Not of This Earth (1957)

Load of rubbish!!

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Better Late Then Never

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

It's a real pleasure to be able to access and see "Not of This Earth" in a great transfer DVD after being obscure for such a long time. Kudos to the folks at Shout Factory for bringing one of Roger Corman's best Allied Artists drive in flicks back to sci-fi fans after so long. NOTE has been a bit of a legend for a long time. Originally released on a drive-in double bill with the seafood classic "Attack of the Crab Monsters", NOTE disappeared from view sometime in the mid-60s after it popped up now and then on local "chiller/shock" late night TV with some local dressed up as Dracula doing the scary movie hosting.NOTE was a really remarkable effort, running a scant 60 minutes. The Corman regulars are here, hipster Dick Miller, stoic Paul Birch, the lovely scream queen Beverly Garland, a surprisingly hunky Jonathan Haze, and a briefly seen umbrella-creature designed by the legendary Paul Blaisdell. A terse story about an alien sent to Earth to seek out blood. Not a vampire, but close enough. Paul Birch's "Mr. Johnson" is a real piece of work: wooden, unemotional, thirsty, and evidently a ringer sent to Earth by his superiors on the planet Davanna to find subjects that will reinfuse the radioactive blood of the residents. The Davannites have been poisoned by atomic war and need fresh blood. Mr. Johnson sends victims back to his world by means of a teleportation machine he hides in the closet of his mansion. The scenes of interaction between Johnson and his superior are very unsettling. Understated, like everything else in this odd flick.Paul Birch, the white-eyed alien, is given great support by the other actors, including a brief but chilling appearance by a female alien played by Anne Carrol. The female Davannite falls victim to a transfusion of rabid dog blood. "There is activity inside me" she telepathically tells Johnson. Little time is wasted in this tale of interplanetary hunting, using a sharp script and tight direction by Roger Corman. The last shot in the movie is terrific.If you love the drive-in classics of the Fabulous Fifties, seek out NOTE and marvel at how well it's done. No cucumber Venusians conquering the world or 50 foot women, just a rarity from Corman: a superior scifi thriller that rose above it's humble origins.

As cheap and cheesy as this is, it is pretty captivating and has some wonderful characters. Some aliens from a dying planet are teleported to earth to find blood. They have the ability to look into the eyes of a person and drop them to the ground. They then remove the blood and do whatever is necessary with he bodies. Paul Birch plays the principle alien, hiding behind dark glasses so his lifeless eyes can't be seen. Beverly Garland is hired to look after him (he is actually dying and needs the blood to survive). He also hires Jonathan Haze (Little Shop of Horrors), an idiot ex-convict to be his driver and helper. Of course, clues start forming and our young woman, despite being warned, starts to do too much investigating. There is some really interesting 1957 dialogue, especially from Haze. There is also a great scene where an obnoxious vacuum cleaner salesman comes to the door and tries to sell the alien a vacuum cleaner. The only thing that gets vacuumed is his blood. This is just plain fun and has a bit of a kicker at the end. Roger Corman was responsible for many enjoyable evenings in my childhood.

A human-like alien leaves his dying planet to secure earthling blood that his planet needs.Too bad Corman didn't dump that flying lampshade that apparently sucks the doc's blood. Because that's really the only cheezy element of this otherwise effective monster flick. It's arguably Corman's best. Birch is pretty scary with his deadpan face and perfectly parsed diction. Just don't ask him to take off his glasses. Then too, I wonder what he puts down as eye color. Plus I would give dear Beverly Garland a drive-in Oscar for her sparkly portrayal of nurse Storey. It's a performance far and above the call of a paycheck.Yes indeed, what I remember from my first viewing decades ago is Dick Miller's vacuum salesman. He's so pesky and obnoxious, horns honked all over the drive-in when he got his. And what about the teen-age cutie who opens the film, even if she doesn't stick around. Too bad. Anyway, Corman sure knew his audience since we boys were hooked right then. Nonetheless, for the less hormonally minded, there's a message in the alien madness-- better watch out earthlings, nuclear war can cause a calamity that only a steady stream of blood can help. Okay, so the movie's not exactly Oscar bait. Nonetheless, it's got a better-than-usual Corman script, plus good location staging that keep the usual hokey sets to a minimum. Yes indeed, it's still fun to track the Darvana alien, and maybe honk your horn when Miller gets his.

*** This review may contain spoilers ***This obscure Roger Corman film from 1957 is perhaps one of his best films despite that fact that many he has made are just terrible.The film is about an alien named Paul Johnson who comes for the planet Davanan. He is on Earth to drain blood from humans because radiation from a protracted nuclear war is causing his races blood to deteriorate. In some way he is a space vampire(not one that sparkles). Instead of using a flying saucer to come here, he comes using a matter transporter device, similar to the one used in Star Trek a couple years later. Another thing that interesting is that even though he comes from an advance alien race he is not very familiar to the way of Earth, like trying to drive for about Earth diseases. So I like this movie despite it being a Corman film. So I say give it a watch. But not the remakes.