L'uomo dal pianeta X

Having caught this film quite by accident, i felt gripped not only its innate cheesiness but also several little gems of direction and production design. If you can get past the stereotypes (doddery professor, beautiful daughter, brash American newsman), and the awful accents (isn't that policeman Irish, rather than Scottish?!) The Man From Planet X is a very watchable b-movie. The alien reminded me of the last days of the Spirit comic strip and the lonely croft amongst the billowing fog was a very stark image. Add to this the beautifully sleek (although wholly impractical) spaceship, typically 50s in design, some great chiarascuro cinematography (the alley abduction scene), plus that low-pitched camera outside the dungeon, and you've got a very technically engaging movie.

Never mind that the plot's got more holes than a string vest (where did all those soldiers come from?) and the acting and script are as wooden as a Scots pine dresser, enjoy it on a technical level if you can't engage with the human drama. As with many films of this ilk, the denoument was a bit hurried but all in all, this watches as well as (or dare i say, better than) any episode of Dr Who - with which it shares many similarities.

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.

One of the five sci-fi's I remember every single detail of from my earliest days as a fan. For the genre, I think it's considerably above average. The moor is nicely atmospheric. There's one of every character in the book: the good guy, the bad guy, the local sheriff, the lovely damsel, her father the old professor, etc. The scene where we're looking for the first time through the window of the ship and the visitor peeks out from the other side is easily as good as the three-fingered-hand-on-the-shoulder in War of the Worlds. Nice "character" to the visitor, for whom, like Karloff's Frankenstein, we end up feeling some empathy .

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.

A shoestring budgetter directed by Edgar Ulmer. One of the first (if not the first) alien invasion films. The little alien, a child-like being with a big, solemn face, is known to Scottish villagers as 'the bogey' and strikes mortal terror into their hearts with his HypnoRay, a laserlike beam which reduces them to easily programmable zomboids. His motives are unclear throughout the film until a hypnoidal Dr. Mears 'spills the beans' near its end. Strong points: eerie atmosphere, production design; moody 'film noir' photography, engaging music score and interesting story. Weak points: muddled script(more plotholes than a Stephen King cemetry); stilted dialogue and wooden acting. Recommended only for diehard 1950s sci-fi fans(like myself)- this film is both a joy and a disappointment.