El hombre del planeta X

a diminuative alien arrives on Earth in what looks for all the world like an oversized Christmas tree ornament and terrorizes a sleepy little Scottish town. Ultimately, both he and his spaceship are destroyed just as Planet X whisks by the Earth. This early fifties sci-fi effort was rushed into production to capitalize on Howard Hawks' "The Thing", and looks it. How rushed? Would you believe a six day shooting schedule? Six days; that's all Mid-Century Films could afford with a budget of less than $60,000. Shot on sets leased from the Hal Roach Studios (most were originally used in the film "Joan of Arc") and with less-than-convincing backdrops, this film somehow manages to capture a moody atmosphere that's perfect for the genre. Add to this an eerie score, and you can just overlook the genuinely hilarious alien. Everything about this creature screams "CHEAP!!!", from the obvious duct tape around the mouthpiece to the control valve on his backpack that looks like it was stolen from Alice Kramden's sink. What optical effects there are are nicely rendered by Jack Glass, and most of the performances are okay, especially that of Roy Engel, who plays Constable Tommy with an accent that would make James Doohan envious. Margaret Field plays Enid, Professor Eliot's daughter and the (we guess) love interest for Robert Clarke, the American reporter. We used the modifier "we guess" because there's no chemistry between the two, despite Clarke's repeated - and obvious - advances. A good deal of the dialogue is pretty strained, as well. Example: Prof. Eliot says to the two: "Let us concentrate on this remarkable object" and:"Ssshh! The scale is delicate; it responds to a breath upon it." Does anybody talk like this? Nobody we know. In spite of all this, plus the fact that the terror is somewhat forced and just why the alien's spaceship comes equipped with a hypnotic ray is never explained, believe it or not, "The Man from Planet X" isn't really a bad film, just a cheap one, and Robert Schallert fans can add a star. Try it; believe us, you COULD do worse!

This is wonderful in its own way. An alien has landed in the moors of Scotland and an American reporter comes to visit at the behest of an astronomer who has noticed a planet heading for the Earth. In the mix is a genius scientist who has a few loose screws, played by William Schallert (remember him as Dobie Gillis's teacher and Patty Duke's father, among others). One night the daughter of the scientist is coming back from town when she encounters a space ship. Upon investigating, she sees a face in the window of the ship which terrifies her. The rest of the movie involves a series of efforts to connect with the alien (who is about as unconvincing as is humanly possible). He has no facial movements and a single expression, as if he is paralyzed. They befriend him but Schallert soon screws things up by cutting off the air supply to the poor guy. Schallert seems to think that somehow this creature will make him rich and famous, though we're never sure how that is going to happen. This guy is connected to the planet that is going to launch a full scale invasion. The reporter goes to the local authorities. People have been disappearing and there is a lot of tension. The constable, who looks like he won second place in a Rod Steiger look-alike contest helps out. He is by far the best actor and the most believable character in the movie. All activities from this point on are at best bewildering, but it doesn't matter. Made on a shoestring budget, it's very nice entertainment for those who don't wish to ask any questions.

If this film had come out in the mid-50's, it could be dismissed as another low-budget, silly outer space invasion movie. However this movie appears to have been the first of such space invasion movies. It opened in March of 1951. Later that year came the openings of "The Thing from Another Planet" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Two other 1951 films, "When Worlds Collide" and "Superman and the Mole Men" have some space invader elements, but don't quite qualify for the genre.

The fact that it was shot in six days on a budget of $43,000 makes it more amazing. Compare that to "The Thing From Another World" ($1.6 million) or the "The Day The Earth Stood Still" ($1.2 million). While none of the technical aspects come near those two movies, the movie does have an interesting style and look that foreshadows the 1953 classic "Invaders From Mars" and even has elements from "Invasino of the Body Snatchers".

The movie is a little ambiguous about whether we are dealing with unfriendly (a la "The Thing")or friendly aliens (a la "The Day"). It seems a bit schizophrenic here with an alien that can be scary in one scene and downright adorable in another. Not having any prior such movies to really go by, the writers seem unsure in which direction to go.

Robert Clark is fine in the lead as a newspaper reporter. Margaret Field (Sally Field's mother) is good as the female love interest. William Schallert (Uncle Martin or Papo on "The Patty Duke Show) stands out as a surprisingly creepy scientific assistant.

What really carries the film is Edgar Ulmer's energetic direction. Ulmer ("Black Cat" "The Strange Woman" and "Detour")always keeps the viewer on their toes, inserting off-beat and unexpected material in nearly every scene.

It is a must for film history buffs and others will find it engagingly silly.

The reporter John Lawrence (Robert Clarke) visits Dr. Robert Blane (Gilbert Fallman) and learns that his friend, Prof. Elliot (Raymond Bond) has discovered a new planet that is in route toward Earth and has moved to an observatory on the Burry Island to observe from a closer location. John heads to the Scottish island and is welcomed by Prof. Elliot's daughter Enid Elliot (Margaret Field), who is now a beautiful young woman. They go to the observatory to meet Prof. Elliot and John finds Dr. Mears (William Schallert), who is his disaffection. When Enid returns home after driving John to an inn in the town, she has a flat tire and finds a spacecraft landed on the island with a weird alien inside that follows her home. While Prof. Elliot and John want to investigate the reason why the alien landed on Earth, Dr. Mears has second thoughts. What are the true intentions of the extraterrestrial being?

"The Man from Planet X" is a campy and lame sci-fi in black and white, but also a cult for fans (like me) of sci-fi from the 50's. The story of a close encounter with an alien is from the same year of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" that is a classic. The open end, where the true intention of the extraterrestrial being is not disclosed, is excellent. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Homem do Planeta X" ("The Man From Planet X")

Note: On 23 February 2024, I saw this film again.

The Man from Planet X, as an early 50's space invader movie, isn't among the best of that type and scarcely lives up to the hype it got at the time. It has most of the familiar elements common to sci-fi invader movies of the day: a strange ship landing from another planet (reminds you of a diving bell); a hostile alien (reminds you of a diver); a kindly old scientist; a devious assistant bent on personal gain; an attractive young lady; a handsome reporter; a headstrong police inspector; the usual enslaved villagers and the troops called in near the end to confront the ship. The atmosphere on the foggy Scottish moors masks the poor set quality. The alien communicates through musical sounds, an idea that was used much later in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Overall, the movie is murky, uneventful and predictable. Despite its mediocrity, it is important from a historical perspective, as it was among the initial entries to the sci-fi wave to follow.