Rating: 
Summary: There's a reason MST3K spoofed this...
Review: This movie is horrible!!! It's funny quite unintentionally. I recommend the short story it's based on (which the movie only bares the slightest of resemblances to), but don't waste your time on this.
Rating: 
Summary: 2.5 years in the making 86 minutes in the telling
Review: It goes great with popcorn. It keeps cooking from the time the jet plane is saved from crashing on burn out, to the mysterious metal-paged catalog. Right up to the end. And notice that the cat could tell that they were being scanned. This was probably the original "CAT scan." Russell Johnson has this thing for islands. First there is "This Island Earth" then there is "Gilligan's Island" and my favorite island with him on it is in "Attack of the Crab Monsters" (1957) ASIN: B00001W0FB where he gets his tubes ate. After viewing the movie be sure to read the book for comparison." This Island Earth" (Forrest J Ackerman Presents) ISBN: 1584450517
Rating: 
Summary: Some interesting bits, not a great movie
Review: Aliens need help from Earth so they mail out a parts catalog to likely scientists, the ones smart enough to pick out the right parts to make a mystery device pass the test. Our hero then gets on board a robot plane and is flown to the alien's mansion base on Earth ( nobody seems to realize that the bulging forehead people are in fact aliens). Eventually the hero and a woman scientist get taken to the alien home world which is dying from an enemy attack ( their captors wanted his method for transmuting lead into uranium)where they of course refuse to be slaves. Their alien friend helps them escape back to Earth but dies from his injuries in an explosion soon afterwards. The best thing was the mystery(it's the Alien's) tractor beam that saves Mr. Hero's plane from crashing early in the movie, that & seeing the actor who would later be the professor on Gilligan's Island in a supporting role.
Rating:
Summary: Holds Up Very Well
Review: There is wonderful momentum built in this movie...I love the complex where the scientists are housed...it's the most unnerving section of the movie.The acting is functional...I rather like the heroine--both cerebral and fleshly. The special effects for the most part are excellent. Superb matte shots and the depiction of an annihilated landscape is chilling. Yes that brain-hominid-insect guy is fake, but somehow, effectively used, anyway. This is intelligent sci-fi, well worth seeing. david g
Rating: 
Summary: It tries, but falls on its face
Review: While definitely better than most movies on MST3k, this one got what it deserved in the movie. There are minor plot holes, like how the bars hold human hands just because they are "magnetized". There are also much larger ones, like why the scientists are taken to the alien planet even though they have no Uranium. The lead scientist is just too deep voiced to be believable, especially when he has a knack for breaking things that rivals Inspector Cloussau! See it on the MST3k movie, and you'll have a great time.
Rating: 
Summary: I love space movies
Review: This was a pretty good movie, however, I have seen a lot better, they didn't have enough space adventure in it and it was a little boring at the first. The stars in it are not my favorites either, and were not really major stars. I think Exitor had been in a lot of movies, but the rest were third rate actors. I bought it because I had seen it as a child and wanted to add it to my collection. It is not the type of movie you would watch over and over.
Rating:
Summary: This Island sinks!
Review: This DVD edition of one of the best sci-fi films of the '50s was a big disappointment. The image quality is not very good--the image is sharp but grainy and the color is somewhat washed out. There are no bonus features at all, not even a movie trailer! Just the standard scene index. A true classic of the genre like this should have been given much better treatment, with commentaries, behind-the-scenes stuff, etc. This disc is only worth being in anybody's collection for completeness. Let's hope somebody does it right next time!
Rating:
Summary: Not since Ted Kennedy in a Barney suit!
Review: Oh boy hunk of cheese here,here's the lowdown Plot:Scientific guy and his assistant(do they have a gay thing going on?)discover a machine that is reminiscent of a cheese,where they are contacted by a white man with a big forehead and tells him to go tro yada yada yada,he then takes the plane(there's goes an stubborn stubborn man)and take him to the office where everybody suspects they are aliens(maybe it has to do with the foreheads and there's a potrait of a hamburger hanging on the wall)after that they drive away(im a good driver)and are blown up except for the 2 main characters,they are taken by the aliens to their home planet(quiet kids,baywatch is on)to use the nuclear energy to save the planet,sadly the world designed by Dr Seuss bursts into flames(but cooler by the lake)and they return home with the alien,who decides to stay on hsi ship and crash(I always loved you Brack!)So,don't see this alone,it's cheese that did not age well,better see the MST3K version
Rating:
Summary: Typical '50s sci-fi
Review: Not scary but fun to watch. A must for '50's Sci-Fi buffs.This is a first run dvd so the transfer quality is poor, but Universal will most likely as it has with others reissue this DVD, in a much better transfer. Save your cash and don't get suckered into the "rare, hard to find, and out of print" descriptions private sellers are using. DVD is here to stay so wait it out and get it new - and improved. This goes for all DVD titles.
Rating:
Summary: COLD WAR AND XENOPHOBIA
Review: This Island Earth (1954), directed by Joseph Newman, opens with Dr. Cal Meacham, a handsome, dashing nuclear scientist cum jet pilot, losing control of his jet. As Meacham prepares to land, his jet turns green, starts to glow, and emits a high-pitched noise, landing on its own with its pilot utterly impotent and unable to control the plane's movement. Nonplussed, Meacham immediately goes to work in his laboratory and subsequently passes a kind of supercharged IQ test by demonstrating his ability to assemble a high-powered intergalactic receiver/ transmitter. After demonstrating his scientific acumen and intellectual prowess, Meacham is kidnapped by other (intellectually superior) scientists from the planet Metaluna. Invaders from another planet have killed off Metaluna's best scientists, and Meacham's scientific expertise is necessary to save the doomed planet of Metaluna. However, Dr. Meacham soon discovers that Metalunan's ruler have secretly made plans to leave their doomed planet and take over planet Earth. The ruler of Metaluna, a haughty and supercilious despot, is vaguely reminiscent of Adolph Hitler, and his death scene reminds the viewer of the last hours of Hitler's life. Meacham escapes an exploding Metalunan with his attractive and very sexy fellow scientist (and former lover?), Dr. Ruth Adams, as well as with Exeter, the Metaluna scientist who had originally kidnapped Meacham and Adams and taken them to Georgia (before transporting them to Metaluna). Metaluna is destroyed and the Doctors make it safely back to Earth, which is saved from Metalunan invasion. Exeter, mortally wounded, first ensures his earthly friends are safe and then bravely pilots his burning saucer into the sea where it can do no harm. The superior intelligence of the Metaluna scientists is evident in their large foreheads and receding hairlines. The robotic servants that have been breed to serve as guards and soldiers are even more frightening than the scientists of Metaluna; these characters are reminiscent of the dwarfed, semi-moronic Epsilons in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932). Despite their subhuman qualities, each Metaluna guard has an extremely large cortex (sans skull), and one seems enthusiastically determined to rape the beautiful Ruth Adams. Interesting special effects partially compensate for the film's predictable characters, insipid dialogue and turgid plot. The film reminds the viewer of the limits of science, the dangers of scientific hubris, the need for trust in desperate situations, and the fact that love can overcome adversity. Although dated and quaint, the film presents scenes and figures that will later be recognized in Star Wars, Aliens, Star Trek, and the Saturday Night Live "Coneheads."
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