Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)

A young alien and a teenage earthling fall in love, and plot to stop the alien's race from using Earth as a food-breeding ground for giant lobsters from their planet.

Director:

Tom Graeff

Writer:

Tom Graeff

Stars:

David Love, Dawn Bender, Bryan Grant

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Love	...	Derek
Dawn Bender	...	Betty Morgan (as Dawn Anderson)
Bryan Grant	...	Thor
Harvey B. Dunn	...	Gramps Morgan
Tom Graeff	...	Joe Rogers (as Tom Lockyear)
King Moody	...	Spacecraft Captain (as Robert King Moody)
Helen Sage	...	Nurse Morse
Frederick Welch	...	Dr. C.R. Brandt, MD (as Frederic Welch)
Carl Dickinson	...	Gas Station Attendant (as Carl Dickensen)
Sonia Torgeson	...	Alice Woodward
Billy Bridges	...	Driver Picking Up Thor
James Conklin	...	Prof. Simpson
Gene Sterling	...	The Alien Leader
Ralph Lowe	...	Moreal - Spaceship Crew
Bill DeLand	...	Saul - Spaceship Crew

Storyline

A young alien (David Love) falls for a pretty teenage Earth girl (Dawn Anderson) and they team up to try to stop the plans of his invading cohorts, who intend to use Earth as a food-breeding ground for giant lobsters from their planet. The invaders, who arrive in a flying saucer, carry deadly ray guns that turn Earth-people into skeletons.

---

Plot Keywords:

giant lobster | flying saucer | power plant | betrayal | sabotage | 

---

Taglines:

Thrill-crazed space kids blasting the flesh off humans!

---

Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 June 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

Invasion of the Gargon

Filming Locations:

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

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tom Graeff Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min 72 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Final film of Dawn Bender. She would leave show business to become a schoolteacher. She has since retired.

---

Goofs

About half of the film is supposed to take place at night. You can tell because they say things like "when it gets light" and the interiors of the car are dark. Despite this, it is clearly daylight in every single exterior shot.

---

Quotes

Betty Morgan: Derek, this is Alice.
Alice Woodward: Derek! Hey, I like that. Come on in! The water's fine!

---

Crazy Credits

All of the film's main "Production Associates" (financiers) appeared in the movie under assumed names: Bryan G. Pearson (Thor, as Bryan Grant), Ursula Pearson - uncredited (Hilda, as Ursula Hansen), Tom Graeff (Joe Rogers, as Tom Lockyear), and Charles Robert Kaltenthaler (Derek, as David Love). Gene Sterling, also listed as a "Production Associate" makes a cameo as "The Leader."

---

Connections

Featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Teenagers from Outer Space (1992)

---

Soundtracks

Eerie Dramatic (L-653)
(uncredited)
Music by Spencer Moore

User Reviews

Apparently there is juvenile delinquency on other planets too.

I first saw this film when I was only 7 and even then I knew there was something . . .well . . .different about it. For one thing those are the oldest looking teenagers I ever saw; then again all those JD movies offered actors who looked too old even for college in the roles of "kids" so we can't hold that fact against this film. The reason the aliens have come to our world is also atypical of 1950's films. They don't want to conquer the Earth, they don't want to re-populate a war devastated world. They are hungry and in need of a square meal and Earth is the perfect spot to breed the creatures they use as food! They call the creatures Gargans but they look a lot like lobsters. Of course since this is a science fiction picture, the atmosphere of Earth causes the Gargans to grow so large a single one could keep a Red Lobster in business for months! the effects budget was so low we never see the actual giant monster, just an empty travelling matte!

Most memorable are the ray guns used by the bad aliens . . .er . . .the intergalactic juvenile delinquents. As the original trailer said "They blast the flesh off humans!" and quite a few people get zapped into skeletons. There is one good alien, a sensitive fellow named Derek (David Love) who stands alone against his own people when he suggests they go raise their favourite meal on some other planet. Derek is unaware that he is the son of the leader of the planet, a fact which is not exploited nearly as much as it should be in this film.

The cast includes Harvey B. Dunn, best remembered as the police inspector in BRIDE OF THE MONSTER. Harvey was a professional clown and performed at parties with his trick bird (the bird appears in BRIDE also). Yes it's an offbeat film but worth a look. Get ready for a tearjerker ending that is telegraphed well in advance.