Customer Reviews

Man From Planet X [VHS]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

That's one of the taglines for this United Artists release. After watching this movie, my first impression was "Man, what a cornball movie." But after a little more thought, and realizing that this came out in 1951, I soften a bit. Yeah, it was corny, but it did have its' charms.

Robert Clarke stars as John Lawrence, a newspaper reporter called to a Scottish moor by his friend, Professor Elliot, to cover what will be the story of his lifetime. A seemingly stray planet is headed in the general direction of Earth, and the moor is the location that it will pass closest to Earth. Prior to this event, they find a strange, alien object on the moors, followed by actual alien spaceship fashioned in classic 50's sci-fi fashion. Not only that, but the alien spacecraft is inhabited by a pretty funky looking humanoid creature. If you've ever seen the Honeymooners episode where Ralph dresses up as a spaceman, then you will have a pretty good idea of what this alien looks like.

Anyway, they try to communicate with it, with the help of another scientist, Dr. Mears, played by William Schallert, the only actor I recognized as he's been on like a bazillion TV shows, probably most famous being The Patty Duke Show, and a whole mess of movies. Seems he has rather a dubious past, and his intentions are less than admirable when dealing with this advanced creature from another world.

When Mears starts throttling the alien for his space secrets, the alien takes off, and things start to get a little hairy as the alien begins to set his plans into action. What is this alien's connection to planet X? What are his intentions on our planet? Wait until the end of the movie to find out, because while throughout most of the movie the plot slides along at the pacing somewhat akin to a snail, we see the pace quicken like a jackrabbit in the last ten minutes or so, including a huge, steaming pile of rather clunky exposition to fill the viewers in to what's going on...and a really unintentional question asked at the end by the female lead that made me wonder if she had even experienced the events in the movie because the question really contradicted everything that happened, at least in my opinion.

My only real gripe with the movie is Robert Clarke. Quite a handsome man at the time, looking sort of like Errol Flynn, he just didn't seem to fit in well in this genre. He seemed a little too sophisticated, a little to debonair, with his pencil thin mustache, to play the part he was given. I envisioned sci-fi veteran Richard Carlson playing the part much better.

This is a really good-looking print, but don't expect any extras other than a trailer. I do appreciate MGM releasing these Midnight Movies at a reasonable price, and I know they've started doing double bills for the same price, but not here, as this DVD was released prior to that worthwhile change. Are there better sci-fi movies of that time period out there? Sure, The Thing, and War of the Worlds to mention two, but this one ain't so bad, if you got 71 minutes to kill and an interest in classic science fiction movies.

Well, that "title" got your attention, didn't it?

I remember seeing part of this when I was about 11. I always wanted it. So I've looked for it on those sci-fi collection sets, you know, every paper mache horror short of Godzilla, abominable snowmen, every attempt to scare the pre-adolescent, most of which had special effects budgets of around $5. But I could never find it. Then, while in Florida last Christmas, at a video store, some told me it was "out of print." (I think that's the phrase I heard. Was I dreaming? Or nightmaring???)

Well, I finally got it, and, sure enough, the Scottish accents are worse than I remember them. But the fine special effect live up to my expectations!

Oh, one of the actors, William Schallert, was in an old "Star Trek" episode, "The Trouble with Tribbles." That makes it worth is, doesn't it?

The story line was pretty standard 1950s sci fi: the guy's invading us and wants to take over us innocent earthlings. But it had a little of a "moral":If we'd treated this creature nicely, who knows what wonderful things we may have learned from such an advanced species!

I won't want to give away too much of the "plot." Just enjoy it, and don't anticipate staying awake too late fearing an invasion from a plastic-faced alien who can't even smile!

THE MAN FROM PLANET X is not without it's charms. More intelligent than you might imagine, better scripted than you could beleive it to be, and far more fun than it should be - it is a solid film that is first out of the gate with ideas (invsion from outer space) and themes (old scientist father, hot daughter, Mother dead - just what happened to all these Mothers? I swear these movies existed in another universe where the women went off to fight WWII leaving the men behind) that would find their way into the larger, bigger, and far better remembered British Horror film industry - but there is something else about THE MAN FROM PLANET X that is also worth the price of admission alone - and that's lessons in how to make a film fast, cheap and easy. Count the shots. Count the cast... count the sets... there is very little here that wasn't borrowed or reused from other films (even the box states that the ENITRE film was shot on a standing set left behind from Ingrid Bergman's JOAN OF ARC). It's a lesson in filmaking - take what little you've got, add a lot of fog and a solid script and you've got yourself a movie. Overall - a classy little feature with a highly effective alien and atmosphere - a solid addition to your DVD library.

Like another reviewer, I too was scared to the living daylights by this film. Born in 1951, I remember seeing it on a snow covered afternoon (probably during the same time I was exposed to Howard Hawks' "The Thing"). For months afterward, I had visions of looking behind my bed for the "Man from Planet X" (why he would visit me is beyond comprehension). However, to the movie itself: filmed in black and white, it is a strange film, more a mystery than a techno scifi thriller. It is a Brit film, which may explain the unique feel of the film. The alien's spacesuit is traditional for the early '50s (bubble helmet, backpack, etc. The use of "music" as an inter-planetary language is unique (Speilberg was perhaps influenced by this film in this respect re: close encounters). The spaceship also resembled the ship in "E.T.", so there might be some comparison here. If fact, both this film and E.T. center on the "misunderstanding" between two interplanetary cultures. Interesting. This film is great for its atmosphere of early '50s scifi and should not be missed. Although this might be pushing the point, the eventual discovery that the alien, although an unknown creature, was not a threat, had true resonance during the cold war. Highly recommended if you prefer atmosphere over special effects.

"The Man From Planet X" is a low-budget black and white 1950 science-fiction movie, one of the earliest of the genre that included "The Thing," "Them," etc. I believe this VHS edition was released in 2000 and it is a good quality transfer, full screen with no closed captioning. As for the quality of the movie itself, do you really have to ask? I first saw it when I was eleven and I thought it was very scary and atmospheric, with all that fog blowing across the Scottish moors late at night, and the grotesque alien peering out of the porthole of his tiny spacecraft. The production designer did a nice job with an obviously minimal budget, and the lighting, settings, and costumes do contribute to the suspenseful atmosphere. The movie has all the usual 1950's S-F cliches, including the strange object approaching the Earth, the wise old scientist and his beautiful daughter who falls in love with the courageous investigating reporter and who screams piercingly and predictably at the sight of the hideous visitor from space, and so forth. If you're in the mood, and if movies like this could draw you to the theater during your childhood, you'll enjoy it. And it's fun to be eleven again.

"The Man of Planet X" (1951 - 70 minutes), is a delicious cult of science fiction directed by Edgar G. Ulmer from the story of Aubrey Wisberg and Jack Pollexfen, and with the main actors: Robert Clarke, Margaret Field, Raymond Bond and William Schallert.

Professor Elliot (Raymond Bond) works in an observatory in the Scottish island of Burray and discovers a new planet in the Solar System, Planet "X". The route of the enigmatic celestial body will pass quite near the planet Earth.

John Lawrence (Robert Clarke), an American journalist friend of Elliot, goes to the island to get information about the unusual fact and finds Dr. Mears there (William Schallert), an unscrupulous scientist and his disaffection.

The professor Elliot's daughter, Eunid (Margaret Field), is the first one to see a stranger alien spaceship and its occupant, after having her car damaged in a road with much fog, at night. The mysterious space traveler makes contact with professor Elliot and his friends and will use a device to control their minds.

Is the visitor friendly? What are his intentions? What is his relationship with Planet "X"?

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This was shot on the cheap, and some of the acting is hammy, as other reviewers have pointed out. But it is indeed atmospheric, and occasionally genuinely creepy-looking.

The person who makes this interesting, though, is William Schallert as the villain, Dr. Mears. You may not know him by name, but you've seen him on TV a million times.

Schallert has spent much of his career playing genial, inoffensive storekeepers, friendly pipe-smoking dads, wise uncles, nice grandpas, etc. on things like the Patty Duke Show, Dobie Gillis, Matlock, and Highway to Heaven.

Here, he does a really bang-up job playing against his usual character. He's a creepy, neurotic, wormy, indecisive, snivelling villain, the total opposite of the usual frenzied Mad Scientist types in science fiction flicks of this era. He's said to have done something awful "during the War," but it's never specified exactly what, which actually makes him more creepy. His evil plot is not to "take over the world," but to use alien tech to make himself a billionaire!

He also sports longer hair than most people were allowed in the 1950s (outside of Bible epics), plus a very Beatnik-looking mustache and goatee! One gets the impression that he goes back to his room in the Professor's house and plots using alien tech to take over the stock market while listening to Charlie Parker and Lester Young.

This is definitely not the best science fiction flick ever, but it really deserves your attention. The director and the actors do a lot with what they have to work with. One wonders what this movie would have been like if someone had been able to get some serious financial support behind it; with the right budget and a little script rewriting, "The Day The Earth Stood Still" might have had some serious competition in the "brainy sci-fi movie" department.

As it stands, Man from Planet X is a cool little movie. Get it and enjoy.

There is more than meets the eye here. Alien space ships not withstanding, this is an intelligent film with good characters bolstered by good dialogue. The deliberate pace of the film and the intelligent point of view displayed through the characters make this good filmmaking. Not your conventional ending either.

From the classic age of SciFi, no modern technology or computers.

This is the movie that I remember seeing as a kid, still has that "mysterious"

atmosphere that make it a true classic.

I don't have time to write a lenghty treatise here, but this film was successful in scaring the living daylights out of me when I saw it in the theater as a six year old. I have to give it 5 stars because of the impact it had on me. Looking at it now as an adult, it seems almost comical. But it was effective then. Also, this is one of the first films (if not the first) with the theme of alien invasion. Important film in my life. It definitely is worth a look. This is a classic film of the sci-fi genre. Watch it and enjoy.