Claudio Carvalho The reporter John Lawrence (Robert Clarke) visits Dr. Robert Blane (Gilbert Fallman) and learns that his friend, Prof. Elliot (Raymond Bond) has discovered a new planet that is in route toward Earth and has moved to an observatory on the Burry Island to observe from a closer location. John heads to the Scottish island and is welcomed by Prof. Elliot's daughter Enid Elliot (Margaret Field), who is now a beautiful young woman. They go to the observatory to meet Prof. Elliot and John finds Dr. Mears (William Schallert), who is his disaffection. When Enid returns home after driving John to an inn in the town, she has a flat tire and finds a spacecraft landed on the island with a weird alien inside that follows her home. While Prof. Elliot and John want to investigate the reason why the alien landed on Earth, Dr. Mears has second thoughts. What are the true intentions of the extraterrestrial being?"The Man from Planet X" is a campy and lame sci-fi in black and white, but also a cult for fans (like me) of sci-fi from the 50's. The story of a close encounter with an alien is from the same year of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" that is a classic. The open end, where the true intention of the extraterrestrial being is not disclosed, is excellent. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): Not available on Blu-Ray or DVD

poe426 THE MAN FROM PLANET X has a lot going for it, not the least of which is an interesting premise: an alien from a dying world arrives on Earth (just ahead of the aforementioned dying world itself, which has been steered toward Earth), ostensibly to colonize this planet. His intentions may have been peaceful, but William Schallert as the greedy businessman "Mears" undermines any such peaceful intentions by capturing and torturing the alien. (Two years later, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE would use basically the same premise, although it would forego the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld approach.) Writer-director Ulmer makes the most of what little he has, shrouding the action and miniatures in mist and setting scenes at night (the old double-whammy of low-budget filmmaking). The alien himself isn't half bad, either (he definitely doesn't look Human), but his little ship is truly outstanding for such an obviously low-rent venture. At one point, a constable complains to reporter Lawrence: "You take the taste of the tea right out of my mouth." But it's Lawrence who delivers the best line of the movie when he tells his woman that it's best not to tell the world about the attempted invasion: "Knowledge would only bring more fear in a world already filled with it." Don't we know it...

Woodyanders A mysterious alien (Ray Goldin in a genuinely eerie costume) lands his spaceship in a remote Scottish village and stirs up the locals. Director Edgar G. Ulmer, working from a smart script by Aubrey Wisberg and Joack Pollexfen, works wonders on a very tight and modest budget: the absorbing story unfolds at a steady pace, there's a vivid evocation of the isolated fog-shrouded hamlet, and the potently gloomy and spooky atmosphere never falters for a minute. Moreover, this movie deserves extra praise for not making the extraterrestrial malevolent from the get go; the alien starts out as ambiguous in its intentions and only turns malign after being cruelly treated by evil opportunistic scientist Dr. Mears (superbly played by veteran character actor William Schallert). Kudos are also in order for the restrained and convincing acting by the sturdy cast, with especially praiseworthy work from Robert Clarke as affable American reporter John Lawrence, Margaret Field as the perky Enid Elliot, Raymond Bond as the practical Professor Elliot, and Roy Engel as resolute town constable Tommy. Both John R. Russell's sharp black and white cinematography and Charle Koff's stirring score are up to par. Recommended viewing for fans of the genre.

Jay Raskin If this film had come out in the mid-50's, it could be dismissed as another low-budget, silly outer space invasion movie. However this movie appears to have been the first of such space invasion movies. It opened in March of 1951. Later that year came the openings of "The Thing from Another Planet" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Two other 1951 films, "When Worlds Collide" and "Superman and the Mole Men" have some space invader elements, but don't quite qualify for the genre.The fact that it was shot in six days on a budget of $43,000 makes it more amazing. Compare that to "The Thing From Another World" ($1.6 million) or the "The Day The Earth Stood Still" ($1.2 million). While none of the technical aspects come near those two movies, the movie does have an interesting style and look that foreshadows the 1953 classic "Invaders From Mars" and even has elements from "Invasino of the Body Snatchers".The movie is a little ambiguous about whether we are dealing with unfriendly (a la "The Thing")or friendly aliens (a la "The Day"). It seems a bit schizophrenic here with an alien that can be scary in one scene and downright adorable in another. Not having any prior such movies to really go by, the writers seem unsure in which direction to go.Robert Clark is fine in the lead as a newspaper reporter. Margaret Field (Sally Field's mother) is good as the female love interest. William Schallert (Uncle Martin or Papo on "The Patty Duke Show) stands out as a surprisingly creepy scientific assistant. What really carries the film is Edgar Ulmer's energetic direction. Ulmer ("Black Cat" "Dishonored Lady" and "Detour")always keeps the viewer on their toes, inserting off-beat and unexpected material in nearly every scene. It is a must for film history buffs and others will find it engagingly silly.