Aliens, robots, androids, flying saucers, Martians. It’s a trip back to the sci-fi scares of the 50s and 60s.
THIS ISLAND EARTH (1955)
This is all veeeeery sci-if centric, meaning…it takes forever to kick into high gear (as in, 72 minutes into an 85-minute run time).
A nuclear scientist is called upon to help with an experiment at a secret location. A self-flying plane is sent to pick him up, he meets a bunch of weird scientists when he gets to his destination, and he also encounters an old flame.
After lots of talk and the eventual reveal of what’s really going on, the reunited couple tries to escape and gets sucked up into a spaceship!
And that’s when the fun begins. They are taken to a different planet to help aliens fight a war against other aliens.
Along with some pretty cool outer space and planetary visual effects, the big, bug-eyed alien money shot is awesomely 50s, even though the actors in the film supposedly thought it sucked. Personally, I wanted more aliens and less actors.
EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (1956)
Blah. This really is mostly earth vs. flying saucers. A scientist and his wife on their way to a military base get tied up in flying saucer drama.
The saucer lands at the base, and aliens that look like the robot from Lost in Space come out and disintegrate a bunch of military men using lasers that shoot from their hands.
There’s a plot to overtake the earth, but little in the way of alien action. However, the final battle does involve a whole lot of flying saucers, including some crashes. It was an okay ending to a fairly boring film.
THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK (1958)
Your typical “don’t play god” plot, this one focuses on a scientist who transplants his brilliant, deceased son’s brain…into a big scary robot!
While the scientist wants to continue his son’s work helping humanity by keeping the robot isolated and picking its brain, he unintentionally creates a monster with no social graces. Meanwhile, the robot gains mind control powers and learns to shoot lasers from his eyes. He also becomes quite “master race” in his attitude, feeling like most people the scientist wants to help should die.
It all culminates in a visit to a museum, where the robot is reunited with its brain’s family…and temporarily wreaks havoc with its laser eyes. It’s really a disappointingly underwhelming finale.
FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER (1965)
There are essentially two different movies going on here, held together by the tiniest thread. One movie is right up my alley, the other is a mess.
For starters, Frankenstein isn’t actually the Frankenstein monster. It’s a man-made, android astronaut that becomes deformed when its space capsule is shot down by Martians (we’ll get to them later).
“Frankenstein” looks pretty darn creepy and spends the movie terrorizing babes on the beach. Plus,horror icon James Karen of Return of the Living Dead fame has a starring role as a scientist.
Unfortunately, there’s the super hokey Martian story. These Martians have come to earth looking for women because all the women have died on their planet. It turns into a degrading beauty pageant as they bring babes up to their spaceship and parade them around judging them. And I can’t take these goofy bald guys seriously as aliens at all. What a way to spoil a darn good movie.
