The Flame Barrier

A satellite goes through THE FLAME BARRIER, causing it to crash into the jungles of Mexico. Carol Dahlmann (Kathleen Crowley) hires a man (Arthur Franz) and his brother to help her find her missing husband, who had gone searching for the fallen craft.

Setting out on their journey, the trio encounter many perils, including Mexican hyenas (!), and the usual big-snake-on-a-tree-limb that appears in all jungle movies of this type. They also encounter a tribe of Hollywood "Indians" in matching wigs. Said "natives" quickly come in handy as baggage carriers.

Meanwhile, Ms. Dahlmann's hair remains soft and manageable, despite the tropical heat. Wasn't there a satellite out here somewhere? And, what about the Hollywood "Indians" that keep melting all over the place?

This movie is a short, yet seemingly endless jungle adventure disguised as a sci-fi epic. It saves all of its real action for the final few minutes. The ultimate revelation is fairly novel, but it's hardly worth enduring the first 90% of this movie to get to it...

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Paul Landres; Produced by Arthur Gardner and Jules Levy, for United Artists. Screenplay by Pat Fielder and George Worthing Yates; Photography by Jack MacKenzie; Edited by Jerry Young; Music by Gerald Fried; Makeup by Dick Smith. Starring: Arthur Franz, Kathleen Crowley, Robert Brown, Vince Padula, Kaz Oran, Larry Duran and Rodd Redwing.

Tense and original science-fiction adventure wherein scientists stave off the threat of an impenetrable electronic barrier which expands its radius periodically and inexorably, surrounding a gooey blob monster which returned from space after an early rocket launch.

Some time ago, a rocket ship hit the "flame barrier" at the edge of outer space. Now, Kathleen Crowley has shown up in Central America. She wants jungle guides Arthur Franz and his brother, Robert Brown, to take her into the jungle, where she hopes to find either her husband, or his corpse.

It's a fairly standard, cheap jungle picture, with people trying to look like Meso-American Indians instead of Black jungle natives, with a tinge of pseudo-scientific nonsense at the end. The script doesn't try to hard, although the performers are good, and there are one or two decent comedy put-downs early on. Miss Crowley, who appeared in several scifi movies at this point in her career, is an attractive blonde, with a voice a bit like Angie Dickinson.

The movie tries to gain from strength by its genre-crossing plot, but winds up simply looking like it has a really dumb monster plot tacked onto its end.

This was actually a well made movie with good production values, nice location filming and some good acting but it totally loses it's momentum in the script department. You will think you are watching a jungle exploration flick with a lot of bickering for most of the film. There a a few scattered special effects here and there but most of the 'action' takes place at the end with a very abrupt ending that demonstrates the poor scriptwork.

Not bad by any means but definitely a 'B minus' flick.

The are actually some other 50's sci-if you should see before this one: First Man into Space - Caltiki the Immortal Monster (goriest 50's sci-fi yet) - Space Master X-7(in widescreen 2:35 if you can find it!) - Night the World Exploded

Like "Monster of Green Hell", much of this movie is taken up with a long African safari. The three principal characters argue, struggle and search mainly for a reason to continue. Natives provide it several times just as the party is ready to turn back. The acting is good and the continuing ambivalent relationship between the rich woman and the safari leader continues to warm up. There is no real special effects until they reach the location they sought after. The final scene is the only one that qualifies as science fiction. A good movie but light on science fiction.