Invasion (1966)

An alien spaceship crashes near a rural hospital. When the aliens are taken to the hospital, a mysterious force field suddenly appears around it.

Director:

Alan Bridges

Writers:

Robert Holmes (story), Roger Marshall

Stars:

Edward Judd, Yôko Tani, Valerie Gearon

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Edward Judd	...	Dr. Mike Vernon
Yôko Tani	...	Leader of the Lystrians
Valerie Gearon	...	Dr. Claire Harland
Lyndon Brook	...	Brian Carter
Ric Young	...	The Lystrian (as Eric Young)
Tsai Chin	...	Nurse Lim
Barrie Ingham	...	Major Muncaster
Anthony Sharp	...	Lawrence Blackburn
Glyn Houston	...	Police Sergeant Draycott
Ann Castle	...	Sister Evans
John Tate	...	Dundy
Jean Lodge	...	Barbara Gough
Ann Martin	...	Sister Kelly
Tony Wall	...	Ted
Peter Thomas	...	Harry

Storyline

An alien spaceship crashes near a rural hospital. When the aliens are taken to the hospital, a mysterious force field suddenly appears around it.

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Plot Keywords:

hospital | alien | spaceship | policeman | police | 

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Genres:

Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

1966 (UK)

Also Known As:

Eisvoli apo to diastima

Filming Locations:

Merton Park Studios, Merton, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Merton Park Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min 77 min (video)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Writer Robert Holmes later reused elements of this story in the first Jon Pertwee Doctor Who (1963) story, Doctor Who: Spearhead from Space: Episode 1 (1970). Like this film, it was initially set in a remote English cottage hospital complete with a mysterious and unconscious alien stranger, puzzled doctors, an army patrol, and lurking alien forces in the nearby woods.

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Connections

Featured in Son of Svengoolie: Invasion (1965) (1980)

User Reviews

Small but perfectly formed

This British film is a good example of how intelligence and care can be very adequate substitutes for big budgets and endless CGI. It was made in the sixties but I can watch it again and again while bloated modern sci-fi films are seen and soon forgotten.

It is a low key film and the people in, in the face of something alien, get on with their jobs as best they can. This makes them more like real people than a lot of films do. Each one is fallible and anxious, trying to cope with the unknown. Edward Judd is his usual morose self but is a plausible doctor. Valerie Gearon as another doctor is great. The scene where she is discovered sprawling on the carpet, reading a text book and listening to music makes you warm to her instantly. She was an under used actor in British films.

The plot is simple; a strange man in a rubbery suit is knocked down in the road, taken to hospital and discovered to be an alien. Meanwhile two other aliens are searching for him. And that's it. The atmosphere of suspense is quietly conveyed by the lighting and the black and white photography.

At one point a force field is established around the hospital. There is no CGI to show this but car stops dead and kills the driver, the temperature goes up, the hospital workers react. One believes in that force field without a penny being spent on a special effect. That is good film making. There are many such interesting British films of the fifties and sixties that need re-appraisal and will be worth looking at again when we have tired of over blown under nourishing block busters