Hot Picks
|
|
|
The Beast with a Million Eyes
USA 1955
produced by David Kramarsky, Roger Corman (executive) for San Mateo Productions, Palo Alto Productions/American Releasing Corporation
directed by David Kramarsky, Lou Place (uncredited), Roger Corman (uncredited)
starring Paul Birch, Lorna Thayer, Dona Cole, Dick Sargent, Leonard Tarver, Bruce Whitmore (voice), Chester Conklin
written by Tom Filer, music by John Bickford, special effects by Paul Blaisdell
review by Mike Haberfelner
|
|
Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
|
|
|
|
|
Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, rural USA: The Kelley family has
seen better days, father Allan (Paul Birch) pretty much sees himself as a
failure for not making any money off his farm anymore, mother Carol (Lorna
Thayer) sees farm life more and more as her personal prison, and daughter
Sandy (Dona Cole) just feels generally misunderstood. And then there's the
creepy farmhand, Carl (Leonard Tarver), a mentally challenged mute who
Allan insists on keeping, who doesn't sit well with either Carol or Sandy. ...
and then something passes over their heads that breaks all the windows and
glasses and china of their home by vibration - which seems to be the last
straw for Carol, who lets her frustration out, towards Allan, Sandy and
Carl. But what nobody knows, that something was actually an UFO that has
landed nearby and that houses an extraterrestrial intelligence able to
control animals and even people who are weak of mind. So eventually, the
Kelley's are attacked by birds, a neighbour (silent movie slapstick
comedian Chester Conklin) is killed by his own cow, and Carol eventually
has to kill the family dog in self defense. This flips a switch with Carol
though, and seeing how the family sticks together makes her rediscover
love for her husband and daughter. Meanwhile though, the alien
intelligence has brought Carl under its command, and Carl soon abducts
Sandy to bring it to the UFO for experimentation. But Allan intercepts
Carl just in time to appeal to the human inside him, and Carl hands Sandy
over to Allan before being killed by the alien intelligence - and when the
intelligence realizes it's powerless against the love of the Kelleys, it
just dies. Dick Sargent, in a very early role, plays the deputy out to
help the Kelleys and Sandy's love interest, but he only achieves very
little. Now this movie is a very early example of the typical
marketing practices of the American Releasing Corporation, which
was soon to become American
International Pictures or AIP
for short, back in the day: First a catchy title was made up and a
sensationalist ad campaign complete with an exciting poster was launched,
to then have someone develop a script and have it filmed on a low budget.
In this case that someone was low budget legend in the making Roger
Corman, who had a three picture deal with American Releasing
Corporation (with the other two films being The
Fast and the Furious and Five
Guns West), and who basically didn't stand a chance to live up to
the hype (and the poster) created with the money at hand. But that said,
Tom Filer did a very good job delivering a decent script (apart from the
somewhat sappy ending maybe) that's character-driven rather than just
going through the motions of a creature feature. Also, the acting is very
solid in this one, which is nevertheless let down by a budget that
wouldn't allow for the effects work needed to make this a masterpiece.
Still worth a look, and certainly one of the more intelligent creature
features gracing the grindhouses of its time.
|
|
|