Space Master X-7 (1958)

A fungus brought from space threatens to grow and spread, devouring everyone in its path.

Director:

Edward Bernds

Writers:

George Worthing Yates (original screenplay), Daniel Mainwaring (original screenplay)

Stars:

Bill Williams, Lyn Thomas, Robert Ellis

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Bill Williams	...	John Hand
Lyn Thomas	...	Laura Greeling
Robert Ellis	...	Pvt. Joe Rattigan
Paul Frees	...	Dr. Charles T. Pommer / Train-Station Announcer
Rhoda Williams	...	Stewardess Archer
Joan Barry	...	Jean Meyers - brunet
Carol Varga	...	Elaine Frohman
Thomas Browne Henry	...	Prof. West
Thomas Wilde	...	Collins
Fred Sherman	...	Mr. Morse - Hotel Manager
Gregg Martell	...	Jim Dale - plane engineer
Jess Kirkpatrick	...	Pilot Vaccarino
Court Shepard	...	Hendry - Battalion Fire Chief
Moe Howard	...	Retlinger - Cab Driver
Al Baffert	...	Plane passenger

Storyline

A space probe returns to Earth covered with a strange fungus. The fungus is accidentally tinged with human blood and is transformed into an ever-growing pile of space rust, dubbed "Blood Rust". It is up to John Hand and Joe Rattigan to find the one woman who can stop the rust from spreading and taking over the world.

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Plot Keywords:

fungus | blood rust | stock footage | belly landing | stewardess | 

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Taglines:

...piercing new universes of adventure!

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

June 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

Doomsday

Filming Locations:

Union Station - 800 N. Alameda Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$125,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Regal Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

71 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the scene where Laura enters the train station (Los Angeles' Union Station) you overhear an announcement regarding a departing train. The announcer was none other than Paul Frees, as usual doing multiple voices in a given film.

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Goofs

Prior to landing the blood rust is seen outside the plane windows, and passengers react in panic to this sight; however, there is no sign of the fungus as the plane lands, nor immediately after as the passengers are now calmly offloaded and taken to waiting buses.

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Quotes

Pvt. Joe Rattigan: [to the stewardess] Are there any other brunettes on this flight wearing tweed coarts?

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Connections

Referenced in Men in Black II (2002)

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Soundtracks

Urgent Fire
(uncredited)
Music by William Loose and John Seely
Sam Fox Music Library

User Reviews

Better than I expected.

When I was kid, I used to sometimes see stills or brief mentions of this film in science fiction movie books or in the pages of "monster" magazines. But for some strange reason this film never turned up on TV, even though other science fiction offerings made by Fox from the same period often did. No one I knew had seen it except for older people who saw it when it was first released in 1958 to theaters. Having seen it recently on video, I can tell you that SPACE MASTER X 7 is no "lost" classic, but its a not bad low budget drive in feature with a slightly unusual menace and director Edward Byrnes deserves credit for trying hard to make a serious (sometimes he tries to hard) adult science fiction thriller. Done in a semi-documentary style, Byrnes sometimes slows down the films pace but overall its not a bad job.

One area of interest to film buffs is the films casting. We have Paul ("man of a thousands voices") Frees in a surprisingly large on screen role as a "heel" scientist who accidently unleashes the "blood rust". Of course the person often mentioned in this film is Moe Howard of the Three Stooges, in a rare character part as a cab driver who helps the feds track down a woman who was exposed to the deadly alien fungus. This film was made when the stooges career was in limbo; between the time Columbia dropped the stooges because it was no longer interested in making shorts, and the time before they boys returned to the screen for feature films. Director Byrnes began his film career directing 3 Stooges shorts, and was good friends with the boys, so it was he who probably got Moe a part in the picture.