Touches You

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

I saw this movie as a kid, and it was scarier to me then. That makes sense, actually. Most sci-fi films are that way.For it's time, the saucer and little green men (not green on screen, since it's black and white) are fairly unique, and mirror what many so-called observers in real life depict seeing (big head and little body).The movie holds up as well as it does due to the humor added. It's just not a film one can take too seriously. It's not bad enough for Mystery Science Theater inclusion, nor is it anywhere near a classic.I was always a big fan of Frank Gorshin, and he's fine in his role as a two-bit drifter out to get rich off the little creatures. He's a drinker, so an ingenious creature injects him with a bellyful of booze. I thought that was appropriate.....a drunk who planned on getting rich and ended up dying of alcohol poisoning. Too cool, but he died too soon to suit me! It's a simple little movie really. If you're an adult you can laugh at all the fun scenes, and if you're a kid, you can muster a little fear here and there. It still holds up well, after all these years.Johnboy

Invasion of the Saucer Men is set in the small American town of Hicksburg & starts late one night as a flying saucer lands in some woods nearby, several dwarf like green skinned aliens emerge & start scurrying about the woods. Teenage lovers Joe Gruen (Frank Gorshin) & Joan Hayden (Gloria Castillo) are driving through the woods when the accidentally run down one of the aliens, they head back to town to inform the authorities but the local police disbelieve their story & after the other aliens kill & substitute the body of a local man for their dead comrade the police blame Joe & Joan for his death. Now on a murder charge Joe & Joan decide to go on the run, round up their teenage mates & set out to save the Earth by fighting the alien menace themselves...This 50's sci-fi cheapie from AIP had the working title of Hell Creatures, it had the (almost) legendary Samuel Z. Arkoff as executive producer & was directed by Edward L. Cahn, based on a story called 'The Cosmic Flame' by Paul W. Fairman this is a watchable enough sci-fi film that unlike a lot of it's contemporary counterparts Invasion of the Saucer Men has a hefty dose of comedy & fairly effective (for the time) looking alien creatures. At less than 70 minutes like most other 50's sci-fi films of the period it's short & moves along at a decent enough pace but there's not too much to it when all said & done, the basic sci-fi formula is here with aliens landing in some small town, some character or other discovers them & no-one else believes them & the inevitable military intervention. The comedic elements are played up with some humorous stuff about a bull & two comedy drifters & bumbling officials. The character's are annoying teens which doesn't help but there are one or two fairly effective scenes including one where Joan is menaced by one of the aliens living severed hands in a car.The aliens themselves are only seen briefly but they look quite good, they are small with large bulbous heads with large eyeballs & thick veins, their hands also seem to detach & they have their own eyeballs as they scuttle along & wield needle like nails that seem to inject lethal amounts of alcohol into people. There doesn't seem to be any reason or purpose behind the aliens landing on Earth, they just land, walk around a bit & then get killed by the teens. The tone is uneven & it's sometimes unclear whether the makers were going for scares or laughs in any one particular scene. AIP released Invasion of the Saucer Men on a double-bill with I Was A Teenage Werewolf (1957) while it was released here in the UK under the title Invasion of the Hell Creatures.Filmed in California on an obviously low budget the production values are alright with reasonable effects for the time. The acting is nothing special & features the usual wooden & stiff performances that plague films of this type & period. Some may say it adds to the charm & fun. I don't.Invasion of the Saucer Men is another one of those black and white sci-fi cheapies from the 50's that some look back on with a certain fun nostalgia but it's not that great & it's as simple & straight forward as that as far as I am concerned. Invasion of the Saucer Men was remade for American telly by Larry Buchanan as The Eye Creatures (1965) which I haven't seen but is apparently dire.

This is one of those sci-fi movies of the 50s that obviously did not take itself too seriously. Sure, the typical invasion from outer space was the theme of the film, but the bug-eyed aliens are so gosh-darn cute and the costumes so cool you can't help but smile instead of becoming afraid. And, the script also takes a less than serious look at the invasion. Sure, it is a dopey martian invasion movie but it makes no attempt to be otherwise and that is why I liked the movie so much--for what it was, it was sure fun. So, if you do watch the film, view it more as comedy and don't be too hard on this old film! If you do, you'll find it's a delightful little time passer.

Frank Gorshen (TV's Riddler) and Lynn Oborne (from TV's Space Patrol) are the "adult" leads in the film. As traveling salesmen they find the saucermen and plan to make money by showing them around the country.There is the "teenage" couple who also find the saucermen but are not believed by authorities. These are the two parallel story lines. This is one of the first movies to use the "teenagers save the world" theme that became popular during this period.The saucermen makeup is well done by the makeup genius of that period, Paul Blaisdell. His balloon-headed, bug-eyed, mini-martians are still one of my favorites and their photos and other likeness still appear from time to time. Unfortunately, at the time of this review this movie is not available on Video or DVD. But we can hope!