Phantom from Space (1953)

An alien being with the power of invisibility lands in Santa Monica. Killing two people who attacked him due to the menacing appearance of his spacesuit, the creature takes it off while ... See full summary »

Director:

W. Lee Wilder

Writers:

William Raynor (screenplay) (as Bill Raynor), Myles Wilder (screenplay)

Stars:

Ted Cooper, Tom Daly, Steve Acton

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ted Cooper	...	Hazen
Tom Daly	...	Charlie
Steve Acton	...	Operator
Burt Wenland	...	Joe
Lela Nelson	...	Betty Evans
Harry Landers	...	Lieutenant Bowers
Bert Arnold	...	Darrow
Sandy Sanders	...	Policeman
Harry Strang	...	Neighbor
Jim Bannon	...	Police Sergeant
Jack Daly	...	Wakeman
Michael Mark	...	Watchman
Rudolph Anders	...	Dr. Wyatt
James Seay	...	Major Andrews
Noreen Nash	...	Barbara Randall

Storyline

An alien being with the power of invisibility lands in Santa Monica. Killing two people who attacked him due to the menacing appearance of his spacesuit, the creature takes it off while being pursued by government authorities.

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Plot Keywords:

outer space | flying saucer | invisible being | ultraviolet ray | spaceship crash | 

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Taglines:

WHAT was he?

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 May 1953 (USA)

Also Known As:

El fantasma del espacio

Filming Locations:

Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Planet Filmplays

Technical Specs

Runtime:

73 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White (archive material) Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Working with most of the same crew, this was one of several early 1950s films made by Wilder and son Myles on a financing-for-distribution basis with United Artists and, on occasion, RKO Radio Pictures.

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Goofs

One witness questioned by police Lieutenant Bowers describes the alien as a "giant of a man", yet later when the alien is seen jumping down from some stairs into an empty lot and takes off running and knocking over the photographer, the alien appears to be only of medium height.

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Quotes

Bill Randall: [knocks on lab door] Barbara? Barbara, are you in there?
Barbara Randall: Bill, listen to me. I'm not alone. Someone is in here with me. I can't see him. He locked the door and has the key.
Bill Randall: I'll break the door down!
Barbara Randall: No, Bill, don't! Please! You better get help!

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Crazy Credits

Apart from the film's title, all the cast, crew, additional credits and information appear in the closing credits.

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Alternate Versions

Also available in a colorized version.

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Connections

Featured in Horrible Horror (1986)

User Reviews

A Decent Effort

As low-budget 1950's sci-fi stuff goes, this movie turns out to be relatively entertaining, certainly better than a lot of similar type movies from the era. The movie is set on a single night, and follows various government officials (police, military and communications) in the search for an alien being who's crash landed on earth, and who's killed a couple of people. The problem in finding him is that he's invisible, except when under ultra-violet lights. The effects are really what makes this seem very low-budget. They're pretty typical for the era, which means not very good. The movie also gets off to a bit of a slow start, as all we get to do for a while is watch "Mobile 1" and "Mobile 7" keep reporting into "Central" as they try to pinpoint the location of a mysterious signal of some type that's blocking communications. The first 10-15 minutes contain a lot of "Roger, Wilco, Out" kind of stuff. However, the actual story isn't bad and has a bit of mild suspense about it, particularly because we're not really sure about the motive of the alien. Did he deliberately kill the two people, or was it an accident or possibly self-defence? Ultimately, I thought this was a decent enough movie to spend a bit of time with. 6/10