IT! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958)

[trekgeezer]

Funny, in the movie IT! was from Mars.

Col. Carruthers (Marshall Thompson) was the first man in space and now in 1973 his Mars mission is a bust. The ship broke up and crashed. All of the other nine crew members are killed by something.

When the rescue ship arrives and only finds Carruthers , they think he killed the others to insure he had enough supplies until a rescue arrived. The commander of the rescue ship, Col. Van Heusen (I kid you not), plans on making him confess on the ride home to earth. .

But dang it someone leaves the emergency hatch open and the thing that killed the other crew sneaks aboard and starts causing trouble. He proves pretty much indestructable and believe me the crew tries everything. Rigging hand grenades to air vents, shooting him repeatedly with 45's and M-1's, gassing him, and even firing a bazooka which misses even though he can't be more than ten feet away.  Finally they blow the airlock suffocating him.

This movie has been called the inspiration for Alien, but if I remember in Alien they used flamethrowers and cattle prods to keep from blowing a hole in the hull with the guns. Evidently space ships in the 50's were of far more sturdy construction.

Not a too bad movie for this genre and the sets were actually pretty decent.  The monster is a creation of Paul Blaisdell who created a lot of movie monsters back in the 50's. The creature is played by stunt man Ray "Crash" Corrigan.

Every time I see Marshall Thompson I can't help but think of him in a old 60's TV series called Daktari where his co-stars were Clarence the cross-eyed(and toothless) lion and Judy the Chimp.



Post Edited (04-22-05 11:15)

[Daniel Johnson]

  Yeah, I got this for Xmas a couple years ago, pretty good 50's sci-fi movie actually. I can see how it's an inspiration for Alien on some levels, but probably not as much as I've read that it's been given credit for.

[Gerry]

I love this movie!  The monster is pretty creepy.  Would have scared the socks off of me as a kid.  There is a genuine sense of peril and a lot of the characters don't make it through to the end.  This probably ranks as one of my favorite monster movies of the 50s.

[AndyC]

This movie has everything you want to see in a film of the time:

A rocket that's bigger inside than outside

People smoking on a spacecraft

Women (women scientists no less) clearing the table and pouring coffee

Guys hanging grenades all over part of their life support systems

And on top of that, it's a really good story with a cool monster. What more could you want?

[BoyScoutKevin]

A little OT, but the television series "Daktari" was based on the film "Clarence, the Cross-eyed Lion." I haven't seen it in some time, but I remember it as being a really fun film to watch. Especially the scene where Richard Haydn gets stranded out there in the bush, and encounters Clarence, and not knowing Clarence wouldn't hurt him, gets down on his knees and starts reciting: "Now, I lay me down to sleep . . ." Thinking this is his last moments on earth.

As a side note, lion cubs are actually born cross-eyed, but sometime later, their eyes uncross. Just for some reason, Clarence's eyes never uncrossed.

[Ozzymandias]

I saw a documentary that claimed this movie had subliminal messages in it. Maybe it was just the trailer.

[peter johnson]

This was the first horror/sci-fi movie I ever watched with my Dad.
We watched it together at 1 in the afternoon, at home, on a bright, sunny day.
Even with the commercial breaks, this thing scared the Willies out of me --
Let me go out on a limb here & say that far from being an "inspiration" for Alien, Alien was a stone-cold ripoff of IT!
Now, I love Alien and its sequels, too, but c'mon!:  The Dr. Girl, updated to Ripley, the encounter with the failed mission/the alien spacecraft, how it eats through all the steel like silver-painted tissue paper(!!), and especially the whole "Death by Airlock" plot device after every other weapon has failed.
If this had gone to court, I can't think of a judge who would NOT have found for IT! as having been copyright infringed by the whole Alien franchise.
Anyway, if you ain't seen IT!, you should . . .
IT's what we live for . . .
peter johnson/denny crane

[AndyC]

Don't forget that IT also hides in the ventilation system, just like Alien.

The other big influence on Alien would have to be Queen of Blood. Earth heroes mount a rescue mission to crashed alien spaceship on Mars, bring back one survivor who starts dining on the crew when she gets them alone. This "queen" also lays slimy, pulsating eggs all over the ship, which could spell disaster if they reach Earth. Can't quite remember, but I think somebody on Earth wanted them brought back for study.

So, combine IT with Queen of Blood, add maybe a dash of Dark Star, some Giger art and post-Star Wars effects, et voila. Alien.

[trekgeezer]

The writer (Dan O'Bannon) of Alien actually co-wrote and acted in Dark Star. I think IT! probably influenced both movies.

[AndyC]

Yeah, I figured the one somewhat different thing in Dark Star that carried over into Alien was the crew of working-class misfits far from home. So, I figured it deserved a mention. Otherwise, I don't think Dark Star and Alien have all that much in common, even if one is often credited as the forerunner of the other.

[Andrew]

I would also add to the plot mix, that became "Alien," the movie "Planet of the Vampires."  Ship goes to investigate a mysterious alien signal and finds a hideous skeleton.  Quite a mix.

I also think that the monster suit was pretty neat.  The monster's fright factor is its living in the airlocks, feeding on the crew.  That and the monster feeding in "The Beast from Haunted Cave" always give me a chill.

[Flangepart]

I love IT! T.F.B.S.....Dakari goes to mars!
And as i said when watching this with some like minded friends, ain"t it nice to have such great accoustics , you can hear a death scream from one end of the ship to the other? Just like in GREEN SLIME....

[John]

I remember watching this movie as a little kid, and it being the first movie that had me asking the parents for water, extra trips to the bathroom, and finally having them do the "under the bed and closet search" to prove to me that thing wasn't in my bedroom. Haven't watched it since then, and  I'm quite sure the effects are laughable compared to what we have nowadays, but back then it scared the daylights out of me! It's been close to 45 years since I've seen it, and it always stuck with me!

[Scott]

Bombs and firearms being used in the ship was what I remember most about the film. It was a neat little story.