source: Phantom from Space

Moviecut—Phantom from Space

Phantom from Space

This is another typical film that starts out with narration explaining science to the audience. When a space ship crashes, it causes radio and TV interference. They track the source using "pinpoint direction finding devices." Yup, they didn't even have a name for it. Another good line was "radiation is going out with the tide." There is a space man who wears a modified diving suit, although he himself is invisible which is really easy on the film budget. It is fun for geeks to watch because of the bad science. Not a film for serious science fiction fans.

Phantom From Space is one of the better sci-fi B movies from the 1950's and I found this one quite creepy. A UFO is seen and then suddenly disappears. Then, a series of strange murders have taken place and sightings of a diving suited figure are reported. Strange thing is that all of the witnesses have not seen a head in this suit. It turns out these murders are the responsibility of this figure and to make matters worse is invisible and radioactive. He appears briefly towards the end before suffocating, and then disintegrates. With a dog named Venus. Phantom From Space is rather creepy and atmospheric at times, helped by the music score. I've not heard of any of the stars in this though. A must for fans of 1950's sci-fi. Quite good. Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

This movie was made during the golden era of science fiction, when characters and scenery were so much better than today's garbage. This movie doesn't fit the bill, however. It will probably be most appreciated by those who like movies made after 1970. There is an invader from space. he is very dull, and so are the characters looking for him, mostly arrogant detectives. None of them get our attention, even in a satirical way. Unlike most older science fiction, this movie just plods on and on, with mostly city shots of cars, buildings, offices, the same hum drum people see every day, and with nothing of interest to add onto these sets. Even the heroine is plain looking. If you like the ho hum dull plodding method of modern movies, you may like this. Otherwise, avoid, and watch a good older science fiction, which includes most of the others.

"Phantom from Space" was mostly what I expected, although it had kind of a surprise ending. Of course, what's really surprising about it is that it's directed by W. Lee Wilder (Billy's brother) and has music by William Lava, the third guy to do the music for the Looney Tunes cartoons. Much of the movie seems a little slow, but it really picks up once the action moves to Griffith Park Observatory. The creature's outfit was a funny one. If you plan to watch this, you should just luxuriate in the complete silliness. The movie makes no pretense about what kind of movie it is. To riff on a line from a notable movie by the director's brother, the alien's ready for his shot, Mr. Wilder.

An alien spaceship lands on Earth and an Invisible alien soon begins to terrorize ordinary citizens. This low-budget science fiction film actually strives to reach above its limitations. Now it doesn't entirely succeed and a lot of the film(especially the narration) is laughable but the ending does surprise you. Much better than I expected and while I wasn't expecting much , this does deserves marks for trying. Great fun for a Saturday afternoon.

This low budget science fiction thriller which takes its plot as a combination from King Kong and The Invisible Man is about an invisible invader from another planet who wears a spacesuit and what looks like a diving helmet as he goes around trying to make contact. His suit is radioactive and there are a few fatalities which sends the authorities looking. When the locals figure it out that this guy is not a human that's doing the killings the military is called in. Of course some of the scientists would like to make contact, but they're taking no chances. Sad that this very cheaply shot film does in fact strive to be a bit better than the usual run of budget science fiction. The message about this man's intentions in the paranoid days of the early Cold War would never have been made by a major studio at that time. Worth a look, but I think you'll agree that the intentions outweighed the efforts.

I will never forget this movie. It is the very first sci-fi that I had ever seen. My parents took me to see this film when I was about 6-7 years old. I was very frightened by the whole thing. I could not stop watching however. Every night for months after seeing the film, I made certain my bedroom curtains were securely drawn. I just knew that the alien was out there looking into my window at me. By todays standards, the special effects were really Mickey Mouse. Perhaps a remake of this film will happen some day. If so, I will be first in line to see it. This time I will not worry about my bedroom curtains.