March 2009

Obsessed is a thriller movie starring Idris Elba, Beyonce Knowles and Ali Larter. The story is about a successful asset manager named Derek Charles (Idris Elba) with a beautiful wife, Sharon (Beyoncé Knowles). He finds his idyllic life threatened by a temp in his office who reveals herself as a stalker. Ali Larter plays as [...]

I MARRIED A MONSTERFROM OUTER SPACE (1958)Directed by Gene Fowler, Jr.Starring:Tom Tryon – Bill FarrellGloria Talbott – Marge Bradley FarrellRobert Ivers – Harry PhillipsAlan Dexter – Sam BensonChuck Wassil – Ted HanksI know. The title screams camp, immediately bringing to mind smart-ass kids snickering so hard soda shoots out their noses; snorting at another, hysterical “so bad it’s good” movie. And truly, who can blame the little shits anyway? It’s a stupid, unfortunate title, tailor-made for parody and ridicule; born of an age when titles were often designed to sound like a cheap tabloid headlines. Gene Fowler, Jr., the very fine director of this film, was twice forced by studios into this little sub-genre; taking the helm for I Was a Teenage Werewolf as well (he fared far better here). The film’s original PR campaign didn’t exactly shoot for the stars. With original posters picturing a monster chasing around actress Gloria Talbott in a white wedding dress and high heels, Atomic Age audiences weren’t being promised Wuthering Heights. In fact, it was the second feature (a true B-movie), playing after The Blob. That is, I Married a Monster From Outer Space (IMAMFOS) hit the theaters a B-movie playing second fiddle to a B-movie; a “camp classic” if there ever was one. To be fair, Paramount didn’t make this picture to win any Oscars – they made it to make money and put teenage butts in the theater seats or steaming up the windows at a drive-in; any cinematic quality probably coming as a very happy fringe benefit.All this to say that if you come to this movie expecting a high-old snicker-fest, you are to be forgiven. Everything in the film’s DNA predisposes you to this position. I would urge you, however, to clear your mind of all preconceptions. As says the Bard; “So may the outward shows be least themselves . . .”Almost immediately the movie belies its outward show, opening up with a nice, gritty dose of 1950s claustrophobic cynicism. We begin our story with a few friends in a local nightclub, The Kings, celebrating the upcoming wedding of one of their own, Bill (Tom Tryon). We first observe this wedding party through the eyes of two working girls sitting at the bar:“Those guys ain’t even giving us a hard look,” says one, a particularly well traveled blonde with a tight, plunging top and Teutonic bun.The other girl, also a seasoned veteran who has attempted a softer hairstyle (which makes her look even more raw boned), turns and gives the table the benefit of her experienced eye. “Maybe they’re married or something.” She decides.The first pro thinks that over for a moment. “Well, if we’re willing to overlook it, they certainly oughta,” she concludes reasonably, tipping back her drink.The camera moves smoothly to our table of buddies, and we can instantly see we have a table of very drunk young men, all on that shiny-eyed, slurry edge where fun-loving could turn mean with one misfired synapse. This is not the sparkling inebriation of young socialites often portrayed in the screwball comedies of the late 30s and early 40s, full of wit and winsome spirit, all lit in soft focus and lip-shine. Nope, this is more a hunch-shouldered drunk of young men of the 50s, more likely than not a few of which are Korean War veterans, staring into their shot glasses with nasty grins and dark-rimmed eyes; giving one of their own what must pass for a “bachelor party.”In the 30s/40s, our gay troupe of sophisticates would have some droll shenanigans up their natty sleeves, some clever lark or other that would result in the very dickens of a tangle. By way of contrast, the group of young men in IMAMFOS will more than likely pick up the two hookers at the bar before the night’s over, flipping a coin to see who gets who. Before that happy conclusion, though, they will cap off their grim, intense party with their considered views on the blessed institution of marriage. Let’s listen in for a bit:“Hey, Waiter!” calls Harry (Robert Ivers), signaling with his hand, “Mr. Ferrell (Bill) is getting married in the morning. Give him a drink. A ‘freedom on the rocks.’”“I am married,” says Ted (Chuck Wassil), placing the side of his finger heavily on the waiter’s wrist. “Get me another drink. Every one of us is married, has been married, or is about to get married. Get everyone a drink.” His tone is far from joyous or even sarcastic. It is slurred, heavy and bitter. He tucks the blade of his hand into his pants, driving home his point.Bill Farrell, our soon to be husband and also clearly the least drunk and most responsible guy at the table, has had enough good times for one night. He begs off, claiming he has promised his future wife, Marge (Gloria Talbott), a visit before going home.Sam (Alan Dexter), the drunkest yet most jovial of the bunch, manages to clutch at Bill’s arm as he’s leaving. “See your bride the night before the wedding?” he slurs, his eyes struggling for focus, “that’s bad luck.” “Seeing your bride after the wedding, that’s bad luck,” offers Ted, again sans smile. He grabs Bill’s arm, bringing him in close, and pokes his finger in Bill’s chest (Ted is one of those large men that likes to make his point with the blunt end of his finger). “Get in touch with me when you get your divorce. Then I’ll throw you a real party.”Getoutahere says Bill, slapping his hand away, and exits, stage left. Our table of friends watch him go. “He’s such a nice guy,” says Harry, who has the bright, soulless eyes of a serial killer. “it’s a shame it has to happen to him.” Everyone at the table knows that the “it” that is “happening” to Bill is marriage.You’re such a bright boy, says Sam, leaning over the table, his Brelcreamed hair no longer neat, “how come you never figured out a way out of avoiding matrimony?”“I did,’ says Harry.“Well?”“It hurts,” says Harry quietly.“You’re making noise but there’s no message coming through,” says Sam in a great bit of 50s patter. “What’s your solution?”Harry shows his teeth in what must be a grin. “Mass suicide.”Yes, indeed. Harry’s wife sure is one lucky lady, to be sure.We gratefully leave this cloudy gathering of embittered souls before they either A) turn their dark attentions to the to working girls or B) find a hapless group of college kids to beat the shit out of, showing them a few tricks they learned back on Pork Chop Hill.We catch up to Bill, who is driving home now, behind the wheel of his station wagon (station wagon? I told you he was the level-headed one). He brings his bulky ride to a screeching halt, thinking he sees a man lying in the road. He gets out to find nothing in the road at all. As Bill puts his hands on his hips and tries to remember how many drinks he’s had, a huge, glowing claw comes into frame and touches Bill’s shoulder, as if to get his attention. He turns and sees a large (extremely well done) alien monster, all glistening, pulpy mass and brain tubes, standing before him. He tries to scream, but can’t. He is paralyzed with terror as well, and can’t run (this often happens in movies, as I suppose it must. Speaking from my own experience in moments of sheer terror, I have been given the wings of Apollo, my feet striking the pavement in such rapid succession as to make a humming sound). Bill sinks to the ground and a creamy, black cloud envelopes him – envelopes him, then somehow absorbs him. We cut immediately to the following day and preparations for the happy event, with the bride’s mother humming the wedding march and carrying a bundle of flowers. “Mother, would you stop that dirge!” demands Marge, resplendent in her white wedding gown and veil. Why, Margie, says mom, stuffing flowers into a vase, that’s the wedding march. “It’ll be a dirge when he gets here,” says Marge.See, Bill is a bit late. Well, more than a bit, actually. He is the kind of “late for the wedding” that has turned Marge’s beautiful wedding dress into a big, white, puffy clown costume. To make matters worse for Marge, Ted and Ben are on hand as members of the groom’s party, both of them about as helpful as cement lifejackets; despite the fact that they are now sober and can actually stand without leaning against something.“Aw, he isn’t that late,” mumbles hulking Ted without much conviction.“Why no,” snaps Marge. “It’s still Tuesday.” We will find as we go along that Marge has a finely-sharpened tongue - another pleasant surprise. She moves in closer to the pair, who stiffen at her approach and the wilted bouquet she clutches in a death grip. “Just what were you boys drinking last night?” she asks, far too sweetly. Beer, says one - wine, says the other, making it clear that they were drinking pitchers of scotch. The pair give one another a “nice move, dumb ass” look, and Marge turns from them in disgust.“Alright, so we had a few drinks, Marge,” says Ted, snapping his cuffs. “After all it was Bill’s last free night.” He immediately wants to bite his tongue off, but it’s too late – Marge immediately charges the net:“Oh, well, thank you,” she says, putting icicles in the air.Bill does finally show up, looking very excited and oddly blank. Marge shouts his name, forgiving him instantly, and rushes to him. “Sorry I’m late,” says Bill, his voice unsure. He looks more like a stranger in a strange land than a happy groom joining the wedding party; because that is exactly what he is. We know that bill isn’t bill anymore but an alien; and for the next several scenes of the couples’ honeymoon and early marriage, we will follow Marge as she comes to realize this, too.We learn, as Marge does, the full story. A group of aliens from the Andromeda constellation have fled a dying planet. When the sun of their home planet became unstable, they built spaceships; but the building of these ships took too much time. As their sun became hotter and more intense, the females of their race all perished, leaving only the males to take to the ships, a doomed race of orphaned males, searching the endless cosmos for some way to breed.As Marge slowly begins to grasp the truth, she learns that all of Bill’s friends and most of the men of the town have been taken over by the alien force; all intent on procreating with the women folk as soon as the alien scientists can figure out how to make that, well, work . . . mutating those tricky female chromosomes and whatnot. Once these fussy details are ironed out, the women of earth will become living wombs for alien babies, enabling the invaders to save their race from extinction. In the meanwhile, Marge is held captive within the confines of the town’s borders, turned back by alien policemen as she tries to drive out of town; her Western Telegraph messages to Washington torn up and thrown away by alien telegraph clerks.Within their hidden craft, the aliens have developed a technology whereby Bill and the others are suspended like sides of beef above broadcast nodes, cables running from these blinking devices to their arms and legs. These gadgets allow the aliens to “broadcast” and inhabit a kind of physical hologram of their subjects, complete with memories. The aliens wear these broadcasted, flesh images like human suits, taking them on and off (the scene where Marge discovers this is one of the best in the film. She follows Bill one night on one of his nightly “walks,” following him deep into the woods where the aliens have hidden their ship. She watches as one of the glowing aliens steps out of the Bill suit and goes into the ship, leaving Bill’s form standing upright like a jacket left hanging in a closet. Marge comes up, touches the thing, and if falls straight back into the grass, eyes staring straight up. As Marge watches in horror, a beetle scurries out of the grass, crosses his face with antennae wiggling, and crawls across Bill’s bare eyeball). A wrinkle has developed in the aliens’ plan to turn the women of earth into a race of surrogates, however. It seems there is a little glitch in the human replicating technology: Along with the replication of the physical form, some of the subject -human’s emotional qualities are carried over into the flesh costume as well. Not a complete transference of gushy sentiment, of course, but when dealing with a race where sex was a loveless act done “strictly for breeding purposes,” any infusion of human-style feeling is quite unpredictable. One of the brilliant aspects of IMAMFOS is the way this is presented, most notably in a scene in Grady’s Bar, which is a hangout for Bill and his friends. The aliens in human suits still meet there, now discussing plans for the conquest of earth. The fascinating thing is, all the aliens have developed certain traits from their human originals, only in refined and intensified proportions. Harry, biting and edgy as a human, is now positively burning in angry hatred.After the table of aliens refuses to even acknowledge a prostitute’s come-on (one definitely a bit lower on the food chain than the earlier professionals we met at the bachelor party), alien Harry leans forward, barely able to manage his volcanic contempt. “I’m tired of this childish game we play,” he says, his eyes burning holes into the table top.Ben, gregarious and fun-loving as a human, has become a pure sensualist, a grinning satyr as alien Ben. “I don’t know anything about the unconscious of the body you took over,” he says smirking, “but as far as mine goes, there’s nothing childish about it.” Ben grins a shit-eating, crooked grin as old as the male species. It’s clear that alien Ben has forged ahead with the procreation-with-earth-women mission, screw a green light from the egghead, alien scientists and their time-consuming work with female chromosomes. He’s more than willing to conduct some pioneering field research and finds absolutely nothing wrong with female chromosomes as-is. Harry gets the message and looks over his shoulder at the whore. His face hardens in revulsion.“Personally,” he hisses, “I find human beings disgusting.”Ben leans forward as if telling a dirty secret. “I kinda like ‘em.” He says defiantly.Bill, who got duplicated with a bad case of pre-wedding jitters and the raging emotions of groom on the eve of his betrothal, has become positively Macbethian in his gloamings. He is having a simply terrible time dealing with the completely baffling way humans experience love and sex in a tangling of physical spirituality. He is also having a harrowing time with the intense, passionate world of Marge; with her confusing and troubling need to be with him, talk to him, elicit some indication of emotion from him. Christ, even after she knows he’s an alien, Marge still wants to talk to him, find out what makes him tic.“Like them or not,” he says, his voice authoritative but weary, his brow furrowed with thought, “we have to learn to live with them.” Amen, brother.Eventually, others in town begin to suspect and come to believe Marge. The aliens are not a perfect match for earth; not by a far cry. Pure oxygen will kill them, as will any alcoholic beverage. The local doctor (Ken Lynch) comes to suspect after he kills alien Ben by forcing oxygen into the alien’s lungs after a boating accident. Grady (Maxie Rosenbloom) the local barkeep, has trouble understanding why the boys spend all night in his dump and never touch a drop. He gets so angry at this revoltin’ development that he confronts them one evening, even slugging bill several times. Bill’s expression never even changes.The doctor and Ted round up the last remaining “human men” (Ted has proven his “human” manliness by stomping into the doc’s office, his shirt pockets stuffed with cigars, and announcing his wife is having twins) and they storm the alien scout ship, complete with shotguns, rifles and, snarling German Shepherds. The humans win the day, of course, but the finale – and all the elements that make the conclusion so tragic and triumphant at the same time, constitute the good stuff; which is:Good Stuff Part I: Aliens and SexFirst and foremost, the complex way the aliens are given depth is the good stuff. IMAMFOS is often regarded as yet another film where invading aliens are thwarted by human emotion, or one where aliens “learn to love.” This is a tough trick at any rate, a filmmaker often seeming about as subtle as a bull swatting at a butterfly with a monkey wrench. And this isn’t quite what’s going on anyway.The aliens in IMAMFOS are never thwarted by, or bereft of, emotion at any point in the movie. The horrible ending of the aliens (which I will get to in a bit) would have come, indeed does tragically come, regardless of their emotional state or lack thereof. It is obvious that they feel anger, affection, pleasure; a full range of emotions. In a crucial conversation, Marge asks alien Bill if scaring a woman makes him proud – that is, if monsters can understand pride. He is obviously wounded and tells her that yes, they can feel pride; but that they can’t afford it (or any other emotion that might hinder their race-saving mission). “You have no idea how rare life is in all those cold, countless miles of space,” he tells her.Did you love your women? She asks him. No, he says, we only came together for breeding purposes. But here on earth, he is learning something, something about the way his adopted body seems to long for her, yearns to touch her; a feeling so deeply engrained as to be beyond his control (again – Amen, brother).“Are you telling me you are . . . learning to love?” Marge asks him, her voice rising in . . . what? Horror? Hope?He nearly leaps forward, leaning over her. She has missed the point, but come so very close. “I am learning what love is,” he says, explaining a small but crucial difference; as well as telling us what makes this film so enduringly special.What has the alien so intrigued, so humbled, is the way humans twine sex and love in unpredictable and endless variations on the theme; the act of simple mating becoming, at the combustion of human bodies, something suddenly filled to brimming with perfect, spiritual harmony and utter surrender. This physical union, which couples our weak flesh with our highest nature in a moment of divine bliss, is our defining thing for the alien: the unique thing that creates our humanity. Without this, we are just one more combination of atoms in the cosmos, somehow fired up into life. Indeed, what first makes Marge so desperately unhappy, and from her very honeymoon onward has clued her in that something is terribly wrong, is that she and bill are “unable to have children” which is 1950s for he hasn’t ever made love to her.The alien is not learning to “love” exactly, although that might be a bi-product of his real desire. What alien Bill wants, what has him fumbling around Marge - is the opportunity to experience what it is to be this “other” unique thing; to be human.Good Stuff Part II: The HoneymoonThe slowly building tension and crafty scriptwriting (Louis Vittes) of the honeymoon scenes are Part II of the Good Stuff. The script and acting are so subtle and understated during this part of the movie, they warrant at least a second viewing for true appreciation. I watched this film recently three times before some of scenes were completely illuminated. After the ceremony, Bill is acting very strangely, seeming to forget how to drive a car, leaving Marge sitting in the car at the hotel, etc. She chalks it up to mutual nerves. Later, during dinner by candlelight, Marge is doing all the talking, an endless stream of what she herself realizes is nervous chatter. “You big idiot,” she says, “you better say something. I’m running out of small talk.”“Why do we have to talk?” he asks.She is happily taken-aback by this blunt approach, thinking he means it’s high time for the, ahem, consummation.“Well,” she says, beaming and bright-eyed, “the least you could do is ply me with liquor.”But, as we fully appreciate later, he isn’t hinting at a jump into bed; nor is he suggesting that, being an alien, speech with him is unnecessary or futile. He is asking an earnest question, just like it sounds. The alien is asking Marge why she feels the need to communicate with him at this particular time, and why does she need communication so acutely - why two humans, on the verge of breeding, would feel the need to talk to one another intimately. A great moment that improves with each viewing. Also superb is the moment on the windswept, ocean view balcony, with Marge gorgeous and nubile in her nightgown. She looks out over the water, her hair blowing off her face. “It’s a big ocean,” she says.Alien bill is standing behind her in handsome smoking jacket. He has been staring at the back of her head. He shifts his attention to the view. He agrees, yes, it is a big ocean.“Maybe you’ve guessed, “ she says, “but I’ve never been on a honeymoon before.”He turns his head, focusing on her again. “Nether have I,” he says, his voice not at all unfriendly.The film has many similar moments, a memorable shot here or there where the alien has heard some human phrase or concept that gives him pause. As poor luck would have it, Bill’s desire to understand Marge’s highly complex desires dovetails perfectly with her awareness of him as a “monster” (guys, how many times has this happened to you?). “I’m learning,” he says to her in one darkly lit scene (the film offers tremendous cinematography throughout from Haskell Boggs). He has come into her bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed.She is laying in bed, looking very nice in her nightgown (the same one she wore on her honeymoon). “Learning?” she asks, frightened. She knows he is an alien by this point in the story, but no one has yet believed her. She has been forced into a charade of life - a marriage of horrible appearance.“I’m your Husband, Marge.” He reaches out his hand, covers hers. She pulls her hand away and tugs the blanket a little higher, covering herself. Even an alien from the Andromeda Galaxy knows what the hell that means. “But you don’t want me here,” he says. Marge looks down, unable to meet his eyes. He watches her a moment, then stands. “Well, there’s always the guest room.” He walks from the room, pausing a moment in the doorway, framed in the light of the hall.“It’s a nice idea, anyway,” he says.She can’t help herself: “what is?” she asks.“Making guests comfortable.”Tragically, yet understandably, Marge is having none of the alien’s gradual and sincere shift toward her. More than once we see sympathy, or some hint of feminine concern, flit across Marge’s features regarding the alien, but nothing so powerful as her overriding desire to find her husband and, if possible, bring him back to her. The film-makers never make the mistake of presenting the aliens as “benign.” Alien Bill has killed the pet cat, after all, as well as a puppy Marge has brought home as an anniversary present, because animals can sniff aliens out (even here the film is subtle and well-rounded: we see alien Bill approaching the puppy in the basement, picking up a hammer from his workbench; yet he seems repulsed by the concept. He tosses the hammer back on the bench in an obvious gesture of self-disgust and frustration, choosing instead to use his hands). Further, the two alien cops who patrol the citizenry through the bulk of the film (Peter Baldwin and Jack Orrison) aren’t above using their service revolvers in the blithe execution of anyone deemed “not useful.”Good Stuff Part III: The EndingThe end of the aliens is so brutal and graphic, the strange gore so captivating, one can almost miss the moments that supply its true power. As doc and the gang of men and dogs descent upon the ship, firearms and bared teeth bristling, it first seems that the aliens will take the day with ease. We see pistol and rifle shots being absorbed harmlessly into the instantly-healing bodies of the aliens, the bullets striking alien torsos with the sound of a hammer hitting a watermelon (the special effects are outstanding throughout); and the aliens are pretty handy with their three-pronged laser weapons, making a few earthlings vanish in a glowing silhouette. But then one of the local hunters releases the German Shepherds. The animals, sensing the alien’s soft spot, leap directly at the thick, heavy brain tubes which run from the face down into the alien chest. The huge dogs rip and snarl at these tubes, ripping them apart and sending jets of black, dense liquid (blood? Brain liquid?) pulsing out. The aliens, screeching horribly, die quickly once these vital veins have been severed (they must be suffering terribly as well. One alien, seeing his comrade so stricken, blasts him with his three prong gun to put him out of his misery). Once dead, the aliens dissolve into an acidic mess of pale, puss-like ooze that settles into a black slime, soaking into the ground (oh, yeah!).The dogs turn the tide, and the small force guarding the alien scout ship are killed. The men advance hesitantly into the ship, finding their fellow earthlings hanging from the broadcast devices like flesh cocoons or victims of a mass lynching, turning and swaying gently above the floor of the craft. In horror, the human men begin to pull the cabling away from their suspended neighbors. The alien replications, most of whom are racing to the ship, begin to convulse and writhe in agony; their “bodies” reduced to translucent gouts of chunky, gelatinous muck, flushing in thick gulps out of their pant legs and shirt cuffs as they die. The alien chief of police dies in particularly gruesome fashion, flushing right out of his uniform, slurping all over and down his desktop, just after he makes a hurried and desperate transmission up to some unseen mother ship, reporting their failure. He recommends with his hissing, dying breath that the Earth-dwellers are too dangerous, recommending the further exploration of yet more distant galaxies.Alien bill, pouring sweat and breathing hard, comes racing into the clearing, his tri-pronged weapon at the ready. He is the last alien remaining. He looks over the scene, seeing the earthlings pulling their friends and fellow humans out of the ship, and realizes all is lost. He drops his weapon onto the ground, his face resigned – sad. Marge comes racing in behind him. Marge sees him, eyes going big as saucers in fear, and she tries to run. He grabs her, bringing her up and close to him by her upper arms, but sees that all she is feeling for him is terror. It isn’t until he releases her that we realize his holding her was far from threatening or dangerous. “Your people have won,” he tells her. “That makes you happy, doesn’t it?” His expression is not resentful; only filled with the disappointment of missed opportunities – unrealized potential. He has never been able to explain himself to this woman. He turns, leans against a tree. “I was just beginning to learn,” he says.We cut to see a sudden shot of human Bill being severed from his cabling, his hanging body giving a jolt as if his heart has started.Alien bill contorts in a blast of pain, his mouth opening in a silent scream. Marge, despite her fear, says, “what is it?” He looks at Marge and waves at her. “Get out,” he says desperately, his eyes tormented. He falls to the ground, out of sight.Marge cannot run away. She stands watching the alien die, but her face shows no triumph, only human pity. Again, the voice comes from the ground, off camera, “get out,” but this time it is not exactly human, more of a faint hiss. We follow Marge’s horrified gaze and see alien Bill writhing in the grass like worm on a hook for a moment, then he is finally still. After a brief moment, the Bill form vanishes and tremendous waves of the bubbly, semi-solid matter come sluicing out of his shirt collar. Marge covers her face in her hands but doesn’t scream (tough girl).At that same moment, we hear Bill, human Bill, calling her name. Marge looks over, sees Bill’s face; but it looks so much like the alien Bill face. She says, very hesitantly, “Bill?” Bill’s face is suddenly, brilliantly lit with a radiant smile as music swells; and we realize wistfully that this smile, this pure happiness at seeing Marge, is something the alien had never managed; could never imitate.“Oh, Bill,” she says, rushing to him. As they embrace, the alien scout ship begins to make a high, pitched whine. Everyone races back, and we watch the ship explode. Bill and Marge, knocked to the ground, watch as the ship burns.As the end credits appear on the screen, we see a large force of alien ships fleeing earth, heading out into the cosmos.So, let’s wrap it up. We come to this film possibly expecting a teenage spectacle, filled with course humor, clumsy dialogue, and big swaths of comic relief - intentional or otherwise. We leave with an intense, well-made sci-fi thriller, offering a fine examination of human sexuality; of the very stuff that makes us human – Man and Woman. We come expecting to guffaw into our sleeves, and we come away thinking about what he have seen. IMAMFOS may be dressed up like camp, but underneath it is a movie that, gratefully, takes things very seriously.Now that’s what I call a good deal. It’s a film so nice, you can watch it twice!WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW! –Radiation Cinema!

THE WEREWOLF (1956)Directed by Fred F. SearsStarring:Steven Ritch – Duncan MarshDon Megowan – Sheriff Jack HainesJoyce Holden – Amy StandishEleanore Tanin – Mrs. Helen MarshKen Christy – Dr. Jonas GilchristS. John Launer - Dr. Emery ForrestGeorge Lynn - Dr. Morgan ChambersThe Werewolf has always been overlooked by atomic age sci-fi fans, who expect their monsters to be either alien invaders or irradiated mutants. This is unfortunate because the centerpiece monster of this Sam Katzman produced gem is a pure creation of atomic age science; a creature made by scientists driven mad with visions of a post-apocalyptic world of radiation and fallout. It is a horror picture, yes, but at the core beats a heart of pure atomic age paranoia.Our story begins with a desperate man (Steven Ritch), clutching his thin suit coat together, wondering the night streets of Mountain Crest, a small, rustic town in the mountains (the picture was shot on location in and around the mountains of Big Bear Lake, California). As a timpani beats a lone, bass beat, we hear a narrator give a brief history of Lycanthropy, how men through the ages, form all corners of the globe, have told tales of wolf men. The man appears frightened or disoriented, and his clothes don’t match either the weather or the setting. Narration and timpani beat fades to the sound of a jukebox drifting out of a small bar, Chad’s Place. The man peers inside through the glass panels of the heavy door, looking small in the ghostly light. He steps inside as the interior music washes over him, and the opening titles roll: THE WEREWOLF (and the type font used is pure 1950s drive in horror! A thing of beauty in and of itself to the true devotee.)After titles, we find the man sitting at the bar, staring down until the bartender returns with a drink. The man drinks his shot carefully, like a man administering himself medicine. The joint has a fireplace (the décor demands hunting boots and flannel). Our small, thin protagonist seems drawn to it for something more than simple warmth. He stands before the burning logs, his anguished face lit with the flickering light, and he reaches toward the flames in an odd gesture; as if wishing to grasp the fire itself and bring it close for safety.As he takes his leave, the bartender reminds him about his change. The bartender (George Cisor) watches the man slowly gather his coins. Sensing something is seriously amiss, he asks the bedraggled figure if he is new in town.The man looks up at the bartender with sad, hopeful eyes. “You don’t know me?” he asks, sounding like a child.The bartender laughs and tells him that he has never seen him before in his life.The man is clearly dejected by the answer. He lowers his head, saying, “I guess I’m just passing through.”“You guess?” asks the bartender, but the man is already walking toward the door and doesn’t answer.He is followed outside by one of the local barflies, who confronts him and suggests rather bluntly that he return to the bar and buy him a drink. The man looks confused and asks “Can you tell me, do I live in this town?” whereupon the barfly, who is easily 60 pounds heavier than the stranger, drags him into an alley and proceeds to beat him, now simply demanding all his cash.The camera shifts to the ally entrance, and we watch an older woman approaching, wearing a scarf over her hair. The struggle, which we hear off camera, has turned viscous. We can hear a strange, guttural sound off camera, not human, like a dog gathering itself. We are given a view of the combatants’ legs, which extent into the street from the alley, as the men struggle on the ground. But it no longer sounds or looks like a “fight.” It is now simply an attack, with the neat pants and dress shoes of the stranger clearly on top. The sounds intensify to a bestial release of triumph, and the legs of the local go slack.The older woman is close now, and she sees the man step out of the alley. We see the back of his head, and her pale luminous expression as her face crumbles into panicked, hysterical screaming. The man runs off, leaving the woman standing on the sidewalk near the alley, screaming and screaming. Locals, including Ben Clovey, the town’s deputy, (Harry Lauter) come running out of the bar.“Ma Everson,” asks the bartender as everyone clusters around, “why are you yelling like that?”She tries to explain but is not terribly coherent. She saw two men go into the alley, and they had some kind of fight, but then it came out. Only that thing came out! Well, decides Deputy Clovey, this calls for an investigation. “Let’s take a look,” he says, looking toward the dark alley. Our stalwart group of citizens stands staring at the deputy, and our barkeep puts it succinctly: “You’re the Deputy Sherriff. You go first.”With his Adam’s apple bobbing a bit, Deputy Clovey leads the way. The men follow him into the alley and huddle around the body. “God,” says Clovey, as all the men recoil and Hoxie, the bartender, unconsciously covers this neck. “His throat!” he says, his voice thin with panic. Our deputy struggles for his voice as well: “Only . . . only an animal could have done that.” He instructs one of the other men to fetch the local doctor. The men move back out into the street, and now the deputy begins to think clearly. He sends the ladies to go tell the sheriff what has happened, and he instructs Hoxie the bartender to go home and bring back every goddamned deer rifle he owns. Half-man/half beast season has officially been declared open, no tag needed and no limits will apply! The remainder of the picture will be devoted to capturing or killing this stranger, Duncan Marsh, who we will eventually learn has been transformed into a werewolf as the result of an experiment performed by a two rural doctors who have strayed a good piece from sanity country. It is the story and motivations of these two doctors, Drs. Morgan Chambers (George Lynn) and Emery Forrest (S. John Launer), that rocket this nifty, gothic thriller into the realm of radiated sci-fi.Like all the tremendous Clover Productions from ubber-producer, Sam Katzman, the core of the film has one whopper of a concept. See, our two doctors, operating from a cabin from somewhere in California, have developed a animal/wolf serum. Why, you ask? Well, prepare yourself. Dr. Chambers - played with harsh, sharp lunacy and a razor mustache by George Lynn, has developed a theory in which he is convinced that an apocalypse is coming via the hydrogen bomb. In a post, apocalypse landscape of darkness and doom, all mankind will be mutated by fallout and radiation into viscous, killing animals. Every single survivor of hydrogen bomb will be turned into a “crawling, inhuman thing through fallout radiation,” unable to think, only able to hate and kill. But Dr. Chambers (his partner, Dr. Forrest, is a weak-willed accomplice, there only to supply plot exposition and the barest hint of a scientific conscience) has developed a serum, extracted from the blood of a mutated wolf, killed by radiation poisoning, which will allow a small select group to escape this fate. Thus inoculated against the coming animalism by the irradiated wolf blood, the doctors will be able to think clearly and set the blood-soaked remains of the human race back on a course of rational civilization. (yes, you have understood correctly: doctors injected with the blood of mutated, dead wolves will save the human race). "Doctors should be able to cure more than broken bones and runny noses," raves Dr. Chambers. "I want to cure a world!"One day in the recent past, the authorities brought the unconscious victim of a car crash, Duncan Marsh, to their offices; and Dr. Chambers decided the time was right to try the serum on a human subject. Marsh, given a “full inoculation”, not only becomes a werewolf, changing into a slobbering beast whenever angry, but also suffers complete memory loss. When the two doctors read in the papers of the recent events in the small town of Mountain Crest, they agree to travel there and kill Marsh before his memory returns and he squeals on them.“You’re not going to kill him?” says Dr. Forrest, as if he didn’t know.“Do you think he still wants to live after what he’s become?” snaps Dr. Marsh, somehow actually scrambling for the high ground in the argument. “Why, it would be an act of charity.” Hmmm. Well, okay then, responds Dr. (jellyfish) Forrest.Back in Mountain Crest, Deputy Clovey has gotten himself badly mauled by Marsh, in full werewolf mode, who was scared off just short of killing him by rifle shots. Sherriff Jack Haines (Don Megowan) brings his lacerated deputy into the local doc’s office (character actor Ken Christy plays Dr. Jonas Gilchrist, decked out in flannel and suspenders to ensure a “kindly” status) where he is treated by Doc Jonas and his niece assistant/nurse, Amy Standish (Joyce Holden). As the doctor treats Clovey, Sherriff Haines and he exchange theories about what actually killed the dead man, who is still laying in another room of the doc’s house. It becomes evident quickly why the residents of Mountain Crest have elected Haines to office: he is easily twice the size of any of the citizenry, has hands big enough to palm a human head, and his chiseled slope of a brow will never allow rainwater to drip into his nearly black eyes. Combine these absolutely essential qualities for good law enforcement with the fact that the Sheriff has absolutely no sense of humor at all (and I mean none) and you have the perfect defender of the public safety (actor Don Megowan is able to bring a certain brooding gentleness to the role, which makes the sheriff’s engagement to the clearly smarter and classier Amy believable).The doctor insists that the lacerations on the dead man’s throat, as well as Deputy Clovey’s arm, were caused by an animal’s teeth. Both Sherriff and Deputy hint that well, all witnesses saw something, that, well, walked on two legs, like a man. Poppycock! Says the doctor. Amy, finishing up the bandaging of Clovey’s arm, says to the sheriff gently, “There is a word for what your saying, Jack.”The Sherriff’s mood darkens just a touch. “Yeah, I went to school, too, Amy.” Oops; this is clearly not the first time the two sweethearts have broached the “intelligence gap” issue.“Werewolf?” asks the doctor, not believing his ears. “If you think I’m going to put that in my medical report . . .”“A murder has been committed,” says Haines, getting back to his bottom line. “Fill out your report any way you like, but it was murder. And it wasn’t a man accidently killed by an animal.”After a bit more bickering, Haines and his wounded deputy leave. Despite his somewhat blunt and artless approach, the Sherriff has managed to scare the holy bejesus out of the doctor and his niece, and the two stay up all night reading old books on mythology and lycanthropy.The town soon becomes the scene of a media event, as one of the locals (all of whom seem to spend a good deal of time at Chad’s Place getting shitfaced) has blabbed to the press, bringing a gaggle of reporters into town with their wise-ass ways and smart comments. In town also are Drs. Chambers and Forrest, ostensibly to help with the search but really intent on killing Marsh before he can reveal them as raving madmen. Finally, rounding out the cast, are Marsh’s wife, Helen (Eleanore Tanin) searching for her missing husband with their young son, Chris (Kim Charney).Throughout the film, Sherriff Haines and his fiancée, Amy, argue a great deal on how to handle Marsh. Joyce, who has been terribly moved by Marsh’s plight (Marsh has visited her uncle’s office and revealed himself to be the killer, pleading with tears streaming down his face for their help: “Please, doctor; I want you to tell me who I am. I want you to tell me what I am!”). The Sherriff at first agrees that Marsh is perhaps ill, not a murderer, but when local farmers report missing sheep, he formulates a plain to capture the beast before his dietary habits change by setting a series of bear traps loaded with large hunks of dripping meat.“It’s vicious and cruel,” says elegant Amy. “How can you do that to another human being?”“Amy, the lives of everyone in this town are depending on the police right now,” says Jack rationally, “Why don’t you try and see it my way?”Eventually, the werewolf is injured severely in one of the bear traps as he makes a slobbering grab at a hunk of meat. Because of his shattered ankle, and because of the megaphoned pleadings of his wife to surrender, he gives himself up to authorities with the promise that they will find him the best help available (in most cases in 1950’s sci-fi, this means a doctor with a goatee and Viennese accent). While things can’t be said to be hopeful, at least Marsh is alive and in a cell. Drs. Chambers and Forrest, though, turn Marsh’s bad luck to complete shit when they decide to kill him in his cell. They knock Deputy Clovey out with some chloroform and proceed into Marsh’s cell on cat feet with a syringe full of poison (boy, when these two stray from the Hippocratic oath, they really stray!). We cheer deliriously as the doctors awake Marsh and, as he turns over to face them, find him slobbering and staring at them, transformed one last time into the werewolf (this last transformation is final, his ability to change back to human form, while alive, is finished). In a quick, punchy scene (a little too quick for my tastes) the werewolf kills them both amid the cell’s noir shadows and tears their throats out.Ironically, the scene we have been waiting for the entire film, in which the loathsome doctors get theirs, is the very action that dooms Duncan Marsh. The Sherriff will entertain absolutely no PETA arguments this time and tells his girlfriend flatly “We won’t take him alive this time, Amy,” as he organizes an old-school gothic search party, complete with angry townsfolk marching with torches (this is also the only time Sherriff Haines demands that his fiancée stay behind. He knows he has some shameful work ahead of him). The creature cannot run because of his shattered ankle, and the men of the town simply walk him down, running him over a bridge and eventually trapping him as he stumbles along the remnants of a dam, long out of service. The men, led by Sherriff Haines, seem somewhat sickened by the spectacle, as the creature is completely helpless as he slowly limps across the spine of the dam, looking like a broken prop in a shooting gallery. “All right,” says the sheriff finally, “get him.”Methodically, the men lever their rifles, thumb back the hammers on their revolvers, and just tear loose, eventually killing – executing – Marsh with a gut shot. He writhes a moment on the rocks, breathing hard, then transforms one last time into human form before dying. “Now he can go home,” says Haines, and his voice no longer holds any pity. The End.Several things make this picture special; first and foremost is the wonderfully emotional performance from Steven Ritch as Duncan Marsh. From the first time we see Ritch, walking along a deserted, night street of a forlorn strip of town, clutching his inadequate suit coat tight at the collarbone, the actor makes Duncan Marsh’s torment and inner anguish tangibly real. Ritch plays it gothic, nearly kneeling in prayer in the initial bar scene, holding his hands together to his forehead as the warmth and light from the fireplace bath him. After his first transformation, we find him in the snow, high in the mountains, sitting in a tight fetal position, clutching his bare, freezing feet. His eyes are completely lost, and Ritch makes us feel Marsh’s pure soul isolation. Later, as Sherriff Haines and Amy Standish discuss plans for capturing Marsh, Amy finally says in frustration, “If you had only heard him plead for help the way I did . . .” And we know what she means. Ritch, throughout the film, is terribly moving. “You’re going to shoot me?” asks Duncan Marsh, his voice struggling to avoid tears, looking at Dr. Forrest who has him cornered in a cave. “Why?”Also very good are actors Don Megowan and Joyce Holden as Sherriff Jack Haines and Amy Standish. Their relationship is completely believable, and it is easy to see why the two are attracted to one another. Their respect for each other is obvious. Haines never brushes her aside or has her busy herself with womanly things like coffee or supper. She, in fact, is right there by his side as the Sherriff searches the mountains calling for Marsh with a megaphone, hoping for a non-lethal solution. He always listens carefully to her opinion, trusting her to speak to his better nature. When he devises the bear trap solution, he clearly wants her to talk him out of it or, with her smarts, think of a better solution (she can’t, and has to leave the room in frustration). As for what she sees in him, well, not only would Sherriff Haines fight the bear at the door, more than likely the couple would be eating bear steaks later that evening. Her face literally lights up whenever she see him, her hands instinctively moving to take his. He gives her safety, she gives him soul. Good match. This film is often thought of as the best of Director Fred F. Sears, and that’s true (although Sears was at the helm for other solid work, like Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers, Chicago Syndicate, and The Miami Story, as well as the sci-fi favorite, The Giant Claw). Sears was known as a fast, efficient professional, much beloved by producers like Sam Katzman for his rock-solid dependability and technical expertise. Throughout the film, Sears creates a feeling of classic, claustrophobic horror through the use of close-ups and dramatic, noir lighting. Sears also gives us some tremendous images in the film; my favorite being the scene in which without any explanation, we see Dr. Chambers, compete with protective goggles and gloves, standing before a glass radiation chamber. His gloved hands turn knobs, filling the chamber over and over with crackling doses of radiation. Inside the chamber is a dead or dying creature, strapped down and positioned in such a way that it may be a large dog - or something else; something about it’s posture seems wrong. The scene almost slips by us, and at first take seems simply the work of dedicated scientist. It isn’t until later we understand what the scene has shown us: Dr. Forrest is producing some of his anti-apocalypse serum by mutating a wolf through radiation poisoning, whereupon he can extract its irradiated blood once the animal is dead. The creature in the booth is perhaps not yet dead, just horribly mutated and weak to the point of death. Creepy shit, my friends, and Sears lets us come to it in our own time, nice and slow.If you haven’t seen this film, it will be a very happy discovery. This is one of my personal favorites. Enjoy! WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW! –Radiation Cinema

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953)Directed by Jack ArnoldStarring:Richard Carlson – John PutnumBarbara Rush – Ellen FieldsCharles Drake – Sherriff Matt WarrenJohn Putnam (Richard Carlson) is a struggling science writer living the bohemian life in a tiny house well outside the desert town of Sand Rock, Arizona. He has rejected the 9 to 5 world, with all its material oppression. He now smokes a pipe, has leather elbow patches on his sweaters, talks in a dreamy, world weary voice, and is for all intents and purposes shacked up with his schoolteacher girlfriend, Ellen (Barbara Rush). Though broke (of course), the two are so romantic and in love they can joke about it happily as all true love really needs is a beautiful view of the stars and enough extra pennies to buy candles to light their modest, cozy suppers. They are the town’s artsy crackpots, is what they are; and we like them immediately. To absolutely cement Putnum’s outsider status, he has bucked convention for far-from-town-desert dwellers and, instead of a flatbed pickup rusting atop cements blocks or a chained mongrel, he has a huge telescope decorating his front yard. It’s this godamned telescope, and his nightly habit of stargazing, which gets him and his schoolmarm girl hip deep in shit in this movie; and the lesson learned for all poor couples is, don’t push your luck. After your meager meal, just watch television until you fall asleep like normal poor people the world over.But that’s not for these two iconoclasts, oh no. They have to go out to the telescope around midnight, gaze up at the heavens, and talk in clever metaphors about their love for one another. Just as their witty, romantic dialogue leads to an embrace, a brilliant light turns their faces skyward.We see the source of the light streaking across the sky and, since this picture was made in 3D, our perspective changes and we see it screaming straight at us, a round sphere blazing with flames. While this was one of the first films to boast the 3D effect, director Jack Arnold was smart enough and talented enough to use it unobtrusively. Not so with many film-makers that hopped on the 3D fad and 1950s moviegoers were made to suffer through a parade of objects being flung straight at the camera; from yo-yos to spears.Flaming ball explodes into the barren desert near an abandoned mine (sci-fi films from the atomic age always had tremendous explosions, somehow far more effective despite their much smaller scale than the apocalyptic explosions we are given today by computer generated graphics. Maybe because they really blew stuff up; this produces actual flames and actual pieces of buildings, cars or rocks sailing through the air to land with actual weight back to earth. Whatever – you go, 1950’s movie explosions!). What was that? asks Ellen, nestled nicely in the crook of John’s arm. “It’s a meteor!” replies or science guy, his geek credentials suddenly apparent. “One of the biggest!” John gets a bead on the crash site with his telescope, and he and Ellen are off.John convinces his friend and typically irascible and rangy bush pilot, Pete (Dave Willock), to fly them to the site in his helicopter. They fly over the enormous creator and land near its edge. “Holy cow!” explains Pete the pilot, as the three stand on the creator’s lip, looking down into the smoking hole “that’s really something.”“It’s the biggest thing that’s every happened in our time!” says John, really lavishing on the geek hyperbole. John, off course, has to rush right down into the still smoking creator with Ellen eager to trot right along. No sir, says John, only guy geeks allowed. Girl geeks have to stay behind. “You stay and watch Pete,” instructs John, sticking timid Pete with a jibe (Pete has made it bluntly clear that searching a fiery furnace of a creator was shit he definitely did not sign on for).We cut to deep in the crash site, unseen by our three, and a Theremin (that wonderful digital instrument responsible for the high pitched, alien sounding warble so essential to radiation cinema) clues us in that something outwardly is afoot. Sure enough, the camera shows us an alien craft glimmering within the smoking creator, which smolders like Dante’s pit. A hatch opens, and the camera moves us inside (an inside which looks alien, unlike a lot of set pieces from the era which looked about as alien as plywood and Christmas lights). The music theme takes on a darker tone, and we see an alien among the smoke - a large eye set atop an indistinct, slimy mass. The mass moves forward, and we now watch the world from the alien’s point of view (since the eye looks particularly gelatinous, we see the world as through a clear lens of quivering Jell-O). As it moves out of the craft onto the desert floor, we see a glittering confetti-like trail left by the creature, clearly designed to make the 1950s viewer think “fallout” (for a glimpse into a fifties education about fallout, see my sidebar video to the right). We see rabbits and coyotes fleeing at its approach; owls taking flight from tree limbs.John makes his way down into the vaporous hole, jerking his fingers away from still-hissing rocks and outcroppings. Once at the bottom, a shape begins to become visible though the haze – a hatch of some sort. In a beautiful shot, we pull back and see the larger picture: John very tiny, standing before a huge, glowing craft. John looks into the hatch, struggling to see clearly, and he jumps back as he sees the alien. The alien seems none to pleased seeing John, either, and quickly slams shut the hatch. This causes a tremendous avalanche which covers the craft, and suddenly our amateur egghead realizes he’s in over his head and makes a lame break for it, struggling back up the creator’s side as fast as his loafered feet will carry him. “John, John!” screams Ellen. Stay here! shouts Pete and proves his metal by dashing down to help John out. The three scramble back toward the top.The three of them, all scruffy and dirty from their labors, pause near the creator’s edge, gazing back down, and John tries to describe what he’s seen. Well, it was large and round and it might have been a ship of some kind, and inside, well it might have been an alien of some kind. I think. Maybe. Pete, who suddenly seems very sensible and heroic, wonders openly if perhaps a rock has glanced off our writer’s head at just the right angle (one has to sympathize with our bush pilot at this point. Looking at from inside his shoes, the town egghead and crackpot has nearly gotten himself killed sticking his amateur nose where only professionals should tread, and very nearly gotten the pilot and teacher girlfriend dead into the bargain with his stupid escapades). Once they are safely out and sitting on the rim, catching their breath, John feels the full weight of the silence and watchful glances that surround him and starts blathering again: I tell you I saw and open hatch. I did, I tell you! An alien! Or something! Yes, that makes sense, says Pete, shooting Ellen a look, who has noticeably not leapt to her lover’s defense.A car horn beeps from below on the desert floor, and police cars are rushing to the scene. “Oh, oh,” says Pete, “here they come to find out what happened.” As Pete stands to watch the approach of town law, Ellen crabs John’s forearm and tells him urgently, privately for God’s sake, John, don’t jibber on like this about spacemen in front of the authorities. “I tell you I was close enough to touch it,” insists John, not at all getting the message. “But, Johnny, please,” begs Ellen desperately, seeing their already spotty reputation as a couple completely made into laughing stock or worse by the ensuing town gossip once John’s ridiculous hallucinations are made public.Pete turns back around and leans over close, putting a much sharper point on things than has loving Ellen. “Your not gonna tell those people you saw Martians running around down there?” he asks, unable to conceal his smirking pleasure at egghead’s predicament.Our magazine writer’s nerves are shot. His hand is trembling, his voice is far from steady, and his eyes go shifty. What would you say if I had found a Martian down there? he asks, sending up a quavering trail balloon. Pete jabs him in the ribs, still grinning, “I’d say hold him for a circus,” he says, giving John his answer. As Pete stands up and turns again to watch the law approach, John stares into space and says quietly to Ellen: “and I’d say let’s wait and see what they are doing here first.” After a moment he looks up at Ellen, searching her face.Ellen has clearly and completely had enough of this shitty day, and it is obvious by her haggard, worried expression that his soulful words have not had the desired effect. “You don’t believe me,” says John. Ellen, not able to make eye contact, manages the obligatory, “I don’t know,” but it is clear that hell no she doesn’t believe a single word of his crazy ramblings, and further, is shaken down to her toes about their entire relationship. I mean, how will the local Sand Rock School Board react to her living with a confirmed raving lunatic? A risk to our local Sand Rock schoolchildren? A public circle stoning? Who can say with these sun baked desert types?Our local law enforcement makes its way up the grade, and Sherriff and hard-bitten cynic Matt Warren (Charles Drake) enters the picture with his deputy. Despite his friends’ desperate attempts to cover for him, John can’t help but immediately start jabbering about spacemen and rocket ships. The deputy all but snorts into his collar, but Sherriff Warren, clearly a stony “western lawman”, listens hard for a bit, trying to decide just how far into crazy this poufy writer has gone. He turns to Ellen. “You see it Ellen?” he asks. “Well, no, but if John says . . .” her voice trails off. How about you, Pete? Pete can only stare down at his shoes and shrug. Warren’s expression tells the tale: Cased closed. Our local “character” has just crossed the line into pure-D looney territory.So the film’s dynamic is set up and will play itself out over the next few scenes; the entire town, personified by Sherriff Warren, considers John nuts and barely tolerates his crazy talk. The town’s media ridicules him. Ellen, his only ally, helps him initially out of a sense of duty (eventually, her help becomes more wholehearted after she spots an alien herself).The evidence begins to mount, though, in support of John’s case for an alien invasion. For one thing, townsfolk- most noticeably telephone linemen working out in all that strange, desert space and air - are disappearing only to reappear as odd, emotionless simulacrums. In a direct confrontation, a pair of now alien lineman tells Putnam that they have been forced to land on Earth due to a broken space ship and will be on their way as soon as they can affect repairs. The have simply mimicked some human bodies out of necessity, as their own forms would cause a panic, and promise to return the hidden humans before they leave (honest). They need the telephone truck of the lineman because it is full of electrical equipment needed to repair their ship, and they have broken into a hardware store and stolen some wiring and other electrical supplies as well. Eventually, the aliens kidnap Ellen and use her as a kind of bargaining chip, threatening her life along with all the others they have hidden away. All they need is a little time, they argue, or else.Once local hard ass, Sherriff Warren, fully believes there are aliens afoot, he naturally wants to form a posse and blow the aliens to hell and back (and who can blame him? After all, these aliens, for all appearances, have killed a good number of townsfolk and we have only their say so to suggest these folks aren’t dead. All we really have arguing in the alien’s favor is John Putnam, the town eccentric and “writer” who is himself far from completely convinced of the aliens’ harmless intentions). He is held just barely at bay by Putnam only because the aliens have made it crystal clear they will kill Ellen (an interesting subtext to the picture is our sheriff has had a life-long crush on schoolteacher Ellen). In the end, the alien’s just manage to make their escape just before local wrath turns against them and all the humans are recovered.Over the years most reviewers and critics have spoken of this film in rather black and white terms: John Putnam is most often described as an idealistic dreamer/visionary who is convinced that the aliens are good, idealistically arguing their cause with his bigoted and aggressive fellow humans; and the aliens have nearly always been described as good or “benign.” Nether of these readings is even remotely true, as the film has considerably more depth that these views offer. While it is true that John Putnam is a progressive “man of science” and is repulsed by the human inclination to destroy what is unknown, his argument for giving the aliens time to make their escape comes not from some altruistic hope of a pan-planetary agreement, but rather as the result of a direct, blatant, and terrifying threat. The first time the alien’s reveal themselves to Putnam, in the form of duplicated telephone lineman Frank (Joe Sawyer) and George (Russell Johnson), John is told that no one will be harmed as long as they are allowed time to repair their ship and escape. If, on the other hand, they are not given adequate time “terrible things will happen. Things so terrible you have yet to dream of them.”While the aliens are not sadistic and violent by nature or bent on earthly domination, their actions don’t suggest a benevolent, enlightened race of beings, either, not by a far cry. In fact, before the aliens manage to finally make their get-away at the end of the film, they have threatened to kill all the townsfolk they have duplicated, including Ellen. In fact, the Ellen duplicate tries desperately to kill Putnam herself with a laser weapon, saying only that he “can no longer be trusted” (Putnam just manages to dodge the slicing beams before yanking out his six-gun and returning fire, killing her/it).In short, these aliens are some of the most interesting and complex extra-terrestrials ever brought to screen – and perhaps the most human. These aliens don’t desire to kill anyone, but they will in a heartbeat if they feel threatened. They are, in short, scared half to death and struggling for survival on a planet where every third person they meet seems to point a weapon at them (for a writer and science nerd, John Putnam is awful damn very free and easy with a .38, pulling it from the pocket of his tweedy jacket at every rustle of wind. Note duplicated George’s long, steady stare at Putnam’s ever-present revolver when John and Ellen first confront the strange-acting lineman out on the desert highway).Speaking of interesting aliens brings one to the inevitable subject of Ray Bradbury’s involvement with this picture (Bradbury's tremendous sci fi work from this period was lousy with interesting and "good" aliens). Much, and I mean mucho much, has been written about Bradbury’s involvement with the script. Some say he wrote all of it, others claim he wrote none of it. Frankly, I don’t give a shit one way or the other. Officially he is given credit for a “screen treatment” of his original story, whatever the hell that is. Suffice to say that the spirit of Ray Bradbury, his poetry and compassionate vision, infuse this movie at every level at the very least, and it is impossible to imagine that his involvement with the script was not, at the very least, substantial.More importantly, this film was the first in the great cannon of 1950s sci-fi invasion and mutation pictures to be set in the deserts of the American Southwest and to explore all the underlying hard-bitten beauty and inherent menace present in that great expanse of Joshua trees and sand. The desert not only played host to all the fearful nuclear testing of the area, but is by its very nature (howling winds, vast spaces, and brilliant stars) an alien landscape. For a taste of the post-Trinity Project view of the desert, check out this snatch of dialogue between Ellen and John as they venture out into the sand looking for aliens:“It’s alive,” says John, holding Ellen’s hand and staring off at the landscape.“And yet it seems so dead out there,” says Ellen.“Oh, no, it’s alive and waiting for you. Ready to get you if you go too far. The sun will get you or the cold at night. There are a thousand ways the desert can kill.”This also was the first sci-fi film directed by Jack Arnold, one of the genre’s finest masters (Creature from the Black Lagoon, Tarantula, the Incredible Shrinking man and others). Arnold had a tremendous feel for squeezing every eerie ounce out of a desert landscape and seemed completely at home in all that air and space (his was not the rugged majesty of the John Ford West, with towering rock and huge sky, but rather one of lunar distance, Mesquite Brush, and flat, simmering horizons). Arnold also demonstrated in every film he made a tremendous feel for the dynamic shot that told entire stories in a picture. My favorite moment in this film was the image of the now-duplicated Ellen, standing on a scrapy ridge, staring down at John; windblown and somehow too solitary - beautiful and . . . wrong. John knows immediately that she has been duplicated, and so do we. “Ellen?” he says, his voice frightened, nearly speaking to himself as he stares up at her. It is the pure power of the shot that tells the story here. Classic Arnold. Performances are very good throughout, with Richard Carlson and Barbara Rush supplying some fine chemistry as the sort-of bohemian lovers; but my favorite performance is the small character part of George, the telephone lineman who gets duplicated early in the story. The part is played by Russell Johnson, best knows as the professor on Gilligan’s Island. Johnson worked steadily during the glory days of Radiation Cinema (1950s), and was capable of a much darker and intense presence every demanded of him as a castaway. Here, his “George” is simply terrifying in his strangeness, an unhappy and frightened alien, prone to staring for long periods before speaking; a very good performance.Which leads me to a question, one I will leave you to ponder: Why are humans so menacing, so frightening, when they simply stare straight ahead with no obvious emotion? Think that one over as you watch this wonderful classic. WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW –Radiation Cinema

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Nationally recognized news anchor Rita Cosby is doing a special week of broadcasts on WGN Radio this week, and she has landed Dog and Beth Chapman as her guests for today's (Friday, March 27) show. Dog and Beth will be appearing between 3 and 4pm ET, and the program can be heard at WGNRadio.com.

More: WGNRadio.com

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