joe_97478

They probably should have stopped making Falcon movies when George Sanders and Tom Conway had finished their runs with the franchise. Hard to watch the Falcon become a shell of his old self. Spending more time with his dog than the ladies, and driving a Studebaker. The script may be okay, but it has a low-budget B Movie feel to it.

I saw this when I was seven years old at at the United Artist theater in Pomona California with my parents. As a seven year old in the dark theater with the eerie music and scenes it was the only sci-fi or horror movie at the time that actually scared me. Seeing it year later of course, it isn't scary at all. But the script had everything you could want. A secluded house in a canyon surrounded by radioactive gasses. A group of strangers assembling there including a gangster, his cheap girlfriend, the homeowner and his sweet wholesome daughter, a love interest for the daughter, and a prospector with his donkey. The gangster, who drove up to the house in his convertible with his girlfriend was Mike Connors (Mannix) displaying his early acting skills by coming across as thoroughly unlikeable and menacing. Adele Jergens was more than convincing as his cheap girlfriend who has been around the block more than a few times too many. Paul Birch plays the father well. The father and homeowner has everything a good sci-fi movie character should have, including a knowledge of science and even a ham radio set. Overall, this movie is everything you should expect from a 1950's sci-fi movie shot on a budget probably in two weeks or less. Unlike the other gentleman who found it, and other fifties sci-fi to be a waste of time and junk, I enjoyed it.

Wow, glad I didn't listen to all the crappy reviews so many people seemed to enjoy writing. To me, it wasn't a great movie, but I didn't expect it to be. But it was a good movie, a good couple hours of action drama, exactly what it was meant to be. And they even did it without throwing in all the silly needling and bickering that is so popular between the leads of movie and television shows these days. A film doesn't have to be great to be a good solid entertaining movie these days. Too many people seem to expect the near perfection that you get with 250 million dollar budget Marvel movie these days. Unless you're a movie snob, or just plain picky, you'll probably enjoy this movie, and like some of the rest of us, say, "Hey, this movie was okay, entertained me well for the couple hours it was on.