Sunday, June 16, 2013

Phantom From Space (1953)

I saw this movie for the first in the early 90s, back on TNT's fun MonsterVision show.  I'll only bemoan the station TNT has turned into now once, as it's nowhere near as much fun as the station it used to be.   I liked it for what it was back then, which is a low budget B picture.  I hadn't seen it in several years.
I did feel sorry for the alien, who didn't really do anything wrong except land on Earth and be chased.

is that Clark Kent?
this time I felt the same way overall, and was kind of impressed by the way they shot the  alien and the effects they used for the movie.  it's not a great movie by any stretch and the worst thing it does is be kind of boring.  the alien mostly runs around and tries to talk to the girl of the movie, Barbara.
here's a process shot, though why they used it for this bit when they could have just used the standard helmet on wires trick is beyond me.  the "phantom" is invisible but can't breathe without his suit, so he's trying to survive being on Earth.  the people are just kind of hounding him, since he did kill two men upon arrival.
the alien dissolves at the end of the movie (since he's dead) and this is probably the best effect in the movie.  it's only 73 minutes long, which works in it's favor, though it's pretty talky in spots.

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