Load of rubbish!!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

I recorded this movie on TCM with bad image that they allowed us,now on very first time officially in Brazil bring us the fully restored this amazing B-movie,all movie was made in studio sets,the rocks are phony,the tower is a drawing,even the harbor and the village were painted,but all this are wonderful sets and weird but somehow gave a charm to the picture and quickly became a classic B Sci-fi. All ellements of this marvelous genre are presents here,Edgar G Ulmer was one best director to work on tight budge,fantastically photographed in black and white picture!!!Resume:First watch: 2013 / How many: 2 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

Yes. it came out of the skies; a mysterious spaceship, being watched by Professor Elliot (Raymond Bond), lands in the moors of Scotland. An American reporter John Lawrence (Robert Clark) joins the professor in the investigation of the craft that resembles a diving bell. A distressed humanoid that piloted the craft tries to communicate that he is from a dying planet that desperately needs aid. Very low budget and the lack of lighting actually helps the atmosphere. And the alien is one of the weirdest looking visitors to step on our planet. There is more curiosity than fear generated. This film is directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and independently made and actually distributed by United Artists, no stranger to the genre. Who can't enjoy Black and White sci-fi?Also in the cast: Margaret Field, William Schallert, David Ormont, Gilbert Fallman and Roy Engel. You may recognize Harold Gould as a frightened villager.

What can you say about a movie that pays its male lead (Clarke) all of $210, total, or its director (Ulmer) $300, total. Or whose Scottish town consists of a painting hung on a wall. Actually, you can say a lot because moviemaker Ulmer is the Orson Welles of poverty row. So, almost by magic, he turns the two or three spare sets, foggy moors, and skimpy special effects into an atmospheric little thriller worth remembering. I still recall the audience shrieks from 60 years ago when the alien lunges, face first, at the window pane and us. I'll bet there wasn't a dry seat in the house.And what a strange alien he is. The only one I've seen who's so weak, he couldn't win a wrestling match with a jelly fish. No wonder he just wants to make friends. But with a mug like an Aztecan death mask, it's difficult. Then too, where did they get the design for the space ship. That too is like nothing I've seen, looking more like a Xmas tree ornament than anything else (as another reviewer points out). However, there is Sally Field's perky mom, Margaret, with a design I can really get into. Too bad our leading man is too busy saving the world to notice.Anyhow, 60-years later, it's still a good creepy film with an energized cast that don't seem to mind the poverty row paycheck.

If this film had come out in the mid-50's, it could be dismissed as another low-budget, silly outer space invasion movie. However this movie appears to have been the first of such space invasion movies. It opened in March of 1951. Later that year came the openings of "The Thing from Another Planet" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Two other 1951 films, "When Worlds Collide" and "Superman and the Mole Men" have some space invader elements, but don't quite qualify for the genre.The fact that it was shot in six days on a budget of $43,000 makes it more amazing. Compare that to "The Thing From Another World" ($1.6 million) or the "The Day The Earth Stood Still" ($1.2 million). While none of the technical aspects come near those two movies, the movie does have an interesting style and look that foreshadows the 1953 classic "Invaders From Mars" and even has elements from "Invasino of the Body Snatchers".The movie is a little ambiguous about whether we are dealing with unfriendly (a la "The Thing")or friendly aliens (a la "The Day"). It seems a bit schizophrenic here with an alien that can be scary in one scene and downright adorable in another. Not having any prior such movies to really go by, the writers seem unsure in which direction to go.Robert Clark is fine in the lead as a newspaper reporter. Margaret Field (Sally Field's mother) is good as the female love interest. William Schallert (Uncle Martin or Papo on "The Patty Duke Show) stands out as a surprisingly creepy scientific assistant. What really carries the film is Edgar Ulmer's energetic direction. Ulmer ("Black Cat" "Dishonored Lady" and "Detour")always keeps the viewer on their toes, inserting off-beat and unexpected material in nearly every scene. It is a must for film history buffs and others will find it engagingly silly.