''The Man from Planet X'' is a 1951
independently made American
black-and-white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
, produced by
Jack Pollexfen and
Aubrey Wisberg
Aubrey Lionel Wisberg (October 20, 1909 – March 14, 1990) was a British-American filmmaker.
Biography
Born in London, Wisberg emigrated to the United States in 1921, attended New York University and Columbia University, and married B ...
, directed by
Edgar G. Ulmer, that stars
Robert Clarke,
Margaret Field, and
William Schallert
William Joseph Schallert (July 6, 1922 – May 8, 2016) was an American character actor who appeared in dozens of television shows and films over a career spanning more than 60 years. He is known for his roles on ''Richard Diamond, Private ...
. The film was distributed by
United Artists
United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...
.
The story concerns a humanoid who lands on Earth in a spaceship from a mysterious planet and makes contact with a small group of humans on an isolated, fog-shrouded Scottish
moor.
Plot
A spaceship from a previously unknown planet lands in the Scottish moorlands, bringing a
humanoid alien to Earth near the observatory of Professor Elliot (Raymond Bond). When the professor and his friend, American reporter John Lawrence (
Robert Clarke), discover the spaceman, they help and try to communicate with it, failing in their attempt. They leave, and the alien follows them. A colleague of the professor, the unscrupulous and ambitious scientist Dr. Mears (
William Schallert
William Joseph Schallert (July 6, 1922 – May 8, 2016) was an American character actor who appeared in dozens of television shows and films over a career spanning more than 60 years. He is known for his roles on ''Richard Diamond, Private ...
), discovers that the humanoid speaks in musical tones and tries to force from it the metal formula for its spaceship. He shuts off its breathing apparatus and leaves the spaceman for dead, telling the professor that communication was hopeless.
Soon, Lawrence discovers that the alien is gone, as is the professor's daughter, Enid (
Margaret Field). Tommy, the seaside village constable (
Roy Engle), reports that others are now missing as well. Lawrence takes the constable to the site where the spaceship had landed, but it is no longer there. With more villagers now missing, including Mears, and the phone lines suddenly dead the village is in panic. They are finally able to get word to Scotland Yard by using a
heliograph
A heliograph () is a solar telegraph system that signals by flashes of sunlight (generally using Morse code from the 1840s) reflected by a mirror. The flashes are produced by momentarily pivoting the mirror, or by interrupting the beam with a s ...
to contact a passing freighter just off the coast.
When an Inspector (David Ormont) and a sergeant fly in and are briefed on the situation, it is decided that the military must destroy the spaceship. Lawrence objects that doing so will also kill the people who are now under the alien's control. With the planet due to reach its closest approach to Earth at midnight, Lawrence is given until 11:00 p.m. to rescue them. He sneaks up to the alien ship and learns from Mears that the spaceman intends to use its ship as a wireless relay station in advance of an invasion coming from the approaching planet, which is a dying world. Lawrence orders the villagers to leave and attacks the alien, shutting off its breathing apparatus, then escapes with Enid and the professor. Mears, however, returns to the spaceship and is killed when the military opens fire and destroys it. No invasion happens and the mysterious Planet X slowly exits the
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
for deep space.
Cast
*
Robert Clarke as John Lawrence
*
Margaret Field as Enid Elliot
* Raymond Bond as Professor Elliot
*
William Schallert
William Joseph Schallert (July 6, 1922 – May 8, 2016) was an American character actor who appeared in dozens of television shows and films over a career spanning more than 60 years. He is known for his roles on ''Richard Diamond, Private ...
as Dr. Mears
*
Roy Engel
Roy Engel (born Leroy Englewood Stults Jr.;"Missouri, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1945", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLFM-JTCJ : Thu Jul 18 04:43:41 UTC 2024), Entry for Leroy Englewood Stults and V ...
as Tommy the Constable
*
Charles Davis as Georgie, man at dock
* Gilbert Fallman as Dr. Robert Blane
* David Ormont as Inspector Porter
* June Jeffery as Wife of missing man
*
Franklyn Farnum as Sgt. Ferris, Porter's assistant (uncredited)
Cast notes
* Actor Pat Goldin and dwarf actor
Billy Curtis were both rumoured to be the unknown actor who played the role of the alien space visitor.
However, Robert Clarke, who is frequently named as the source of the Pat Goldin rumour, never actually knew the name of the actor who played the alien, nor did the other cast members, including Margaret Field and William Schallert.
[Johnston, John, ''Cheap tricks and Class Acts: Special Effects, Makeup, and Stunts from the Films of the Fantastic Fifties'', Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co. Inc. Publishers, (1996) pp. 224-225]
The Man From Planet X: Articles
', TCM.com, retrieved January 30, 2024 Furthermore, the unknown actor was noticeably taller than Billy Curtis. Cast member Robert Clarke recalls only that he was of Jewish origin, stood about five feet tall, and was once part of an acrobatic vaudeville act.
Margaret Field and producer Jack Pollexfen later recalled only that he had complained about his uncomfortable costume and his low pay,
[Parla, Paul, and Mitchell, Charles P., ''Screen Sirens Scream!: Interviews with 20 Actresses from Science Fiction, Horror, Film Noir and Mystery Movies, 1930s to 1960s: Margaret Field'', Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. Inc. Publishers, , (2009), p. 97] while William Schallert remembered him only as a very small, interesting-looking middle-aged man who wasn't much of an actor. Robert Clarke was paid $350/week for his work on this film.[McGee, Scott and Stafford, Jef]
"The Man from Planet X" (TCM article)
/ref>
Production
The film went into production on December 13, 1950, at Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, California
Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights, Californi ...
, and wrapped principal photography six days later.[TC]
Overview
/ref> In order to save money, the film was shot on sets for the 1948 Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, Bergman is often regarded as one of the most influential screen figures in cin ...
film ''Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...
'', using artificial fog to change moods, plot locations, and to hide the lack of backdrops and staged landscapes for the outdoor scenes.[TC]
Notes
/ref>
In popular culture
'' Invaders from Mars, The War of the Worlds
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...
'', both released in 1953, and '' The Thing from Another World'' (1951), all began production around the same time this film was made. ''The Day the Earth Stood Still
''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' is a 1951 American science fiction film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Julian Blaustein and directed by Robert Wise. It stars Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray, F ...
'' finished production six months prior, in the summer of 1951.
* The alien can communicate using only modulated musical sounds, a concept later used in 1977 in Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...
's film ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind
''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' is a 1977 American science fiction film, science fiction drama film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François ...
''.
* The alien appears alongside other film monsters in the 2003 film '' Looney Tunes: Back in Action'', in the scene that occurs at Area 52.
* Clips from the film are shown during a movie theater sequence set in 1951 in the fourth episode of 2015's second season of the FX anthology series
An anthology series is a written series, radio, television, film, or video game series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different ca ...
'' Fargo''.
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Warren, Bill. ''Keep Watching the Skies, American Science Fiction Movies of the 50s'', Vol I: 1950–1957. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1982. .
External links
*
*
*
Joe Dante on ''The Man from Planet X''
at Trailers from Hell
{{DEFAULTSORT:Man From Planet X
1951 films
American science fiction horror films
American black-and-white films
Films directed by Edgar G. Ulmer
Films set in Scotland
1950s science fiction horror films
United Artists films
Films adapted into comics
Films about alien invasions
Films produced by Aubrey Wisberg
Films with screenplays by Aubrey Wisberg
1950s English-language films
1950s American films
English-language science fiction horror films