The Gamma People

Due to a train mishap, two reporters (Paul Douglas and Leslie Phillips) find themselves in the tiny country of Gudavia. At first imprisoned as spies, then released, the pair find it very difficult to actually leave the country.

Noticing some odd behavior among the townspeople, they are tipped off about a certain Dr. Boronski (Walter Rilla) and the possibility that he could be meddling with nature in order to create a master race. This could explain the stiff, militaristic children running around!

THE GAMMA PEOPLE is a solid, astute political thriller with science fiction and comedy / satire added as well. It's wonderful how the reporters stir up trouble for the government and its nefarious plans! A rare, enjoyable film about freedom of the press in action, resulting in an open rebellion against oppression. The explosive finale is perfect!...

A train-passage car carrying 2 reporters--one who resembles Prof. Quatermass a bit too much--accidently winds up breaking off from the rest of the train leaving the 2 men stranded in a strange little European country named Gudavia. Once there, they find they cannot leave as those running the country have other plans. They investigate and uncover a mad scientist's conspiracy to control the people by turning them all into slaves of the state with the help of a gamma ray machine. This movie is pretty outrageous and displays some serious leaps of logic. It also features a most unlikely change of heart in one of the main characters. Still the lead actors are likable and the film is silly fun.

Wow- I saw this movie on TV when I was about 6 or 7 and it has remained with me for 55 years- I didn't know the title but I remember the carriage of the train that the two guys were in at the beginning of the film being detached from the rest of the train and then being redirected to a remote village where a mad scientist was experimenting on people and turning them into goons- I thought I would never find it and it drove me mad so many times- watched so many old horror movies over the years hoping this could be that elusive one- finally found it on the UK Talking Pictures channel - was it as great as I remember as a kid? Of course not, but very entertaining and I can now have a peaceful retirement!

Set in the mythical 'Democracy of Gudavia and shot in what looks the Tyrol (the locals serving as extras background just stand around and gawp), the dialogue is obviously post-synced and it has a noisy score by George Melachrino.

Paul Douglas and Leslie Phillips make a highly unlikely team in this cross between Hitchcock's 'The Lady Vanishes' and Losey's 'The Damned' as a pair holidaying newspapermen who uncover a dastardly scheme to genetically engineer a new master race.

You know you're in trouble when the project is in the hands of our old friend Walter Rilla, but Eva Bartok looks most fetching in short hair and a satin boiler suit with a Nehru collar.

An American reporter (Paul Douglas) and his very British photographer (Leslie Phillips) end up in the quasi communist state of Gudavia, which seems to consist of one village, where a mad scientist is using gamma rays to alter children's minds - some become geniuses, others become feral under the professor's control.

What a very odd, quirky film this is, unashamably mixing sci-fi horror with straight comedy with the latter taking up most of the first half of the film, before it all get quite grim and serious. There is a clear intent to look at the various and eccentric traits of Americans and British and to have the west free the world of the evils of communism and oddly this mixed bag just about works if you manage your expectations accordingly. Kitsch.