The Phantom Planet (1961)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Highly Overrated But Still Good

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Classic black and white B movie silliness. Pay attention to the "monster" - the Solorite prisoner. That's Richard Kiel, better known as Jaws, and star of many wonderful films.The film begins with an annoying narration. In the first 'action' scene, we are introduced to two characters by literally introducing them. It's on par with that short story we wrote in third grade. Then those two guys get blown out of the sky by an asteroid. After that, the rest of the film is a dramatic improvement. It appears to have been filmed in one small studio with a minimum of sets, and virtually no special effects. Only a kid at heart who loves theater and science fiction would appreciate this small 'gem.' One has to think of it more as civic theater than as a movie production. Phantom Planet took its inspiration from early 20th century pulp fiction and a lot of 'Tarzan' but it managed to fail utterly.

In what looks like big pieces of granola traveling through space, the sudden arrival of an American astronaut leads to what looks like video game wars. The aliens being attacked in their cereal shaped space ships look like earthlings and can even speak perfect English, while their attackers are certainly much more hideous looking. Sci-fi buffs will find this more interesting than everybody else, but there are some moments of genuine thrills. Still, it's all talky and rather complex, so if you loose focus during it, you are likely to become confused. The cast is above average, including veteran silent movie star Francis C. Bushman.I have seen many of the cheaply made sci-fi films, some better than others, and this one is above average for what it is. Even the obviously cheap sets don't take away from its thrills and while the obvious invaders are mildly silly looking, they are not ridiculous. The lack of unintentional laughs prevents this from being camp, but there are enough of those out there already. There is also a moral message attached which is timeless. I can't give this two thumbs up, but on my second hand, I'll still raise my pinkie.

Ah, middling sci-fi. There's so much of it. This one features Richard Weber in a minor role as the hero's copilot delivering this stultifying line in the first act: "You know, every year I become more and more convinced that it's wisest and best to focus on the good and the beautiful." In the only other movie in which I've seen him act, 12 to the Moon, and in a much larger role, he again gets to deliver bad lines, but that movie is packed with bad lines. I don't think any other actor could have made Weber's lines come across as anything but idiotic, but being such a bad actor, they made his scenes memorable howlers in both movies.Otherwise, the acting in good enough. The movie has a wild and stupid story, cute young women, a fight over one such woman, and goofy-looking aliens, all seen in a number of films from the era. I think it all started with "Cat-Women of the Moon". I like it because of the women, it doesn't bore, nostalgia, and the inadvertent humor.If you can't see that sometimes what's bad in movies is funny, you have my pity as you'll never be able to fully appreciate what they have to offer. These things were funny to audiences at the time, and still are.

Watching bad movies is a hobby of mine. While this isn't the worst movie I have ever seen, I will say it is the most boring movie ever! I have seen monster a go go, the beast of yucca flats, pod people, plan 9 from outer space and many others. None of them are more boring then this.To sum up why this movie is so awful is because nothing happens. The sets are all the same, and everything is identical to each other. The visual effects are so bad it looks like it was from the 1920s.The plot is fairly bad. Some astronauts go into space to figure out where some pilots have been disappearing. The co pilot dies, and only one guy is left. OK now their get sucked in by the giant ball of popcorn which is supposed to be an asteroid. He meets some aliens there that are tiny, so they shrink him down to their size. Apparently there is an entire civilization on this asteroid though we only see about 5 different characters. There's a love triangle or something going on in the story, some alien race that looks like they are dogs, and some other bad set designs. Either way this movie drags on for a very long time. I actually had to watch this movie in several parts since it was so boring. Usually I can watch a bad movie or two in one sitting.Either way avoid this movie...