This Island Earth (1955)
Directed by Joseph M. Newman

Film Review

An unmanned aircraft is sent to collect Cal and a short time later the scientist finds himself in a remote area of Georgia.  He is greeted by a familiar face - Dr Ruth Adams, another eminent scientist, although she seems strangely unable to remember the good times they once shared.  Cal is taken to a secret research establishment where he meets Exeter and other scientists, including Dr Carlson.  Convinced that Exeter's project has a malevolent purpose, Cal, Ruth and Carlson make a bid to escape.

When Carlson is killed by a powerful ray, Cal and Ruth try to fly away in a small plane.  A flying saucer suddenly appears from nowhere and emits a beam that locks onto Cal and Ruth's plane, drawing them into the ship.  It is now that the two scientists learn the truth.  Exeter and his cohorts come from a far away world, Metaluna.  They came to Earth in search of scientists and uranium deposits that will save their own world from attack by their deadly enemies, the Zagons.  When the spaceship reaches Metaluna, the planet's protective shield has all but been destroyed by the Zagons' relentless bombardment.  Only one course remains open to the Metalunans - they must leave their world and colonise the planet Earth...

It is all too easy to lampoon This Island Earth for its dated effects, hackneyed plot, dodgy sets and even dodgier acting, but in its day it was one of the most ambitious and exciting science fiction films ever to hit a cinema screen.  Most sci-fi films made in the early 1950s were low budget pictures made in black-and-white.  They rarely featured aliens and seldom ventured to other worlds.  By contrast, This Island Earth was a leap into the unknown - a bold Technicolor spectacle that not only gave us one of cinema's most iconic monsters (the grotesque slave mutant) but transported us into the deepest reaches of space, to a far flung planet with the exotic name Metaluna.  Two and a half years in the making, this film ought to have been the Star Wars of its day, with its groundbreaking special effects, thrilling action scenes and an inspired vision of another civilisation.

Unfortunately, nothing dates faster than a science-fiction movie.  Today, This Island Earth feels so like a compendium of old sci-fi clichés that it is virtually impossible to watch without either cringing or sniggering at.  Take a few average episodes of Lost In Space and Star Trek, splice them together in your mind, and the resulting mishmash probably bears more than a passing resemblance to this film.   Just why are other films of this era, such as Forbidden Planet and The War of the Worlds, still highly thought of, whilst This Island Earth is generally seen in such a bad light?  The problem may lie in the fact that This Island Earth was so popular and innovative in its day that it inspired a whole raft of inferior sci-fi films, which reused many of its concepts ad nauseum.  What was fresh and original in This Island Earth soon became a weary cliché and, inevitably, the film that started the ball rolling itself began to resemble a mass of clichés.

Judged on its own merits, This Island Earth is an exceptional film for its time.  The visual effects were ahead of their time and would provide the basis for effects that would later be used in Star Wars and other, more highly regarded, sci-fi classics.  The plot may be muddled and overly complicated, but it vividly reflects the Cold War anxieties of the day and prevailing concerns over the misappropriation of scientific endeavour for military use.  This Island Earth is not as sophisticated and well-loved as other 1950s sci-fi movies, but it is arguably one of the most important films in the genre.

Film Synopsis

Dr Cal Meacham, an authority in electronics and nuclear physics, is surprised when he receives an unusual electronic component instead of the high voltage condenser he ordered. He then receives more strange equipment, including a schematic that instructs him how to build a device called an Interocitor.  Once assembled, the strange device comes to life and the face of a man with white hair and a high forehead appears on a screen.  Introducing himself as Exeter, the stranger congratulates Dr Meacham on his ability to construct the Interocitor and tells him that he has been selected to join his research project.