Attack of the Puppet People

What should you do if your wife leaves you for another man? John Hoyt, playing a German puppeteer, decides that he will devise some incredibly complex scientific device that miniaturizes the people he likes so they will never again leave him. Director/producer Bert I. Gordon does it again; he creates a film with a pretty ridiculous script, interesting if not always impressive special effects, and an entertaining film notwithstanding. The film starts out with many puppets already "made" and then shows how Hoyt creates some, interacts with some, how some try to escape and so on... Much of the film is used to let Gordon showcase his effects as the little people are surrounded by large objects. One little person even gets to sing a hip rock song. Hmmm...okay. Ultimately I liked Attack of the Puppet People. It doesn't have the greatest story or acting or effects, but it has heart. It is an inferior film in every way to the impressive Dr. Cyclops made with Albert Dekker the previous decade. Hoyt gives a heartfelt and tired performance. John Agar plays the man who has fallen in love with Hoyt's newest blonde bombshell secretary. He literally has a short fuse! The other actors are competent if nothing else. For me the most fun scene is that with the little girl, played by Gordon's real life daughter Susan, comes into to get her doll fixed and finds a matchbox. Another Mr. BIG production that is fun.

Reasonably entertaining entry into the 50s sci fi/horror genre.

Star John Hoyt was always interesting to watch (check out his brief but commanding performance as antique shop proprietor Nils Dryer in "The Big Combo").

The basic theme of this film had, in fact, already been tried out the year before in the vastly superior "Incredible Shrinking Man". However, the 'puppet twist' (good name for a song!) was certainly an original touch.

Co-star John Agar is smoothly competent and does his best against the odds.

Strictly for those whose tastes lean towards the ultra-cheesy variety of midnight movie fare.

Yes, welcome to another cheerfully inept Bert I. Gordon (B.I.G) Sci-Fi/horror romp, in which the silliness usually triumphs over adequate scripting and where the special effects look cheaper than half a handful of pennies. "Attack of the Puppet People" is a thoroughly shameless cash-in on the success of "The Incredible Shrinking Man", but in this light-headed story there's no room for building up claustrophobic atmosphere, let alone the preaching of philosophical messages. It's a fun and charming little movie, but totally lacking depth, credibility and a proper elaboration of the basic premise. John Hoyt stars as a brilliant doll maker slash inventor of shrinking equipment (rather unusual combination, but okay), but he's very lonely and emotionally frustrated since his beloved wife walked out on him once, several years ago. So now, he uses his magic, invisible ray projecting devise to miniaturize the people he risks losing, like his cute secretary Sally and her fiancé Bob. Mr. Franz keeps his little friends asleep in tubes, but also does his best to entertain them with tiny dance parties, the newest Barbie & Ken outfits and even trips to the 'Jekyl & Hyde' marionette-theater. The 'attack' referred to in the title is quite inaccurate, as the little folks don't attack anyone (with the exception of a lifeless Dr. Jekyll marionette) but they do want to escape and regain their normal previous measurements. "Attack of the Puppet People" is a fairly forgettable and poor film, but it's slightly better and more stylish than most of the things B.I.G accomplished and at least it's never boring. Hoyt is fine as the pitiable & awkward old toymaker, but the supportive cast is too underdeveloped and bleak. If anything, this is an insignificant but pleasant 50's gem with some funny highlights, like the marionette-fight and one of the shrunken gals quacking the cheesy theme song "I'm your living Doll".

You know we never do learn just how the machine that shrinks folks to doll like size came to the possession of puppetmaker John Hoyt. He had no science or electronic background we're told about.

This is one weird film about a man who for fun and pleasure shrinks people to miniature size and keeps them around. Among others he shrinks are his new secretary June Kenney and her salesman boyfriend John Agar. When he proposes marriage and she wants to leave, Hoyt can't bear to part with either.

Hoyt is the whole show here in this B film quickie. It's not enough for a film that can't quite decide how seriously it wants to be taken.

Yet another minor classic from the 1950s has been released in a pristine B & W print to DVD for posterity and fans' delight. I recall the television print being yellowed and water-marked, but not here, in its crystal clarity, and sharp sound. John Hoyt is excellent as a once-jilted European doll maker who has devised a machine that can shrink animals and humans to about one-sixth their size. When his current secretary/receptionist June Kenney decides to quit to marry John Agar, his loneliness gets the better of him, and they are victimized, along with previous unfortunates. Great rock music is worked into the plot, and they are terrified by a giant rat, cat and dog. Adolph Glasser's music is robust and amplified, the technical effects by the director Bert Gordon well-done for the time (his daughter Susan Gordon plays the little blonde girl). Kenney is a lovely, blue-eyed, shapely blonde, who was "Teen-Age Doll" (1957), while Agar has his best moments in an unnerving puppet show scene with a Dr. Jekyll character. Included in the cast is Laurie Mitchell, the "Queen of Outer Space" (1958), giving a good performance as do the others. Toward the latter part of the decade, nothing was too wild to hit this lucrative market, and this engaging picture stands up to the test of time.