that the pods’ ability to function effectively depends upon people being blissfully asleep and therefore….unaware. Realizing that they can’t close their eyes all night, Becky and Miles take amphetamines to stay awake. Meanwhile, Miles ponders on how it is possible that we can “let humanity drain away,” and how we can “harden our hearts” and grow callous.”
The next morning could almost be “just like any Saturday morning.” Except on this day Miles and Becky witness through a window an almost (I will not use the word surreal!) bizarre scene from a slow-motion movie or dream as people from all around move as one toward a large traffic island where they gather.
Miles sees people that he has known all his life and knows by name now obviously transformed accepting pods to distribute to their relatives in nearby cities such as, “Newtown – third truck!” While this is going on, the suspense is ramped up by the incessant ringing of the telephone.
Suddenly Jack, Dan and Chief Grivett enter the office and it soon becomes apparent that they have all been transformed. Jack and Dan inform Miles and Becky they can’t let them go telling them, “you’re dangerous to us.” They go on to explain that “out of the sky came a solution,” that the transformation was painless and that soon everyone will be reborn into a better way of life “where everyone is the same.” In this new form of existence, “there’s no need for love…only the instinct to live.” Any attempt to contradict or argue with this proposition is curtailed with the comment, “you’re forgetting something Miles; You have no choice.” Becky retorts with a burst of emotion, “I want to love and be loved” and seals this with a passionate kiss with Miles.
Jack and Dan have brought pods into Miles's waiting room. While locked in the office with Becky, Miles fills three syringes with a sedative. He then creates a diversion that brings Dan and Jack into the office allowing Miles to overpower and drug them with Becky’s help.
Becky and Miles leave the office and pretend to have been transformed by appearing emotionless, Becky, however, betrays her emotions when she witnesses a truck almost hit a dog and cries out in concern.
To the accompaniment of the harsh blaring of the town’s siren, the chase is on again as the pod people pursue Becky and Miles into the hills surrounding Santa Mira. They try to evade capture by hiding out in an abandoned mine. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the sound of beautiful singing is heard. Becky declares, “I’ve never heard anything so beautiful.”
Miles leaves Becky to investigate and try to find help. In a bizarre and unexpected twist, Miles soon discovers that the music is coming from radio station KLCAA’s “platter parade” and is emanating from a truck radio and that the truck is being loaded with pods!
Miles returns to the mine and calls for Becky. We know she has fallen asleep and our fears are confirmed by her tone of voice when she replies, “I’m here, Miles.” Miles tries to carry her to safety but when he kisses her it is obvious from the look of horror etched on his face that she had been transformed. Pod-Becky tells him to “stop acting like a fool….and accept us.” As Miles begins to run away, Pod-Becky screams out, “He’s in here! He’s in here! Get him!”
“You fools. You’re in danger!”
Miles’ narration informs us that his only hope is to get away from Santa Mira, “to warn others of what was happening.” With pod people in pursuit, Miles makes for the highway where he becomes just a solitary voice pleading with motorists to stop. However, the tide of cars moves inexorably on in the same direction heading for the same fate as intimated by a truck full of pods making its way towards Los Angeles. Like a mad-man Miles is left to wander the highway, ranting and raving, "They're already here! You're next!"
And so the flashback ends and we return to the point from which our story started. Dr Hill and Dr Basset conclude that Miles is insane and must undergo treatment. Suddenly an ambulance stretcher is brought in containing a truck driver who has been involved in an accident. As fate would have it, his truck was carrying a load of unusual pods, and had also been on the road from Santa Mira. It appears that Miles is telling the truth and Dr. Hill immediately arranges to call the police, every law enforcement agency and the FBI.
Points Of Interest
In 1994 “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
One difference between the original novel by Jack Finney and the film’s screenplay is that the novel ends with the alien invader eventually leaving Earth in the face of strong resistance from the humans. In addition, the "pod people" have a limited life span of no more than five years.
It was originally intended to have “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” shot over a 24-day period on a budget of US$454,864. It was later proposed to reduce this to 20 days of shooting on a budget of $350,000. However, the film did eventually go three days over schedule.
Sierra Madre, Chatsworth, Glendale, the area around Los Feliz, Bronson and Beachwood Canyons, were locations used to make up the town of "Santa Mira" for the film. Much of the film was also shot in the Allied Artists studio on the east side of Hollywood.
It was also originally intended for the film to be called “The Body Snatchers,” but it too closely resembled the title of the 1945 Val Lewton film, The Body Snatcher. “They Come from Another World” was selected followed by “Better Off Dead,” “ Sleep No More,” “ Evil in the Night” and “World in Danger.” Finally, the studio settled on “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” in late 1955.
The film was originally meant to end with Miles frantically screaming as truckloads of pods pass him by but the studio insisted on a less pessimistic conclusion by adding a prologue and epilogue to the movie suggesting a more optimistic outcome to the story. And so we begin with a ranting and raving Miles Bennell in custody in a hospital emergency ward. He then via flashback tells his story. In the closing at a highway accident, Miles’ warning is confirmed by the presence of pods. Finally, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is notified, suggesting that there is a chance to save the Earth.
The film made more than $1 million in the first month, and in 1956 made more than $2.5 million in the U.S.
Director Don Siegel started off at Warner Bros. doing special effects on such films as “Casablanca” (1942) and “Edge of Darkness” (1943). His first feature as director was the Sidney Greenstreet classic, “The Verdict” in 1946 and then in 1954 he directed Walter Wanger's classic prison drama, “Riot In Cell Block 11.”
Don Post and Milt Rice's special make-up effects and props produce the required menacing and threatening effect without overdoing things with too much detail.
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” is one of those films that should not be tampered with by having it colorized. The black and white photography, specific use of shadow and editing all combine to add to the menacing mood, claustrophobic atmosphere and frantic pace of the film. Added to this is Kevin McCarthy’s skill at conveying his character’s mental, emotional and physical struggles to uncover the mystery and take the audience along with him.
The film has many facets leading viewers to see it as presenting different or conflicting messages and ideas. For some people. it can be seen as being a commentary on the dangers facing America for being blind to the danger posed by McCarthyism and its associated anti-communist paranoia involving fear of communist infiltration of America of the time.
For others, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” can also be seen as highlighting the trend towards conformity and the loss of personal autonomy and freedom, then seen as being part and parcel of life under a Soviet or communist system.
Even in our own times in the early part of the 21st Century, the film has resonance for us as we grapple with forces that seek to dehumanize and rob the individual of his / her identity. We worry about people’s ability these days to feel pain, sorrow and empathy for their fellow human beings.
In our modern world, what is it that defines our individual personal identity? Just who is each of us really? Is it determined by how we look or act? Is it indicated by what we say or think? Or is it truly reflected in our capacity to love, to feel compassion and express emotion?
Now more than ever we need to heed Miles Bennell’s warning;
“THEY'RE HERE, ALREADY! YOU'RE NEXT!”
Each of us needs to be aware that there is a fine line between having one’s identity and individuality influenced by other people, institutions and social, historical and political forces and having one’s identity and individuality subsumed, crushed and replaced by such forces with something that suits their interests. While we slumber, it can be all too easy for us to sleepwalk and be led into ways of looking, saying, thinking, believing, acting and relating by political parties, systems, ideologies and entities; media; religious / sectarian groups; military; corporations; gangs; family, tribal and peer groups and so on.
And so, how do we reclaim any sense of our true personal identity and individuality, if there is such a thing? Possibly part of the answer may lie in our understanding that,
“Only when we have to fight to stay human do we realize how precious it is to us, how dear.”
Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957)
A sci-fi film with a mixture of comedy and horror that does not take itself too seriously.
1957: A Taste Of The Times:
Science & Technology
Ultrasound scanning pioneered in Scotland.
The first nuclear reactor plant opens for production of electricity in Pennsylvania US.
The Soviet Union tests the H Bomb.
Great Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb on the Christmas Island.
A 37-kiloton nuclear fission bomb, code-named Priscilla, is exploded in the Nevada desert at Frenchman Flat.
The US has been manufacturing 10 nuclear bombs a day.
South Africa born gastroenterologist, Basil Hirschowitz, introduces the first prototype “fiberscope.” In 1954 he had already begun work using glass fibers to transmit light. Fiber has since been widely used in telecommunications and surgery.
Borazan, a substance harder than diamonds is developed
One of the dreams of science fiction writers and film makers is realized with the start of “The Space Age” when the Soviet Union launches Sputnik (traveler), the first man-made space satellite. The satellite orbits the earth every 96 minutes at a maximum height of 584 miles. The event is timed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution.
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik Two into orbit, with a dog on board named Laika, the first animal in space
A process for concentrating visible light as opposed to microwaves of a maser is developed by Columbia University doctoral student, Gordon Gould. He is the first to coin the term, “laser.”
America's first attempt at putting a satellite into orbit fails as Vanguard TV3 only rises a few feet before crashing back down on to the launch pad and exploding.
The US begins its “Corona” project, a secret attempt to put a reconnaissance satellite into orbit.
Fritz Wankel brings out his rotary engine.
AT&T introduces itsTouchtone phones.
Seymour Cray co-founds Control Data Corp. where he builds the first computer to use radio transistors instead of vacuum tubes.
Oral polio vaccine is developed and tested in Congo, Africa.
Thalidomide is officially introduced to the market. It is later linked to severe birth defects.
Directed by Edward L. Cahn
Produced by Robert J. Gurney Jr., James H. Nicholson
Written by Robert J. Gurney Jr., Al Martin
Based on the short story, "The Cosmic Frame" by Paul W. Fairman
Music by Ronald Stein
Cinematography: Frederick E. West
Edited by Charles Gross, Ronald Sinclair
Production company: Malibu Productions
Distributed by American International Pictures
Running time: 69 minutes
Cast
Steve Terrell as Johnny Carter
Gloria Castillo as Joan Hayden
Frank Gorshin as Joe Gruen
Raymond Hatton as Larkin
Lyn Osborn as Art
Russ Bender as Doctor
Douglas Henderson as Lt. Wilkins
Sam Buffington as Colonel
Jason Johnson as Detective
Don Shelton as Mr. Hayden
Scott Peters as 1st Soldier
Jan Englund as Waitress
Kelly Thordsen as Sgt. Bruce
Robert Einer as Soda Jerk
Patti Lawler as Irene
Calvin Booth as Paul
Ed Nelson & James Bridges as Boys
Roy Darmour as Sgt. Gordon
Audrey Conti & Joan Dupuis as Girls
Buddy Mason as Policeman
Angelo Rossitto, Floyd Dixon, Dean Neville & Edward Peter Gibbons as Saucer Men
“Invasion of the Saucer Men” opens with the title and credits appearing with a book entitled, "A true story of a flying saucer." The music is very light-hearted sounding and the book contains cartoon-like sketches and illustrations which set the comical mood or tone of the film.
(Spoilers follow.......)
The narrator, Artie begins to tell us his story (“I gotta’ play it square with ya’”) as he turns each page of the book. It’s night time right after a rain storm (”spooky, eh?”) in front of the Larkin farm house.
A car drives by on the way to Lover's Point situated on the Larkin property. Old farmer Larkin runs out brandishing a shotgun and grumbles, "I'll get the law after them,"
The local town is called Hicksburg (“scouts’ honour!”) where there’s “nothing much for the young people to do.” A perfect recipe for young people to find things to entertain themselves with, not always approved of by adults of course!
In the diner we see two young adult drifters, Joe Gruen and our narrator Artie Burns, who it is sarcastically observed are “looking forward to a nice game of chess before retiring.” After Joe’s unsuccessful attempt to pick up the waitress, he borrows the car to try his luck elsewhere while Artie decides to walk back to their boarding house. After all, he “wouldn’t want to hold back the wheels of progress, or is it the progress of a big wheel?”
As Joe is driving he suddenly sees a flash of light followed by the landing of a spaceship in a nearby clearing. Joe drives to the clearing, exits the car and approaches the craft.
Back in town at the Soda Shop, a group of teenagers witness the same flash of light. Lt. Wilkins, USAF who has been recruiting for the air force seems to be impressed when one of the teenagers states, “I tell ya’, I saw a flying saucer!”
Joan Hayden and her boyfriend, Johnny have a date, but her father doesn't approve of Johnny. Like many teenagers when told not do something or faced with prohibitions which they see as being unreasonable, Joan lies about who she is seeing.
“Another load of those consarn kids on my property!”
Seeing that “most of the gang’s at Lovers Point,” Joan and Johnny both head off to Lover's Point via old man Larkin's house for a night’s worth of necking before their planned elopement.
A boozy bull named Old Walt, surprises a couple in their car at the Point. The girl screams and her boyfriend throws the bull a can of beer after exclaiming, “You nearly stunted my growth!” (seriously?!)
Meanwhile Joe, having witnessed something at the UFO site, has made it back to the boarding house room. He wakes Artie to tell him that they’ve “hit the jackpot’ and that “this is different: this is big!” He tells Artie that they are going to cash in on their find by having an “exhibition of the only authentic flying saucer.” Far from being impressed, Artie thinks Joe is either drunk or nuts and promptly goes back to sleep.
Lt. Wilkins waits for Col. Ambrose to get dressed before they are to take a group of military personnel to the reported landing site. Ambrose grumbles about the fact that it seems as if “all these saucers wait till night time to make an appearance.” He knows that Wilkins was once a publicist but his main concern is to prevent a “nation-wide panic.” Wilkins is told not inform anyone. Nothing like a dose of adult world secrecy to fan the flames of misinformed speculation. The Colonel then orders Wilkins to get some of his men and have them load their weapons.
As Johnny and Joan drive off to get married, they are almost hit by a military jeep carrying the Air Force personnel due to the fact that the teenagers have been driving with the car’s lights off. Suddenly a flash of lightning and the slippery driving conditions cause the car to hit a small creature that has abruptly darted out in front of their car.
Johnny and Joan get out of the car to investigate. At first Joan thinks that they have hit “a little boy.” A flash of lightning reveals the sight of a small alien body with an over sized cranium. Joan exclaims in horror, “It’s disgusting” and demands, “get me away from here."
The creature's severed hand then creeps over to the front tire of Johnny's car. With its retractable needle claws, it punctures the front tire. Having no spare tire, Johnny and Joan are forced to walk to Larkin’s house and call the police.
When the Air Force arrives at the UFO landing site clearing, the Colonel calls division headquarters to summon engineers: “SOP calls for engineers, not guesses.” Lt. Wilkins has been speculating that the saucer’s presence may help to explain the blue lights that jet pilots have been spotting. He wonders “how many airline crack-ups it’s caused?”
Meanwhile back at the Larkin house, Joan and Johnny let themselves in and use the telephone to call Police Headquarters. The Desk Sergeant does not believe their story, putting it down to “Saturday night, that’s official!” It wouldn’t be the first or last time that young people are not listened to, dismissed or disbelieved out of hand by adults in authority.
A flash of lightning together with a sudden power outage adds to the spooky atmosphere. As Joan goes off to find some candles, she spots something outside staring at her and runs to Johnny in fright. At that moment the lights come back on to reveal Larkin standing at the front doorway wielding his shotgun.
“Consarn hoodlums”
Larkin does not listen to the teenagers’ explanations of why they are in his house. He smells the odor of alcohol and accuses them of drinking. He thinks they are up to no good and warns them that if he sees any of those “smoochin’ kids” they’ll “get their backsides loaded with rock salt!” Larkin then calls the operator and tells her to get the police out to his place.
Later on Joe stops off at the Larkin house while Larkin is out checking on his livestock. He calls Artie at “Watkins 01536” to tell him that he has “proof” about the alien, but Artie does not believe it. Joe tells Artie to clear everything out of the fridge as he's about to bring home something “perishable” which they’ve got to keep “on ice." It almost sounds like Hicksburg is about to have its own little civilian version of Roswell!
But 10 years after Roswell, these aliens have other ideas……
As Joe once again attempts to retrieve the alien’s body, he is jumped by some aliens who were watching and lying in wait for him in the woods. The aliens then repeatedly inject an already half-sozzled Joe with their alcohol venom before carrying his body away.
As Johnny and Joan approach Johnny's car, they hear a strange pounding sound. They soon discover the source of the sound: an alien doing a spot of what looks like panel beating on the car. Of course it is assumed that the aliens are stupid and primitive and are furious at the car and hold it responsible for killing their comrade. Oh Johnny, it’s the aliens who are interstellar travelers, not humans! Who’s dumb? Kids!
“Go ahead corporal, fire a few rounds.”
Back at the UFO landing site, the USAF personnel do their military thing: surround the craft, inform its occupants that they are in fact surrounded (“We have you surrounded!”) by yelling at them with a bullhorn and then indignantly but futilely firing off a few rounds at the craft when they dare to have the effrontery not to respond to their hails.
Now remember kids, if you come across something you don’t understand and yelling at it or throwing things at it doesn’t produce the required results, then there’s nothing else for it but to…….
…..Cut it with open with an acetylene torch!
“Did you ever hear such a cock ‘n bull story?”
Meanwhile, the police have loaded Joe's body into an ambulance. The Detective takes Johnny's statement and he describes the alien as being “all green, except his head.” The detective assumes that Joan and Johnny are drunk and so he gives Johnny a field sobriety test: “I want you to blow up this balloon.”
The detective and the doctor are disgusted by what seems to them a very callous response to the killing of a person. Added to this is the strong odor of alcohol as well as Johnny’s puzzling determination to leave: "For a guy who has committed a serious crime, you're awfully anxious to get to the police station."
At police headquarters the detective, after having finished typing up the report, hands it to Johnny to read and sign. Johnny realizes that instead of being a report, it really amounts to being a confession to murder. Joan then pipes up and plays the ‘her father, the city attorney’ card. The detective, however has already called her father.
When Mr. Hayden, the city attorney arrives he tells his daughter that he'll try to get her out of trouble, but that “young punk” and “rough neck” Johnny is on his own.
“The man you killed is a nobody”
Joan’s father is about to give is daughter another of life’s really ‘valuable’ moral lessons. When they go down to the morgue to identify the body and see that it is Joe Gruen, Johnny exclaims, "I didn't run over this man!" Hayden then tells Johnny and Joan, "Now get this, both of you. We're lucky in one respect. The man you killed is a nobody. There will be only one person interested in the charges brought against you. That's his room-mate."
Back at the UFO site, engineers are trying to cut the craft open with acetylene torches. Suddenly, the metal skin of the craft ignites and the craft explodes.
At Police Headquarters Johnny works out that the aliens have been planning to frame him for Joe's murder. He and Joan conclude that they need more evidence so they exit the room they are in via an open window and purloin the police detective's car.
Johnny and Joan drive back to Johnny's car and as they search the surrounding woods, unknown to them they are being observed by the aliens. As they walk back to the police car, the severed alien hand enters the car through an open back window and plops down onto the back seat.
As Johnny and Joan drive off, Joan is feeling a bit chilly, so she reaches back to close the back window. As she does so, the alien hand inches its way up the back seat towards her. Joan suddenly catches sight of the menacing needle-brandishing digits of the hand, screams, jumps out of the car with Johnny and closes the door thereby trapping the freakish phalangeal fiend. The teenagers now have their evidence and all they need now is a credible witness…….Artie.
Artie’s belief or lack thereof in the teens’ story is best summed up by his observation: "Killed by little green men? That is the craziest story I've ever heard," They then plead with him to call the police to verify their story. The police sergeant informs Artie that his roommate Joe was killed and they are looking for the boy and girl who it is believed had killed him and that they have indeed managed to escape custody.
In the meantime, a stoush has erupted between Larkin's inebriated bull and a bad-tempered alien spoiling for a fight. The bull manages to give a good account of himself by gouging one of the alien’s bulbous eye balls. However, the bull loses the pub brawl when the alien hypodermically harpoons him with its needle-like claws sending the beast into a kind of alcohol-laden coma.
Armed with a camera and a gun, Artie, Johnny and Joan depart in Joan’s cantankerous old heap of a car which she has christened…..Elvis! It gets worse with jokes about girls needing an extra mirror and the old car still being able to pant and shimmy! I kid you not. As if we need any kind of comedic relief from tension at any point in this film! Anything that makes 21st Century audiences cringe has to be good though.
When the three arrive back at the police car, we find the aliens engaging in a bit of breaking and entering in order to get their dead compatriot’s animated body part. After the aliens clear off, Johnny, Joan, and Artie notice the hand on the floor board of the car. Artie manages to take a picture with his flashbulb camera, just as the hand evaporates in a cloud of smoke. No-one in town will believe the teenagers, but they will have to pay attention to a witness like Artie.
As the trio begin to drive back to town, Joan's car battery starts to go through its death throes. The aliens advance towards their car and it isn’t long before they conclude that “bullets don’t hurt them” but instead “It’s the light that hurts them.”
The car battery has finally shuffled off its electro-magnetic coil and as a consequence, the aliens advance menacingly yet again. As Artie runs for it, he is attacked and injected. Armed with only the camera, Johnny and Joan use its flashbulb to keep the aliens at bay while they make their escape.
Calling from Larkin's farm. Johnny tells the police that they are ready to surrender. However, he is told that he is no longer wanted for murder because Joe died of heart failure due to his blood's dangerously high alcohol content and that Joan's father has taken care of all the legal matters. With no help forthcoming from the police, where else can they turn? The “gang” at Lover's Point, that’s where.
Eventually Johnny and Joan, together with a few carloads of their friends, drive off to a clearing to which the aliens are conveying Artie's body. The teens plan to surround the clearing and when a signal is given, to turn on their car lights. When they arrive, the plan is put into action and the aliens sizzle and evaporate until they all disappear. Artie wakes up and is obviously very drunk. Johnny concludes that the aliens inject their victims with alcohol but if the victim is already drunk then the result is death.
After grumpy old Larkin arrives on the scene, blasting rock salt into the air and telling the kids to get off his property, Artie finishes his narrative, (of course as he’s being helped by two lovely young ladies!):
"So that's my story. Johnny and Joan helped me remember a little of it. But I wrote it you understand. A true story? Well that's the nice thing about all this book writing business. You pay before you read."
An alien hand then closes the book followed by a scream…….
Points of Interest
“Invasion of the Saucer Men” taps in to the UFO hysteria phenomenon and Cold War paranoia at the time which led many to fear threats from un-American alien forces of destruction. A nice healthy environment in which to grow up! Not!
Despite the film seeming to be pitched at a young audience, it becomes apparent that in its own way it sets about delivering a punch to society’s nose when it comes to how young people are often viewed and treated. Also up for examination is the kind of negative modeling that adults can sometimes give young people.
In the case of Joe and Artie, we have a couple of adult figures who can’t see anything beyond the next big scheme, the next opportunity to make a quick buck, not realizing that they are just a couple of losers with big dreams and no talent with which to achieve those dreams. For them, “this town’s a cinch for a quick buck.” Look and learn young people….
“(They) think we’re drunk or crazy just ‘coz we’re young.”
That 20th Century invention of the “teenager” or “adolescent” has often proved to be a curse for many young people so labeled over the last few decades. Such labels often tend to have negative connotations in the minds of adults: Drug-taking, binge drinking, gangs, anti-social activities and so the negative assumptions about young people pile up.
“After all, we’re just crazy kids.”
It shouldn’t be a surprise when people decide to act in the very way they are perceived or expected to behave. While many young people do display anti-social behaviors, the overwhelming majority of adolescents are well-adjusted and decent young people who respond well to respect given to them by adults; who thrive on praise and being paid due attention to; who need to take risks in order to grow; who need to be given responsibility; who love to have fun in life and learn best when they are having fun. After all, the health of any society is determined by how it values and treats both its elderly and its youth.
The whole affair surrounding the death of Joe, brings up three interesting points concerning the effect that the adult world can have on the ethical and moral development of the young as well as on young people’s view of their role and place in society;
1. The ease with which a young person’s testimony can be ignored, disregarded and disbelieved, based on prejudice and preconceived notions concerning their trustworthiness.
2. How labels can be so easily applied to people as a way of demonizing them and avoiding any kind of fair, considered and deeper appraisal of their thoughts, actions and motives.
3. Young people learn quickly from adults, even to the extent of picking up a distorted ethical and moral framework. For instance, how easily recourse can be made to the use of parental influence to clear up any real or perceived negative actions on the part of their offspring. Although it is right and proper to have the support of one’s family in times of strife as in Joan’s case, at some point in other normal instances, young people need to take responsibility for their actions and the consequences of their actions. Joan’s father ought to have extended his assistance to Johnny as a matter of fairness and justice in the circumstances. He failed to provide a sound ethical and moral lesson to his own daughter.
In addition, when Joan’s father refers to Joe as just being a nobody, it raises the argument that if he were a somebody, that would make all the difference! What value does a human life have? How does the act of killing someone whether or not accidentally vary in accordance with the victim’s perceived status and whether or not one can sweep it under the carpet or get away with it? Hope you’re listening kids and taking it all in!
Frank Gorshen who plays Joe Gruen is easily recognized from his role as The Ridler in the Batman TV series and his standout role in the 1969 Star Trek episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield," in which he played a character with a half black and half white face....or was it a half white and half black face? Does it really matter? That was the whole point!
Speaking of stand-outs, we cannot forget The Saucer Men characters in the film who were a creation of make-up and effects genius, Paul Blaisdell. Their huge bulbous eyes and giant vein-covered bald heads helped to define our cultural understanding of what constitutes alien life, namely our notions of what "little, green men" look like. Who does the alien Morbo in the animated series “Futurama” remind you of? Or indeed the creatures in the film,” Mars Attacks!?”
Paul Blaisdell's flying saucer was also used in the opening scene of The Outer Limits episode, “Controlled Experiment.” (1964)
Even the film’s plot has been a major influence on successive sci-fi films like, “The Blob.”
“Our job is to prevent a possible nation-wide panic by keeping the information from the public.”
Of relevance today is the way the film briefly deals with the idea of governments hiding information from the public. Witness how Colonel Ambrose bulldozes evidence of aliens right into the ground to hide information from the public who have the right to know that they are under threat by those very beings. The colonel even declares to Lt. Wilkins, “makes you proud….being part of a show like this.” Lt. Wilkins then suggests that “there might be other units covering up other things” and as far as the “good job” they have done, they can get some sleep and “read about a jet crash in tomorrow’s papers.”
Makes you proud, indeed and….makes you think……
Kronos (1957)
Kronos: Destroyer of the Universe!
A low budget 1950s sci-fi film with an enduring quality. This movie reflects the cold war tensions at the time, as well as the increasing UFO phenomenon
1957: A Taste Of The times:
International Affairs
Eisenhower Doctrine: Proposal by US President Eisenhower to offer military assistance to Middle Eastern countries to resist Communist aggression
Suez Canal reopens.
France sends troops to Algeria to crush the rebel movement.
Treaty of Rome is signed establishing the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. The goal is to have people, goods, services and money moving unchecked throughout the Union and to create a common market for all products, especially coal and steel.
NATO warns the Soviet Union that any attack will be met with all available means, including nuclear weapons.
The Distant Early Warning Line, a system of radar stations designed to detect Soviet bombers approaching North America, goes into operation.
The United States and Canada agree to create the North American Air Defense Command.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
B-52 bombers begin full-time flying alert in case of attack by USSR.
Communist leaders meet in Moscow. Mao Zedong predicts that between a third and a half of the world’s population might be killed in a nuclear war and that most of the survivors would be living in the socialist block while “imperialism would be razed to the ground.”
Policy of "Pre-delegation authority" is established when Pres. Eisenhower gives authority to senior military commanders to retaliate with nuclear weapons if the president cannot be reached or is unable to respond to a nuclear attack against the US.
Directed by Kurt Neumann
Produced by Irving Block, Louis DeWitt, Kurt Neumann, Jack Rabin
Screenplay by Lawrence L. Goldman
Story by Irving Block
Music by Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter
Cinematography: Karl Struss
Edited by Jodie Copelan
Production company: Regal Films
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Running time: 78 minutes
Budget: $160,000 (approx.)
Cast
Jeff Morrow as Dr. Leslie Gaskell
Barbara Lawrence as Vera Hunter
John Emery as Dr. Hubbell Eliot
George O'Hanlon as Dr. Arnold Culver
Morris Ankrum as Dr. Albert Stern
Kenneth Alton as McCrary - The Pickup Driver
John Parrish as Gen. Perry
Jose Gonzales-Gonzales as Manuel Ramirez
Richard Harrison as Pilot
Marjorie Stapp as Nurse
Robert Shayne as Air Force General
Don Eitner as Weather Operator
Gordon Mills as Sergeant
John Halloran as Lab Central Security Guard
As a young boy in the early 1960s, I remember watching two black and white science fiction films which made such an impact on me that I still vividly recall them after all these years. One was called “Kronos: and the other was “The Monolith Monsters,” both made in 1957. I do in particular remember how these films nearly 60 years ago scared the heck out of me. Lets take a look at KRONOS in this chapter.
“Kronos” (aka “Kronos, Destroyer of the Universe”) is a 1957 independently made science fiction film from Regal Films and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was produced by Irving Block, Louis DeWitt, Kurt Neumann, and Jack Rabin and was directed by Kurt Neumann. The film stars Jeff Morrow and Barbara Lawrence.
“Kronos” is about a small group of scientists who are investigating what at first appears to be an asteroid that eventually enters the Earth's atmosphere and crashes into the ocean. Soon after a giant machine, christened “Kronos” emerges out of the ocean.
What is Kronos?
Where has it come from?
Who made it?
For what purpose?
What is it doing on Earth?
Will it pose a threat to humanity?
(Spoilers follow below…..)
To the accompaniment of a powerful, rousing and rhythmic music score, the title and credits appear in white font over a black background. We next see a saucer-shaped spacecraft traversing a star-spangled sky. The huge, blinking saucer suddenly stops and hovers and then ejects a small glowing object which heads towards the Earth.
A solitary pick-up truck traces a lonely path along a man-made scar on the face of a desert landscape. The driver, a man called McCrary smokes and whistles to a tune playing on the radio, unaware that all the paths that he has traveled on throughout his life have led him to this final destination.
Suddenly McCrary’s radio experiences interference and the truck’s engine quits like a living beast having forsaken the will to live. McCrary gets out of the truck to check the engine. While he does so, the small sphere of luminous intelligence discharges light and electrical energy towards the hapless human and possesses him.
McCrary, who is now under the control of some alien intelligence, gets back in his truck and drives to Lab Central, a government installation. A single guard is all that stands between McCrary and his entry into “restricted territory.” McCrary tells the guard he is lost. As the guard is being distracted while consulting a map, McCrary knocks him out with a wrench.
McCrary gains entry into the main building and locates the office of Dr. Hubbell Eliot, the installation’s director. Dr. Eliot challenges the intruder asking him, "Who are you? What are you doing here? You have no business here. How did you get past the guard?" The only answer he receives comes to him in the form of the light and its associated intelligence transferring itself from the possessed McCrary to Dr. Eliot. McCrary then falls to the floor, dead. His body is soon carried away by the injured guard and a maintenance man who have arrived at Eliot's office to check on the director. They are both surprised at the director’s reaction which seems to be out of character!
“I don’t think I know her well enough to call her by name”
Dr. Arnold Culver enters the computer lab and retrieves an orbital calculation that his prized computer, “SUSIE” completed. Arnie thanks the computer, (“Atta girl, Susie, I knew you’d come through”) and goes to see Dr. Leslie Gaskell. Culver really needs to get out more!
“That thing is changing its course!”
Gaskell shows Arnie what is believed to be asteroid “M47” on a viewing screen which is linked to the observatory telescope. Culver explains the data on the orbit thus far as being nothing more than an orbital perturbation. Gaskell decides to have photo exposures taken, and then developed. Gaskell's girlfriend and lab employee, Vera Hunter works in the dark room. Gaskell and Culver later enter the dark room to view photo plates of M47. As he reviews the plates, Gaskell declares, “Looks like a good 15 degree shift to me.”
Synchro Unifying Sinometric Integrating Equitensor
As Eliot walks to the computing department, SUSIE malfunctions. Culver suggests that Gaskell and Vera go on their movie date while he stays behind to repair the computer. Gaskell and Vera only get as far as the parking lot, before Gaskell worries over leaving loose ends at work and returns to the lab with a very disappointed Vera in tow.
Back at the lab, Vera develops more photographic plates. and SUSIE is functioning as well as ever. Gaskell and Culver then meet with Dr. Eliot in his office when it becomes obvious that the object’s “swing out of orbit” is definitely “not normal!”
The following information is provided to Dr Eliot concerning the celestial intruder;
Diameter: 4.9 miles
Mass: 6000 megatons
Speed: 1750 miles per second
Destination: Earth!
Estimated time of impact: 16 hours
Dr. Gaskell suggests that the military can deal with the threat to the earth by using weaponry to “intercept and destroy it before it strikes.”
"Asteroid Heading for Earth!"
The military sets about preparing nuclear armed rockets for launch. The rockets are soon launched and strike the object while at that precise moment Dr. Eliot reacts as if his head has been struck with pain and he collapses to the floor.
At first it seems as if the rockets have succeeded in destroying the asteroid, but the object soon reappears. Despite possessing sufficient explosive force to destroy all of New York, the object has not been “destroyed at all” and in fact, the missile strike “had no effect at all!”
The following is a televised report on the object’s entry into the Earth’s atmosphere after the missile attack as received by viewers. Audio and visual reception is poor due to massive interference caused by the object’s approach:
Televised News Bulletin Broadcast from Station KGTK
“…causing it to veer…….will land somewhere on the North American continent……not to give way to unfounded rumors…….”
(Shaking of studio causing shuddering camera movement. Increasing volume of rumbling and roaring sound of object as it passes overhead)
“…….that sound you hear is from the approaching asteroid…….”
“Due to technical difficulties, we are unable to continue with our news bulletin. We do apologize for this break in transmission and we will resume normal programming once the problem is rectified”
“DANGER AVERTED!”
The asteroid / saucer crashes into the Pacific Ocean just off the coast of Mexico. In contrast to the prevailing mood, Gaskell paces backward and forward exuding fumes of frustration fueled by the flagrant foolishness of those who can’t “see any further than their noses.” To him it is obvious that the object changed path “like a wounded animal striking out at its tormentor.” He ponders the question: “What if it (the object’s controller) is an intelligent being from somewhere out there?” If it is, then its capabilities can be gauged by the probability that “it came through a billion miles of space” to get here.
Since the object’s manoeuvres suggest some form of intelligence, Gaskell is all for immediately putting together an expedition to investigate it.
Gaskell and Culver fly to Mexico and then make use of a helicopter to search for the object. After running low on fuel, they return to their base which is merely a beach shack. In the meantime, Vera shows that she won’t take no for an answer by contriving to get herself to Mexico by means of a plan she worked out to personally get some “missing” chemicals to Gaskell.
“This is the calm and…a storm is going to break out at any minute”
We next see alternating and contrasting scenes which serve to heighten the tension;
Hospital room
Cut to Dr. Albert Stern and his nurse tending to their patient, Dr. Eliot in a hospital bed. Eliot regains consciousness and Dr. Stern records his rambling utterances. Dr. Stern then hooks Dr. Eliot up to an EEG machine.
Beach
Gaskell feels a sense of dread and thinks that this is the calm before a storm. He also postulates that “there is more out there than we can ever hope to understand.” However, there is enough right in front of him: A lovely Vera resplendent in her swim suit! Chase her, not some asteroid, Les!
Hospital room
Eliot suddenly wakes with a shimmering light flashing on his face while simultaneously out in the ocean, the object is beginning to stir. Stern sedates Eliot but with no effect. It’s time for the…..”ELECTRO-SHOCK TREATMENT!”
Beach
Vera: “Dr Gaskell, will you marry me?”
Les: “Can you cook?”
More to the point: Can Vera respect a top scientist who……”pulled the scientific boner of all time!” (I kid you not! Kinda destroys the tension a bit!)
It gets worse when Vera suddenly notices something bulging and rising out of the water! “Les, look at the size of that thing!” (Wipe that smug grin off your face, Les)
Hospital room
Dr. Eliot seems to be improving and Dr. Stern orders daily electroshock treatments. Eliot is more lucid and appears to be himself. He tries to convince Dr. Stern that he must help him.” “I don’t know how much time I have….you’ve got to help me.”
I, KRONOS,
Destroyer of worlds,
Stands before you –
Implacable,
Invincible,
Impregnable,
Indomitable.
The next morning, reveals the overwhelming and brooding presence of a colossal machine on the beach. It consists of a pair of black cubes connected by a silver cylinder. The top cube has a sphere and two mobile antennae while at the bottom there are "legs" that consist of a series of cylinders.
Herald Gazette
"Fantastic Monster Discovered!"
Dr. Stern meanwhile has been going over the tapes of his sessions with Dr. Eliot. Here is a small excerpt;
“I know I’m doing something terribly wrong…….someone who should not be allowed to live………He would live on to command the stars…..”
Stern dictates his observations and conclusions and mentions Eliot’s strong belief that he is possessed by some being that feeds off electrical and atomic energy. Here is an excerpt;
“Marked paranoid syndrome…..Alpha waves violent during his lucid moments….Incubus dominates his actions…..Subsist on pure electrical energy.”
According to Eliot, the being’s civilization is facing a shortage of resources and is scouring the Universe for fresh sources of energy.
I, KRONOS,
Devourer of planets,
In your world’s last hour
Reveal to you my power.
Marvel at my superiority,
As you ponder acts of futility!
Gaskell, Culver and Vera take a helicopter out with which they use to circle the machine. They land on the top of the gigantic silent sentinel.
After alighting from the chopper, Gaskell takes some pictures while Culver takes radiation readings. Suddenly, all three humans are held fast in a kind of magnetic scanning beam. The object then activates and opens up to reveal mind-boggling incomprehensible alien machinery inside. In the face of such awesome technological power, the three humans climb aboard the helicopter and depart.
Meanwhile under shock therapy treatment, Eliot provides more detail concerning the alien invader’s intentions. The object is apparently an energy accumulator which has landed on Earth and will, "suck the Earth dry of all electronic and atomic energy resources."
Suddenly Eliot enters Stern's office and demands the notes he has been making. In a menacing voice Eliot warns him, "Now you're the only one who knows. And you will never tell." In the struggle that ensues between them, Stern is electrocuted by Eliot with Stern’s own equipment.
During a news report, a recording made by Gaskell in Mexico is played in which he describes the object as being one-hundred feet high and made of gleaming metal. As for what the object can be called, Dr. Gaskell continues; “I can only think of the giant, Kronos” --a ‘monster’ from Greek Mythology.
The news presenter then makes the suggestion that Kronos is “perhaps another gift from another world to ours.”
Dr. Eliot leaves the hospital in Phoenix and returns to Lab Central. By means of a file containing notes on Nuclear and Thermonuclear sources, he is able to communicate to Kronos the locations of sources of nuclear energy such as power stations and atom-bomb arsenals. He communicates the first target to Kronos: “Navarre Electro!” Kronos then activates and proceeds towards its target with relentless purpose by means of its pounding, pulverizing piston-like cylinder-legs.
Gaskell, Culver, and Vera monitor Kronos from their helicopter. They watch helplessly as the merciless machine approaches a power station, absorbs its energy and then effortlessly destroys the facility.
But wait! All is not lost surely! For the Mexican Air Force is here to save the day with four P-51 Mustang planes, led by none other than the redoubtable Captain Torres! Vaya con Dios, Captain Torres! Oh wait…..Kronos seems to have easily destroyed the might of the Mexican Air Force! Who would have guess it? As Kronos proceeds on its merry way attacking power plants and draining their energy, it grows larger with every absorption of energy.
DAILY GLOBE
"Lab Central Chief Advises H-Bomb for Kronos!"
After Gaskell, Culver and Vera return to Lab Central, they take the elevator down to the Isolation Chamber which is shielded against cosmic rays. In the chamber, Gaskell questions Eliot about the newspaper headline, "Lab Central Chief Advises H-Bomb for Kronos!" Gaskell states that he opposes this course of action involving a multiple thermo-nuclear attack. He points out to Eliot that Kronos will “absorb that energy” and become a more powerful “walking storehouse of energy.” In fact, according to Gaskell, “it’s very construction is proof of intelligence.”
Later, mistakenly thinking that she is addressing Gaskell. Vera says out loud, "Les, there is something you should know, the Phoenix hospital just phoned." She suddenly realizes her mistake when she sees that it is Eliot and not Les who turns around in his chair. Vera tries to escape but Eliot catches her, struggles with her and then tries to electrocute her in the same manner he did Dr. Stern at the hospital. Luckily Gaskell heard Vera’s cries for help (“Be careful, he’s a maniac, Les!”) and manages to stop Eliot. In doing so, Gaskell pushes him into an electrical panel causing the electricity to surge through his body.
The electric shock seems to have caused Eliot to return to his normal self. Eliot proceeds to outline the alien invaders’ plan and Vera makes a recording of it:
"Here on Earth we have learned only one half of the nuclear secret. We can transform matter into energy. Up there, they have the other half. They transmute energy into matter. They have learned how to create the basic elements of matter, electrically and atomically…….What has happened to them may well happen here if we continue to consume resources at the present rate."
Gaskell calls the Pentagon to stop the B-47 bomber carrying the H-Bomb. The Air Force General orders the B-47 “BX-89” to return to base. As the aircraft turns to leave, the pilot radios in the following message, “We are being pulled toward the objective.”
The plane cannot return to base as its controls have been taken over by Kronos. Kronos intends for the plane to head towards it, impact it and then detonate. Just before this happens, Kronos transforms into a solid black cube. The H-Bomb detonates, and ………..
The Daily Herald
FAILURE!
(Excerpt)“………but Kronos merely absorbed the bomb's nuclear blast, growing to an immense size. The alien machine now appears to be utterly unstoppable, able to harvest all of our power and energy at will.”
When Dr. Eliot returns to the Isolation Chamber he suddenly becomes ill and falls to the floor. A light flashes on his face and the alien intelligence that had possessed him earlier flows like a liquid from his body out to the walls of the chamber, discharging electric flashes as it does so.
Culver, Gaskell and Vera meet and listen to Eliot's earlier recorded conversations with Dr. Stern: “….we have only learned one half of the nuclear secret…..anthropic conversion…..reverse the process somehow….”
Gaskell has a brain storm and proposes that Kronos can be destroyed with its own energy. He theorizes that the two antennae on top of the machine are positive and negative poles. His idea is to “set up a field of force” between the two poles using "a concentrated field of omega particles," which will cause a change of polarity. As a result, “Kronos would become his own executioner.”
Post Dispatch
Giant on rampage!
Headed for H-bomb Stockpile!
Daily Globe
No Possible Defense
Mass Evacuation planned
TV News Broadcast
“Police and National Guard have been powerless to stop the wild rush from the doomed city……”
Kronos is now making its way relentlessly toward Los Angeles and the nuclear stockpile at Port Hueneme. Culver, Gaskell and Vera meet with General Perry who has arranged to fly the required radioactive nuclear materials out from the Boston Institute of Technology.
Later on, the pilot of the jet (45574) carrying the nuclear materials spots Kronos. He is to deploy his nuclear cargo at a precise location. On the first attempt at deployment, the wind changes and the first strike is aborted.
“That wind better hold steady…..just better hold steady!”
A second attempt is successfully made (“OK Iron Mike, here I come!”) and the reversal process begins causing Kronos to glow and then melt. Gaskell observes, "The chain reaction will keep on until the last stored electron of mass has been neutralized. Kronos is literally eating himself up alive. You are witnessing his death throes."
After a massive explosion Vera asks, "Les, do you think they'll send any more down?" Gaskell replies, "If they do well be ready for them." The final image is of the smoldering remains of Kronos.
Points of interest
“Kronos” was filmed in a little more than two weeks in California.
The film contains a great mixture of stock footage shots including the usual rocket launches of WWII era German V2s, through to Strategic Air Command's swept wing atomic jet bomber, the B-47 StratoJet and the first (experimental) supersonic fighter, the XF-100 Super Saber.
The idea of an alien machine absorbing energy was also the subject of the 1966 Star Trek episode, "The Doomsday Machine" in which a giant alien machine destroys planets and uses them to fuel itself.
At one point in the film, Gaskell, Culver and Vera take a helicopter out and land on the top of Kronos to investigate the machine. This scene is somewhat similar to the 2012 film “Battleship,” in a scene where a ship arrives at a certain location where the crew discover a massive floating alien structure. Alex and two crew members, Raikes and Beast, are sent to approach the structure in an armed Zodiac. When they do reach it, Alex walks on top of the alien ship’s hull to investigate it. Both scenes show the reaction of humans when confronted with overpowering alien technology.
George O'Hanlon, who plays Dr. Arnold Culver in the film, was also the voice of George Jetson in the popular 1960s cartoon series, The Jetsons.
Jeff Morrow who played Dr. Leslie Gaskell also had the role of Exeter in “This Island Earth” (1955) and was in “The Giant Claw” (1957).
Morris Ankrum who played Dr. Albert Stern we know well from 50’s sci-fi movies, often taking on the roles of no-nonsense generals. We have seen him appear in;
Red Planet Mars (1952), as Secretary of Defense Sparks
Invaders from Mars (1953), as Col. Fielding
Earth vs. Flying Saucers (1956), as Brig. General John Hanley
Beginning of the End (1957), as General John Hanson
The Giant Claw (1957), as Lt. General Edward Considine
Kronos writer, producer and special effects maestro, Irving Block also worked on the sci-fi films, “Rocketship X-M”, and “The Atomic Submarine.” He also had a role as production designer in the classic sci-fi masterpiece, “Forbidden Planet” (1956).
At one point in the film, Gaskell states, “I never looked at the night sky without an awareness that there’s more out there than we can ever hope to understand. Things we might sense, if we weren’t too stupid to admit their existence.” No truer word was ever spoken. Since the making of Kronos we’ve been made aware of the existence of such phenomena as, Quasars; Cosmic microwave background radiation; Dark Matter; Dark Energy; exoplanets; black holes and more recently, gravity waves.
One cannot help but wonder how advanced beings would not have understood that there is far more energy in just a single star than in all the power plants on Earth. Wouldn’t it have therefore been in their power to just harvest the energy from stars, instead of harassing civilizations on other worlds? The swine!
KRONOS FACT FILE
In Greek mythology, Kronos or Cronus, was the leader and youngest of the first generation of Titans, the divine descendants of Uranus (the sky) and Gaia, (the earth). He eventually overthrew his father and ruled during a Golden Age, until he was overthrown by his own son, Zeus and imprisoned in Tartarus.
Cronos was usually depicted with a sickle, which is used to harvest crops and also the weapon used to defeat his father, Ouranos (Uranus), the ruler of the universe.
The theme of “Kronos” is by now a very well-worn one: Humans fighting to save the planet from a powerful alien invader. For the era in which the film was made however, a different (ecological?) slant is given to the theme whereby the aliens have come to earth because their own planet has become depleted of energy. As one character states, “What has happened to them may well happen here, if we continue using our resources at the present rate.” Perhaps we may eventually become the aliens from an energy-depleted world armed with our own version of KRONOS with which to ravage other worlds!
I, Kronos
Destroyer of the Universe,
My soul purpose in thought and deed:
To live on whenever there is need
To satisfy the gnawing greed
For ever more on which to feed.
I, Kronos
Am coming.
I, Kronos
Am here!
Not of This Earth (1957)
A fast-paced, entertaining low-budget sci-fi movie with a somewhat dark atmosphere
1957: A Taste of the Times:
World Firsts
Walter "Fred" Morrison applies for a patent for a "flying toy" which we now know as the “Frisbee.” It is first produced by The Wham-O Company and is called the “Pluto Platter.”
Three B-52's take off from Castle Air Force Base in California on the first nonstop, round-the-world flight by jet planes, which lasts 45 hours and 19 minutes.
The Hamilton Watch Company is the first to introduce an electric watch.
The Ryan X-13 Vertijet becomes the first jet to take-off and land vertically. Take that Harrier!
The first experimental sodium nuclear reactor operates.
The first British hydrogen bomb was detonated on Christmas Island in South Pacific.
“The Seawolf,” the first submarine powered by liquid metal cooled reactor, is completed.
“Grayback,” the first submarine designed to fire guided missiles, is launched.
Marine Maj. John Glenn sets a transcontinental speed record when he flies a jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds.
Althea Gibson becomes the first black tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title.
The U.S. surgeon general, Leroy E. Burney reports that there is a direct link between smoking and lung cancer. Whodda thunked it!
Santa Susana in Los Angeles County begins receiving the nation’s first commercial electricity from a small, civilian-owned, nuclear reactor. After It is shut down in 1964, scientists will later report that the plant might be responsible hundreds of cancer cases.
The United States conducts its first underground nuclear test, code-named "Rainier," in the Nevada desert.
USSR launches the first intercontinental multistage ballistic missile.
The first balloon flight to exceed 100,000 feet takes off from Crosby, Minnesota.
Market researcher, James Vicary claims that he has invented a new way to get people to buy things, whether they want them or not via a process called “subliminal advertising.” He will later admit that his results were fabricated. In 1898 a book The New Psychology by E.W. Scripture was published which laid out most of the principles of subliminal response.
USSR launches the first intercontinental multistage ballistic missile while later the United States successfully test-fires the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.
Directed by Roger Corman
Produced by Roger Corman
Written by Charles B. Griffith, Mark Hanna
Music by Ronald Stein
Cinematography: John J. Mescall
Edited by Charles Gross
Distributed by Allied Artists
Running time: 67 minutes (or 71 minutes)
Budget: $100,000
Box office: $1 million
Cast
Paul Birch as Paul Johnson
Beverly Garland as Nadine Storey
Morgan Jones as Harry Sherbourne
William Roerick as Dr. F.W. Rochelle
Jonathan Haze as Jeremy Perrin
Dick Miller as Joe Piper
Anna Lee Carroll as Davanna Woman
Pat Flynn as Simmons
(Spoilers follow below….)
A human form ensconced in a chair radiates inhuman intent through cruel and cold milky white soulless orbs devoid of emotion. A device next to him triggers the opening of a cabinet in the wall that reveals the figure of one of his own kind who reports that,
“Time narrows, there is death upon Davana…. It is assumed that we shall perish.”
The seemingly human seated figure is not a human at all but is instead a shell occupied by an alien agent who goes by the name of Mr. Johnson. This being who is not of this earth has been sent to infiltrate our planet via a high-tech matter transporter from the distant planet, Davana. The inhabitants of his home planet have developed an incurable blood disease as a result of a nuclear war. Johnson's mission to Earth is to test the blood of humans for its usefulness in saving his species from extinction. His every thought and action is dictated by the implacable imperatives of survival.
Shut your eyes fast before they are suddenly assailed by abstract visions of inverted skulls and abrupt fleeting glimpses of dripping blood and bleached bones. For now, you are now being prepared to,
“…adventure into the
dimension of the impossible.
To enter this realm,
you must set your mind free
from earthly fetters that bind it.
If you find the events that follow to be unbelievable,
it is only because your imagination is chained.
All you need do is to believe
so that you may cross
the brink of time and space….
into the land you sometimes visit
in your dreams!”
Not even the hopeful and carefree concerns of youth is spared from the life-force sapping alien influence. One evening a young couple in a sports car are necking. The teenage girl soon leaves and the boy drives off. As the girl is walking home, she is suddenly accosted by a dark figure carrying a briefcase. He removes his sunglasses revealing something that causes the girl to scream and collapse. The mysterious figure takes out a rubber tube and needle and attaches it to her neck. He then proceeds to drain her blood into the glass vials in his case. See now more closely the face of Johnson, our new modern-day Dracula with the white pitiless washed out emptiness of his inhuman eyes.
Later on, a Cadillac pulls up outside a hospital, but the driver has pulled up on the wrong side of the road, next to a fire hydrant and in front of a no-parking sign. The driver clearly is in command of the tangible and physical manifestations of our civilization but he does not understand the rules, conventions and principles that underlie and help to govern it.
Paul Johnson enters the hospital and is greeted by Nurse Nadine Storey. He has come for a transfusion of blood. When he is informed that his blood will need to be tested, he responds by saying, “No test…I came for a transfusion of blood.” Dr. F.W. Rochelle soon comes out of his office and invites Mr. Johnson in where he explains to Johnson that no doctor on earth would do a transfusion without first knowing the blood type of a patient. Johnson informs him, “I must have blood. I am dying. I have Type “O.” Johnson uses a scalpel to cut his wrist but to Rochelle’s amazement there is no sign of bleeding. Johnson explains to the doctor that it will bleed later.
Johnson uses the power of telepathy to communicate with and control the mind and will of Rochelle. Johnson agrees to the blood test, while Rochelle will not be permitted to divulge any information about Johnson. Johnson then asks Nadine to work for him and she agrees only if the doctor approves, which he does. As part of fulfilling Johnson’s command to “see to it that I don’t expire,” Rochelle is to give him a daily infusion of 500 cc of type "O" blood every night.
The criminal mind, the social outcast, the powerless individual stuck in a morass of limited prospects, lack of direction and under achievement often provides a willing fertile ground for those possessing “loftier” ambitions of ill-intent toward the world. Enter Jeremy, Johnson's chauffeur and butler and former small time criminal. Jeremy Perrin greets Johnson at the latter’s residence and is instructed to prepare a room for the nurse.
Johnson enters the kitchen and removes several vials of blood and places them in the refrigerator. After doing so, he goes down into the basement. Jeremy, contrary to his instructions, enters the kitchen and tries to open one of the containers. Suddenly, he is caught in the act of snooping and is telepathically frozen by Johnson who tells Jeremy, “if you do so again, I shall eliminate you.”
Jeremy later greets Nurse Nadine upon her arrival at Johnson’s residence. She quickly rebuffs his rather clumsy and inept pass at her and makes her way to the living room and apologizes to Johnson for her late arrival.
Johnson escorts Nadine to her room upstairs and when he leaves the room he locks her door from the outside. Nadine tells Johnson if her door is to be locked, she'd rather be the one to do so. Johnson informs her that in the place he comes from, “no person would dare sleep in insecure quarters.”
Back in the living room, Johnson uses his communication device to contact his home planet of Davana. The closet door that conceals the matter transporter slides open. The alien courier telepathically informs Johnson about the dire conditions on his home world. Due to the war and the radioactivity that has resulted, the aliens require huge quantities of blood. Johnson’s mission on Earth will consist of six phases:
Phase 1: Study humans
Phase 2: Increase the quantity of blood
Phase 3: Obtain a live human specimen to be teleported to Davana for research
Phase 4: Blood transfusions & Johnson’s own life or death
Phase 5: If Johnson lives: conquest, subjugation and pasturing of the Earth's population
Phase 6: If Johnson dies…….Obliteration of planet Earth!!!!!
“Death Is Not a Remarkable Thing”
The next day we discover more about Johnson that highlights the fact that he is indeed not of this Earth. For one thing, he does not eat solid food. Instead, he adds a pill to water, which turns the liquid a dark colour which he then drinks.
Later that day in a rather comedic scene, a vacuum cleaner salesman by the name of Joe Piper calls at the residence and is met by Johnson. By now we are familiar with Johnson’s stilted, sterile and overly precise use of grammar and vocabulary. Contrast this with Joe’s free-flowing vernacular-ridden and rather unusual “crazy man” counter-intuitive sales pitch:
“I ain’t gonna force ya’ to purchase.”
“Hey, Lemmie finish will ya’!”
“Gimme a chance will ya’?”
“Look buddy, just gimme five minutes of ya’ time in ya’ cellar.
Instead of turning Joe down with a well-chosen expletive and a door slammed perilously close to his face, Johnson invites him in and escorts him down to the cellar. It won’t be dirt that will be sucked up down in the bowels of the house. Rather, it will be Joe’s own blood that will be extracted by Johnson after he removes his sunglasses and exposes Joe to the murderous menace emanating from the wicked whites of his eyes. An incoherent scream takes the place of Joe’s well-practiced spiel. All trace of Joe then disappears into the furnace. Sale completed: Paid for in full…. Paid for in blood! Take that, you pesky door-to-door sales people!
As Jeremy drives Johnson to the library, they encounter three drunks. It is time for Phase 2: Increase the quantity of blood. Johnson tells Jeremy to invite the three men to dinner that night. I wonder what’s on the menu?
Meanwhile, as Nadine is enjoying some down time by the pool, she notices smoke rising from the chimney which is unusual considering the nice weather. Impelled by the kind of curiosity that can be lethal to domesticated felines, she enters the cellar to investigate. In the cellar she notices a large number of flasks. She puts her cap down, picks up an empty flask, removes the stopper and sniffs. Her reaction indicates how bad the odor is. As Nadine approaches the furnace, she hears the sound of a car horn. She then places the empty flask on a small table and exits the cellar. But what has she left behind?
“Time is indeed the only element, doctor”
Nadine’s boyfriend, motorcycle patrol officer, Harry Sherbourne and Dr. Rochelle arrive. Dr. Rochelle enters the living room with Johnson where he informs him, "Your blood is different from any I ever studied in my entire career." He has a low count of red corpuscles and his blood will likely turn to dust and he will die. Dr. Rochelle surmises that it might be a plague and that time is critical.
"A creep and a two-bit crook.
I don't like the feel of this place."
Later on, Johnson is in the cellar stoking up the flames of the furnace when he notices Nadine’s bathing cap. Soon after the three drunks wind up in the cellar with Johnson drinking when Johnson suddenly removes his sunglasses and gives new meaning to the term “dead drunk!”
Johnson then places a number vials of blood into a trunk and tells Jeremy to move it to the living room where Johnson proceeds to communicate with Davana. The trunk containing its precious contents is then teleported. Next – Phase 3: Obtain a live human specimen to be teleported to Davana for research.
More clues emerge about Johnson as Nadine relates to Harry that her time spent as a nurse at his residence has revealed him to be “cold, odd and brilliant” and that he seems to be “unaware of the simplest things.”
“I can just see the vampire headlines”
Excerpts from…..
The Daily Observer
VAMPIRE KILLINGS
Conundrum Continues
………. Each have involved the presence of neck punctures……….
…….so far 13 people have been killed in precisely the same manner………..
Police sources have reported that something had been used to burn the brains of the victims…………and take their blood.…………claimed that some kind of device that burns out the eyes and brains of his victims, and then he drains them of their blood………. …. all we can think of is,
Who’ll be next?
Meanwhile at police headquarters, Sgt George Walton and Harry have been discussing the above incidents. As one of them comments, “all I can think of is who’ll be next?” we fade to an image of Nadine giving Johnson his evening transfusion during which he asks her if she has any relatives. She replies with, “just an aunt in Detroit who raised me." No guesses needed as to the answer to the question, “Who’ll be next?”
Time now for phase 3! Johnson selects at random an Asian man and telepathically instructs him to follow him home. Once at home, the alien courier has some bad news to report. Back on Davana there is “destruction within the Council of the Northern Orbit” and that “rule is dissolving.” If that isn't bad enough, it turns out that “independent action increases on a 73% degree tangent!!!!” Oh my God! It’s anarchy!! Johnson reports that it will take three days before he’ll know if the treatments are working. He then handballs the Asian man over to be teleported to Davana.
Meanwhile, more clues are mounting concerning Johnson. Nadine has noticed the dark water among the contents of Johnson’s untouched breakfast. She decides to take the liquid to a lab and have it analyzed. Jeremy also reports that the three alcoholics were seen to arrive but were never seen leaving. Similarly, that Johnson “takes the china man into his room and neither of them come out.”
Nadine later brings the sample to Dr. Rochelle. His new nurse brings in a bottle of canine blood that has been infected with canine rabies. She labels it and puts it in the refrigerator. Of course this not done for nothing. It is significant for the purpose of setting the audience up and for the foreshadowing of events.
Johnson has a meeting on the street later on with a woman who is also from Davana. She explains telepathically that she came to Earth via the “dimension warp” due to the chaos back home: “I had to escape them all.” It turns out that the alien courier has been killed and that the human specimen was crushed as it is “impossible to transmit a human or sub-human anatomy through the beam.”
The alien female informs Johnson that she needs blood as she will expire without it. Johnson then takes the woman to Dr. Rochelle's lab at the hospital. During the transfusion, Johnson accidentally gives her blood from the container marked with, “Caution: Canine Rabies.” She complains about feeling strange and comments that “there is activity within me.” She then walks to her hotel room, but soon returns to the hospital and collapses outside. As he returns to the hospital, Dr. Rochelle spots the woman and together with a nurse gets her to his office. When he removes her sunglasses, she opens her eyes to reveal the same kind of deadly white orbs as Johnson’s.
It is later determined by Dr Rochelle that the alien female “is something other than human” and that she has “lived in an area that is constantly charged with radioactive material” – an area of all-out nuclear warfare!
"I must have a second live specimen."
We next see Johnson as he goes to pick up his car. When the attendant leads him to where it is, Johnson telepathically directs him to enter the car. Suddenly a car horn sounds for the attendant and the telepathic link is broken. The attendant wisely decides he doesn’t need to be there and quickly tries to scarper but Johnson is hot on his heels and manages to kill him.
In the meantime, Nadine decides to ignore Harry’s advice to leave Johnson’s residence. Instead, with Jeremy in tow, she sets about conducting a bit of investigative work herself by searching the house. They eventually discover the communication device and the transporter in the wall closet. Jeremy then does a Hamlet when he discovers a skull in the furnace.
Unbeknownst to our two sleuths, Johnson arrives home. The phone rings and Nadine answers. It is Dr. Rochelle on the other end with information about the Davana woman. Of course, Johnson has been listening in on the conversation. He tells her to remain in her room, then hangs up the other phone and proceeds to dispose of the hapless Jeremy.
As Johnson looms over Nadine with murderous intent, she lets loose with a Fay Wray scream. As Johnson is sensitive to loud noises, she is able to escape him and exit the house. Johnson pursues her in his car and telepathically informs her that he is going to destroy Dr. Rochelle.
And what of Dr. Rochelle? There he is busily examining a blood sample when a head crushing creature brought to life by Johnson suddenly enters through an open window. It abruptly plops down and envelopes Rochelle’s entire head. There he lies collapsed on the bench, his head concealed within a monstrous membrane about to be immersed in a spreading sea of his own blood.
Meanwhile, Johnson heads for Nadine by honing in on her mind signal. After Nadine calls Harry and tells him that Johnson is after her, he and Simmons try to locate Johnson and Nadine on their motorcycles.
Johnson finally gains control of Nadine and instructs her to return to the house where she is to transport herself to Davana. Johnson is also able to dispose of Simmons. When Harry pursues Johnson’s car, he uses his motorcycle siren, the noise of which causes Johnson to lose control of his car and roll it. It also resulted in breaking Johnson’s control of Nadine’s mind.
“A foreign thing who came here to destroy us”
"I can't feel sorry for him; he had no emotions as we know them."
We now end with both Harry and Nadine standing before a headstone, on which an inscription reads;
"Here lies a man
who was not
of this earth."
But wait!! Notice a solitary figure of a man approaching, dressed much like Johnson and wearing sunglasses. He also seems to be carrying the same distinctive case as Johnson had containing transfusion equipment. How do you feel as you watch that man in the background walking up behind Harry and Nadine and then heading right towards the camera? The implication of this imagery being of course……
Points of interest
It is unfortunate that the copies of the film that I have seen have been of a very ordinary quality. Most appear to be far too dark and are hard to watch. I hope a remastered or superior quality copy exists or will be produced for fans of the genre to enjoy more fully.
“Not of This Earth” was released in the U.S. on the bottom half of a double bill with Roger Corman's “Attack of the Crab Monsters.” The film was targeted largely at the drive-in market and teen audiences.
I’ve seen it mentioned that Paul Birch apparently left the picture before principal photography was completed. Lyle Latell is supposed to have completed his scenes.
The “umbrella” head-crushing creature brought to us by none other than special effects wizard, Paul Blaisdell may be unintentionally funny, but it does pre-date the face-hugging creature from the later sci-fi film, “Alien.”
There have been three remakes of “Not of This Earth.” The first was made in 1988 by Jim Wynorski and starred Traci Lords. The second was made in 1995 starring Michael York and the third in 1998 with female actor, Athena Massey in the alien role.
The film does seem to raise some interesting ideas, particularly at the end. For instance, does a creature not deserve our sympathy just because it is unable show sympathy itself? If it doesn't, what does that say about us? Should we only have sympathy or empathy for beings that can reciprocate?
The Brain from Planet Arous (1957)
A rather ludicrous but strangely ridiculously entertaining sci-fi film
Directed by Nathan H. Juran
Produced by Jacques R. Marquette
Written by Ray Buffum
Music by Walter Greene
Cinematography Jacques R. Marquette
Distributed by Howco International
Running time: 70 min.
Budget: $58,000 approx.
Cast
John Agar: Steve March
Joyce Meadows: Sally Fallon
Robert Fuller: Dan Murphy
Thomas Browne Henry: John Fallon
Ken Terrell: Colonel in Conference Room
Henry Travis: Colonel Frogley
E. Leslie Thomas: General Brown
Tim Graham: Sheriff Wiley Pane
Bill Giorgio: Russian
A powerful alien disembodied brain from the planet Arous, by the name of Gor invades and takes control of the body of scientist, Steve March. Gor uses March as part of his nefarious plan to control the world by threatening to destroy any nation that challenges his total domination.
How can this new threat to Humanity be thwarted?
(Spoiler Alert!)
What If?..........
It’s late 1957, and we now find ourselves in a wood-paneled study or home office. Sitting somewhat incongruously in an ox-blood red chesterfield-style arm chair is a bald and rather heavy-set man in his sixties. He is wearing reading glasses perched on the end of his nose. He is also rather incongruously wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a pair of shorts and sandals. With a snifter of brandy cradled in his left hand and the finest of Cuban cigars delicately poised between thumb, index and middle fingers of his right hand, one would expect this gentleman to be sporting a crimson smoking jacket, a silk cravat and a pair of slippers.
Sitting opposite this odd-looking fellow, one can make out through the almost dream-like haze of smoke a rather harried-looking younger man fidgeting nervously in a wing-backed leather armchair.
Sound of a clock chiming
Professor Karl Von Linden puffs on his cigar and regards the room in which he and the other fellow are ensconced with a somewhat smug and self-satisfied expression on his face, as if he were surveying the fruits of a lifetime of glorious academic endeavor.
As Von Linden shifts his gaze from the framed certificates on his wall proclaiming his expertise in all matters cerebral and psychological, he begins to address his…. “patient.”
Von Linden: Zo young man, another one of your dreams? Tell me please, vot vas it zis time?
March: Well, Professor, it is the same dream, except this time it wasn’t in disjointed bits and pieces. This time it had a beginning, a middle and an ending.
Von Linden: Zo, a complete narrative! Interesting…. go on, my boy.
March: I bet Freud would have plenty to say about this one…
Von Linden: Bah! Freud smoid! I’m not interested with vot Herr Freud would have to say. I’m interested in vot you have to say. Proceed.
March: Well, once again it starts off in the evening with a light slowly descending from the sky and exploding into a mountain in the middle of the desert. At that point I’m in my lab with my colleague, Dan when I notice something odd happening with the Geiger counter. I can’t figure it out so I try to draw Dan’s attention to this but he’s absorbed in one of those pulp science fiction novels.
After a moment of silence, the Geiger counter goes nuts. Well, that finally gets Dan’s attention. I’m then able to determine that the source of the radioactivity is thirty miles away at Mystery Mountain.
My fiancé, Sally soon turns up and harangues me about not stopping to have lunch. After detecting yet another burst of radioactivity, Dan and I decide to go over to Mystery Mountain, but not before Sally twists our arms to have lunch first.
Von Linden: Interesting you mention on zis occasion the popular science fiction magazine. Vy not ‘Playboy’ magazine like vot I have got in zee third drawer of mine desk here? (Von Linden pulls the drawer open to reveal a substantial stash of Playboys). Purely for research purposes, you understand.
Could it be zat you have doubts about the validity of your vork and research? Are you concerned that it could be viewed by some as being little more than zee science fiction? Add to zis the fact that your colleague, Dan was ignoring you at that point! Could it be zat you fear having your vork ignored or not taken seriously?
As for your fiancé, Sally. Zis young lady could represent zee emotions und responsibilities of normal life you fear are being ignored by you due to your commitment to your vork. Some guilt on your part perhaps?
We shall consider zees matters later. Please go on. Very fascinating it is! Such detail. Most unusual!
March: Well, we go on to have lunch at Sally’s father’s place. Sally’s father, John Fallon soon arrives home. I tell him about Dan and I intending to go to Mystery Mountain, but he warns me that at this time of year temperatures can reach 120 degrees in the desert.
I then tell John about evidence of “a hot blast of gamma…coming from Mystery Mountain,” and that it is reason “enough for any scientist to go out into the desert." Dan doesn’t seem anxious to go, but he agrees to.
Dan and I soon set off for Mystery Mountain in the jeep when suddenly a rock fall blocks our path. I figure that the rock debris is evidence of recent activity. We then proceed to walk the rest of the way.
We finally make our way to a cave and it seems to me that it had been blasted out recently. I don’t notice any footprints, however. We then decide to enter the cave to check for the presence of any radioactivity. Suddenly the counter goes berserk as it registers a high level of radioactivity, and then just as suddenly it goes silent.
Dan and I draw our guns and announce our presence to whoever might be in the cave. That’s when our eye balls are hammered by a blinding bright light. This is then followed by a ghostly apparition of a huge floating brain with glowing eyes filled with menace! The very same one I told you about during our last couple of sessions.
Von Linden: Ya! Ya! I know. Please go on, my boy. Vot happened next?
March: I empty my gun into the apparition and then my point of view shifts from my body and I continue to observe outside of my now unconscious form lying on the cave floor. I suddenly see Dan firing a couple of rounds from his rifle but he is hit by what seems to be an intense burst of radiation. I somehow know that Dan is dead. Hardly having time to register this awful fact, I watch in horror as the brain shrinks in size and enters my own body.
Von Linden: (making smoke rings) Vell, Shteve, it seems zat you may have quite a bit of internal conflict whirling around in your head. (whirls his index finger around centre of smoke rings) Take zee cave for instance. Could the presence of such an underground place in your dream be a sign zat you are focusing on vot is going on inside you? All zis worry of yours about vot you are doing, vy you are doing it und whether or not you should be doing it. Through your dream, you are trying to understand vy you do vot you do, und vot lies behind the vay you are feeling.
Also zere is fear, my boy! Zat great and terrible motivating force zat pervades the entire history of human civilization. In your dream zere is the death of your friend und colleague, Dan – the one you depend on und the one who occasionally pulls on the reins of caution whenever you decide to gallop off in pursuit of scientific truth!
Vee now come to another kind of fear: one zat is at this moment eating away at zee very fabric of our own society und one zat will surely rear its head in other guises in zee future. Today vee fear zee Reds under our beds und zee mushroom clouds of death. Und tomorrow? Vot vill vee fear?
Think about zat disembodied brain taking over your body. You are afraid of losing control over your thoughts und actions und that some other force from somewhere out zere vill come und invade your being, your world, your vay of life for its own nefarious purposes. How much are our perceptions nothing more zan zee product of the time und place in vich vee live. Much of it like zat “brain” in your dream – an apparition, an illusion.
March: You think so, Professor Von Linden? After the cave incident I sense that I’m somewhere back in my body but not in control of my thoughts and actions. It’s like I’m somehow pushed deep into the background of my being and can only look on helplessly. It is really the alien entity that returns to the house and embraces my Sally. It tells her that nothing was found at the Mystery Mountain site and that Dan went to Las Vegas. I suddenly sense overpowering pain and aggression pervading my mind and body.
Sally knows something is wrong when the entity kisses her aggressively and tears her blouse. Suddenly, good old George the dog comes to her rescue and attacks the alien me. The intruder fends George off, gets in the car and drives away.
I later find myself back in my lab where the brain exits my body. The brain tells me, "I am Gor. I need your body as a dwelling place while I’m here on your Earth." It tells me that I was chosen as a vessel because of my special knowledge of nuclear energy and my access to government resources.
Von Linden: Mein Gott! Zis is fascinating! Interesting it is zat you mention dreaming of your dog intervening in a violent act of possession. I think that your canine friend, George represents you (stabbing cigar at Steve) with your basic instincts of friendship, loyalty, und protection.
Protection against vot, you ask? Ah! Apart from fear, vot else seems to be behind much of human conduct? In your dream you have zee possession und control of your mind und body by the alien brain. Using your body, the alien brain attempts to “possess” (making inverted comma sign with his fingers) your young fraulein, Sally.
Our relationships, our front gardens, Nature, zee material world, situations, events, other people, vorkplaces, media, religion, politics, etc, etc., Our ambition whether stated or unstated is to possess und control! We seek to impose our own straight lines, symmetry and sense of proportion und order where none ought to exist. And those lines start out und lead back to us! We’re all of us potential tyrants und fascists in our own little individual vays.
Vot do we have to counterbalance this? Vy, my boy – our own versions of your George: friendship, loyalty, und willingness to protect!
Anyway, vot of this…..Gor und the rest of your dream?
March: Before I get on to that part, in my dream I do have the sense that Sally suspects that something is definitely wrong with me. She eventually convinces her father to go with her to Mystery Mountain.
I see them entering the cave system where Dan and I had been. Sally notices a flash of light and screams. She and her father walk further into the cave and they come across Dan's body. John walks over to the body and notices burn marks on it.
Suddenly, another brain from the planet Arous appears. This one is called Vol and it communicates with Sally and her father telepathically. Vol informs them that he has come to Earth to capture or kill the criminal, Gor. He then promises to meet with them at their home at 8:00 p.m. the next evening.
Von Linden: Ya, I zee from our previous meeting’s transcripts zat zee “alien you” contacts zee Atomic Energy Facility at Indian Springs. As zee Gor, you manage to invite yourself to zee next scheduled test as an observer.
March: That’s right. The new part to the dream is that Gor is planning a test of his power and has promised me great power and wealth.
Von Linden: Goot! It also says here that zee Vol alien brain enlists zee help of Sally und her father to save zee Earth. Also, in order to get close to Gor while he inhabits your body, it is agreed to make use of zee pooch, George as a host for Vol. By zee vay, did any one ask zee pooch? Ha! Ha!
March: Professor, I find this next part hard to talk about and have deliberately refrained from recalling and mentioning it to you till now.
Von Linden: Bah! Denial, repression of uncomfortable memories und such tings are very common, my boy. Go on. Vat do you remember from your dream zat is zo terrible to mention till now?
March: As I (the Gor I) drive to John’s house, I spot an aeroplane in the sky. By some unearthly power within me I destroy the plane and kill all on board. What is worse is that I laugh in response to my criminal act!
Later in the car with Sally and George / Vol, I find myself promising Sally the world and let her know that I have a new power that, "will make me the most feared man on Earth."
A radio broadcast suddenly informs us about the plane crash and so we drive out to the scene. The evidence of burns on one of the bodies and the radiation damage on a piece of the plane’s wreckage is testament enough of the “new power” I was telling Sally about.
Von Linden: Ach du lieber! Do not knock yourself about, Shteve. It is zee dream und in zis stage of zee dream, your subconscious is revealing to you your inner knowledge of zee destructive nature of power, control und ambition, its consequences und its inherent veakness. You are aware of the potential within you to commit acts of evil but you can distinguish “right” from zee “wrong.” Some may call zis framework “conscience” or “morality.” Whatever you may vish to call it, it is vot makes us human beings und what can defeat zee “Gors” that continually lurk within und shadow us though our lives.
March: This new part to the dream almost suggests a way of fighting back and overcoming whatever this alien entity Gor represents. Vol tells John and Sally that Gor can only be destroyed when he assumes his true form: "In Earth's atmosphere, we must return to our true state once every twenty-four hours in order to assimilate enough oxygen for life." As long as it occupies my body, Gor is invulnerable. Vol goes on to inform them that a heavy blow on a region of the brain known as the “Fissure of Rolando” can kill him.
Von Linden: Ya, Ya, Zee “Fissure of Rolando” named after Luigi Rolando. It is a groove or deep fissure if you vill that separates zee brain’s frontal und parietal lobes and……
(As Von Linden goes on and on about the Fissure of Rolando, Steve’s eyes begin to glaze over which is eventually noticed by Von Linden)
Sorry, Shteve. Please go on.
March: Sheriff Wiley Pane stops by to see me at the lab. He wants to ask me some questions about Dan Murphy. He tells me that Dan is dead but I persist with the Dan-having-gone-to-Las Vegas story. Well, that Gor within me now feels it has nothing to lose by confessing to the murder of Dan and the destruction of the plane. The “Gor” me then tells the sheriff, "and now I'm going to kill you." Just as the Sheriff goes for his gun, he is zapped by a flash of light. No guesses needed to know where that came from. Under Gor’s influence, I hide the sheriff’s body in a corner of the lab.
Von Linden: Ah! Zee killing of zee sheriff reflects your inner moral turmoil. You fear zat your goot, moral und ethical part of you is somehow being subverted by your capacity to do evil or cause harm to zose around you. Your mind is vorking through zis dilemma, no?
March: Another piece to the jigsaw puzzle of my dream involves a military committee meeting at the Pentagon. After careful examination of the wreckage, it is concluded that the Earth has been invaded. A colonel by the name of Frogley who is chairing the committee, reports that Dan and the passengers of the destroyed plane were killed by intense radiation. The committee then plans to meet again at Indian Springs.
Von Linden: Zis reference to zee military shows your preparedness to fight or combat zis evil “Gor” force or impulses within you. Zee true nature of zeez forces will reveal themselves by bubbling to zee surface, if you vill, at zis place called Indian Springs!
March: The battle you’re talking about didn’t eventuate when George stays with me one evening. Vol isn’t able to confront Gor, as he doesn’t leave my body. Gor’s confidence increases as he ponders the upcoming meeting at Indian Springs. He even promises Sally as much fame and fortune as she could wish for when they move to Washington, D.C.
The dream now shifts to Indian Springs for the Friday nuclear test. Gor, through me, explains that he has an explanation for the deaths of Dan and the destruction of the plane. The “Gor” me walks over to the window and tells the others present to watch the closed circuit television. Using his power, Gor then destroys all the targets that have been set up for the planned nuclear test. Through me he informs the group, "What you've just seen me do to that one small area, I can do to a city, a nation, or a continent."
Colonel Frogley suddenly leaves the room and quickly returns with a gun and fires several bullets into my body without any effect. The colonel is killed by the flash of light unleashed by Gor. The force of evil is now in a position to dictate terms as Gor orders that representatives of the superpower nations are to return to attend a meeting to “discuss” such terms. Any nation that does not comply will have their capital city destroyed.
The meeting does take place later on. The superpower representatives witness more death and destruction as the “Gor” me destroys another aeroplane. He then lays out his ultimate plan:
“I want all of your uranium, plutonium, all your atomic resources. I want your factories, railroad shipping, all your industrial facilities. Your workers will labor around the clock day and night, following my blueprints to build a most powerful invasion force ever gathered in the universe.”
When the Russian representative protests that “Russia would never agree to it!” Gor simply retorts that “there's a simple answer to that: There'll be no Russia.” He then goes on to inform them that “your United Nations building will be turned over to me. I will teach your engineers to build a fleet of interplanetary rockets, to be armed and manned by your joint military forces. All under my command.”
When General Brown asks Gor what he would do with all this power, the “Gor” me tells him that “I will return to my planet Arous, and through its vast intellect, I will become master of the universe. After I'm gone, your Earth will be free to live out its miserable span of existence as one of my satellites and that's how it's going to be.”
Von Linden: As has been seen time und time again: zee insatiable nature of zee need to acquire power und control und zee vay in vich power can corrupt absolutely. Zis is a law zat applies to zee smallest organization right through to zee entire galaxy und beyond! You subconscious (or perhaps your heart, if you like) knows zees tings. It also knows zat something must be done. In a conflict, even an internal one zere must be a victor.
March: Perhaps that’s what my dream has been trying to show me when Sally enters my lab. She draws a diagram on a piece of paper depicting a human brain labeled with Gor's vulnerable “Fissure of Rolando” spot.
As Sally leaves the paper on a table before she leaves the lab, the “Gor” me arrives. Sally conceals herself next to where the Sheriff’s body is lying while my body collapses onto a chair and Gor exits my body.
While Gor boasts about what he has done, the real me sees Sally's diagram. Just then Sally spots the Sheriff's burned body and screams. While Gor’s attention is directed towards her, I manage to grab a nearby ax and wield it to good effect, managing to eventually strike Gor’s vulnerable “Fissure of Rolando” region, thereby killing him.
The dream ends with Sally telling me all about Vol and how he is using George as a host. I don’t really believe her story and laughingly tell her, "You and your imagination."
So what do you think, professor? Have you learned enough useful information from my dream to help me out?
Von Linden: Oh, yes Shteve. I believe I have learned enough to decide on a course of action. I think zee mind und zee brain are zee last true frontiers of knowledge to be explored und understood. Consider how powerful und mysterious zee “imagination” can be. Through zee imagination anything is possible. Take zis for example, my boy…
(Suddenly a suffocating silence envelopes the room, broken only by the steady ticking and slow swinging motion of the tall grandfather clock’s pendulum. As Steve’s attention is drawn towards Von Linden’s face, panic grips his entire being as he realizes that he has no recollection of what he had been doing or what had been taking place in his life prior to being in the professor’s room.
Sound of a clock chiming
As Steve looks at the professor’s face, he wonders if his imagination is indeed playing tricks on him. He thinks he hears these familiar words being spoken to him ‘“…it tolls for thee” my boy’ Next, it is as if a vapor is emanating from Von Linden’s ears, nostrils and mouth. Suddenly an incoherent wail erupts from the depths of Steve’s soul as he witnesses the vapor beginning to coalesce into the form of a brain…. a brain that is slowly advancing toward him!)
Points of Interest
The scientist Steve March in “The Brain from Planet Arous” is played by actor John Agar who we have seen a quite a few classic sci-fi movies such as “The Mole People,” “Tarantula” and “Attack of the Puppet People.”
John Agar is required to give two performances or portrayals in the film. One being the rather ordinary mild-mannered human scientist and the other being a maniacal power-hungry alien version of himself. His portrayal of the letter comes across as being rather more comical than evil or menacing.
The other significant character in the film is the disembodied alien brain. Unfortunately, the effect is rather disappointing and unconvincing.
Unlike many of the sci-fi films of the period, “The Brain from the Planet Arous” depicts alien forms of life as being more than just evil invaders. After all, it is the alien Vol who in cooperation with Sally tries to prevent Gor from carrying out his plan. As with human beings, our alien friends may have just as many sides to their characters and personalities.
I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958)
A commendable sci-fi film with impressive camerawork, mature dialogue, effective special effects, and good acting - but one that deserves a much better title!
1958: A Taste Of The Times
Science, Technology & Innovation:
Sputnik 1 & 2 fall to Earth from orbit and disintegrate during re-entry.
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
The first successful American satellite, Explorer 1, is launched into orbit.
Explorer 1 was launched on a Jupiter C rocket and was used to measure the radiation in Earth's orbit. The satellite successfully orbited Earth over 58,000 times before it re-entered the atmosphere in 1970.
The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite and Explorer 3.
The U.S. Congress formally creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The United States launches SCORE, the world's first communications satellite.
The principles of the optical laser are set out in a paper by Arthur L. Schawlow and Charles H. Townes of Bell Laboratories published in Physical Review Letters.
The Bell XV-3 Tiltrotor makes the first true mid-air transition from vertical helicopter-type flight to fully level fixed-wing flight.
Jack Kilby an engineer at Texas Instruments invents the first integrated circuit.
The creation of the integrated circuit has led to much of the computer and electronics technology we see around us today. Jack Kilby came up with an idea to miniaturize all the parts of an entire transistor circuit and connect them all together, creating a smaller and easy to produce unit called an integrated circuit. He was the first to create a working model and file a patent for the technology.
*****************
I Married a Monster from Outer Space is set in the fictional town of Norrisville, California where Bill Farrell is having his bachelor party on the eve of his marriage to Marge Bradley. After leaving the bachelor party, he is abducted by an alien that takes on his form. The alien “Bill” marries Marge the next day. It doesn’t take long, however, for Marge to feel that there is something different about Bill. After a year of marriage, Marge realizes that Bill has become a completely different man!
How does Marge deal with this revelation?
What else is discovered about this impostor?
Who else has been affected?
What is the purpose of this strange alien invasion?
Directed by Gene Fowler Jr.
Produced by Gene Fowler Jr.
Written by Louis Vittes
Music by Daniele Amfitheatrof, Hugo Friedhofer, Leith Stevens, Franz Waxman, Victor Young
Cinematography: Haskell Boggs
Edited by George Tomasini
Production company: Paramount Pictures
Running time: 78 minutes
Budget: $125,000
Cast
Tom Tryon: Bill Farrell
Gloria Talbott: Marge Bradley Farrell
Peter Baldwin: Officer Hank Swanson
Robert Ivers: Harry Phillips
Chuck Wassil: Ted Hanks
Valerie Allen: Francine - Hooker
Ty Hardin: Mac Brody (as Ty Hungerford)
Ken Lynch: Dr. Wayne
John Eldredge: Police Capt. H.B. Collins
Alan Dexter : Sam Benson
James Anderson: Weldon
Jean Carson: Helen Rhodes
Jack Orrison: Officer Schultz
Steve London: Charles Mason
Maxie Rosenbloom: Max Grady (Bartender)
What It Means To Be A Man
Despite the corny-sounding title, I Married a Monster from Outer Space, the film has a lot more depth to it than its title might suggest. For one thing, it speaks volumes on what it means to be a “MAN” in the modern world.
At the time the film was made, there was a lot more certainty surrounding gender roles and expectations. It would have been expected that males would wind up being the bread-winner and head of the family while women would be expected to be largely subservient home-makers and mothers.
As far as conventional male and female relationships is concerned, I Married a Monster from Outer Space calls into question the then contemporary concept of maleness. It even continues to do so more than sixty years later when right now in the early 21st Century many males often find themselves grappling with trying to figure out what their role in society is supposed to be. This can be quite a daunting task particularly at a time of re-evaluation of gender roles; the push toward gender equality; the increasing feminisation of society and perceived social & political correctness in matters concerning expressions and manifestations of maleness.
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(Spoilers follow below...…)
From the film’s opening title and credits, we are presented with a view of the Earth over a star-field background. We gradually zoom in on the Earth, before fading to a pleasant and tranquil scene of a park in the small town of Norrisville.
The impression we have is of something external coming IN to our world from elsewhere, encompassing the whole planet right down to your typical pleasant small-town America. This idea of something external to and influencing the individual is an important one when discussing what it means to be a man, for much of what is learned, whether good or bad, about being a male is derived at a very early age from outside modeling and other external influences which over time become internalized.
“Those guys aren’t even giving us a hard look!”
At a restaurant, we see Bill Ferrell at his bachelor party celebrating his last night as a single free man. His friends who include Sam Benson and Mac Brody don’t appear to be too thrilled about the idea of marriage and one of them in reference to Bill declares, “it’s a shame it had to happen to him.” Instead of viewing matrimony as being akin to a death-sentence, Bill seems quite happy at the prospect of his own wedding the next day and leaves early in order to drop in to see his bride-to-be, Marge.
As Bill drives off to see Marge, he spots a body in the middle of the road and stops, believing he has hit someone. He then gets out of the car only to discover that there is nothing there. He mumbles to himself, "I didn't think I had that much to drink" when suddenly a mysterious glowing arm reaches out and touches his shoulder. Bill turns around and is confronted by the sight of a strange glowing humanoid alien. Bill then collapses to the ground and is enveloped in a dark, billowing cloud. When the cloud recedes, there is no trace of Bill to be seen.
The enthusiastic, positive and yet-to-be jaded young man we have briefly been introduced to has now been taken over and taken away by something possibly menacingly and dangerously alien…….
Who or what will stand in his place?
Next morning in the wedding chapel. Marge’s mother, Mrs. Bradley enters the room humming the Wedding March which annoys her already agitated daughter. Marge is fretting over the fact that Bill has not arrived for the wedding. Bill eventually does arrive apparently unscathed from his “last free night” and apologizes for being late.
After the wedding ceremony, the couple leave the Wee Kirk Wedding Chapel.
As Bill drives with his bride asleep on his shoulder next to him, they narrowly miss hitting another car on the road. The driver of the other car angrily yells out, “why don’t you turn your light on, you dummy?” These days that would all too often be a trigger for a bout of single-brained celled, testosterone and adrenalin-fuelled road rage! Bill admits that he "forgot" to turn on his headlights and aggressively snaps at Marge when she asks him about it. The signs of something being wrong are already beginning to emerge early in the relationship but are too easily ignored. There’s probably an expectation that a man would likely react in such ways from time to time and it would be better if the woman would just bite her tongue and keep her mouth shut.
When the newlyweds arrive at their honeymoon hotel, Bill forgets to open the door of the car for his new wife. Marge reacts by telling Bill, "I know you've been absent-minded lately, but you can't have a honeymoon without a bride." An onlooker may well wonder at his lack of consideration and regard for his new wife. Sadly, these days of warped political correctness, he would be accused of being a sexist chauvinist pig for even daring to open a door for a lady! Strange days indeed!
Later at dinner, Marge natters away while Bill sits there silently staring at the reflection in a window of another couple actually being a couple. Suddenly Marge tells him, “I’m running out of small talk” to which he replies, “why do we have to talk?” A disturbing development to find that a husband and wife have run out of meaningful things to say to one another so early in a relationship. These days we have a solution to that – the mobile phone and Netflix! Strange days indeed!
As a harbinger of things to come, a storm begins to brew outside as the newly-weds prepare for bed. On the balcony outside the bedroom, Marge asks Bill to tell her he loves her. His response is somewhat unemotional as he awkwardly holds her. Marge, probably feeling bewildered and confused, tells her husband, “I’ve never been on a honeymoon before.” Bill simply replies, “Neither have I.”
As Marge goes inside, Bill stays outside to watch the storm. Suddenly a flash of lightning reveals his true form. Bill is definitely not the man Marge knew him to be before their marriage. How often has this turned out to be the case for so many in real life!
It is one year later and Marge writes a letter to her mother in which she conveys her bewilderment and despondency that her husband Bill is cold and not acting toward her the way he did before they were married. However, she decides not to send the letter.
In the next scene, we find Sam and Ted Hanks in a bar discussing how they have not seen Bill Farrell for so long. Suddenly, Bill is spotted walking past the bar and one of the men observes cynically, “there goes a ruined man.” How hard it must be for some men to realize that life and times change and that eventually for most people there’s more to life outside the jaded contents of a shot glass.
An inebriated Sam tells his pal, “I’m worried about Caroline.” Ted asks him, “Who’s Caroline?” to which Sam replies, “Your wife.” Yes Siree Sam, what makes a man are the kind of priorities he sets for himself, his life and those closest to him!
As Sam leaves the bar he tells the bartender, Max Grady that he is a home-wrecker. No Sam, Max isn’t the one making choices for his male customers! Sam starts to stagger home, but begins to succumb to his excessive intake of alcohol and pops into an alley to chunder (non-aussies = to vomit, “puke” or “throw up”). Suddenly, he hears a strange noise and turns to investigate its source, only to fall backwards in horror before being enveloped in the same kind of black billowing cloud that swallowed Bill. The cloud soon disappears and, you guessed it, so does Sam.
"That doesn't look like me at all."
Later Marge meets with Dr. Wayne for a medical exam to discover why she hasn't been able to get pregnant. She is worried that she and Bill have been married a year now but still have no children. The doctor assures her that nothing's wrong with her and that “there is no reason why you and Bill can’t have a half dozen kids.” He also admits that it took five years for he and his wife to have their first child. As Marge begins to leave, Dr. Wayne asks, "Why don't you have Bill come in and see me."
For some couples these days, having children is not essential to having a meaningful marriage or partnership. I suspect that in the 1950s, parenthood would have been an expected essential fulfilling component for any marriage. It would have been more than likely that the woman would have been blamed for the failure to produce children even though the male (heaven forbid!) might have been shooting blanks!
As a way of compensating and filling the void in the relationship, Marge has stopped off at a pet store to buy a dog as a surprise present which she places in a covered cage.
When Marge gets home with the dog, the surprise is spoiled somewhat by the unexpected presence of Bill. She pulls the cover off the cage and the dog, “Junior” growls and snaps at Bill. Bill says to Marge, “maybe dogs don’t like me.” This comment strikes Marge as being odd and she reminds him he's had dogs all his life.
In a strikingly cruel scene, Bill goes into the basement later that evening. The dog has been placed there and reacts just as aggressively as before toward Bill. Bill considers pummeling the dog to death but instead reaches out with his hand to kill the dog. In response to the poor dog’s death-throes, Marge runs down into the basement. Bill tells Marge the puppy is dead and callously lies to her when he states almost dispassionately that the dog "must have strangled himself” because “his collar was too tight."
"I never know how you are going to react to anything anymore."
In the lounge room scene after the dog incident, the use of body language and tone of voice sums up the prevailing mood and tension surrounding the relationship between Marge and Bill. In fact, it is something we can all relate to and identify with. Bill and Marge begin to discuss the outcome of her visit to the doctor and about her desire to have children. Bill obviously isn’t keen to pursue this topic and they both wind up sitting on opposite ends of the sofa, with Bill engaged in an act of avoidance by pretending to be reading the newspaper. Marge is at a loss as to how to continue the conversation and it seems to her that it is as if Bill has a twin. She asks him if he will go to the doctor and he replies rather unconvincingly, “sure I will.” His true feelings of pent-up frustration are revealed by his act of crushing the cigarette lighter with his hand.
The above scene reminds us of the fact that it is women who are often the ones who feel more comfortable communicating their feelings and concerns, while men have been encouraged to be far more reticent about doing so. When faced with problems, it is felt that a man should simply “man-up” and suppress his feelings. While not advocating that men should turn into touchy-feely, Kumbaya-singing, snaggy craft beer and latte-sipping, avocado-munching, skinny-pants wearing, man-bunned manicured beardy-faced little facsimiles, it should be acknowledged that societal expectations of men as described above can lead to unhealthy mental states, aberrant behaviors and destructive relationships. A relationship cannot function effectively without true affection, communication and empathy between spouses / partners.
Alien Sam shows up at the house but Bill is not yet aware of his having been taken over. He soon learns the truth from Sam and Bill asks him,“Did you make any mistakes at first?” Bill tells him that at least humans, despite the bad design of their bodies and short life span, “do know how to enjoy themselves” and that despite not being able to drink alcohol they've,"improved the methane reservoirs in these bodies." Well, they’ve just ruined it for us males! No alcohol and interfering with our capacity for expelling copious quantities of methane gas from our bodies! Doesn’t leave us much!
Later that night, Bill sneaks out of the house and Marge still awake hears him leave. Feeling fretful and suspicious, she follows him out of the house dressed in only her nightgown and slippers.
Marge proceeds to follow Bill down the street until her attention is drawn by the sound of a screeching cat. Marge then continues past the terrible sight of a murdered cat, following Bill across park land and into the woods. Suddenly, she sees Bill standing motionless and is horrified to see a black vapor being emitted from his body which then resolves itself into a glowing alien. The alien being then enters a nearby concealed spaceship.
Marge runs up to Bill to get him to leave with her, but his unresponsive vessel of a body being devoid of any human life-force falls over onto the ground.
At her wits end, Marge runs back to town and drawn by some noise, enters the only place still open at two in the morning, the bar. She tells Max Grady the Bartender she just saw a monster. Sitting at the bar is Weldon who leers at her thinking she is drunk. He says to her, “could be you came to the right place, sister.” After Marge leaves in frustration, he comments to Max, "Funny thing. She didn't look like a lush." As if on cue, Francine, the local hooker sashays over and talks to Weldon, who shows no interest at all.
“I bet my pension on your sanity….. (but) that doesn’t mean I believe everything you told me…..Marge, you gotta trust me”
Marge manages to get two police officers to take her to Chief Collins who as he listens to her story appears to be sympathetic and considers her to be sane. However, he is sceptical about aliens invading the Earth and convinces Marge to go home and be assured that everything is fine. After Marge leaves Collins, he walks over to the window where a flash of lightning reveals his true inner self. It is that inner self that knows no social, economic or professional barrier. It can be present even within those we are taught to respect and look to for our protection and trust.
At home, Marge slowly enters the living room and is surprised by Bill who is there, in the dark. He turns the lamp on and in an unsettling moment, knowing full well where she's been, simply asks her if she's alright. Bill then accompanies Marge upstairs to bed. Notice that there is no real substantial menacing threat being posed to Marge. There is only the suggestion of an atmosphere of menace that is being conveyed. If anything, it seems as if the alien entity within Bill's body, while experiencing unfamiliar human emotions, is growing accustomed to his life as a human married to someone like Marge.
On the day of Sam and Helen's wedding, during the rehearsal, Marge draws Helen aside and says to her, “Helen, I’ve got to talk to you alone” and tries to convince her to postpone the wedding. She asks if she’s noticed Sam acting strange lately. But this only serves to upset Helen and she refuses the suggestion. As Helen leaves, a suspicious Bill enters and firmly ushers Marge away.
“I think I’m beginning to understand”
Back at home, we find Marge pacing around the living room looking for a lighter. Bill enters and offers Marge a drink but instead, seeking to provoke him, she asks him why he isn't drinking. Bill, however says to her, “that wedding today, it meant something to me.” Bill acts like a man undergoing some kind of emotional epiphany but one that he will not be able to realize in real life. Marge avoids any kind of advance or physical contact with Bill and goes upstairs to bed, leaving behind an almost palpable sensation of sexual tension and frustration.
As Bill struggles to deal with the new emotions generated within him as a result of Marge’s rejection, he catches sight of a man wearing a dark shirt and a white tie loitering outside. He looks like some kind of a pimp or gangster or at least is dressed in attire that he thinks will impress. Oh yes, it’s our sleaze-bucket, Weldon from the bar!
Bill closes his eyes while his face reveals his alien form. He is communicating telepathically with the two alien-possessed cops.
The cops quickly arrive on the scene and begin to put our loitering friend in the cruiser. He informs them as to what he’s doing there and that he had previously tried to pick up Marge in the bar when she ran in asking for help. He also tells them that he was aware that she was unhappily married and had assumed she was a tramp seeing that she entered the bar alone, wearing only a nightgown. Hardly an unusual assumption since men often form conclusions about females based solely on superficialities like attire. By the same token, some women may form conclusions about what men are like, are after or want in a woman and conduct themselves accordingly.
It turns out that our friend has been hanging around in the hope that Marge might require some of his much needed “consolation.” When the cops suddenly ask him if he’s got a permit for the gun he’s carrying, he pulls out his gat and shoves it into the cop's side. He's quickly worked out that these cops should not have been able to know he had a gun, and is beginning to believe in the veracity of Marge’s claims in the bar the other night.
Weldon’s gun proves to be useless against the aliens and they overpower him by knocking him out. After deciding that he’s of no use to them, they callously shoot him dead on the spot.
Marge is awakened by the sound of gunfire. Bill then goes upstairs to assure her it was only a car backfiring. It is obvious what is going through Bill’s mind and his emotional state in the presence of Marge, but he senses her feelings of repugnance and bitterly retreats to the guest room, stating before he leaves, “it’s a nice idea….making guests comfortable.” Notice that no real physical force is used on Marge despite Bill having such immense power at his disposal. However, what is just as frightening is the power he is able to exercise that is inherent in their relationship which makes his wife feel powerless and isolated.
The next scene shifts to the bar where we find Bill sitting at a table with Sam and Harry. Francine is also there and is quick off the mark as she slinks on up to the table and asks if anyone knows what time it is. The men take no notice of her though and are obviously not interested in her type of a woman.
Speaking of women, the alien men begin a discussion about the gender in question. One of them says that he finds human women to be disgusting, while Sam says that he likes them. Bill’s attitude is that no matter what they think of them, they have to live with them (how true!). Sam tells Harry that eventually their alien scientists will discover a way to “mutate human female chromosomes” so they will be able to have children with them. A bit like “Devil Girl from Mars” in reverse but with the added dimension of one gender trying to figure out its relationship with the opposite gender:
Sexual gratification & objectification as represented by Francine?
Mating & reproduction as suggested by the alien’s purpose for being on Earth?
Something more important and meaningful which Bill is beginning to gain a sense of from his being with Marge?
A crushing blow is given to Max the bartender’s ego and pride when he fails to pound Bill into pulp for ordering drinks and uncharacteristically not drinking any. Francine, full of admiration for Bill and his 'manly' mates, leaves the bar soon after the alien men do.
The next scene involves Francine outside of the bar in the street and is quite a freaky one. Once outside, Francine notices a man standing across the street wearing a hoodie-like outfit with the hood pulled up over his head. He has his back turned to her and is engaged in looking in a shop window. Francine of course decides to move in for the “kill” after a somewhat ironic moment when she stops to adjust her stockings outside a shop bearing a sign that reads: “Church Supplies.”
Jaws-like, Francine heads toward the mysterious figure and tries to engage in a conversation but he pays her no attention. In anger, Francine yells at him to look at her when she's talking to him. She is about to find out that with some men you don’t really know what you’re about to get and what they might be concealing. When the figure turns to her, she sees what is under the hood, causing her to scream and run away. The hooded figure casually pulls out a weapon and disintegrates Francine. In confirmation of what the figure is, we see its features clearly as it turns toward us, and then turns back to viewing the contents of the shop window: dolls and toy animals! A complete contrast to its wanton destruction of a human life.
“It was the oxygen that killed him.”
We now move to a picnic in the park scene. Helen and Sam are out on the lake in a row boat when suddenly Sam falls overboard. Ted observes, "Oh, he can swim like a fish." But when it is noted that he is in trouble, Ted dives in to rescue Sam.
Back on shore, Doctor Wayne administers oxygen to Sam, but instead of reviving him, it causes his death. The doctor is at a loss to explain why, but Marge thinks she knows.
Note the distance between Bill and Marge at the back of the group.
While Helen spends the night with the Farrells, Marge decides to go to see Capt. Collins, but he merely suggests that she is experiencing delusions. She then tries to call Washington, but the operator informs her that all the lines are busy. Marge next tries to send a telegram to the FBI via the Western Union office, but as she walks out of the office she notices the man behind the desk tearing her message up and discarding it.
Marge finally attempts to drive out of town but she is prevented from going any further by a road block ostensibly set up due to the road having been washed out. This is an obvious lie seeing there hasn’t been any rain for a long while.
"How about some light?"
"You don't need any."
With all avenues of communication and escape cut off, Marge is back at home sitting on the couch in the dark. She is probably feeling the same way as any woman would in such a dire situation, not being able to be believed or get their plight communicated to and understood by the rest of the world.
Marge finally confronts the alien impostor Bill and tells him point-blank, "I know you're not Bill. You're something that crept into Bill's body. Something that can't even breathe the same air we do." She also asks him, “Does frightening women make you proud?” Bill replies by saying, “we understand pride but we can’t afford it.”
Bill then informs Marge that he comes from a planet in the Andromeda system. Their sun became unstable and their women died as their sun’s rays became more intense, so they built a fleet of space ships to escape extinction. Their intention was to come to the earth to breed with our planet’s females and that back on his home planet the sexes came together “for breeding purposes only.”
“I’m learning what love is.”
Such a rationale or imperative for union between the sexes is insufficient as far as this planet is concerned, which Bill is beginning to realize as he gradually succumbs to human emotions that are part and parcel of the real Bill’s existence.
Bill goes on to explain that eventually his people and the Earth-women will have children, which prompts Marge to ask, “What kind of children?" Bill replies, "Our kind."
This scene leaves Marge and us with the thought of what could be passed on to the next generation: an anathema to all that is good and positive in life for humanity. Such a generational spreading of inhuman thought and existence has to be stopped……but how?
Marge goes to Dr. Wayne to appeal for his help and reveals the truth to him. Fortunately, he believes Marge and informs her, “I know where to get our men – human men!” After Ted announces that his wife has delivered twins, Dr. Wayne decides to recruit such “men” who are waiting in the maternity ward.
Soon enough, a posse of men armed with guns arrive on the road to the field where the alien spaceship is situated. One man has also brought along his hunting dogs – a pair of ninja German shepherds!
While back at his home, Bill calls Chief Collins to inquire about his wife and then goes to confront Marge in the bedroom, the posse advances toward the ship. Their presence is soon detected however by means of a scanning device.
Meanwhile, after effortlessly breaking down the door, Bill advances on Marge, grabs her and shakes her, demanding to know who she spoke to. Sensing the approaching danger to the ship, Bill then tells Marge, "So your friends are attacking our ship?"
The ship itself opens and a couple of glowing aliens emerge. Dr. Wayne and Mason open fire at the aliens, but straight after their bullets enter the alien bodies, the wounds instantly seal up. The posse is soon on the back foot and begin to retreat with some alacrity.
It is now time to release the ninja hounds! One of the dogs performs a stealthy belly crawl and then launches itself at one of the advancing aliens, managing to pull its breathing tube off. The creature bleeds profusely from the wound, and falls to the ground. The second ninja pooch attacks another one of the aliens, also killing it. One of dogs however, has been disintegrated during the course of the battle.
All trace of the aliens is gone with the rapid dissolving of their bodies and the destruction of their weapons via a small explosion.
The posse warily enter the ship where they find a line of human men hanging from wires above small machines with glowing lights. These are "real" humans, whereas the ones who have been replacing them seem to have been mere copies or facsimiles created by the aliens to serve as vessels for their alien forms. As Dr. Wayne theorizes: "Electrical impulses from the real human bodies must give the monsters form and shape, even memories."
Dr. Wayne sets about disconnecting the humans from the machines, resulting in more and more of the aliens being stopped in their tracks and dissolving into goo. It appears that if power is cut off to the "broadcasting circuits" on the machines that are hooked up to the real humans, then the facsimiles will die, thereby killing the alien invaders. This development seems to have a rather made-up-as-you-go tacked-on feel to it!
"Earth mission has failed. They're alerted and dangerous. Suggest continuing on to another galaxy. Total personnel lost."
With the failure of the mission at hand, alien Capt. Collins’ final report just before his demise is a command to, "Destroy scout ship."
“Bill” has managed to arrive on the scene after the destruction of his alien comrades. When Marge approaches him he tells her, "your people have won. That makes you happy, doesn't it?" “Bill” meets the same fate as the other aliens after he has pointed out to Marge that he had “just begun to learn” about such important things as “love,” “happiness,” and human emotions.
The real human Bill calls out to Marge and they embrace. The ship then explodes, while we finally close with a scene of the Earth in space and a fleet of flying saucers traveling away from it.
Before he died, the alien Bill had come to learn what it is to be a MAN and Marge has managed to get back the MAN she knew and loved.
HEY MAN!
Hey man!
How’d ya’ get to be the way you are?
By means of mean genes that scar and mar?
By watching what dad did or didn’t do?
Or by copying fools without a clue?
Hey man!
You struggle finding your place these days,
So you search around for means and ways
To get yourself some power and control
So in your self you feel strong and whole.
Hey man!
Don’t ya’ know that times have changed?
Roles have been shuffled and rearranged,
It’s a time of minding “P’s” and “Q’s”
Of tip-toeing round eggshells with P.C. shoes!
Hey man!
A shame it had to happen to a man like you:
Once a lover, now jaded through and through,
Once kind and considerate, now uncaring,
Once with open heart and mind, now silently brooding.
Hey man!
You aren’t the man she fell in love with at first;
You’re almost a stranger, a ruined man with a thirst
For making selfish choices and filling your life’s void
With anger, blame and violence but of love devoid.
Hey man!
It’s no use sitting on opposite sides of a sofa
Silently pretending to read a newspaper
In your shared room of suburban avoidance,
Furnished with a cocktail of menace and poison.
Hey man!
She’s more than just a prisoner of your mood
To be whittled into shape like a piece of wood,
An object with shape but without expression,
A thing with form cut off from affection.
Hey man!
It’s time you began to learn and understand:
She’ll always stand with you to help you withstand
The alien creature that invaded your soul
And help you find the once loving man it stole.
Hey Man!
It’s up to YOU!
Points of Interest
I Married a Monster from Outer Space was intended to be the ‘A’ film in a double feature with The Blob (1958). It was then shifted to the bottom of the playbill due to audience preference for a full-color feature film over the more modest black and white offering.
This thoughtful well-made science fiction movie has a somewhat glaringly misleading title when one takes into account its quality story which serves as an allegory about love, relationships and redemption within the context of a Cold War-style alien invasion plot line.
The alien creatures are not your usual evil stereotypical and one-dimensional characters. As the film progresses, we tend to view them with both empathy and revulsion. They seem to be here with evil intent but are also desperate enough to do what it takes to survive. At the end of the film, you can’t help but feel sorry for the impostor Bill as he is beginning to experience emotions that he never had.
The special effects were quite good for the time: effects artist John P.Fulton managed to create very creepy glowing aliens and effective ray gun effects. Fulton’s career extended back to the era of silent cinema.
Tom Tryon as Bill Farrell gave a good performance when attempting to convey the emotional and mental state and development of his character while maintaining an unemotional almost dead-pan facial mask. Co-star Gloria Talbott as Marge Farrell effectively conveyed the full range of emotions being experienced by her character as she had to deal with the realization of what was happening to her husband and their marriage.