This Island Earth (1955)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Joseph M. Newman

Writers:

Raymond F. Jones (story)
Franklin Coen (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

29 July 1955 (Finland)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The supreme excitement of our time!

Plot:

Aliens come to Earth seeking scientists to help them in their war.

Plot Keywords:

Scientist | Alien | Kidnapped | Flying Saucer | Doctor

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Jeff Morrow	...	Exeter
Faith Domergue	...	Dr. Ruth Adams
Rex Reason	...	Dr. Cal Meacham
Lance Fuller	...	Brack
Russell Johnson	...	Steve Carlson
Douglas Spencer	...	The Monitor of Metaluna
Robert Nichols	...	Joe Wilson
Karl Ludwig Lindt	...	Dr. Adolph Engelborg (as Karl L. Lindt)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Charlotte Lander	...	Metaluna woman at decompression console

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Perspecta Sound encoding) (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | West Germany:12 | UK:PG

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Trivia:

Most of the sound effects, the ship, the interociter, etc are simply recordings of radio teletype transmissions picked up on a short wave radio played at various speeds.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: The sequence described starts at ~1:23:40 into the film. When the aircraft in which Drs. Meacham and Adams make their escape from the saucer is viewed in the bay, the number shown (N97422) is on the right upper wing. When the aircraft is released, and banks away, the number is on the left wing and is mirrored. The film was apparently inadvertently reversed.

Quotes:

Dr. Cal Meacham: What do you think of Mr. Mozart, Exeter?
Exeter: I'm afraid I don't know the gent.... My mind must have been wandering. Your composer, of course.
Dr. Cal Meacham: "Our" composer! He belongs to the world.
Exeter: Yes, indeed.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009)

Soundtrack:

Eine kleine Nachtmusik: 2nd Movement

A Great Film

I saw this film for the first time when I was about 10 years old and it has always stuck with me and when I saw it was on video I bought it immediately. I think that this is more than a B picture and what people have to remember is the fact that this film was made before all the great advances in special effects. Another thing that made it interesting was the fact that through the first half of the film you really didn't know if Exeter was human or alien. It wasn't until the second half of the film that we did see there was more to this mysterious group. This film is definitely an underrated classic of its era.