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Posted over at the B Movie Forum, but no luck. Here's what I remember ( I think): Late 50's, early 60's, it's about a mad doctor/scientist who sets about killing people by calling them on the phone, and he releases this thing that looks like a big beanie which follows signals from the phone line to the victim, where it drops down on his head and squashes his brains out. I remember this from the previews, never saw the movie, too scared. Memories from 50 years ago can be foggy, so if anyone has an idea, I'd really appreciate it!

Sort of sounds like one of the Jon Pertwee Episodes of Dr. Who

Another possibility is Murder by Phone

 The head squashing thing sort of sound like the automatic haircut machine from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

"Not of this Earth" (1957) is a very good candidate.

Good call. Not of this Earth does seem to fit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q2FyvMAAXc&NR=1
Attack is at 3:40.

I couldn't place it, but it sounded so familiar, and weird enough I figured it shouldn't be too hard to find. Tried to search for terms related to remote head crushing devices in movies, but mostly turned up references to The Kids in the Hall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkQ8cpPsoWU&feature=related
A madman crushing people's heads from a distance is pretty unique for a horror movie, but not unique enough for Google. :bouncegiggle:

I remember Not Of This Earth, not it. Beverly Garland was hot for a teenager, though.

OK, now this is going to bug me until somebody figures it out.

Unfortunately "Not of this Earth" is the only good suggestion I have.  What you describe sounds like it could copy the plot of "The Devil Bat" in some ways.  Since the memory is 50 years old, and you only saw the preview, this is a hard one.  Let me ask some questions to see if they will help:

Any idea of what year or decade you saw the preview?
What did the scientist look like?
How many victims do you remember?
Any specifics about the deaths?  Was blood visible?  Were brains visitble?
Any more specifics on the beanie?  Was it really big?  Just big enough to fit onto the temples?

I'm DL'ing Not of this Earth now just to make sure, but this is what I remember. A middle aged man sitting at a desk, answering a phone. The caller then releases this flying hat that looked like half a big football with a little antenna on top. It flew to the victim following the phone line. Then it cut to the victim who had just hung up the phone. This thing drifted through a window behind him and dropped on his head. Lots of blood and stuff.

"Not of this Earth" (1957); it almost has to be.  Watch from about 2:00 to 4:00 in the YouTube clip that AndyC posted:

Not of this Earth does seem very close. The attack is preceded by a phone call, although not to the victim. The guy is sitting at a desk, and the thing drifts in through the window behind him and drops onto his head, followed by blood coming out. The differences could be due to it being a memory from 50 years ago, combined with it being a kid's impression of what was happening in a brief film clip. It could even be that the trailer was cut together in a way that might have suggested a different course of events than what appeared in the movie.

Only two things make me uncertain. The OP seems to be familiar with Not of this Earth and says that isn't it (again, could be a trick of memory). I also can't find a trailer for Not of this Earth that shows the attack.

NOTE is about 90% done, I should know soon. I was only 10 in 1957, amazing how clear the details from this preview are to me. Will report back, unless I have a heart attack from repressed fear.

Well, you folks were on it 100%! I burned it and fast forwarded just to find what I was looking for. The film is in amazingly good condition considering its age. Thanks again!

Need to move this to solved.

Hooray!  It's a cool film, too.  Shout! Factory released it on DVD as part of a triple feature (Not of This Earth, Attack of the Crab Monsters, and War of the Satellites).  Highly recommended.

Not Of This Earth was a elective for repeated viewing in our area when I was a little guy, as it played on WNEW 5's Creature Features (Tri-State Area)  many times, as did Attack Of The Crab Monsters.

N.O.T.E. had a remake with Traci Lords in it years back, but it's fallen into obscurity to the point where it's vitually unheard of, but that's OK, because if some of the young un's here don't know who Traci Lords is, there's a lot of us guys who DO.

Right, guys?   :smile: