(1955)
Dir - David Kramarsky/Lou Place/Donald Myers/Roger Corman
Overall: MEH
Notable as the first credited work for special effects man Paul Blaisdell, one of several rushed/no money shooting jobs from Roger Corman, and for having a completely misleading movie poster, The Beast with a Million Eyes, (The Unseen), has some interesting ideas yet understandably fails to realize them under its inadequate production means. AIP founders James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff were responsible for giving the initial script "The Unseen" its new, flashier title and also for insisting upon a visible spaceship and alien to make an appearance as both were previously meant to be invisible as to save on the already razor-thin budget. The resulting movie features footage completed by four different directors and there were issues with non-union crew members along the way. Furthermore, Blaisdell was tasked with making the monster for a hilariously measly $200, a monster who shows up for three seconds and whose scenes were allegedly shot in ten minutes. The finished results are surprisingly coherent under the circumstances, but it is almost entirely a talky affair just with a couple of attacks from animals, a mute brute, and a piercing siren noise that is probably more annoying for the viewer than for the characters on screen.
(1956)
Dir - Fred M. Wilcox
Overall: GOOD
One of the most influential science fiction films ever made, Forbidden Planet helped break much ground, some of which did not even see its fulfillment until decades later. Intellectual concepts such as the subconscious' id, blossoming sexual innocence, and the advancement of superior intellect ultimately undoing an entire species all intermingle with each other. This was also one of the first genre films to take place entirely outside of Earth, feature a completely electronic musical score, and have a robot with an actual personality. Visually, the costume design and visual effects are helplessly dated, but they still look wonderful in an otherworldly manner that is appropriate and fun for the material. The same goes for the spectacular, elaborate set design which looks impressive when exploring the miles of subterranean, alien power systems. The story is a tweak on William Shakespeare's The Tempest, which in and of itself is a much bolder concept for 1950s science fiction than merely providing another parallel for Cold War paranoia. Also long before his exclusive switch to zany comedy, a thirty year-old Leslie Nielsen has one of his most memorable dramatic roles as Commander John J. Adams.
(1959)
Dir - Herbert S. Greene
Overall: MEH
The only film made by the Futura Productions company and one of only two directorial efforts from Herbert S. Greene, The Cosmic Man is a typically dull bit of low-budget sci-fi from an era that was ripe with many of them. Filmed in a rushed and uninspired manner with only a scant few special effects shots, it falls into the inevitable cliche of being almost entirely made up of boring Caucasian actors standing and/or sitting in rooms while trading inconsequential dialog with each other. Bruce Bennett plays the square-jawed hero with no charisma, Angela Greene's only job is to look pretty, there is a stupid "Aw shucks golly gee-wiz" kid, and actors in military costumes discuss what should be done about their newfound extraterrestrial threat. John Carradine as the title being from another world may be enticing to genre fans, but he is given a detrimentally small amount of screen time and is invisible for half of his scenes anyway, though his famous, bellowing voice still gets to spout off various The Day the Earth Stood Still-adjacent warnings to mankind. As a forgettable and dated cheapie that was merely meant to fulfill seventy-odd minutes on a drive-in double-bill, it could be worse, but make no mistake; forgettable it surely is.
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