The Phantom Planet

This is the sort of Grade-Z "quickie" that can best be appreciated when seen at 1:00 a.m. on the Late Show while gnawing on a slice of cold pizza. Though undistinguished in most of the usual respects, it does offer something not often seen in the sci-fi films of its era -- "beefcake." Yes, leading man Dean Fredericks whips off his shirt for a rather-extended fight sequence with Tony Dexter. Though Dean was only about 36 when this movie was made, he's already showing a bit of middle-aged softness around his middle, but the hair across his pecs has been left gloriously unshaved and his physique clearly outranks that of his older, shorter opponent. (One other point of interest: Francis X. Bushman, looking sadly old and tired, pops up as the leader of the alien world on which our hero accidentally crashes.)

An astronaut finds himself stranded on an asteroid inhabited by intelligent lilliputian beings. Once our hero breaths the atmosphere, he shrinks to size of the asteroids inhabitants and gets involved in various court intrigues and an interplanetary war.

Although I consider myself a completist of old science fiction movies, I only saw this film for the first time very recently. THE PHANTOM PLANET is one those of films thats pretty bad, but you wish you could like it more. To its credit, this film has the air of being made by people who were trying to make something a little different. The special effects -although obvious, are ambitious and elaborate. The writers appear to have tried to come up with a slightly unusual story line, but the film is over plotted and makes little use of the central gimmick. The dialog is lame and the acting is indifferent. A few scenes are of interest, such as when the tiny Rhetonites approach the giant astronaut and peer through his space helmet. Some shots of the rockets in space I thought looked attractive.

THE PHANTOM PLANET is one of those films that I wish I could say more good thinks about. Its badness is anything but the result of cynical motivation, but the result of makers who ambitions far exceeded the skills of its makers to deliver

Has anyone ever watched this movie and FIRE MAIDENS OF OUTER SPACE back to back? Yes they are both classic examples of B movies but these two movies in particular seem to be cut from the same cloth. In both movies astronauts from Earth land on far distant planet where the dominant race is in some dire trouble and the Earthmen just happen to possess the know-how to get them out of it. In PHANTOM PLANET the people have the technology to have turned their entire planet (or asteroid which is what it really is) into a spaceship but they live in caves and sleep on marble beds! (The whole race must have back problems) What gets me though is that just below the surface of the plots of both movies is the same male fantasy. In both movies the macho Earthment encounter ineffective males on both planets and races of totally submissive females who wander aimlessly around barefoot and miniskirted waiting for some man to notice them. In PHANTOM PLANET the women mostly just stand around while the men argue, fight and wonder what to do next. In both movies the strong assertive woman turns out to be the villain! Okay, I know to keep saying "It's only a movie" but couldn't the tough girl have also been the nice girl?

Phantom Planet is a fun sci-fi film with minimalist production values and special effects, both matching its budgetary constraints but with interesting ideas such as anti-gravity and magnetic fields. Unfortunately, it fails to launch far enough away from the world of 1950s film sci-fi and take the viewer into the brave new world of the future.

The story sounds like something out of Gulliver's Travels but set in an alien land of Lilliput.

The film does indeed raise some interesting questions that humanity will need to consider as it ventures further out into the cosmos. As stated in the introduction:

" What is his earth in relation to the inconceivable number of other worlds? Is his speed truly the fastest? His achievements the greatest? Or is he a mere unimportant piece of driftwood floating in the vast ocean of the universe? Could there be life similar to our own on other planets? Is it not possible that atmospheric conditions of relative environments control their shapes and forms? If so, would they be giants.... or could perhaps the opposite be true? Could their intellect have reached a scientific level far above man's dreams?"

Phantom Planet will, however grow on you after a couple of viewings.

This movie is not that bad when you consider the type and time this movie was made. It was a 50's science fiction (even though it was made in 1961). It does have a plot-astronaut is on a mission to check out why rockets keep crashing on asteroids. Crashes into one, shrinks, meets good looking girls and helps fight evil space invaders. Typical sci-fi 50's movie. If you want good acting, see Casablanca or Citizen Kane. This movie was entertaining enough. I rate it 6/10 for a 50's type sci-fi.