A
classic science fiction movie from 1954. "Classic?" I hear you protest, "But they put it on the
MST3K movie!" Yes, they did, and Mike and the Bots made a very rare
misstep by claiming that this
flick was somehow
cosmically bad, 'cause it just ain't so. Far from perfect? You bet. Way,
way far from perfect? You bet.
Cosmically bad? No way.
First, a few details. It was directed by
Joseph M. Newman and
Jack Arnold (though only Newman was credited). The
screenplay was written by
Franklin Coen and
Edward G. O'Callaghan, based on a story called "
The Alien Machine" by
Raymond F. Jones. It starred
Rex Reason as Dr. Carl Meacham,
Faith Domergue as Dr. Ruth Adams,
Jeff Morrow as Exeter,
Lance Fuller as Brack,
Russell Johnson (The Professor!) as Steve Carlson,
Douglas Spencer as the Monitor, and
Eddie Parker and
Regis Parton as Mutants.
Basic
plot: Meacham and Adams are selected to help save the
dying planet of
Metaluna (where everyone seems to have
white hair and
bulging foreheads), but they discover that the Metalunans are secretly plotting to
invade the Earth! They are taken by
flying saucer to Metaluna but escape with the help of Exeter, a moderately
friendly Metalunan. All of them are
menaced by the big-
brained
BEMs known as the Mutants, but in the end, Metaluna is
destroyed, and Meacham and Adams escape to
Earth.
First of all: Yeah, in a lot of ways, it
bites. The
makeup on Exeter and the other Metalunans is
distractingly
poor, and the
acting is generally
sub-par. The
story is less than
enthralling, with several significant
plot holes, and the
attitudes toward women are
sexist even beyond the normal standards of
sci-fi movies from the
'50s.
But
cosmically bad? Definitely not. The planet of Metaluna is
richly and
entertainingly depicted, and the
special effects still hold up fairly well. The makeup for the Mutant is still considered one of the decade's best
designs for a
monster. The
themes of
government secrecy,
hidden invasions, and
global destruction are classic themes held by much of the best
science fiction, both in the 1950s and today.
Would I
recommend you watch it? Maybe. It's good for some
light entertainment, especially if you have a taste for
cinematic cheese. It's not "
Invaders from Mars," it's not "
Forbidden Planet," it's not "
Them!," it's not "
The Day the Earth Stood Still," but it's not "
Robot Monster" either.
Some research from the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com)
Why Best Brains didn't pick a serious Grade-A stinker like "Plan 9 from Outer Space" for their film debut, I'll never know...
Update: Quizro and trainman point out to me that "This Island Earth" was selected for the MST3K movie because it was in color, not all that bad, and owned by Universal Studios, which released the MST movie -- hence, it would be less expensive for the studio than buying the rights to another movie...