Le mort frappe à la porte

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Gene Nelson and Faith Domergue star in a fascinating story of unlawful scientific tampering and a man who is temporally out of phase with the rest of humanity. The original British title emphasizes that point: "Time Slip". Ken Hughes directed, and 15 years later had graduated to making an expensive, major studio important motion picture, "Cromwell", which starred Richard Harris and Alec Guinness.

Like many British films of the time, the two leading players were American actors, plus a local supporting cast including Joseph Tomelty, Peter Arne, Donald Gray and William Lucas.

When nuclear scientist, Dr. Stephen Rayner (Peter Arne) seems to return from the dead after being murdered, the mystery begins. Reporter, Mike Delaney (Gene Nelson) and his photographer girlfriend, Jill Robowski (Faith Domergue) are on the case.

THE ATOMIC MAN is one of the lesser-known of the 1950s sci-fi films. As such, it has a nice Cold War / espionage angle to it. It also has Dr. Rayner suffering from a rather novel side effect of his inexplicable resurrection. This doesn't emerge until after the halfway mark.

Mr. Nelson and Ms. Domergue play their roles in similar fashion to those fast-talking reporters from the 1930s-40s, complete with unhelpful cops and a screaming boss!

Not a bad movie for a Saturday afternoon...

This early Merton Park production is no relation to the children's TV sci-fi adventure of the same name made fifteen years later. The sci-fi component is novel but ends up taking a back seat to a conventional Cold War thriller about saboteurs, atmospherically photographed by A. T. Dinsdale and briskly directed by Ken Hughes, soon to graduate to 'A' features.

Gene Nelson makes a whimsical hero, while Faith Domergue, newly returned from Metaluna, is here buttoned up in an overcoat against the London cold. Also in an overcoat, plus a trilby, rather than playing one of the scientists Joseph Tomelty is here unusually cast as the inspector following the case.

What a surprise this british science fiction thriller from a non sci-fi specialist. Ken Hughes was not Val Guest nor Terence Fisher in that domain. The idea is pretty good, pretty exciting, but the treatment is a bit ankward, talkative, something is a bit wrong but it's OK. It remains a worth watching UK science fiction thriller, that also would have perfectly fit to Byyron Haskin. Faith Domergue is rather wooden in this feature where she doesn't seem to be that concerned, as also were those US actors and actresses who worked overseas, in UK, with movies precisely directed by the likes of Fisher, Guest or Hughes.

What a concept...he slipped in time!!

While The Atomic Man is not purely 50's sci-fi, as mentioned in other reviews, it does provide enough interesting plot twists and thrills to keep you guessing until the end.

Definitely worth a watch for fans of the genre. I am proud to have this little seen gem in my collection. Nice story, creepy atmosphere, good acting and a great score make this one worthwhile!!

Also recommended for fans of little seen 50's type sci-fi are Mutiny in Outer Space, Satellite in the Sky, On the Threshold of Space, The Magnetic Monster and Riders to the Stars.