Phantom from Space

Rating:
Summary: Half "Invisible Man", Half "Radar Secret Service"
Review: "The Phantom From Space" is a sci-fi cheapie from 1953. The first half is pretty boring, as most of the action involves driving around in ridiculous old cars with ludicrous antennae on their roofs looking for disturbances. This takes place in California, so there are some other wacky things going on, but just to make sure we understand, the bulk of the first half hour or so is narrated. As the narrator drones on over the scenes of stock footage, and the cars drive around endlessly, something finally happens! A murder by a guy in a diving suit happens, to be specific, but unfortunately for the audience, all that results for our entertainment is some really tough (not!) interrogation of the prime suspect. Ultimately a couple of people get killed and a refinery gets set on fire.

As the movie gets over the hump and starts picking up steam, we see some silly police foot chases of the diving-suit being that go on a bit too long, but ultimately corner the guy in a lab with a pretty female scientist. To evade capture the being takes off his suit and turns out to be invisible unless exposed to ultraviolet light. They chase him around until he needs to put his helmet back on while he practices Morse code with the lady scientist. She figures out that he needs to breathe methane (hence his attraction to the refinery...see how it all makes sense) but thanks to the comic relief newspaper reporter who is forever screwing everything up (at least they got that part right) he drops and breaks his helmet. Eventually we see him shriek and burn up in what I believe may be the Griffith Park Observatory, his mission having utterly failed.

This film is a borderline two or three star movie, but I decided to go with three as it was quite well made considering that it was from 1953. I liked that the film didn't attempt to make the invader from space into a killing machine, and that in the end actually made the audience feel sympathy for him. The special effects are not so special by the standards of today, but remember this was made 51 years ago, and I think was a pretty credible effort for the time. The acting is average, and the script is too. The biggest weaknesses were pacing and the whole silliness with the cars with ridiculous antennae. The second half is entertaining, and the creature actually looks good when we finally get to see him. If you can get past the first half, this is better than average for mid 1950s sci-fi.

Rating:
Summary: re-write would have helped
Review: i liked the movie over-all. i liked the old-time mannerisms , these old flics are like windows into the past.
the story tho could have wrapped up better.
the alien kept trying to communicatem but the earthlings just didn't seem too excited about trying to figure out what he was saying. He dies because they are stupider than the crew of a star trek ship who can always find something to modify to solve a mewrely technical problem.
The foot chases are almost like the Keystone cops chases in the old silent movies.
a good movie to watch with friends when you need an opportunity to feel superior and have a laugh at some long dead movie people.

Rating:
Summary: How To Make An Incredibly Average Sci-fi Movie... CHEAP!
Review: Step 1- Make the alien invader invisible, so you only need to show doors opening and closing, and furniture moving around to indicate the extra-terrestrial presence. Step 2- Hire unknowns. Step 3- Stock footage! Stock footage! Stock footage! Actually, I happen to like PHANTOM FROM SPACE just fine. It's an average little movie with a decent storyline. Nothing spectacular, but enjoyable enough. I like the idea of an alien who is just trying to survive on our planet, without wanting to destroy us. He's stranded here with no way to communicate with our species! He kills in self-defense, only to be branded a murderer. He tries to make contact, but ends up scaring people instead. This is by no means a perfect movie. There are some lengthy patches of boredom and silliness throughout. I still recommend PFS to all science fiction fans...

Rating:
Summary: Nothing special, but I enjoyed it
Review: W. Lee Wilder had a penchant for making enjoyably average yet largely forgettable science fiction films. In Phantom From Space (1953), he introduces us to a much more agreeable alien than that found in his more familiar Killers From Space of the following year. Okay, so the phantom does kill a few people and cause some serious oil fires, but it's not all his fault. He's just not a people person, you see, what with being invisible and all. He's also not that bright, choosing to ditch his spacesuit and helmet rather than fall into the clutches of the humans on his tail. He needs something akin to a methane gas atmosphere in order to breathe, and a helmet-less jaunt on earth with its oxygen-based atmosphere threatens to cut short his visit in a most significant way.

The film starts out with an unidentified object hurtling from Alaska to the California coast, where the object seems to disappear. Mobile communications folks are sent out to determine the source of interference suddenly wreaking havoc in the area, and these guys keep bumping into cops investigating murders and other acts of destruction. Soon, these different forces team up with an army man and a scientist, and everyone eventually comes to the amazing conclusion that the source of all the trouble is actually a humanoid not of this world. The ending is not exactly a bright and chipper one, but it is just about the only plausible ending possible and, in its own way, it works pretty effectively.

I actually enjoyed Phantom From Space, despite a number of slow scenes in the first half of the film. The actors are reasonably good albeit colorless, and I was amused at the way the lead scientist seemed to become more and more German as the action progressed. There are certain limited parallels between this movie and Monster a Go-Go, and I feel compelled to state that the conclusion of Phantom From Space is far, far better than what you will find in its B-movie cousin. There's nothing here to make this film stand out, but it is a relatively painless and occasionally interesting cinematic diversion.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing special, but I enjoyed it
Review: W. Lee Wilder had a penchant for making enjoyably average yet largely forgettable science fiction films. In Phantom From Space (1953), he introduces us to a much more agreeable alien than that found in his more familiar Killers From Space of the following year. Okay, so the phantom does kill a few people and cause some serious oil fires, but it's not all his fault. He's just not a people person, you see, what with being invisible and all. He's also not that bright, choosing to ditch his spacesuit and helmet rather than fall into the clutches of the humans on his tail. He needs something akin to a methane gas atmosphere in order to breathe, and a helmet-less jaunt on earth with its oxygen-based atmosphere threatens to cut short his visit in a most significant way.

The film starts out with an unidentified object hurtling from Alaska to the California coast, where the object seems to disappear. Mobile communications folks are sent out to determine the source of interference suddenly wreaking havoc in the area, and these guys keep bumping into cops investigating murders and other acts of destruction. Soon, these different forces team up with an army man and a scientist, and everyone eventually comes to the amazing conclusion that the source of all the trouble is actually a humanoid not of this world. The ending is not exactly a bright and chipper one, but it is just about the only plausible ending possible and, in its own way, it works pretty effectively.

I actually enjoyed Phantom From Space, despite a number of slow scenes in the first half of the film. The actors are reasonably good albeit colorless, and I was amused at the way the lead scientist seemed to become more and more German as the action progressed. There are certain limited parallels between this movie and Monster a Go-Go, and I feel compelled to state that the conclusion of Phantom From Space is far, far better than what you will find in its B-movie cousin. There's nothing here to make this film stand out, but it is a relatively painless and occasionally interesting cinematic diversion.

Rating:
Summary: Bad sci-fi film is no "Killers from Space"!
Review: W. Lee Wilder, brother of Billy Wilder, directed this exciting tale of people sitting around and talking while an invisible space alien flees all who come into his invisible path. Unfortunately, this 1953 clunker is not as beautifully campy and tacky as Wilder's "Killers from Space" or "Snow Creature," though it does feature some hilarious film-noir method acting in the person of a needlessly abusive cop who simply won't take anyone's word for anything. When the lead characters aren't sitting around discussing the obvious, they are running around outside and shouting the obvious. Perhaps this is some primal reaction to the unseen.

Rating:
Summary: Bad sci-fi film is no "Killers from Space"!
Review: W. Lee Wilder, brother of Billy Wilder, directed this exciting tale of people sitting around and talking while an invisible space alien flees all who come into his invisible path. Unfortunately, this 1953 clunker is not as beautifully campy and tacky as Wilder's "Killers from Space" or "Snow Creature," though it does feature some hilarious film-noir method acting in the person of a needlessly abusive cop who simply won't take anyone's word for anything. When the lead characters aren't sitting around discussing the obvious, they are running around outside and shouting the obvious. Perhaps this is some primal reaction to the unseen.

Rating:
Summary: Worth a look
Review: Whereas W. L. Wilder's following film, 'Killers From Space' (1954), offers an original twist on the time-honored invasion theme (see my review), this movie plays it a lot straighter. Its progression closely follows that of similarly themed films: an unknown presence (the Other) disrupts order, is eventually identified, tracked, and found. Yet despite this predictable structure, some key points make the film worth watching. Previous reviewers have mentioned the movie's reliance on overly talky scenes; I personally did not mind it, since the discussions are interestingly written and acted. The Phantom himself is an intriguing character. As in most sci-fi films of the 1950s, the invader is considered an enemy, but his role is quite ambiguous: the havoc he creates is linked to his own precarious situation, and the humans do not become pure killing machines eager to get rid of the Other. Not that they mind much when he dies, though... in that regard, the final scene is a little disappointing. As a whole, this film is very modest and far from exceptional, but fans of 1950s sci-fi should be pleased with its redeeming facets.