Crash Corrigan also had a famous movie ranch outside Los Angeles called Corriganville. He was also the hero in a classic early Republic serial, "The Undersea Kingdom." Thanks for another great review. I saw this in the theater in 1958 and have always had a soft spot for it, rubber suit and all.
We used to go there when I was little. The stuntman shootouts and fist-fights were so cool! I also remember how grown up I felt drinking rootBEER out of a beer mug in the saloon. I probably also wore my own cowboy outfit with hat, boots, holster and twin six-shooters. Corriganville was also a filming location. Hundreds of movies and TV shows were filmed there from the 1930s through the '60s. Mostly, but not exclusively westerns.
Watching your reviews of movies from my childhood has been a real treat. The monster in this movie terrified 10-year-old me when I saw it at the theater in 1958. The light didn’t go out in my bedroom for quite a few nights. You do a great job of focusing on the essential elements of each movie in a fair-minded, informative and highly entertaining manner
The original Alien! Funny about Crash Corrigan, I can imagine him on a psychiatrist's couch: "I don't know, Doc, at first it was just a gig, dress up like a gorilla for some silly movie, but then, well, I guess I got to ... liking it." By the way, I want to give a shout out to Marshall Thompson, who I recall best from Daktari, a TV show about a doctor with a practice out in the African jungle, featuring Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion, it was one sweet little show. Speaking of Thompson, while I don't want to see you get lost too far deep down the sci-fi monster rabbit hole, Thompson did star in another such movie from 1958, run time only 74 minutes -- Fiend Without a Face, featuring one of the most, shall we say, distinctive monster concepts of all time. Very much appreciated today, Rome, a pleasant surprise, thank you. Owl be seeing you.
FWAF has amazing monsters, and I suspect the fact that it's a Brit film explains why the SFX could be more ooey-gooey than your usual b/w Fifties sci-fi.
"Fiend Without a Face" is actually a pretty good one. The monsters are silly, but they certainly add a lot to the film's camp appeal. It is a US/UK co-production. If it had been made strictly for a British audience, I rather doubt they would have had physical aliens. British sci-fi and art in general tends to be more literate and intelligent. But I grew up with and love American schlock. Love your "owl" reference sign-off. Very cute!
The only channel I know that reviews "Rashomon" one week and "It! The Terror From Beyond Space," the next week and gives insights into both! I did not know about Jerome Bixby and his connections to Twilight Zone and Star Trek, very interesting. I also didn't realize that this movie was the inspiration for Alien, great info! Thanks!
I love it, thanks for being nice to it! As a child of the Fifties, I just assumed the shoes were magnetic. I was shaking my head over the unsecured cargo and equipment, and our hopelessly optimistic 1958 belief we'd be going to Mars in 15 years (or chicken-fired in an all-out thermonuclear war). Thanks again!
Balance? You want balance? You've come to the right place! Jerome Weiselberry **IS** balance, an oasis of sanity in the shark-infested waters of RUclips. Thanks for this fun recap of a fun little movie. I keep waiting for something to redeem it in the FX department, thus I would rather liken it to the souffle that won't rise. Speaking of scary movies, I urge you to watch "Mr. Sardonicus." In the dark! Just wait until finals week is behind you. Speaking of balance ... I have three reviews so far, for "IT!", and their total running time is about half the length of the movie. Thanks, Jerome.
This is one of my favorite man-in-a-suit monster flicks. The Martian monster is brutal! Carruther's account of what happened on Mars is creepy. Thanks for this review.
I saw this movie at the Kirkwood Theater just east of Atlanta on a Saturday afternoon probably in 1959 or 1960. Being a little boy, it terrified me. I have loved it ever since. I appreciate you giving it the respect it deserves. Most young people don't appreciate how technically primitive humanity was at the time. The first manmade object put into Earth orbit had only happened the year before this movie was released. However, things would move quickly, and 11 years after this movie came out, we would walk on the Moon. That's an insane rate of progress.
Excellent review! Bravo! You covered the subject matter well, while making it fun. Great job. I was born in 1952. I was just a youngster when I first saw this film. The movie absolutely terrified me. My father told me when he was alive, there were two movies that scared me sooo much. They were the original KIng Kong and of course, It the Terror from Beyond Space. I was so scared I ran to sit on my father’s lap to protect me with both films. This one just scared the dickens’s out of me. Oh how times have changed. I love that you took the time to review it. Many thanks and keep up the good work!
Me too still one of my favorites of the fifties monster films. Seen this in the early sixties. It haunted me for years. When I went to see alien in 1979 I said this is it all over again. 👽👽👽
Great review on this underrated classic! It's a very enjoyable film for it's time and it truly does needs much needed love. Besides without it, Alien wouldn't came to be!
It’s nice to see a respectful review of this film - I’ve always loved this film I saw this movie as a child on tv back in the 70’s and remember being very scared by it - it was before Star Wars and Alien came out - the film has remained a favourite of mine to this day You have a new subscriber I’ll check out your content Thanks!
This film is a delight when you finally sit down and watch it. The title immediately makes you chuckle and of course it has the Alien name attached to it. Even as a Scott fan I prefer this film which gets you more invested in the story and I love classic era SF films that have a serious and intelligent bent. I never could get into the rubber monster films so it was surprising to find this film being intelligent-but then you look at the credits and see Bixby’s name attached and it makes sense. The scene where they walk on the outside of the ship seems to be right out of the father of 50’s sci-fi films 1950’s Destination Moon and the more realistic interactions with the crew in the interiors seem to be inspired by the equally influential 1950 Rocketship X-M. I saw this in the United Artists 50’s sci-fi volume 1 laserdisc boxset which pairs it with three other 50’s sci-fi gems that are all about intellect over rubber monsters. Man from Planet X is amazing considering it was made in a handful of days by Edgar Ulmer and has atmosphere for days. Red Planet Mars has a fascinating story concept but is sadly long out of print. Monster that Challenged the World is the best 50’s monster film I’ve ever seen because the threat is real and you see little to nothing until later in the film. It seems to have totally inspired Spielberg when making Jaws and the parallels are uncanny.
Great review! This film had an amusing promotional hook, which you can see on some of the movie posters. In big letters at the top, it proclaimed "$50,000 Guaranteed...to the first person who can prove "It" is not on Mars now!"
With these, it's always interesting to see how optimistic they were about the future of space flight. Mars in 1973! Who knew that 60+ years later we are still a ways away from returning to the moon.
I have this on DVD in the double feature along with The Monster That Challenged the World. I have heard people say this was possibly the inspiration for Alien.
I always loved this movie! I like it better than “Alien.” My only nit was that Carruthers is kind of a lucky screw-up. He cracked up his own ship during the landing, he is the sole survivor from his ship, he always manages to get away while the other men get killed and when someone has to save the survivors of the second ship, Ed can’t finish the job, and the half dead guy whose girlfriend Ed has stolen bites the bullet in Ed’s place! Anyway, I love the review and the great history lesson about Crash Corrigan. Well done!
NOTE: It may because I knew/know people who worked on the film/on the costume that I have a few added thoughts about IT that are likely spurred by more than usual sympathies: I actually don't have a lot of problems with the creature. The "IT" itself? --it's based on classic "demon" imagery, and is, basically, just a big, hulking, muscular brute: I thought the basic design was what it needed to be to align with what it has to do in the story. . It has been criticized for being "wrinkly" but to me it has the same wrinkly, gathered/loose skin that lizards have in abundance. Maybe audiences now are expecting something far weirder, but this one made sense to me (tho the shots of the feet ---added later----and a few of the wide shots would've been better left out or framed and lit more obliquely/obscurely. Since I saw it (er, IT) when it first came out in a theater where even adults were pretty scared, I may not be able to see it afresh. (IT reminded me of the kind of demon that showed up in CURSE/NIGHT OF THE DEMON: The costume for IT was being conceived and constructed right when CURSE/NIGHT came out. I know one of the people who worked on it still alive and may ask him about the possible influence.) Sooooo, there, probably WAY more than anyone would ever care to know/chat/think about the monster in this film.
I love this movie when I saw it as a kid. Came out last year on Blu-ray and watching it again it still holds up. I love how back them not only were they going to Mars but would load up the ship with all this military hardware. Astronauts in the 50s' were always well armed.
Very nice review. I've always liked this movie, chiefly for the reasons you cited about suspense and characterization. I also thought the creature was pretty frightening with its savageness. Those scenes where a cornered, injured crewman is trying to fight it off with a torch are really nail biting. I think they strike a nice balance between showing JUST enough of the creature without overdoing it and diluting the mysterious nature of the beast. It's always nice to see a younger person be able to appreciate some of these older low budget films, as it signals hope that all is not lost in regard to taste and insight for the next generations. Take care
It! The Terror was the main framework for Alien. Yet in 1965 another movie would be the framework for The Alien Planet and derelict spaceship. The movie directed by Mario Bava is called: Planet of the vampires. It has great effects and a dreadful feeling of horrors yet to come. The planet is fog shrouded at night and has volcanic type rock. Then there is the derelict spaceship with the enormous skeletal remains of two of it's crew. A creepy vocal sound comes from the pilot's ship recording. The ship itself was made for large creatures and requires one to climb up over an archway just to get into a chamber..
My father saw this on first release when he was 15 and we both loved watching it together once it was available on home video...one of those 'little films that could...and did'
I remember hearing this being called the "inspiration" for Ridley Scott's Alien. Well loosely the inspiration. And I had to see it. I was not disappointed. I always enjoyed this one. Good ol fashioned creature feature. The only thing that pulls me out is the lack luster sets like the chairs. It's funny, in the 50s I guess they never had a grasp on what chairs in the future would look like. But the bad sets are what's why I appreciate all the moody dark lighting. Thank you for all the accumulated facts and for sharing your thoughts
The chairs! I saw this in a few movies of that era. One had a spaceship with room for dozens of passengers. It was folding chairs neatly lined up in a grid. Get ready for blastoff!
So glad you appreciate this cheesy, but effective 50s sci fi semi-classic. Yes, the monster is of the rubber suit variety, but also, Paul Blaisdell, who made the suit, made it for a different size man (himself! I think), but he became unavailable and the man they got, Ray Corrigsn, didn’t fit. So you’ll notice in a couple of the close up clips you used, what looks like a tongue in its mouth is actually Corrigan’s chin. I’d also like to mention that a lot of the shots are beautifully lit. One of my favorites of the era. Fun review, thanks!
-It! The Terror From Beyond Space- My second favourite 50's science fiction film with 'IT' in the title with IT Came From Outer Space coming in ahead of it for me. IT was a popular term for something odd or uncanny at the time it seems with cousin IT appearing a bit later, I wonder was Stephen King influenced by those films when he wrote IT, I typed IT nine times...hmm, IT to make it ten, oops I did an extra one making it eleven, ugh twelve!! Lol, hope I haven't triggered some ancient curse on myself lol. You really can see how it was a major influence on Alien and i love how you say ' IT The Terror From Beyond Space lol, I imagine someone like William Castle standing in front of a theatre audience announcing it with gusto lol ( fifteen times lol) I wasn't really aware of the story around Crash Corrigan but hearing you talk about him made me look into his career more, so interesting. ~ Thank you Ms Weiselberry ~
Only saw parts of the film when going on Saturday out of town shopping trips as a child, (a co-worker said this film scared the heck out of him as a child). Marshall Thompson appeared in numerous films, but I remember seeing him in "Flight of the Lost Balloon" from 1961. Ray Corrigan owned Corriganville Movie Ranch, used in many westerns, burned by wildfires, now a Simi Valley park, Corriganville Park.
I have a high opinion of this film. Kids---and some older viewers too---were traumatized by the creature's behavior, and its lurking about in shadows, like the classic idea of a "monster in the cellar" (which also translated to "the monster under the bed/the monster in the closet" fears in children, or "danger in the alleys/danger in the shadows" in older people). I was pleased to see you give ITa fair viewing. A well-done film on a tiny budget shot in 6 days. (Yes, Bixby designed much of this film---I have his drawings and notes. A really talented guy. His IT'S A GOOD LIFE i find to be one of the most disturbing stories ever written, one that did the Steven King thing long before King was king!) I also see this film as a kind of SF film noir/especially since shot in black and white, with an "accused central figure" having to turn things around in middle of multiple challenges (plus Marshall Thompson is my favorite actor in the low-budget sf area) So...very good review, very fair and to the point. Thanks again for this, and maybe turning other people on to this small classic.
You know I love a good creature-feature review, and as expected you delivered a great one! This happens to be one of my fave scifi/horror B films of it's period, and is obviously a direct predecessor of 'Alien'. Thanks a lot, for this one!
Way, way back when this movie was in the theaters and being advertised on TV, and touted as one of the scariest movies ever made, I asked my mom if I could go see it. She said no, absolutely not! Eventually, it made it's way to TV and I got to see it. I loved it, but was it the scariest move ever made? No. The monster design however, was very good and pretty scary. These days, I find it rather slow and boring. But as an example of medium budget late '50s sci-fi/horror, it's good. It also has some nostalgic value and now I'm thinking I'd like to sit down and watch it. It is currently available on YT for free. By the way, my mom did enjoy sci-fi. She was just wanting to protect her 6 year old. I'm good with that.
An excellent review of this enjoyable sci-fi flick. It’s great fun to see the crew breaking out the bazooka and grenades to battle the monster . I have always enjoyed watching movies like this one , and , the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms , It Came from Outer Space , 20 Million Miles from Earth , This Island Earth , and It Came From Beneath the Sea . Thanks !
Loved this review and the tongue-in-cheek contrast with last week’s weightier, more serious and esoteric film. The important thing is the love of movies, not love for only the high-falutin, arty ones, which makes your reviews both accessible and significant, not to mention fun and informative. I’m glad you mentioned Paul Sawtell’s score, and its antecedent, “Kronos”, another minor gem. The spaceship also has some history, appearing in several other genre films of the era, beginning with 1951’s ”Flight to Mars”. Aside from the beautiful, elegant Luna from “Destination Moon”, it’s my favorite from the mid-century sleek, finned, ogive school of spaceship design. Also glad you mentioned the influence of “IT!” on “Alien”, something that Dan O’Bannon denied forcefully, sometimes heatedly, to his untimely end, but which was apparent to everyone but him, evidently. Certainly, it was nothing to be ashamed of, as he can take credit for using IT’s seed of inspiration and growing it within him, as it were, to be brought to even more terrifying blossom some 20 years later. Incidentally, the most succinct and accurate review I’ve ever seen of “Alien” is by a woman, of course: “Alien is a movie where nobody listens to the smart woman, and then they all die except for the smart woman and her cat. Four stars.”
The breadth and depth of your movie knowledge is unbelievable! And I'm just fascinated by all the info you bring up on the cast and crew, and their involvement in other productions. Pray tell, may we look forward to someday reading some major movie and media books by you?
Aw, thanks! There's quite a lot I have yet to learn, trust me. I just end up going down these rabbit holes when I'm trying to assemble my thoughts on a movie, and I share what interesting tidbits I find with all of you. I have no expectation of writing any books about movies right now, but there's no telling what the future will hold. :)
Once again! I'm kicking myself, you did it again (watching your reviews reminds me of the movies that I need to watch or rewatch or I need to do the homework). This is a film that I have in my list for years, and I mean YEARS!!!! I obviously had it there because of the inspiration of "Alien" (1979) and I've seen the other films that inspired "Alien" i.e. "The Thing from Another World"(1951), "Forbidden Planet" (1956), and "Planet of the Vampires" (1965). But!!! Somehow I managed to ignore "It! The Terror from Beyond Space" for whatever the reason..... Ugh!!! All of these movies and so little time (LOL). Well.... with that said, you got me on the band wagon to watch this ASAP. Loved the review and the research you did is superb, once again, Thank You fellow Cineaste.
"All these movies and so little time"--I often feel that way myself. :) Well, I hope you get to rectify the situation soon, and more than that, I hope you enjoy the movie. Thank you!
Great to see you wading further into vintage sci fi/horror titles and looking forward to more. I wonder if you've seen or would consider a review of another supposed source of inspiration for O'Bannon's Alien concepts- Mario Bava's classic Planet Of The Vampires.
It's discussed in detail in a biography of its screenwriter, Ib Melchior, so I already know some info about it. I talked about the book in this video: ruclips.net/video/o2Uw6NVJumA/видео.html
This is the one sci fi 1950's film that would only come on TV at 2:00 -3:00am when u were asleep back in the 90's it was so rare to be able to watch this especially after always watching Saturday night : "Monster Vision" on AMC & always seeing *The Thing From Another World* & all the others like this film with your dad just to have him tell u about this secret B movie that became legendary but only because u were just too young to stay up late enough to actually be able to watch it ❤️
I watched your review and went an watched the movie. I enjoyed it. What I like about watching 1950s movies is seeing how much modern movies owe to them in terms of themes and storylines. Thanks for all your efforts.
I think I recall Siskel-Ebert mentioning this one when reviewing Alien, and quite right too, as you point out. And I'd bet that the creepy monster outfit was recycled for one of the "bears" in the Outer Limits. I will need to record this one next time it's on TCM.
Another terrific review! Have to say I'm a big fan of IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE. I enjoy the serious tone and find it a very suspenseful story. The low budget is a problem, but I think the monster is still pretty scary and the lapses in science don't bother me (I was an English major, after all!). I will look forward to your next video.
Excellent and enjoyable review. I am very sentimental to these low budget scifi movies from the 1950's. Jerome Bixby could write horror- I always thought "Its a Good Life" one of the top ten scariest short stories ever written. His Star Trek "Mirror Mirror" is also one of the best episodes in the series. This movie is very entertaining... though the bazookas and grenades are over the top. The overall concept is great- the vertical ship with the alien working its way up the floors. The movie is atmospheric and eerie. I first saw this when I was about 12 and it scared the bejesus out of me.
Just watched this movie for the first time and really enjoyed it. I liked the relentlessness of the seemingly indestructible creature and how the tension builds as the story progresses. There were a few moments when I found myself rooting for the creature! The bit you mention in your review when Carruthers discovers the first body (with the arm dropping down) was my favourite moment. And my favourite line was: "There's only one kind of monster that uses bullets", which was nicely punctuated with a dramatic orchestral blast. It was really odd seeing top military female science officers of the future assigned the role of waitress! This is when the audience is first introduced to the crew as an ensemble and the point was laboured so much that I wondered if it was a deliberate tongue-in-cheek portrayal. Or maybe it was an attempt to portray a sense of a civilized community in contrast to the violence to come? I just found it amusing because it looked so out of place with what you would expect. Seeing all those sandwiches and pots of coffee also made me feel quite hungry.
That's great! So happy that you enjoyed the movie and shared your thoughts here. Haha, I love your observations on the way the introduction to the ensemble was handled. :)
@@robertarodecker2558 The way the depiction of women was introduced then really dragged out made me feel the film was deliberately making a point, for whatever reason. The irony was in-yer-face. Whether it was the 50s Hollywood mindset concerned about its male dominant audience (for sci-fi movies) or they were having a tongue-in-cheek laugh I don't know. But it was amusing to see, almost as if it was a spoof movie.
Yes this was a pretty good film and I think I saw it on Jim Moran's Action Theater (Jim sold Fords). Having seen it recently I did get a chuckle when the rubber M-1 rifle bent in half! Marshall Thompson was a excellent actor for these movies - he was on last Saturday in "Fiend Without A Face".
Would it be more accurate to call it a rhinestone in the rough? This was one of your funniest reviews, especially the part about Ray Corrigan being typecast as a gorilla. Thanks!
Great little film. Saw it when it first came out. Scared the crap out of me. I have the DVD so I can enjoy it again and again. Grab this film and another low budget sci-fi film form the fifties. Get a big bowl of popcorn and a soda. Squish yourself into a big easy chair dim the lights and ENJOY your own Saturday Matinee. And if you have an old serial on DVD watch one chapter of it between the films. Priceless entertainment.
Love this review of a frequently-neglected B-classic! I think the fact that it's an indie film meant the filmmakers could be more creative than if it were, say, Columbia dumping out its drive-in schlock (looking at you, THE GIANT CLAW!). I this is the first movie with an intelligent-alien-stowaway plot, although the premise dates back to the excellent 1939 short story "Black Destroyer" by A.E. Van Vogt, If you can stand to rewatch ALIEN, note that in the jump-scare shot we get of the Alien when it surprises Captain Dallas, it looks quite a bit like the monster from IT!, which I doubt is a coincidence. I mostly know Corrigan from the cheesetastic 1936 serial UNDERSEA KINGDOM where he plays himself, sort of -- his character is called "Crash" Corrigan and he used it as his screen name from then on.
Another benefit of the vertical ship design is that if the ship is accelerating at 1G then you don't have to explain why you have artificial gravity. Of course, the scene where the men go outside the ship and walk down the side instead of climbing down the side implies that he ship is coasting not accelerating.
Nice review! I wasn’t aware of this movie at all, it looks like good ol’ 1950s low-budget sci-fi fun! :) I feel compelled to mention there was another pre-Alien movie in this vein called “Queen of Blood” (1966), where the space crew (including Dennis Hopper!) pick up a mute, vampire queen with a taste for blood. I remember watching the movie as a young boy and finding the queen (who had green skin and white hair) rather unsettling...
And another film that seems to have been "picked through" a bit for ALIEN was NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST, which featured an alien impregnating a man. Jerome Bixby did uncredited work on that film's script.
Good review of "It!...". A side by side with "Alien" is good to show how much a concept can be improved given time. It is not the only concept that falls into that category and sometimes, the concept goes the opposite way. Magnetic soles was standard the standard way of keeping astronauts' feet on the ground in SciFi at the time, so there was no need to belabor the obvious. Yes, the thinking was space ships were made out of some kind of iron alloy. The vertical space ship design made sense at the time. The concept was space ships in the foreseeable future would be rocket ships, hence verticle. For the target audience, tweens and teens, it was a good movie in its day.
Fun movie, but they should have put an exclamation point after the word "Space" like they did with the word "It". Just to give it that extra boost. :) Thanks, as always.
Really good review, made me want to seek this one out! I really liked your comment about the seriousness of the tone and the lack of comic relief. I think that's why I didn't enjoy Forbidden Planet very much - too much unnecessary and goofy humor that distracted from the story.
When I think of a person stranded on Mars, I think of "Robinson Crusoe on Mars" {1964}, and then "The Martian" {2015}. I liked the survival aspects of the film, and less the aliens with saucers blasting slaves. I like to think of this "t! The Terror from Beyond Space" as being a slight change to the ending of that film, with Friday and the monkey Mona, sadly being dispatched by the saucer creature, and it following him to the rescue ship. "Where is Adam West, did you kill him? We needed him for a upcoming Batman TV show... But maybe we can get Sean Connery to play the part. ;) Anyway, we're taking you back to Earth."
You might want to check into Paul Blaisdell. He made the monster costume for this and many other low budget creature features from this period. (Including the iconic She Creature).
Just looked up his IMDb page. He worked on a lot of fun movies, including The Day the World Ended and From Hell It Came, the killer tree stump movie. :) Thanks for mentioning him.
I enjoy your reviews. I'm old enough to have seen most of these movies when originally released AND several times since. Sometimes, my opinion changes, sometimes not. I'd love to hear your opinion of The Angry Red Planet. It's a low budget blast.
Monster looks like bloody klingon but he was not speaking klingon, he was just roaring angrily as much as klingon does. Monster was showing human behaviour while attacking(when he twisted rifle) but he was afraid of fire like evey animal, in star trek movie of netflix some creature breaks in the spaceship because of fungus but in this movie what was the reason for this creature to get in the spaceship i couldn't figure out. Movie was short and intense for me, some small horror could increase my heart rate.
@@RSEFX If they thought such a thing do you remember which episode was it? Did they do that? it had been too long for me since i watched original series of star trek( i was child ), is there adaptation of this movie in any star trek episode? I was mentioning star trek discovery ,which is made more recently, in my comment above, in the series there was Tardigrade broke into spaceship. It's going to be spoiler but i'll go ahead later crew decided to use the creature for spore drive then they freed it because it tragically got weak...
@@semihkiziltas4333 Thanks for the information. To answer your question: No, they talked about adapting IT and put together a story treatment (or 2) , I believe, but it was never filmed. (I should double check my source for accuracy, and will make a correction to this comment at some point soon, but only IF my information is inaccurate.) Btw, a couple side notes:, IT and STAR TREK had the same script supervisor, and, of course, the writer of IT, Jerome Bixby, wound up writing 4 episodes of TREK.
I don't know how this one slipped by me but I just saw it last month. Its the kind of movie I love. Enjoyed it even though it had some really silly moments. Grenades and liberal use of firearms inside a thin walled Spaceship. Firing without aiming Into a room full delicate equipment and Acetylene and oxygen tanks. Yep blowing up the entire ship that will stop it.
A correction: the opening theme is not from KRONOS. Just sounds very similar and uses very similar orchestration, and some of the familiar Shefter/Sawtell musical "tells", but not the same piece of music.
This was my dads favorite movie as a kid, and it's one of my go to ones as well. Though we both just joke on it so bad now. I mean they are using grenades in a spaceship! It's ridicules. There is a terrific review that is done by Scifi Debris out there if you wanted to watch something that talks about a huge amount of backstory on the movies actors and productions. He talks about how the guy in the monster suit would show up drunk, (he had a horrible drinking problem), or he refused to get a cast fitted for the mask. (Which ends up making the mask too small and why the actors chin is literally where the mouth and tongue of the monster is made). If you type in "scifi debris it the terror from beyond space" in google, it will literally be the first link. It is in 2 parts cause there is sooo much backstory on the movie's production he goes through. Which is actually a little bit more interesting than the actual film is in spots.
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Brings me back to the Creature Double Features on my local UHF stations as a kid. Wonderfully nostalgic.
Yes,l remember Saturday afternoons watching “Creature Double Feature” on Channel 56,one of the UHF channels in the Boston area.
Side note, I love that you talk about watching movies with your mom, it’s so sweet to see a good mother/daughter relationship
Crash Corrigan also had a famous movie ranch outside Los Angeles called Corriganville. He was also the hero in a classic early Republic serial, "The Undersea Kingdom." Thanks for another great review. I saw this in the theater in 1958 and have always had a soft spot for it, rubber suit and all.
We used to go there when I was little. The stuntman shootouts and fist-fights were so cool! I also remember how grown up I felt drinking rootBEER out of a beer mug in the saloon. I probably also wore my own cowboy outfit with hat, boots, holster and twin six-shooters.
Corriganville was also a filming location. Hundreds of movies and TV shows were filmed there from the 1930s through the '60s. Mostly, but not exclusively westerns.
Watching your reviews of movies from my childhood has been a real treat. The monster in this movie terrified 10-year-old me when I saw it at the theater in 1958. The light didn’t go out in my bedroom for quite a few nights. You do a great job of focusing on the essential elements of each movie in a fair-minded, informative and highly entertaining manner
The original Alien! Funny about Crash Corrigan, I can imagine him on a psychiatrist's couch: "I don't know, Doc, at first it was just a gig, dress up like a gorilla for some silly movie, but then, well, I guess I got to ... liking it." By the way, I want to give a shout out to Marshall Thompson, who I recall best from Daktari, a TV show about a doctor with a practice out in the African jungle, featuring Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion, it was one sweet little show. Speaking of Thompson, while I don't want to see you get lost too far deep down the sci-fi monster rabbit hole, Thompson did star in another such movie from 1958, run time only 74 minutes -- Fiend Without a Face, featuring one of the most, shall we say, distinctive monster concepts of all time. Very much appreciated today, Rome, a pleasant surprise, thank you. Owl be seeing you.
FWAF has amazing monsters, and I suspect the fact that it's a Brit film explains why the SFX could be more ooey-gooey than your usual b/w Fifties sci-fi.
"Fiend Without a Face" is actually a pretty good one. The monsters are silly, but they certainly add a lot to the film's camp appeal. It is a US/UK co-production. If it had been made strictly for a British audience, I rather doubt they would have had physical aliens. British sci-fi and art in general tends to be more literate and intelligent. But I grew up with and love American schlock.
Love your "owl" reference sign-off. Very cute!
A lot of bad monster/sci-fi movies were made in the 1950s. This was one of the better ones. Definitely underrated
The only channel I know that reviews "Rashomon" one week and "It! The Terror From Beyond Space," the next week and gives insights into both! I did not know about Jerome Bixby and his connections to Twilight Zone and Star Trek, very interesting. I also didn't realize that this movie was the inspiration for Alien, great info! Thanks!
You never know what's coming up next around here. :D
This channel is one of the best on RUclips! Jerome providing great content that is so unique!
I love it, thanks for being nice to it! As a child of the Fifties, I just assumed the shoes were magnetic. I was shaking my head over the unsecured cargo and equipment, and our hopelessly optimistic 1958 belief we'd be going to Mars in 15 years (or chicken-fired in an all-out thermonuclear war). Thanks again!
One of my favorite films. Some say it was one of the inspirations for alien - glad you made it through it :)
Balance? You want balance? You've come to the right place! Jerome Weiselberry **IS** balance, an oasis of sanity in the shark-infested waters of RUclips. Thanks for this fun recap of a fun little movie. I keep waiting for something to redeem it in the FX department, thus I would rather liken it to the souffle that won't rise. Speaking of scary movies, I urge you to watch "Mr. Sardonicus." In the dark! Just wait until finals week is behind you. Speaking of balance ... I have three reviews so far, for "IT!", and their total running time is about half the length of the movie. Thanks, Jerome.
This is one of my favorite man-in-a-suit monster flicks. The Martian monster is brutal! Carruther's account of what happened on Mars is creepy. Thanks for this review.
I saw this movie at the Kirkwood Theater just east of Atlanta on a Saturday afternoon probably in 1959 or 1960. Being a little boy, it terrified me. I have loved it ever since. I appreciate you giving it the respect it deserves. Most young people don't appreciate how technically primitive humanity was at the time. The first manmade object put into Earth orbit had only happened the year before this movie was released. However, things would move quickly, and 11 years after this movie came out, we would walk on the Moon. That's an insane rate of progress.
Excellent review! Bravo! You covered the subject matter well, while making it fun. Great job. I was born in 1952. I was just a youngster when I first saw this film. The movie absolutely terrified me. My father told me when he was alive, there were two movies that scared me sooo much. They were the original KIng Kong and of course, It the Terror from Beyond Space. I was so scared I ran to sit on my father’s lap to protect me with both films. This one just scared the dickens’s out of me. Oh how times have changed. I love that you took the time to review it. Many thanks and keep up the good work!
When we were kids back in the 60s this one Really scared us on Chiller Theater!👻
Me too still one of my favorites of the fifties monster films. Seen this in the early sixties. It haunted me for years. When I went to see alien in 1979 I said this is it all over again. 👽👽👽
Great review on this underrated classic! It's a very enjoyable film for it's time and it truly does needs much needed love. Besides without it, Alien wouldn't came to be!
Saw this at age 12 on TV. Hey back in 1962. Thought it was really good and a load of fun.
It’s nice to see a respectful review of this film - I’ve always loved this film
I saw this movie as a child on tv back in the 70’s and remember being very scared by it - it was before Star Wars and Alien came out - the film has remained a favourite of mine to this day
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This film is a delight when you finally sit down and watch it. The title immediately makes you chuckle and of course it has the Alien name attached to it. Even as a Scott fan I prefer this film which gets you more invested in the story and I love classic era SF films that have a serious and intelligent bent. I never could get into the rubber monster films so it was surprising to find this film being intelligent-but then you look at the credits and see Bixby’s name attached and it makes sense. The scene where they walk on the outside of the ship seems to be right out of the father of 50’s sci-fi films 1950’s Destination Moon and the more realistic interactions with the crew in the interiors seem to be inspired by the equally influential 1950 Rocketship X-M.
I saw this in the United Artists 50’s sci-fi volume 1 laserdisc boxset which pairs it with three other 50’s sci-fi gems that are all about intellect over rubber monsters. Man from Planet X is amazing considering it was made in a handful of days by Edgar Ulmer and has atmosphere for days. Red Planet Mars has a fascinating story concept but is sadly long out of print. Monster that Challenged the World is the best 50’s monster film I’ve ever seen because the threat is real and you see little to nothing until later in the film. It seems to have totally inspired Spielberg when making Jaws and the parallels are uncanny.
I have that same laserdisc box set. 👽
Great review! This film had an amusing promotional hook, which you can see on some of the movie posters. In big letters at the top, it proclaimed "$50,000 Guaranteed...to the first person who can prove "It" is not on Mars now!"
With these, it's always interesting to see how optimistic they were about the future of space flight. Mars in 1973! Who knew that 60+ years later we are still a ways away from returning to the moon.
I have the original Bixby script: The producers changed the year to 1973. It was originally supposed to take place farther into the future.
I was thinking the same thing. They were too optimistic about the feasibility / practicality of space travel.
I have this on DVD in the double feature along with The Monster That Challenged the World. I have heard people say this was possibly the inspiration for Alien.
Another great review! Been years....well, decades since I've seen this film. Now I want to see it again.
I always loved this movie! I like it better than “Alien.” My only nit was that Carruthers is kind of a lucky screw-up. He cracked up his own ship during the landing, he is the sole survivor from his ship, he always manages to get away while the other men get killed and when someone has to save the survivors of the second ship, Ed can’t finish the job, and the half dead guy whose girlfriend Ed has stolen bites the bullet in Ed’s place!
Anyway, I love the review and the great history lesson about Crash Corrigan. Well done!
You are right-Carruthers is kind of a trouble maker and a lunkhead.
NOTE: It may because I knew/know people who worked on the film/on the costume that I have a few added thoughts about IT that are likely spurred by more than usual sympathies:
I actually don't have a lot of problems with the creature. The "IT" itself? --it's based on classic "demon" imagery, and is, basically, just a big, hulking, muscular brute: I thought the basic design was what it needed to be to align with what it has to do in the story. . It has been criticized for being "wrinkly" but to me it has the same wrinkly, gathered/loose skin that lizards have in abundance.
Maybe audiences now are expecting something far weirder, but this one made sense to me (tho the shots of the feet ---added later----and a few of the wide shots would've been better left out or framed and lit more obliquely/obscurely. Since I saw it (er, IT) when it first came out in a theater where even adults were pretty scared, I may not be able to see it afresh. (IT reminded me of the kind of demon that showed up in CURSE/NIGHT OF THE DEMON: The costume for IT was being conceived and constructed right when CURSE/NIGHT came out. I know one of the people who worked on it still alive and may ask him about the possible influence.)
Sooooo, there, probably WAY more than anyone would ever care to know/chat/think about the monster in this film.
I love this movie when I saw it as a kid. Came out last year on Blu-ray and watching it again it still holds up. I love how back them not only were they going to Mars but would load up the ship with all this military hardware. Astronauts in the 50s' were always well armed.
Americans never went anywhere without their guns, not even outer space.
Very nice review. I've always liked this movie, chiefly for the reasons you cited about suspense and characterization. I also thought the creature was pretty frightening with its savageness. Those scenes where a cornered, injured crewman is trying to fight it off with a torch are really nail biting. I think they strike a nice balance between showing JUST enough of the creature without overdoing it and diluting the mysterious nature of the beast. It's always nice to see a younger person be able to appreciate some of these older low budget films, as it signals hope that all is not lost in regard to taste and insight for the next generations. Take care
It! The Terror was the main framework for Alien. Yet in 1965 another movie would be the framework for The Alien Planet and derelict spaceship. The movie directed by Mario Bava is called: Planet of the vampires. It has great effects and a dreadful feeling of horrors yet to come. The planet is fog shrouded at night and has volcanic type rock. Then there is the derelict spaceship with the enormous skeletal remains of two of it's crew. A creepy vocal sound comes from the pilot's ship recording. The ship itself was made for large creatures and requires one to climb up over an archway just to get into a chamber..
Yes,that’s a wonderful Mario Bava movie,very atmospheric and creepy.
My father saw this on first release when he was 15 and we both loved watching it together once it was available on home video...one of those 'little films that could...and did'
I remember hearing this being called the "inspiration" for Ridley Scott's Alien. Well loosely the inspiration. And I had to see it. I was not disappointed. I always enjoyed this one. Good ol fashioned creature feature. The only thing that pulls me out is the lack luster sets like the chairs. It's funny, in the 50s I guess they never had a grasp on what chairs in the future would look like. But the bad sets are what's why I appreciate all the moody dark lighting. Thank you for all the accumulated facts and for sharing your thoughts
The chairs! I saw this in a few movies of that era.
One had a spaceship with room for dozens of passengers.
It was folding chairs neatly lined up in a grid.
Get ready for blastoff!
So glad you appreciate this cheesy, but effective 50s sci fi semi-classic. Yes, the monster is of the rubber suit variety, but also, Paul Blaisdell, who made the suit, made it for a different size man (himself! I think), but he became unavailable and the man they got, Ray Corrigsn, didn’t fit. So you’ll notice in a couple of the close up clips you used, what looks like a tongue in its mouth is actually Corrigan’s chin. I’d also like to mention that a lot of the shots are beautifully lit. One of my favorites of the era. Fun review, thanks!
Actually ray didn't want to show up for the casting for the suit. That's why it didn't fit right
-It! The Terror From Beyond Space-
My second favourite 50's science fiction film with 'IT' in the title with IT Came From Outer Space coming in ahead of it for me. IT was a popular term for something odd or uncanny at the time it seems with cousin IT appearing a bit later, I wonder was Stephen King influenced by those films when he wrote IT, I typed IT nine times...hmm, IT to make it ten, oops I did an extra one making it eleven, ugh twelve!! Lol, hope I haven't triggered some ancient curse on myself lol. You really can see how it was a major influence on Alien and i love how you say ' IT The Terror From Beyond Space lol, I imagine someone like William Castle standing in front of a theatre audience announcing it with gusto lol ( fifteen times lol) I wasn't really aware of the story around Crash Corrigan but hearing you talk about him made me look into his career more, so interesting. ~ Thank you Ms Weiselberry ~
Only saw parts of the film when going on Saturday out of town shopping trips as a child, (a co-worker said this film scared the heck out of him as a child). Marshall Thompson appeared in numerous films, but I remember seeing him in "Flight of the Lost Balloon" from 1961. Ray Corrigan owned Corriganville Movie Ranch, used in many westerns, burned by wildfires, now a Simi Valley park, Corriganville Park.
I have a high opinion of this film. Kids---and some older viewers too---were traumatized by the creature's behavior, and its lurking about in shadows, like the classic idea of a "monster in the cellar" (which also translated to "the monster under the bed/the monster in the closet" fears in children, or "danger in the alleys/danger in the shadows" in older people). I was pleased to see you give ITa fair viewing. A well-done film on a tiny budget shot in 6 days. (Yes, Bixby designed much of this film---I have his drawings and notes. A really talented guy. His IT'S A GOOD LIFE i find to be one of the most disturbing stories ever written, one that did the Steven King thing long before King was king!)
I also see this film as a kind of SF film noir/especially since shot in black and white, with an "accused central figure" having to turn things around in middle of multiple challenges (plus Marshall Thompson is my favorite actor in the low-budget sf area)
So...very good review, very fair and to the point. Thanks again for this, and maybe turning other people on to this small classic.
It certainly gave me the willies the first time I saw it, and I wasn't so very young. :)
@@Weiselberry destination inner space movie 🍿
@@only257 Another great B fllck.
You know I love a good creature-feature review, and as expected you delivered a great one! This happens to be one of my fave scifi/horror B films of it's period, and is obviously a direct predecessor of 'Alien'. Thanks a lot, for this one!
Way, way back when this movie was in the theaters and being advertised on TV, and touted as one of the scariest movies ever made, I asked my mom if I could go see it. She said no, absolutely not! Eventually, it made it's way to TV and I got to see it. I loved it, but was it the scariest move ever made? No. The monster design however, was very good and pretty scary. These days, I find it rather slow and boring. But as an example of medium budget late '50s sci-fi/horror, it's good. It also has some nostalgic value and now I'm thinking I'd like to sit down and watch it. It is currently available on YT for free.
By the way, my mom did enjoy sci-fi. She was just wanting to protect her 6 year old. I'm good with that.
An excellent review of this enjoyable sci-fi flick. It’s great fun to see the crew breaking out the bazooka and grenades to battle the monster . I have always enjoyed watching movies like this one , and , the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms , It Came from Outer Space , 20 Million Miles from Earth , This Island Earth , and It Came From Beneath the Sea . Thanks !
All my favorites you mention
@@robertarodecker2558 Yes , they're classics .
Nice video - great to watch. Thanks for sharing
Marshall Thompson was a good actor, who did a lot of work. He started out in a John Ford classic, They Were Expendable.
Loved this review and the tongue-in-cheek contrast with last week’s weightier, more serious and esoteric film. The important thing is the love of movies, not love for only the high-falutin, arty ones, which makes your reviews both accessible and significant, not to mention fun and informative. I’m glad you mentioned Paul Sawtell’s score, and its antecedent, “Kronos”, another minor gem. The spaceship also has some history, appearing in several other genre films of the era, beginning with 1951’s ”Flight to Mars”. Aside from the beautiful, elegant Luna from “Destination Moon”, it’s my favorite from the mid-century sleek, finned, ogive school of spaceship design. Also glad you mentioned the influence of “IT!” on “Alien”, something that Dan O’Bannon denied forcefully, sometimes heatedly, to his untimely end, but which was apparent to everyone but him, evidently. Certainly, it was nothing to be ashamed of, as he can take credit for using IT’s seed of inspiration and growing it within him, as it were, to be brought to even more terrifying blossom some 20 years later.
Incidentally, the most succinct and accurate review I’ve ever seen of “Alien” is by a woman, of course: “Alien is a movie where nobody listens to the smart woman, and then they all die except for the smart woman and her cat. Four stars.”
I agree about Dan O'Bannon. He was well aware of it before he even wrote the script. Maybe he was afraid someone would sue. Lol
And don't forget. It was loosely based on voyage of the space beagle. A book. I think it was from aA E. Van vogt. If I spelled it right. Lol
''A diamond in the rough'' .. just like this channel.
The breadth and depth of your movie knowledge is unbelievable! And I'm just fascinated by all the info you bring up on the cast and crew, and their involvement in other productions. Pray tell, may we look forward to someday reading some major movie and media books by you?
Aw, thanks! There's quite a lot I have yet to learn, trust me. I just end up going down these rabbit holes when I'm trying to assemble my thoughts on a movie, and I share what interesting tidbits I find with all of you. I have no expectation of writing any books about movies right now, but there's no telling what the future will hold. :)
It! is actually shot as a Space Sci-Fi Film Noir. The photography worked to enhance the script.
Once again! I'm kicking myself, you did it again (watching your reviews reminds me of the movies that I need to watch or rewatch or I need to do the homework). This is a film that I have in my list for years, and I mean YEARS!!!! I obviously had it there because of the inspiration of "Alien" (1979) and I've seen the other films that inspired "Alien" i.e. "The Thing from Another World"(1951), "Forbidden Planet" (1956), and "Planet of the Vampires" (1965). But!!! Somehow I managed to ignore "It! The Terror from Beyond Space" for whatever the reason..... Ugh!!! All of these movies and so little time (LOL). Well.... with that said, you got me on the band wagon to watch this ASAP. Loved the review and the research you did is superb, once again, Thank You fellow Cineaste.
"All these movies and so little time"--I often feel that way myself. :) Well, I hope you get to rectify the situation soon, and more than that, I hope you enjoy the movie. Thank you!
Trust me you will enjoy it. Even if its a little cheesey. Still a favorite of mine
Great post. Didn’t know he directed those other sci-fi’s. Love them all!
Great to see you wading further into vintage sci fi/horror titles and looking forward to more. I wonder if you've seen or would consider a review of another supposed source of inspiration for O'Bannon's Alien concepts- Mario Bava's classic Planet Of The Vampires.
It's on Prime and I've got it on my watchlist!
It's discussed in detail in a biography of its screenwriter, Ib Melchior, so I already know some info about it. I talked about the book in this video: ruclips.net/video/o2Uw6NVJumA/видео.html
I also found 'IT' to be silly fun. And quite surprised to learn that 'beyond space' was on Mars. Good place for it.
This is the one sci fi 1950's film that would only come on TV at 2:00 -3:00am when u were asleep back in the 90's it was so rare to be able to watch this especially after always watching Saturday night : "Monster Vision" on AMC & always seeing *The Thing From Another World* & all the others like this film with your dad just to have him tell u about this secret B movie that became legendary but only because u were just too young to stay up late enough to actually be able to watch it ❤️
I watched your review and went an watched the movie. I enjoyed it. What I like about watching 1950s movies is seeing how much modern movies owe to them in terms of themes and storylines. Thanks for all your efforts.
This looks good. That episode of Twilight Zone "It's A Good Life" is one of the best imo.
I think I recall Siskel-Ebert mentioning this one when reviewing Alien, and quite right too, as you point out. And I'd bet that the creepy monster outfit was recycled for one of the "bears" in the Outer Limits. I will need to record this one next time it's on TCM.
Adorable. Great movie review. I was sitting here thinking sounds like Alien and was wondering if it had any tie in. Cool makes me want to see it.
Another terrific review! Have to say I'm a big fan of IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE. I enjoy the serious tone and find it a very suspenseful story. The low budget is a problem, but I think the monster is still pretty scary and the lapses in science don't bother me (I was an English major, after all!). I will look forward to your next video.
Thank you!
Excellent and enjoyable review. I am very sentimental to these low budget scifi movies from the 1950's. Jerome Bixby could write horror- I always thought "Its a Good Life" one of the top ten scariest short stories ever written. His Star Trek "Mirror Mirror" is also one of the best episodes in the series. This movie is very entertaining... though the bazookas and grenades are over the top. The overall concept is great- the vertical ship with the alien working its way up the floors. The movie is atmospheric and eerie. I first saw this when I was about 12 and it scared the bejesus out of me.
Just watched this movie for the first time and really enjoyed it. I liked the relentlessness of the seemingly indestructible creature and how the tension builds as the story progresses. There were a few moments when I found myself rooting for the creature!
The bit you mention in your review when Carruthers discovers the first body (with the arm dropping down) was my favourite moment. And my favourite line was: "There's only one kind of monster that uses bullets", which was nicely punctuated with a dramatic orchestral blast.
It was really odd seeing top military female science officers of the future assigned the role of waitress! This is when the audience is first introduced to the crew as an ensemble and the point was laboured so much that I wondered if it was a deliberate tongue-in-cheek portrayal. Or maybe it was an attempt to portray a sense of a civilized community in contrast to the violence to come? I just found it amusing because it looked so out of place with what you would expect. Seeing all those sandwiches and pots of coffee also made me feel quite hungry.
That's great! So happy that you enjoyed the movie and shared your thoughts here. Haha, I love your observations on the way the introduction to the ensemble was handled. :)
That's the fifties for you. Woman were treated that way in the fifties TV shows too
@@robertarodecker2558 The way the depiction of women was introduced then really dragged out made me feel the film was deliberately making a point, for whatever reason. The irony was in-yer-face. Whether it was the 50s Hollywood mindset concerned about its male dominant audience (for sci-fi movies) or they were having a tongue-in-cheek laugh I don't know. But it was amusing to see, almost as if it was a spoof movie.
Just saw Thompson in "Fiend Without A Face" last week on Svengoolie. Also from 1958.
Yes this was a pretty good film and I think I saw it on Jim Moran's Action Theater (Jim sold Fords). Having seen it recently I did get a chuckle when the rubber M-1 rifle bent in half! Marshall Thompson was a excellent actor for these movies - he was on last Saturday in "Fiend Without A Face".
You inspired me to watch it again!!!
Would it be more accurate to call it a rhinestone in the rough?
This was one of your funniest reviews, especially the part about Ray Corrigan being typecast as a gorilla. Thanks!
One of my old faves! Don't forget about Corriganville, the western town movie set he built that was used for decades.
they ran this tonight on Svengoolie, definitely an influence on alien.
I’m glad you also feel this is underrated.This is cited by some to be Alien before Alien.
Great little film. Saw it when it first came out. Scared the crap out of me. I have the DVD so I can enjoy it again and again. Grab this film and another low budget sci-fi film form the fifties. Get a big bowl of popcorn and a soda. Squish yourself into a big easy chair dim the lights and ENJOY your own Saturday Matinee. And if you have an old serial on DVD watch one chapter of it between the films. Priceless entertainment.
Had the pleasure of seeing this on Chiller Theater.. In the days of Zacherley...
Wonderful review. Thanks.
Good review, and the thumbnail is absolutely adorable!
Fun fact: This film and Mario Bava's 'Planet Of The Vampires' were direct influences to Ridley Scott's 'Alien'.
Yes, at 10 years old it was super scary. Olden days...
I love how it takes place in the future in 1973 lolz so many good films came out that year ❤
Your thumbnails are just so stinking cute. 😍
Love this review of a frequently-neglected B-classic! I think the fact that it's an indie film meant the filmmakers could be more creative than if it were, say, Columbia dumping out its drive-in schlock (looking at you, THE GIANT CLAW!). I this is the first movie with an intelligent-alien-stowaway plot, although the premise dates back to the excellent 1939 short story "Black Destroyer" by A.E. Van Vogt,
If you can stand to rewatch ALIEN, note that in the jump-scare shot we get of the Alien when it surprises Captain Dallas, it looks quite a bit like the monster from IT!, which I doubt is a coincidence.
I mostly know Corrigan from the cheesetastic 1936 serial UNDERSEA KINGDOM where he plays himself, sort of -- his character is called "Crash" Corrigan and he used it as his screen name from then on.
Another benefit of the vertical ship design is that if the ship is accelerating at 1G then you don't have to explain why you have artificial gravity. Of course, the scene where the men go outside the ship and walk down the side instead of climbing down the side implies that he ship is coasting not accelerating.
Thank you for sharing this monster movie with us! 🙆♀️
Love those old black & white movies. Thanks for the review.
I first saw this film when I was 12, in 1973. It was easy to remember the date.
I actually haven't seen this one and have thought about watching it. You definitely have peaked my interest. Im gonna have to watch it now.
The name of the movie is genius, it draws you in.
I BELIEVE THIS
MOVIE 📽️
WAS FILMED IN
SIX DAY'S ‼️🤯‼️
MAY 2024
That’s quite a record.
Nice review! I wasn’t aware of this movie at all, it looks like good ol’ 1950s low-budget sci-fi fun! :)
I feel compelled to mention there was another pre-Alien movie in this vein called “Queen of Blood” (1966), where the space crew (including Dennis Hopper!) pick up a mute, vampire queen with a taste for blood. I remember watching the movie as a young boy and finding the queen (who had green skin and white hair) rather unsettling...
And another film that seems to have been "picked through" a bit for ALIEN was NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST, which featured an alien impregnating a man. Jerome Bixby did uncredited work on that film's script.
Don't call It ugly, He's the Tom Cruise of his world !!!👍💪😎
Good review of "It!...". A side by side with "Alien" is good to show how much a concept can be improved given time. It is not the only concept that falls into that category and sometimes, the concept goes the opposite way. Magnetic soles was standard the standard way of keeping astronauts' feet on the ground in SciFi at the time, so there was no need to belabor the obvious. Yes, the thinking was space ships were made out of some kind of iron alloy. The vertical space ship design made sense at the time. The concept was space ships in the foreseeable future would be rocket ships, hence verticle. For the target audience, tweens and teens, it was a good movie in its day.
Fun movie, but they should have put an exclamation point after the word "Space" like they did with the word "It". Just to give it that extra boost. :) Thanks, as always.
I would love to see you do a review of the Four Skulls of Johnathan Drake, both IT, and Drake are among my favorite horror films.
Really good review, made me want to seek this one out! I really liked your comment about the seriousness of the tone and the lack of comic relief. I think that's why I didn't enjoy Forbidden Planet very much - too much unnecessary and goofy humor that distracted from the story.
I've never seen this one, so I might have to check it out. It sounds like the plot for a number of Doctor Who episodes too! Great review :)
I'm sure using grenades in a rocket ship is a 100%, fool proof, good idea.
Oh, 1950's sci-fi movies.
I watch this a few nights ago in a Roku channel called Chiller Thriller but not the first time. I watched it before many years ago in TCM.
When I think of a person stranded on Mars, I think of "Robinson Crusoe on Mars" {1964}, and then "The Martian" {2015}. I liked the survival aspects of the film, and less the aliens with saucers blasting slaves. I like to think of this "t! The Terror from Beyond Space" as being a slight change to the ending of that film, with Friday and the monkey Mona, sadly being dispatched by the saucer creature, and it following him to the rescue ship. "Where is Adam West, did you kill him? We needed him for a upcoming Batman TV show... But maybe we can get Sean Connery to play the part. ;) Anyway, we're taking you back to Earth."
You might want to check into Paul Blaisdell. He made the monster costume for this and many other low budget creature features from this period. (Including the iconic She Creature).
Just looked up his IMDb page. He worked on a lot of fun movies, including The Day the World Ended and From Hell It Came, the killer tree stump movie. :) Thanks for mentioning him.
@@Weiselberry And Inavsion of the Saucer Men, which you showed a picture of in this video.
Awesome Thumbnail . ❤️
I enjoy your reviews. I'm old enough to have seen most of these movies when originally released AND several times since. Sometimes, my opinion changes, sometimes not. I'd love to hear your opinion of The Angry Red Planet. It's a low budget blast.
Thanks! I talked about The Angry Red Planet way back in 2017. Here's a link if you'd like to check it out: ruclips.net/video/e8NfCcxVHmo/видео.html
Monster looks like bloody klingon but he was not speaking klingon, he was just roaring angrily as much as klingon does. Monster was showing human behaviour while attacking(when he twisted rifle) but he was afraid of fire like evey animal, in star trek movie of netflix some creature breaks in the spaceship because of fungus but in this movie what was the reason for this creature to get in the spaceship i couldn't figure out. Movie was short and intense for me, some small horror could increase my heart rate.
There was talk back in the original Trek series, of adapting this film into an episode of the show.
@@RSEFX If they thought such a thing do you remember which episode was it? Did they do that? it had been too long for me since i watched original series of star trek( i was child ), is there adaptation of this movie in any star trek episode? I was mentioning star trek discovery ,which is made more recently, in my comment above, in the series there was Tardigrade broke into spaceship. It's going to be spoiler but i'll go ahead later crew decided to use the creature for spore drive then they freed it because it tragically got weak...
@@semihkiziltas4333 Thanks for the information. To answer your question: No, they talked about adapting IT and put together a story treatment (or 2) , I believe, but it was never filmed. (I should double check my source for accuracy, and will make a correction to this comment at some point soon, but only IF my information is inaccurate.) Btw, a couple side notes:, IT and STAR TREK had the same script supervisor, and, of course, the writer of IT, Jerome Bixby, wound up writing 4 episodes of TREK.
@@RSEFX Good to know, thank you. Live long and prosper!
I don't know how this one slipped by me but I just saw it last month. Its the kind of movie I love. Enjoyed it even though it had some really silly moments. Grenades and liberal use of firearms inside a thin walled Spaceship. Firing without aiming Into a room full delicate equipment and Acetylene and oxygen tanks. Yep blowing up the entire ship that will stop it.
Enjoyable movie that inspired Alien. Planet of Vampires (1965) is another one that influenced Ridley Scott.
I will have to check this out. When you describing it, I thought about Alien!
There is one nasty critter aboard the ship bent on murder!
A correction: the opening theme is not from KRONOS. Just sounds very similar and uses very similar orchestration, and some of the familiar Shefter/Sawtell musical "tells", but not the same piece of music.
Thanks for pointing that out!
man, they had more small arms on that spaceship than the 3rd army!
This was my dads favorite movie as a kid, and it's one of my go to ones as well. Though we both just joke on it so bad now. I mean they are using grenades in a spaceship! It's ridicules. There is a terrific review that is done by Scifi Debris out there if you wanted to watch something that talks about a huge amount of backstory on the movies actors and productions. He talks about how the guy in the monster suit would show up drunk, (he had a horrible drinking problem), or he refused to get a cast fitted for the mask. (Which ends up making the mask too small and why the actors chin is literally where the mouth and tongue of the monster is made).
If you type in "scifi debris it the terror from beyond space" in google, it will literally be the first link. It is in 2 parts cause there is sooo much backstory on the movie's production he goes through. Which is actually a little bit more interesting than the actual film is in spots.
It's Colonel Carruthers thank you!
Good review 👍