The Brain from Planet Arous (1957)

Director:

Nathan Juran

Writer:

Ray Buffum (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 October 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

It Will Steal Your Body And Damn Your Soul!

Plot:

A powerful criminal brain from the planet Arous, Gor, assumes the body of scientist Steve March. Thru...

Plot Keywords:

Brain | Low Budget Film | Archive Footage | Decay | Radioactive Eyes

Cast

John Agar	...	Steve March
Joyce Meadows	...	Sally Fallon
Robert Fuller	...	Dan Murphy
Thomas Browne Henry	...	John Fallon (as Thomas B. Henry)
Ken Terrell	...	Colonel in Conference Room (as Kenneth Terrell)
Henry Travis	...	Colonel Frogley
E. Leslie Thomas	...	General Brown
Tim Graham	...	Sheriff Wiley Pane
Bill Giorgio	...	Russian

Runtime:

71 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | UK:PG | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Marquette Productions Ltd.

Trivia:

Although some sources list Morris Ankrum as being in the cast, he does not appear in the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Steve looks at the page torn from the encyclopedia in the endgame, the shot shows the page still attached to the book, even after the girl had torn it out.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Svengoolie: The Brain from Planet Arous" (1996)

Just why did Shirley Temple's ex star in these kinds of movies?

My 10/10 rating of course only applies because I assume that only '50s-B-movie fetishists would even take any interest in "The Brain from Planet Arous". But previous reviewers have noted that this movie takes a slightly different approach: criminal brain Gor comes to earth to inhabit a man's body and thereby rule the universe, while police brain Vol arrives in search of the criminal brain (meaning that most of the brains on Planet Arous are good guys). Therefore, even non-fetishists should take some interest in this movie.

The characters are pretty much what one would expect: the men are all hot-headed, while the one woman is desperate. The main character Steve March is played by John Agar, aka Shirley Temple's first husband. I also saw him in "Journey to the Seventh Planet" (although I paid slightly more attention to the hot babes in that one). Maybe he starred in '50s and '60s B-sci-fi movies because his reputation as Shirley Temple's ex limited his opportunities (actually, I don't know whether that limited his opportunities). Also starring are Joyce Meadows as Steve's hubby Sally Fallon, Thomas Brown Henry as her father John, and Dale Tate as the voices of Gor and Vol. If this had ever gotten shown on "MST3K", Mike or Servo or Crow probably would have said "If Planet Arous has a brain, why didn't the people behind this movie?" But I personally didn't think find this a bad movie. Like any '50s sci-fi flick, you have to accept it for what it is.