When it comes to 1950's sci-fi, there's good bad, and bad bad; "Phanton From Space" isn't bad, if you know what I mean. There's an interesting back story about the alien's arrival, your typical lab scenes played out with scientific endeavor, and an invisible alien that comes to play on the viewer's sympathy once it's learned that all he's trying to do is survive in Earth's atmosphere.
I got a kick out of some of the governmental jargon thrown around. There's Washington, D.C.'s 'Central Bureau', the 1950's version of an early warning system (hey, it's got a yellow and red alert!), and the mysterious apparatus known as the Communications Commission. The best though were vehicles Mobile #1 and #7, rigged up with those goofy roof top antennas; how did they make it through tunnel overpasses?
There were some clever bits thrown in to keep you guessing about the alien, Dr. Wyatt (Rudolph Anders) refers to him as 'superhuman'. Some fuss was made over the creature's spacesuit, it couldn't be cut and was resistant to flame and acid. Pretty comical though when the Major (James Seay) tried to rip it apart with his bare hands, how scientific was that? Fortunately, the Randall's dog was on hand to keep everyone on track, what do you expect from a canine named Venus?
Also imaginative was the ultra violet light gimmick used to expose the alien's footprint and human like hand. His full disclosure at the end of the story is amazingly similar to descriptions of alien beings today, compliments of writers like Whitley Strieber. How curious is that?
The cast by and large is a group of relative unknowns, though I did get a kick out of seeing Michael Mark as the oil refinery watchman. He would graduate to a top billed role as the beekeeper/inventor in 1960's "The Wasp Woman".
One final thought - the various folks trying to sort out the alien mystery often refer to him as the 'X-Man', pre-dating by a decade the beginning of one of Marvel Comics' most popular titles. I'd be interested to find out if this was the first time the term was ever used - Anyone?
I got a kick out of some of the governmental jargon thrown around. There's Washington, D.C.'s 'Central Bureau', the 1950's version of an early warning system (hey, it's got a yellow and red alert!), and the mysterious apparatus known as the Communications Commission. The best though were vehicles Mobile #1 and #7, rigged up with those goofy roof top antennas; how did they make it through tunnel overpasses?
There were some clever bits thrown in to keep you guessing about the alien, Dr. Wyatt (Rudolph Anders) refers to him as 'superhuman'. Some fuss was made over the creature's spacesuit, it couldn't be cut and was resistant to flame and acid. Pretty comical though when the Major (James Seay) tried to rip it apart with his bare hands, how scientific was that? Fortunately, the Randall's dog was on hand to keep everyone on track, what do you expect from a canine named Venus?
Also imaginative was the ultra violet light gimmick used to expose the alien's footprint and human like hand. His full disclosure at the end of the story is amazingly similar to descriptions of alien beings today, compliments of writers like Whitley Strieber. How curious is that?
The cast by and large is a group of relative unknowns, though I did get a kick out of seeing Michael Mark as the oil refinery watchman. He would graduate to a top billed role as the beekeeper/inventor in 1960's "The Wasp Woman".
One final thought - the various folks trying to sort out the alien mystery often refer to him as the 'X-Man', pre-dating by a decade the beginning of one of Marvel Comics' most popular titles. I'd be interested to find out if this was the first time the term was ever used - Anyone?