ALL SCI-FI

[Bogmeister]

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Roger Corman at his incisive best!

It (of the title) is an invader from Venus or thereabouts. It arrives on one of our own satellites, makes a cave its base, and begins to assimilate people a la Invaders From Mars (1953) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), with the help of Earthling traitor Tom Anderson (Lee Van Cleef), a very disgruntled scientist.

The alien invader employs bat-like devices which fly around and plant controllers on the back of people's necks.

The other main characters are Paul Nelson (Peter Graves), along with another scientist, his wife Joan (Sally Fraser), and Tom's wife, Claire (Beverly Garland).

According to Tom, there are 9 of these Venusians (the other 8 are still on Venus), a race which was "born too soon." Venus won't reach Earth's level of climate for another "million years" and the Venusians can't wait.

OK . . . and these aliens are (of course) far above us in terms of intelligence — according to Tom.

The best scenes are of Paul and Tom debating their views of the human condition. They have diametrically opposed viewpoints on mankind's destiny and place in the grand scheme of things.

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Corman presents some interesting characterizations for a film of this sort, and even perhaps some political commentary. If you wanted the ideal straight-laced representation of conservatism in the fifties — the establishment — actor Peter Graves was your best bet. Though he represents order — the American way — he and his wife are bit too stoic for my tastes. Early in the film, after the alien invader knocks out all power and causes their car to stall, they witness an airplane exploding.

"How horrible" Joan says, with all the emotion of watching a fly get swatted.

Fifteen seconds later, Paul & Joan are discussing other matters, the airplane and dead passengers all forgotten. They have a purpose in life, matters to take care of.

Now, I realize this is typical low budget filmmaking, but I was thinking, This is before they've been assimilated and drained of emotion?

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Tom is the other side, the liberal side which seems to have great intentions but proceeds with too much emotionalism, not thinking things out. Tom may seem like an evil man (as hinted by his designation as traitor above), but he isn't. Just misguided.

He's very dissatisfied with mankind's faults and the way Earthlings are progressing. He's a dreamer of the worst kind, pinning all his hopes on some savior to solve all the world's problems for him. Maybe this sounds a little too familiar to the method and rationale in which some of our political leaders are elected. (Let's elect the guy who, with godlike ability, will solve all our problems. Not very rational, is it?).

All Tom succeeds in doing is enabling the slavery of the human race. Yes, being under complete control of some monstrous alien would solve much of a person's problems — no decisions to make anymore. This assimilation, besides being similar to the films mentioned above, also resembles the control practiced by The Borg on Star Trek TNG. Van Cleef was effective as the conflicted antagonist; he mostly played small roles as a heavy in westerns at this time, and in the sixties he graduated to stardom in Italian westerns.



As one can see by the photos of the alien invader above, these strong themes were not aided by good FX. On top of the goofy appearance of the alien, it wasn't a very mobile type of creature either (I read that Corman himself had to rush out and push it from behind at one point to complete filming on time). In the end, a squad of soldiers were helpless against the creature anyway, until Tom comes around with a handy-dandy blowtorch.



The action in other scenes was also surprisingly brutal; a woman is coldly choked to death by a colleague, for example, and Paul doesn't hesitate to shoot possessed citizens — shoot to kill. Well, he has to defend American ideals — no time to be gentle about it.

Beverly Garland also played a somewhat complex (if shrewish) female, loyal to her husband, yet increasingly disgusted by his lame devotion to some outsider. Even she grabs up a rifle near the end to try her hand at some damage. Dick Miller shows up as the squad leader of the soldiers.

This film reminded me of a triple-length Twilight Zone episode, one of those featuring alien invaders. And yet Corman presented this a good 3 years before that series began. The story was remade for TV in 1966 as Zontar, the Thing From Venus.

[Bongopete]

So...when the Venusian is killed, what happens to the possessed humans?? I don't remember if that was explained or not.

[Bud Brewster]

[Krel.]

It was stated in the movie, that the controlled people could never return to normal, that is why Peter Graves was ruthless with his .45. It is presumed that the controlled people died when the Venusian did.

The Venusian was nicknamed Beulah. Roger Corman said that, using the knowledge of conditions on Venus, he had Beulah made about 4 feet high. Beverly Garland walked up to the monster, said so you're taking over the word! She then started kicking Beulah, saying "take that"! Roger Corman had the monster made taller. He said that he learned the lesson, that you should always make the monster taller than your leading lady!

David.

[Rocky Jones]

Plotlines and human interaction aside, the most outstanding feature of this film was that alien creature. This one would have to join The Giant Claw on the list of 10 crappiest 1950s movie monsters. I can't imagine anyone over 12 seeing this one for the first time, even back then, and not feeling ripped off. Audiences were pretty forgiving back then, but you can only suspend your disbelief so far.

[Bud Brewster]

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Yes, I heard that the people who saw this could never return to normal, and it is presumed that the audience members died when the movie was over.
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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]

[Krel]

[Bud Brewster]

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Well, guys, I took a shot at making the Venusian less like a Teenaged Mutant Conehead Alien . . . but I'm not too please with the result.

All I managed to do was turn him into the Evil Ewok from Hell.



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

[Bud Brewster]

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Here's another YouTube member who has created Drive-in Double Feature videos which include a vintage drive-in "welcome messages”, the trailer for the movies, and a double feature

It even has those great old “snack bar” promos during intermission!

"So, get comfortable, folks! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!"

Enjoy!_

It Conquered the World & The Day Mars Invaded Earth


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