The Beast with a Million Eyes

"The Beast with a Million Eyes" was made with whatever money was leftover from the original budget fronted to Roger Corman by American-International for 4 separate films, and, brother, it looks it. Okay, we realize that many actors will take nearly anything that comes their way - after all, they hafta eat, too - and some, like a very young Dick Sargent, must pay their dues, but really. . .! This film is so

cheaply done, so execrably written, that it actually becomes an effort just to sit through it. The word is that even Sam Arkoff, co-head at AIP, winced at the final product, and that's saying something. While it is true that Roger Corman was known for being able to grind out movies very quickly on very small budgets, this film is just plain terrible, rivaling "Plan 9" as being perhaps the worst sci-fi film ever made. Even "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" had a better-looking spaceship! If miles of stock footage of barnyard animals, or just animals in general, is your thing, have at it; otherwise, forget this awful loser. Truly, a burdock of Biblical proportions.

Some viewers of 50s sci-fi may write this one off as being way too low-budget (admittedly, only about $23,000 back in '55) for its ambitions, but in truth the script (credited to Tom Filer) really isn't bad at all, touching upon such subjects as the human capacity for love, the effects of isolation, and the after effects of WWII. Yeah, the spaceship for the alien intelligence is bargain-basement stuff (it's a coffee percolator!), but the filmmakers do show some intelligence, and give the production an intimate feel by focusing on a limited number of characters.

The farming family led by Allan Kelley (Paul Birch, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance") is now being subjected to various animal attacks, including one from the pet dog of daughter Sandra (Dona Cole, in her only credited film role). It turns out that the alien invader can control an unlimited number of Earths' animal species. (A cow also turns against its owner, played by veteran actor Chester Conklin ("The Great Dictator").) Hence, the films' title. It doesn't actually possess one million orbs.

Said alien was created by monster-maker of the era Paul Blaisdell, in his first feature credit. We only see it briefly at the end, and don't get a *great* look at it, but it's pretty cool nevertheless. Incidentally, this was *started* by credited producer - director David Kramarsky, but uncredited executive producer Roger Corman was dissatisfied with what he was turning out, and proceeded to finish the picture himself. Overall, the picture is fairly well made, with Corman bringing the great cinematographer Floyd Crosby (of those Corman-directed Edgar Allan Poe pictures of the 60s) onto the project. The music is also good.

Granted, this flick *is* laughable at times, and certainly not always intentionally. And it can get melodramatic at times, with a florid performance by Lorna Thayer as the farm wife / mom. She later found some fame as the waitress subjected to Jack Nicholsons' "chicken salad sandwich" speech" in "Five Easy Pieces". Birch is a standout; also co-starring are a very young Dick Sargent of later 'Bewitched' fame as the amiable deputy, Bruce Whitmore, who provides the voice for the monster, and Leonard Tarver, who plays the hulking, mute hired hand known only as "Him".

While not particularly distinguished, "The Beast with a Million Eyes" does deserve more respect than it typically gets. It was one of the original productions for American Releasing Corporation, which soon became much more well-known as American International Pictures.

Five out of 10.

Most of the reviews of this movie have focused on acting, writing, and production values (or perhaps the lack thereof). This is what makes the film entertaining. In my view, the most interesting aspect of this film is its allegorical quality.

This movie was released in 1955, during the blacklist period and the McCarthy hearings. The title refers to the alien's ability to takeover the brains of the lesser animals (birds, dogs, cows, chickens) as well as the brains of weak-minded humans. Doing this provides him with the ability to see what the rest of us are up to. To me, that seems a lot like informing on our neighbors and co-workers. And what's the defense against this alien threat? We defeat it by staying united and sharing our strength.

Allegory or no, it's fun to watch the rampaging farm animals (perhaps a precursor to "Black Sheep") and the attacking blackbirds (props, I hope, tossed at a car window).

Historically-speaking, this is quite an important production as far as horror and sci-fi flicks are concerned. For starters, it is one of the very earliest films involving normal animals suddenly turning on humans and attacking them. In fact, there are a enough surprising similarities between this and Alfred Hitchcock's THE BIRDS (1963) to suggest this was a major inspiration to that classic film. Second, this is not only an early producing credit for the prolific Roger Corman, but also the very first genre film he stepped behind the camera to direct. Though it's credited to David Kramarsky, Corman had replaced him early on into the production, sans credit. Third, this was a key establishing film for the fledgling company American Releasing Corporation, run by a few fellas named Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson. ARC would become American International Pictures. Of course if you know anything about vintage horror, drive-in and exploitation films, you'll know just how important these names are.

BEAST (originally titled "The Unseen") was also a production beset with problems. Originally part of a multi-picture package arranged between Corman and Arkoff / Nicholson, the film's budget was initially slated to be way higher but had to be slashed down to just 29,000 dollars. Problems with the filmmaker's union led to the production being shut down after just a day a filming. It also resulted in the original director and cinematographer both having to be sacked and Corman having to complete the film along with new D.O.P. Floyd Crosby. Supposedly the two managed to knock out all of the interior shots (48 pages of the script!) in just two days on studio sets! The exteriors were filmed in Indio, California and, all things considered, the photography actually looks quite good.

Paul Birch - later to appear in Corman's DAY THE WORLD ENDED (1955) and NOT OF THIS EARTH (1957) - stars as Allan Kelley, a farmer who lives on a date ranch deep in the California desert along with his wife Carol (Lorna Thayer) and teenage daughter Sandy (Dona Cole). The family have seen better times, especially Carol, who's neurotic, miserable because of the constant isolation and bitter to the point where she starts resenting and hating her own daughter out of sheer jealousy. An alien spacecraft that makes a strange humming noises lands in a cave in the desert, all of the glassware in the home shatters and, soon after, all manner of animals start going crazy and attacking. Birds of all kinds begin swooping out of the sky, a cow tramples over a farmer, chickens flog Carol and the family dog turns vicious and must be chopped up with an axe!

Also living on the farm is a character that would later become a staple of these kinds of films: the pervy, creepy, half wit handyman. The one in this one is a lonely mute referred to as only "Him." He's not only a voyeur who constantly stares at the females through the window, but he also spies on the daughter character stripping down to her swimsuit and going for a swim and then tries to touch her. "Him" sleeps in a shack next to the house where the walls are plastered with pictures of bikini or lingerie clad girls and he lies in bed looking at girlie magazines while his eyes bug out. I've seen this character countless other times in other exploitation movies, portrayed almost exactly the same as it is here, but NEVER before 1955. This adds a rather sleazy touch to the proceedings, which is especially odd considering this is essentially a family drama whose core message is about how it's important for families to stick together and support one another.

Though interesting and boasting an intriguing and original premise, this really isn't a very good movie. It's slow, the dialogue is hokey, the acting is gratingly melodramatic and the animal attacks scenes are very poorly staged and edited and are mostly accomplished by filming the animals approaching the camera followed by a terrified reaction shot from the actor. People also rightfully snicker at the special effects, which include a tiny little spaceship that looks like something you'd serve coffee out of and an alien so bad they had to make the image all hazy and then superimpose a giant eyeball over top of it. Then again, the movie was originally filmed minus all that. Since Arkoff had pre- booked the film on the promise of a "beast" based on the title, he insisted a "beast" be in the film. Special effects man Paul Blaisdell was then given just 200 dollars to create both the ship and the alien creature on short notice. The fact he was able to come up with anything at all is actually quite impressive in itself.

A young Dick Sargent (going by "Richard" here and years before finding fame as Darren in "Bewitched") plays a small supporting role as a deputy and Sandy's love interest. Production manager "Jack Haze" would become Jonathan Haze and later became immortalized for playing Seymour in Corman's LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1960).

This film is truly enjoyable as one of the classic cheesy horror flicks of the 20th century. As plain country folk become terrorized by the animals on their farm who's minds are under the control of..."THE BEAST!"...who to my dismay only has two eyes...............Watch for Dick Sargeant as the tough, yet understanding officer.......Good, Clean , Horror!!!