As young lovers Ellen Fields and John Putnam begin to profess their love for each other, they celebrate this occasion by taking a stroll outside together for some fresh air. Putnam (Richard Carlson -- a solid B-movie vet and another fan favorite here at 3B Theater) is an astronomer by trade, so the couple moseys on over to his telescope for a little star-gazing. Ellen (Barbara Rush -- whose already survived When Worlds Collide) gets first dibs, when suddenly, a streaking meteor rudely interrupts their courting. Watching the impact, Putnam deduces it crashed not all that far from Sand Rock, their sleepy little desert town, so they jump in a handy helicopter and head toward the glowing point of impact. While crawling down into the smoldering crater, Putnam makes a startling discovery -- it wasn’t a meteor at all, but an alien spacecraft. The aliens are a little shy, though, and quickly close their hatches and trigger a landslide, burying the ship. Somehow, Putnam manages to escape the avalanche unscathed.

Some more curious locals arrive, including the Sheriff, Matt Warren (Charles Drake). Forgetting he has no visible evidence, Putnam is so excited about his discovery that he blabs to everyone about what he saw. And without any of that aforementioned proof, no one believes him. Worse yet, the others begin to question his mental capacity. On the way back to town, Putnam and Ellen have a close encounter as a monster suddenly appears -- right in the middle of the highway. They swerve and miss it, but when they look back, the creature has vanished, leaving only a glittery trail of an unknown substance.

The next day, the couple return to the crater. Now swarming with investigators, rubberneckers and the media, they search but no trace of a spaceship can be found. So the young astronomer is written off as either a crackpot or a publicity seeker -- or both. Frustrated, Putnam and Ellen leave. On the way back, they come across Frank (Joe Sawyer) and his assistant, George (Russell Johnson -- ohhhh-just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale -- okay! Enough. I'm calling an official moratorium on all Gilligan's Island references for the duration of the review), the town's local electricians who are out repairing the phone lines. As Frank lets Putnam listen to some strange noises coming over the wires, he then gives everybody the heebie-jeebies by waxing about the strange mysteries of the desert. Sufficiently creeped out, the two groups head off in different directions. And Frank and George have a closer encounter with the aliens who also cause them to run their truck off the road. But this time, the aliens don't disappear and slowly close in on them.

When Putnam and Ellen circle back, they find the wrecked truck but no sign of their friends. Suddenly, George appears, and rather stiffly, offers that all is well, and then resumes staring blankly into the bright sun. The young couple notice the same glittering trail, and are horrified when they see a bloodied arm sticking out from behind a rock. Figuring it's Frank, and since there's something really wrong with old George, the decide to hightail it out of there. However, after they're gone, it's revealed that George isn’t really George at all. Frank wakes up and spots the real George beside him, still unconscious. (The bloody arm the others saw was actually George's.) These aliens are shape-shifters, and the fake George basically states that they have nothing to fear. They are a benevolent species and they couldn’t suck Frank's brain dry even if they wanted to. (Well, we'll see about that.) 

Putnam and Ellen bring Sheriff Warren back to the scene of the alleged crime, but everything is gone. With no evidence of foul play, Warren is getting a little peeved at Putnam for all his wild speculations and accusations. (And it doesn’t help that he and Ellen used to be an item.) With nothing to see, they head back to town. Upon arrival, they spot Frank and George walking down the street. Putnam and Ellen are at a loss for words, while the Sheriff disgustedly returns to his office. Chasing the electricians down an alley, Putnam and corners them in a doorway. When the aliens reveal themselves to him, they gain stress that they mean no harm and only need time to repair their ship so they can vacate the planet. Reluctantly, Putnam agrees to keep quiet. 

Needing more raw materials for the repairs, and more freedom of movement, the aliens capture the investigators at the crater sight and some local miners (whose mine conveniently leads to the buried spaceship.) The aliens then assume their shapes and identities and start gathering the stuff they need in town to make repairs. Later that night, Putnam is summoned to the Sheriffs office. It seems Frank’s wife is frantic because her husband is not acting right, and she’s convinced that -- whoever it was that came home for supper, it wasn’t her husband. George’s girlfriend (and her amazing rocket-bra) is there, too, claiming he broke a date with her. And believe me, no one would turn down a date with what she's packing.

Now I know the film is in 3-D, but good lord. Her two *ahem* talents are so impressive that Kathleen Hughes gets a big credit at the end for about ten-seconds of screen time. Okay, enough of this knockers -- I mean knocking around. Back to the review, quick!

Meeting an alien disguised as Ellen at the mine entrance, Putnam manages to convince it to reveal its true form and we finally get a good look at the mono-optic blob aliens. They haven’t revealed themselves publicly because they feel Earth isn’t quite ready to accept them yet. Reiterating that they don’t want any trouble, it promises they will free the others as soon as they’re done. All they want is enough time to make repairs and get the hell off the planet before they’re discovered and wind up in a test tube. Putnam promises to try and give them the time they need, but back in town, he can’t bring the Sheriff to his way of thinking. Warren just wants to barrel in and rescue Ellen and the others. They spot the fake Frank leaving town, so while the Sheriff rounds up a posse and goes after him, Putnam heads back to the mine to warn the aliens that the locals are on the way. The mob chasing the alien-Frank catches up and forces him off the road, killing him.

Taking a short-cut I guess, Putnam beats them to the mine and finds alien-Ellen waiting for him. Feeling betrayed, the alien draws a nasty looking weapon and they have a shoot-out. Luckily, Putnam is a better shot and the alien-Ellen plunges to its death down the shaft. While Warren and the posse closes in, Putnam finds the alien spacecraft and is startled to come face to face with himself. (An alien has assumed his form, too.) The aliens don’t have enough time to escape, so they've decided to destroy everything with some kind of big ray-gun -- and this includes all Earthly witnesses. Pleading for a second chance, Putnam goes to bat for humanity. He convinces the leader that he can hold off the vigilantes if they'll release all the hostages. Putnam reasons that if he fails, they can always use the big ray-gun. The aliens agree and get back to work. And after the hostages make it out of the mineshaft, the miners dynamite the entrance shut, sealing it off just in time, cutting off the Sheriff's posse. This gives the aliens enough time to finish the repairs, and as they blast off back to the cosmos, Putnam hopes that, some day, the aliens will come back, and that mankind will be better prepared to greet them by then.

The End

Harry Essex -- who I will never, EVER forgive for Octaman -- adapted the screenplay from a story by Ray Bradbury, and the film manages to capture the feel of his pulp sci-fi novels. (I’ve always preferred Heinlein myself.) The F/X work is solid -- except for that visible wire guiding the flaming tennis ball/crashing spaceship -- and the alien’s costume design is really quite good, and it even holds up in the bright light of day when we finally get a good look at them. Universal's make-up gurus designed two proposed suits for the aliens, and the one that was rejected wound up being rehashed as a Metaluna Mutant in This Island Earth.

I’ve never seen the film in its original 3-D format, but the one thing I noticed was the total lack of any scenes where things are deliberately thrown out at you for no apparent reason -- aside from the aforementioned rocket-bra. Wow. A 3-D film that relies on the gimmick to get it over the cinematic hump is just a bad idea. A lot of credit must be given to director Jack Arnold for not relying too heavily on it. This was Arnold's first piece of science fiction and far from his last. His most famous feature would come a year later when he ventured down the Amazon in search of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and together with producer William Alland, he would re-ignite Universal Studios and launch the silver-age of sci-fi monsters throughout the 1950s. 

There are some very eerie scenes in the film, mostly involving the wide-open expanse of the desert with things popping up out of nowhere only to then disappear again. Credit to Arnold again: No one can make the desert appear more creepy than this guy. His film is interesting and intriguing all at the same time. So lay off the booze for once, and try to pay attention.

Back to the IT-athon!

Posted: 04/01/00. Copy and paste at your own legal risk.

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