This Island Earth

The electronic engineer Dr. Cal Meacham (Rex Reason) is a prominent scientist that is studying industrial application of nuclear energy and also a great pilot. One day, he receives a different condenser and soon his assistant Joe Wilson (Robert Nichols) receives a manual instruction and several components of a sophisticated machine. Carl and Joe build a communication apparatus and a man called Exeter (Jeff Morrow) contacts Carl. He tells that Carl has passed the test assembling the Interocitor and invites him to join his research. The intrigued Carl decides to travel to meet Exeter that sends an unmanned airplane to bring him to an isolated facility in Georgia. He is welcomed by Dr. Ruth Adams (Faith Domergue) but she mysteriously does not recall their love affair in the past. They team-up with Dr. Steve Carlson (Russell Johnson) and they note that the other scientists in the facility have been transformed, having a weird behavior. They decide to flee in a car, but they are attacked by rays and Steve dies. Carl and Ruth also witness the facility blowing-up and they escape in an airplane. However they are pulled up into a flying saucer and realize that Exeter is an alien. Whal is the objective of the aliens?

"This Island Earth" is an entertaining sci-fi from the 50's, with a story of aliens that need help from the Earthling scientists in their war against another planet. For a film made sixty years ago, the special effects, the monster, sets and scenarios are great. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Guerra Entre Planetas" ("War Between Planets")

Note: On 17 November 2017 I saw this film again.

The 1955 sci-fi film, "This Island Earth" was spoofed in the film,"MST 3000: The Movie"; but in actuality the film got good reviews from Leonard Maltin, The Motion Picture Guide, not to mention Bill Warren's monumental opus, "Keep Watching The Skies!". The acting in this film is not exceptional, but not dismal, I would say adequate. My favorite character is the Metalunan, Exeter - this dude is one smooth talker, oozing a sinister coolness, while displaying a funky appearance: neatly coiffured white hair, bushy eyebrows, a high indented forehead, coppertone tan and dressed in a conventional Earthian suit and tie (he would have made a great politician or televangelist!). His assistant, Braack, is a carbon copy, as are the other Metalunans. There is an atmosphere of suspense and intrigue and the plot is credible enough. One the technical side, a Metalunan communication device called an Interociter remains a centerpiece throughout the film; it is very versatile, able to incorporate an Interplanetary Generator, Volterator, Astroscope, Electron Sorter, and a deadly Neutrino Ray (all of these are not in the script, rather I got them from the Raymond F. Jones story the film is based upon; however, the Neutrino Ray was demonstrated by Exeter to Dr. Cal Meacham on occasion); Meacham pulled the plug on one of them in his lab, causing it to self-destruct; leading one to wonder if that device were so advanced, then why didn't it have a backup internal power source and safety feature to prevent that sort of sabotage? Moreover, why did it have to rely on an external power supply at all?' The highlight of the film is the voyage back to Metaluna with Drs Meacham and Adams on board; the distant planet is being attacked by enemy Zahgon guided meteors. The Drs were recruited to help the Metalunans rebuild their war depleted uranium supply which sustained their protective atomic force shield- the Earth is rich in uranium supply. The Metalunan spacecraft looks like a cheap, plastic toy pulled from a crackerjack box, but as it cruises through the "thermal barrier", the fiery special effects around the craft look way cool. And the special effects, set design and artwork of the war-ravaged planet and the ongoing battle there are simply excellent for that time period. In addition, the Herman Stein musical score is a tasty delight- the organ parts are simply an ear to behold! No, "This Island Earth" does not have the Oscar-Winning effects of "The War Of The Worlds", the snappy, overlapping dialogue of "The Thing From Another World", the abundant richness of ideas of "Forbidden Planet", nor the spine chilling suspense of "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers"; but what it does have is an irresistable charm, the result - I suspect - of having a peculiar combination of outstanding qualities coexisting alongside of much inferior ones. "This Island Earth" should definitely be part of every 50's sci-fi film connoisseur's collection.

The planet Metaluna is desperate need of Uranium to power its defense . As Aliens led by Exeter , Jeff Morrow , come to Earth seeking scientists to help them against enemy invaders . Two scientific , Rex Reason Faith Domergue , are deceived , menaced , abducted and transported from earth to a weird and ruined planet where occurs explosion and destruction.As our heroes are theatened by unknown forces .

Acceptable Scifi movie has thrills , intricate gadgetry , emotion , FX ahead of their time and super mutant monsters .This classic and rare Sci-Fi is considered to be the first serious film about interplanetary escapades .It contains primitive special effects and abundant matte painting . Including passable effects of a flying saucer based on a famous picture of an unidenfitied flying object UFO . Mediocre interpretation by an average cast. Starred by little known actors as Rex Reason as a nuclear scientist , Jeff Morrow as the rare alien , and the beautiful Faith Domergue as a nuclear fission expert who screams lustily . Other secondaries are given little to do such as Lance Fuller , Russell Johnson , Douglas Spencer and Richard Deacon . Here stands out the decent makeup by Bud Westmore creating pulsating cranium FX makeup on a gigantic and ugly Alien monster. Although some reviewers felt that the mutant utterly ruined an otherwise acceptable film . It was shown in US drive-in on a double bill with another classic Scfi titled Forfidden planet .

Strange but appropriate musical score from Herman Stein , Hans J Salter and Henry Mancini . Colorful cinematography in brilliant technicolor , by Clifford Stine , as technical details are presented in convincing enough fashion , being the only technicolor scifi movie Universal-International ever made .This genuine and decent science fiction was well produced by Willian Alland and professionally directed by Joseph M Newman . He was a prolific craftsman who made all kinds of genres as drama , gangster movie , Film Noir , adventure , such as : Tarzan ,Jungle patrol , The king of the roaring 20s the story of Arnold Rothstein , Love nest , Great Dan Patch and , of course , Science Fiction with this vintage film of the fifties titled This island earth. Rating : 6/10 , decent movie . Essential and indispensable watching for SciFi buffs . Well worth seeing.

I saw this film for the first time when I was about 10 years old and it has always stuck with me and when I saw it was on video I bought it immediately. I think that this is more than a B picture and what people have to remember is the fact that this film was made before all the great advances in special effects. Another thing that made it interesting was the fact that through the first half of the film you really didn't know if Exeter was human or alien. It wasn't until the second half of the film that we did see there was more to this mysterious group. This film is definitely an underrated classic of its era.

Guess I'll have to watch MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000: THE MOVIE to find out what is so bad about THIS ISLAND EARTH. The film is intriguingly plotted, beautifully photographed, and has excellent (even by contemporary standards) art direction, costume design and special effects. So what if Rex Reason sounds as if he was dubbed (he always sounds that way), and some of the other performances seem a bit stilted. The Metaluna Mutant was the most memorable outer space monster until ALIEN.

I can only recall one technical error in the film. After the interociter (communicator) has been reduced to molten metal, Rex Reason picks up a Geiger counter and says, "It's no longer radioactive." There IS no set up for this (i.e., when it proved to be radioactive).

I'd certainly rate this film in the top ten of the best science fiction films of the fifties (probably in the top five). It's philosophical, exciting and well made.