1951 was an insanely busy year for movie-goers interested in space-themed science fiction. Among the many films to come out that year were such titles as The Thing From Another World, The Day The Earth Stood Still, and When Worlds Collide. Interestingly, all of these movies have been remade since then with varying degrees of success. Adding to the library of sci-fi cheese from 1951 is the subject of today's review; The Man From Planet X.
The movie centers around a small group of researchers on a Scottish island studying a planet whose orbit is bringing it dangerously close to Earth. Dubbed Planet X, the alien world is only visible by telescope in the remote laboratory run by the kind Dr. Elliot, played by Raymond Bond. Now, B-Movie convention states that the good professor has to have an attractive and largely useless daughter, in this case Enid, played by Margaret Field. Enid serves as the love interest of John Lawrence (Robert Clarke). John is our everyman in this story; not a scientist or pilot, just a reporter who has to have everything explained to him in simple terms. That way, the science guys can spill their techno-babble, then break it down to John, and thus, to us the audience.
We also meet Professor Elliot's antithesis, his "partner", Dr. Mears, played with gusto by William Schallert. I use quotation marks because Dr. Mears is really an evil guy. We are clued into this by a couple of things. One, John already knows him from before, and has an uneasy feeling about his presence. We never really get to the bottom of what happened between the two. We only know that our hero doesn't trust him. Therefore, we shouldn't trust him. The other giveaway is that Dr. Mears is always smoking and has a goatee. Work with me here. See, in older movies, smoking + goatee = evil. Remember that in the future kiddos, there will be a test.
The planet's sudden appearance coincides with the discovery of a small pod. The group studies the object and determines that it must be alien in origin. Immediately, Dr. Mears begins to excitedly explain how he can study the element is is made of, and create building materials worth millions. That is another cinematic clue to someones evil intentions. I'm not really sure I'm on board with bashing him on this one, though. I'm kind of a capitalist by nature, and I don't think it's wrong if some alien drops some of his equipment here and I manage to replicate it, but I digress.
We also finally get to see the titular man from planet X when Enid goes out and has a flat tire at night. She finds his alien ship, and rather than go find a scientist, like say, her father, walks over to investigate. She peers into the pod, and the audience gets the biggest scare in the movie when he pops up in the scene the image above came from. Later, John and Professor Elliot get the space man to realize that they are not going to hurt him, and they walk him back to the observatory. The space man cannot talk, he can only emit an eerie tone. Dr. Mears comes up with the idea to use geometry, the "universal language", as he puts it, to establish some sort of communication. This is a novel approach, one which would be ripped off -I mean emulated- in the more recent Sphere.
Then Dr. Mears somehow convinces everyone else to leave them alone while he communicates with the space man using geometry. He does have a breakthrough. Having established a baseline of communication, and privacy with the space man, Dr. Mears decides he want more information for his own gain and attacks the space man, going for his regulator valve on the side of his suit. The valve allows the man from Planet X to breath, and cutting it off renders him unconscious. The attack scene is kind of unnerving, with the larger Dr. Mears easily overpowering the alien. All the alien can do is emit that eerie tone sound, which is kind of like him crying out for help. Watching this, I felt sympathy for the creature, which I guess was the point.
Later, Mears lies and tells the other professor he got nothing, despite having made his breakthrough. John comes back and they discover the alien is gone, along with Enid. Apparently, after his attack he decided humans are not worth sharing information with after all, and took the girl. Why the alien always takes the girl, I don't know. I suppose it adds to the suspense. At any rate, it was unfortunate that Mears had to attack the space man, since he was on the verge of learning all kinds of great secrets that could have made him tons of money. His greed and zeal for knowledge possibly doomed humanity.
The rest of the movie involves the heroes bringing in Scotland Yard, because they have the ability to pull in the 'big guns' and defend the island from the space man. Unfortunately, it is never 100% clear that the alien has hostile intentions, even though he demonstrates the ability to render humans into a zombie-like state. Dr. Mears is even rendered a slave zombie, and when John rescues him, Dr. Mears comes out of it and explains that the alien has a plan for domination of Earth. However, we don't know if Mears is telling the truth, or manipulating events again.
I won't tell the rest of the story this time, because there are probably viewers who will want to check out The Man From Planet X. It is a solid movie, one with perfect portions of creepiness, mystery, science fiction, and suspense. The story elements are familiar by now, but this film was original when it first appeared in 1951. It is not bloody, or overly violent in any way, and the alien probably wouldn't really scare young viewers, as most Saturday morning cartoons feature scarier characters now.The set design is pretty impressive, though I can't really credit director Edgar Ulmer as much as I'd like. Many sets were left over from the bigger-budget Joan of Arc. Re-use of sets and props was pretty common then, and probably is now, too. Still, the movie does boast some amazing sets. The Scottish moors look large and mysterious. Each outdoor scene shows great depth and intrigue, although it was probably made on a small studio lot.
All in all, this movie is an enjoyable romp through classic 50's space sci-fi fare. It appears on cable now and then, making the rounds through late night monster movie shows and classic cinema offerings due to its surprisingly high quality and availability through Public Domain. It is also interesting to note that this is one of the movies chosen for preservation in the Historic Archives in the Library of Congress. I rate this movie 3 out of 4. Check it out!
Didja Know?
- This was filmed in an amazing six days on a reported budget of $41,000
- Robert Clarke was paid way under the SAG minimum of $175 a day only earning about $210
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