ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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The concept is pretty good, but the amateurish treatment spoils the effort.

While conducting field work in the desert, scientist John Agar encounters a huge floating brain which turns out to be a sadistic, power-hungry alien named Gor, a fugitive from its home planet. The alien can become translucent and fade into Agar's body, controlling him while it delights in the pleasures of human flesh.





But it has to come out every twenty hours to "re-oxygenate" (?).

Admittedly the alien is well designed (the brain has strange glowing eyes with no pupils). Whenever Gor/Agar is using his telekinetic powers, Agar's eyes become shiny black orbs (a nice bit of makeup, but I've heard the contacts hurt like the dickens).





Gor/Agar demonstrates his telekinetic powers of destruction to a group of generals and diplomats by "willing" an atomic explosion to occur in the nearby desert (great stock footage of buildings being destroyed by shock waves and heat flashes). Then Gor/Agar orders them to put the Earth's population to work creating a space fleet so he can return to his own planet and conquer it.





Meanwhile a second alien named Vol comes to Earth to save it from Gor. To spy on Gor, Vol takes control of Agar's dog. Vol/Dog elicits the aid of Agar's fiance (lovely Joyce Meadows), who already knew something was wrong with Agar when he turned kinky and tried to rape her on a lawn chair.


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Well, I mean — heck, he is from the planet Arous, right? I'm sure that's just a hoot and holler from the planet Eros.

Beware: the finale is a short and unexciting struggle between Agar (armed with an axe) and the floating brain. And Agar's closing line to his fianc?? is painfully stupid. When she tries to tell him that a good-guy alien has been in control of the dog, John doesn't believe her! He just laughs and says, "Oh, Honey that imagination of yours!"

Directed by Nathan Juran (under the pseudonym Hertz).[/size]
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

He keeps an axe in his office? Living room? Anyway, HE KEEPS AN AXE IN HIS HOUSE! Maybe she should be worried about that.

I haven't seen this movie since I was a little kid in the 60s. I don't remember much about it, even after the description. I do remember them using a clip from the film in the "Malcolm in the Middle" credits.

John Agar said that he was offered either a salary, or a cut of the film's profits. He said that he looked at the floating brain prop, and picked salary!

David.

[Eadie]

Hey! My Godfather keeps two axes (different kinds) and a hatchet in his house. His house is almost 40 miles from the nearest town and his house uses a large fireplace for heating.

Maybe something similar, here?

[Bud Brewster]

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The floating brain prop probably looks a little better on screen than it did in real life. And the gif below, which shows how John was able to smack the poor thing around like a party balloon doesn't inspire confidence either.

But doesn't Miss Meadows look fetching?

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I put the gif at the bottom so you wouldn't have to read my message while trying not to look at the constant motion. I'm glad none of our members has a gif as an avatar. I can't concentrate while one of those things repeats the same motion over and over and over and over . . .

After you stare at this for a few seconds it starts to look like he's spanking it!

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

[Bud Brewster]

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Mister, if you do that, I'll give all your EDCA's to HER!

No, wait. Even better. When I send your T-shirt, I'll make it a small.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[noetic_hatter]

Hmmm.

Steve gets taken over by an alien brain and becomes all Rapey and Dickish.

Sally, his superhot fiance, keeps getting told to hush up because men are talking.

Also, there's a long scene centered around who's going to do the dishes.

Yup. This movie sucks bollocks. And it also rules.

[Bud Brewster]

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That, sir, is a remarkably balanced assessment of the film and an accurate statement about how we can't help but love this movie — warts and all, so to speak.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

Hatter, are you in or from England? You "talk" like Hugh Grant.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

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Enjoy these fine copies of both the trailer and the movie!
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_____The Brain From Planet Arous (1957) Trailer


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__________The Brain From Planet Arous (1957)


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

The poster artist didn't think Agar from Arous looked evil enough, so he took some artistic license with his teeth.

[Bogmeister]

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After watching this, I realized that The Hidden (1987) copied much of the premise from here — the bad alien on Earth pursued by the good alien.

Both aliens can take possession of Earth entities. A nuclear physicist (John Agar) and his buddy (Robert Fuller) head to a desolate desert location to check out strange radiation readings. They find a new cave — uh oh — and inside is . . . the titular character.


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The bad alien is on a power trip. Its plans are obvious — to rule! to take over! With Agar under its control, the alien likes to express itself with a maniacal grin while zapping airplanes or people, its eyes luminous.

It also behaves very amorously towards Agar's fiancee (Joyce Meadows), to the point that she calls him a caveman. Then it holds a meeting with military & political leaders, explaining its grand plan — bwha-ha-ha-ha!



Each alien has a distinctive voice. The bad alien, Gor, has a very arrogant, melodramatic voice. The good alien, Vol, has a very calm, rational voice.

The ending is baffling in its abruptness. It seems like a happy ending, but I'd be interested to see how Agar's character explains his actions to all the leaders who witnessed him commit mass devastation.

BoG's Score: 5 out of 10

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BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

[Eadie]

According to IMDb: Dale Tate as Professor/Voices of Gor & Vol (uncredited).
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Art Should Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.

[Bud Brewster]

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Thinking Outside the "Plot"!
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This weird/wacky/wonderful movie deserves a discussion about it's crazy/cool premise!

I mean, come on! Two creepy "floating brains with glowing eyes" from a distant planet come to Earth in spaceships, the first of which seems to blow up when it lands! And that happens right at the end of the title work!

One brain (Gor) is evil and powerful and determined to conquer the world, not to mention wanting to rape Joyce Meadows on a deck chair while inhabiting John Agar's body!





The other brain (Vol) is here to stop Gor's evil plan and save Earth.

And who does Vol chose to inhabit? George . . . Joyce Meadows' loyal German shepherd, who attacks John Agar and pulls him off Joyce during the rape attempt.

Finding interesting concepts to discuss in this kinky story isn't easy, but with the help my vast intellect (and six Milwaukee's Best Ice malt liquors), here's what I came up with.

~ A Question for the Members: Why did Vol choose to inhabit a German shepherd to accomplish his mission by defeating Gor?

~ My Theory: It sounds nuttier than an Almond Joy, but while watching the movie you'll notice things that lead you to believe that Vol knew exactly what he was doing! The fact that the dog attacked Gor/Agar during the sexual assault and succeeded in stopping his attack on Joyce is significant.


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The question we should ask is, "Why didn't Gor use his awesome powers to just kill the dog, the way did with poor Agar's colleague in the cave when the two men first encountered Gor?"

Well heck, that's obvious!

Since Gor/Agar has made his lecherous intentions very plain in several scenes (even going so far as to ask Joyce to promise she'd marry him), he therefore tolerates the dog because she's Joyce beloved pet! (We all know that girls don't marry guys who brutally kill their pets. It's just a fact of life.)

Furthermore, Gor/Agar doesn't suspect that Vol/George is his enemy, so he doesn't realize that the dog's affectionate behavior towards him (even after the brief rape-attempt rescue) is actually Vol's way of sticking close to Gor/Agar!

Even before this frightening moment with Joyce on the deck chair, she notices that Agar is acting strangely, but she doesn't know why until Vol later reveals himself to Joyce and explains what's going on, along with his plans to defeat Gor.





Soon thereafter, we see Vol choose the dog as his "Earthly body", which gives him a perfect place to "hide in plain sight" so that he's right there with Joyce whenever Gor/Agar is with her.





If you need to review the movie to offer new comments, here it is on YouTube.

____________ The Brain from Planet Arous (1957)


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)