The Man from Planet X

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Movie
Original title The Man from Planet X
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1951
length 70 minutes
Rod
Director Edgar G. Ulmer
script Aubrey Wisberg ,
Jack Pollexfen
production Aubrey Wisberg,
Jack Pollexfen
music Charles Koff
camera John L. Russell
cut Fred R. Feitshans Jr.
occupation

The Man from Planet X is an American science fiction film from 1951. The world premiere took place on March 9, 1951 in San Francisco . Although a B-movie , Bill Warren considers it one of the best independently produced SF films of the 1950s because of the non-disagreeable portrayal of the alien . Other performance titles were O Homem do Planeta X ( Brazil ), El ser del planeta X ( Spain ) or Planet X anfaller ( Sweden ).

action

On the Scottish island of Burray on the Orkney , Professor Elliot observes the approach of planet X to earth in his private observatory . Because of this unusual event, the former American fighter pilot John Lawrence, whom Elliot knew from the Second World War and who now works as a journalist , visits him . Lawrence and Elliot's daughter Enid also know each other from this time.

In Moor the island lands a first unknown object as a spaceship turns. The short space traveler is discovered by Elliot and Lawrence, but they cannot communicate with him. Apparently the alien came from planet X. However, the unscrupulous and ambitious Dr. Mears to get in touch with the spaceman. Mears wants to know from the stranger what the metal of his spaceship is made of and tortures him by turning off the supply to his breathing device. The spaceman passes out, Mears thinks he is dead and leaves him lying there.

Lawrence notes that the alien, Elliot's daughter Enid and some of the villagers have disappeared, as has the spaceship. The telephone lines are paralyzed so that no connection to the mainland can be made. A heliograph can be used to contact a passing freighter so that Scotland Yard can be informed. When Inspector Porter and Sergeant Ferris arrive and sound out the situation, they decide to call the military to destroy the spaceship. However, Lawrence wants to save the civilians who are held captive by the alien.

He manages to break into the ship. Here he learns from Mears that the spacecraft is to be used as a relay station to evacuate Planet X and carry out an invasion of Earth as the celestial body dies. Lawrence manages to get the prisoners to leave the spaceship. He attacks the stranger and closes the respiratory system. Together with Enid and the professor, he manages to escape. Mears, who returns to the spaceship obsessed with solving the mystery of the metal, is killed while being bombarded by the military. Planet X turns away from the earth after its approach and disappears into space. Lawrence and Enid Elliot attempt to evaluate an alien's first visit to Earth. Not sure if the first contact can be viewed negatively or positively.

Production notes

The film was shot within a week at Hal Roach Studios in Culver City , California , in December 1950 . The sets of the 1948 film Johanna von Orleans were used and alienated by the use of artificial fog. The film was produced independently; the costs amounted to 51,000 dollars , at the exchange rate at the time about 200,000 German marks .

criticism

Despite the low budget, the film has an unusual and luminous quality lifting it above other low-budget SF films of the period, although its style belongs to an earlier moviemaking tradition than THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and THE THING . It looks ten years older, blending the Germanic / Gothic visual style of classical horror films with a science fiction story… Thanks to Ulmer's atmospheric direction and his unusual intelligent and sympathetic attitue toward the alien, THE MAN FROM PLANET X was one of the best of the low-budget independent SF films of the 1950s.

Warren, Keep Watching the Skies! Pp. 535-539.

Lore

The film has been available in a DVD edition since 2001 .

Trivia

  • Until the present (2016) it is not clear who is the actor of the alien.
  • Three years later, The Danzigers also produced an SF invasion film set in Scotland, Devil Girl from Mars .

literature

  • Bill Warren: Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties , Jefferson, NC / London (Mc Farland & Company, Inc., Publishers) 2010. ISBN 978-0-7864-4230-0

Web links