O Homem do Planeta X

An elderly scientist has discovered that a new planet has somehow changed its orbital path and will soon come dangerously close to the Earth. An American reporter goes to the northern most reaches of Scotland to meet with this professor in hopes that he can tell the world of his findings. Upon arrival he meets the young, beautiful daughter that he knew previously as a gawky child and a Dr. Mears, a scientist that should have been jailed for some past crimes but somehow was not convicted and was staying at the Professor's castle because of their former relationship as teacher and pupil. It is with this exposition that famed B director Edgar G. Ulmer then sends an alien in a small, weird-looking spaceship to this area for the purpose of scouting out another place for his/its own kind. Well, the story takes some interesting, some obvious steps in terms of fleshing out the story, but when the end result is viewed - one should be impressed with several things. First of all, the budget for this film was incredibly small. Ulmer rented out the old sets from Joan of Arc and then transformed them into the castle and Scottish bogs. They are convincing thanks to his heavy use of fog machines. The fog swirls and floats throughout. His special effects are not that bad either for the budget. The alien created looks surprisingly eerie in the fog as it looks through its glass helmet with those glazed, cold, blank eyes. But Ulmer does more than just create an alien that terrifies a region. Ulmer gives the alien a bit of soul. He ends up being a menace, but a question arises that would he have been that same menace if an evil human being had not been involved in trying to communicate with him. Ulmer leaves the answer to you - and it is a stylish, almost profound thing to do in a film like this. Make no mistake, The Man from Planet X is a B picture all the way, but it is a quality B picture with solid, innovative direction, haunting images, good acting from Robert Clarke as the lead, Margaret Field(Sally Field's mom) as the love-interest/daughter, and good-old William Schallert as the conniving Dr. Mears. My favourite performance though is by Roy Engel as a Scottish policeman. He can chew up some scenery!

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.

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 reporter John Lawrence (Robert Clarke) visits Dr. Robert Blane (Gilbert Fallman) and learns that his friend, Prof. Elliot (Raymond Bond) has discovered a new planet that is in route toward Earth and has moved to an observatory on the Burry Island to observe from a closer location. John heads to the Scottish island and is welcomed by Prof. Elliot's daughter Enid Elliot (Margaret Field), who is now a beautiful young woman. They go to the observatory to meet Prof. Elliot and John finds Dr. Mears (William Schallert), who is his disaffection. When Enid returns home after driving John to an inn in the town, she has a flat tire and finds a spacecraft landed on the island with a weird alien inside that follows her home. While Prof. Elliot and John want to investigate the reason why the alien landed on Earth, Dr. Mears has second thoughts. What are the true intentions of the extraterrestrial being?

"The Man from Planet X" is a campy and lame sci-fi in black and white, but also a cult for fans (like me) of sci-fi from the 50's. The story of a close encounter with an alien is from the same year of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" that is a classic. The open end, where the true intention of the extraterrestrial being is not disclosed, is excellent. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Homem do Planeta X" ("The Man From Planet X")

Note: On 23 February 2024, I saw this film again.

a diminuative alien arrives on Earth in what looks for all the world like an oversized Christmas tree ornament and terrorizes a sleepy little Scottish town. Ultimately, both he and his spaceship are destroyed just as Planet X whisks by the Earth. This early fifties sci-fi effort was rushed into production to capitalize on Howard Hawks' "The Thing", and looks it. How rushed? Would you believe a six day shooting schedule? Six days; that's all Mid-Century Films could afford with a budget of less than $60,000. Shot on sets leased from the Hal Roach Studios (most were originally used in the film "Joan of Arc") and with less-than-convincing backdrops, this film somehow manages to capture a moody atmosphere that's perfect for the genre. Add to this an eerie score, and you can just overlook the genuinely hilarious alien. Everything about this creature screams "CHEAP!!!", from the obvious duct tape around the mouthpiece to the control valve on his backpack that looks like it was stolen from Alice Kramden's sink. What optical effects there are are nicely rendered by Jack Glass, and most of the performances are okay, especially that of Roy Engel, who plays Constable Tommy with an accent that would make James Doohan envious. Margaret Field plays Enid, Professor Eliot's daughter and the (we guess) love interest for Robert Clarke, the American reporter. We used the modifier "we guess" because there's no chemistry between the two, despite Clarke's repeated - and obvious - advances. A good deal of the dialogue is pretty strained, as well. Example: Prof. Eliot says to the two: "Let us concentrate on this remarkable object" and:"Ssshh! The scale is delicate; it responds to a breath upon it." Does anybody talk like this? Nobody we know. In spite of all this, plus the fact that the terror is somewhat forced and just why the alien's spaceship comes equipped with a hypnotic ray is never explained, believe it or not, "The Man from Planet X" isn't really a bad film, just a cheap one, and Robert Schallert fans can add a star. Try it; believe us, you COULD do worse!