Product Details

• Actors: Patricia Neal, Helmut Dantine, Derek Bond, Cyril Luckham, Willoughby Gray
• Directors: Burt Balaban
• Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: September 5, 2000
• Run Time: 74 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004W1A2
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #16,654 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #69 in	Movies & TV > Art House & International > British Cinema > Mystery & Suspense
  #97 in	Movies & TV > Classics > Sci-Fi & Fantasy

• For more information about "Stranger from Venus" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Providing further evidence that 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still had an immediate and lasting influence, this quiet little gem from 1954 spins off from the earlier film's trendsetting premise, and features a fine role for that classic's costar, Patricia Neal. With those similarities accounted for, it's only fair to assess Stranger from Venus on its own terms. Fashioned more like a respectable B-movie melodrama than a sci-fi thriller, it offers only a few seconds of cheesy special effects (in the form of an ultra-low-budget flying saucer), and instead emphasizes mature dialogue and competent acting to deliver the time-honored theme that humankind has a lot to learn on the intergalactic scale of civilized behavior.

Helmut Dantine plays the title role--a dapper gent from Venus who arrives in a rural English town, possessing awesome powers (and a brain packed with the entirety of human knowledge), and intending only to inform the military powers-that-be of the dangers of atomic weaponry. With her trademark empathy, Neal plays a local American who understands, accepts, and quietly falls in love with the nameless alien. There must be tragedy, of course, and when the military hawks prevent the Venusian's rendezvous with his mother ship, the cost is regrettably high. (As we've learned earlier, centuries-old Venusians merely vanish when they expire.) By this time, however, the requisite wisdom has been expressed, human foolishness has been exposed and humbled by alien superpowers, and Stranger from Venus ends on a quiet note of melancholy optimism. Unfolding with thoughtfulness and filmmaking economy, this is an obscure genre entry that devoted fans are encouraged to discover. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description
Tonight, first contact will be made! A beautifully-crafted tale of a superior being from Venus who has the power of life and death at his touch. Academy Award-winning actress Patricia Neal's glowing and sensitive performance as a woman caught up in the biggest event in history is complemented by Helmut Dantine's powerful, moving portrayal as the Stranger. Suggested by events in the sci-fi classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still," this film is a touching, humanizing and haunting story of "first contact" with a peaceful and advanced intelligence from another planet coming to Earth with an ultimatum and out-of-this-world powers to back it up.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WARNING - DO NOT EXPECT A LOT OF SPECIAL EFFECTS !, December 24, 2005

By	M. Kube "low tech film critic" (Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Stranger from Venus [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I don't know I could be wrong, but it seems to me that movies made today require a ton of special effects ( especially in the Sci Fi - Fantasy genre ) to keep an audience interested. Nothing wrong with this though, as I myself enoy a little escapist entertainment as much as the next person. Having said that though I must confess that it is my opinion that good writing and acting will win out over high tech effects almost everytime with few eceptions and nothing is better if you have both. Which brings me to this film, Stranger From Venus. It has very little in the effects department (Plan 9 From Outer Space has more) but the script and acting are a notch above alot of movies in this genre today or in the 1950's when this film was made.The story is not your average alien invasion plot that dominate most film in this category, which to me is a breath of fresh air. In fact,I'd put Stranger From Venus in a category of Sci Fi films that are a bit different from the rest of the crowd like The Man Who Fell To Earth, Man Facing SouthEast and Signs. So,if you are looking for exploding planets,high tech battle cruisers or strange looking creatures, you won't find it here but if you seek a good well written story from a different angle then your patience will be rewarded.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars STRANGER FROM VENUS DVD, September 23, 2000

By	"mrfeeby" (USA) - See all my reviews

Image Entertainment's release of STRANGER FROM VENUS, as part of their Wade Williams DVD Collection, is an interesting little find for old sci-fi film fans. STRANGER FROM VENUS shares many common elements with the all-time classic THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL -- most notably a kind alien who wishes to warn humanity of the consequences of atomic warfare. It also shares a basic plot structure with the infamous 1950s British sci-fi flick DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS: an alien landing in rural England and "hanging out" in and around a local inn/tavern. If you've seen and enjoyed either film, you'll like this one.

STRANGER FROM VENUS has surprisingly strong performances from its lead actors: Patricia Neal and Helmut Dantine. In one well-done sequence, for instance, Dantine demonstrates to a reporter his superior intellect by reading a newspaper article, one paragraph at a time in a different language.

STRANGER FROM VENUS certainly is for genre fans alone. It's very "talky" and, outside of cheap flying saucers at the very end, provides little cheesy special effects to make fun of. The DVD also doesn't have any bonus features, not even a trailer. So you've got to make sure that the price is worth it to you (the transfer is very good however).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Stranger from Venus, August 5, 2005

By	Robert Beyer "Robster" (Monument CO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I concur with most of the reviews already written.. a "soft" sci-fi story relying on dialogue rather than special effects. Patrica O'Neil definately made this movie.