Watch the Skies!

While watching The Cosmic Man, I couldn't help but notice the extreme similarities to the much better movie, The Day The Earth Stood Still, which was released eight years prior in 1951. The movie's main star, John Carradine, plays the enigmatic cosmic man.

Anyway, this low budget movie starts with reports from various locations on the Earth of a mysterious, flying object. This object, which turns out to be a giant, interstellar gumball, lands in a place called Bronson Canyon, a place many movie fans may recognize as it was used quite often throughout the years in such movies as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Robin Hood (1922), and The Searchers (1956), to name a few. Well, the giant, space gumball doesn't really land, but hovers in one spot, never actually touching the ground. The theory of anti-gravity is posed, and I am sure this probably sounded a lot cooler back in 1959 than it does now, almost fifty years later.

The military tries to throw a blanket of secrecy over this astounding event, but word gets out in the local community anyway, as they have a party line phone system. The military does cordon off the area, and a scientist, the renowned Dr. Karl Sorenson, one of the scientists involved in the creation of the atomic bomb, is called in to help decide what to do with the enigmatic candy-like object from space. (I'm serious, every time I saw this ship, I thought it was the world's largest jawbreaker.) We soon see the appearance of a plot thread so worn it's transparent as the civilian scientist has a ideology clash with the head military types in that the military believes this could be the beginning of an invasion (which is quite sensible and reasonable, in my opinion), and the possibilities of new technology to create newer, more powerful weapons. The civilian scientist is more concerned with knowledge and believes if beings from space possessed the power of interstellar travel, they could surely wipe the humans out easily. His speculation leads him to think this ship and whatever occupants it may contain are here for more peaceful purposes.

Soon an unnoticed beam on light emits from the space object, and the Cosmic Man makes his appearance...sort of. He is somewhat invisible, but makes an inordinate amount of sound moving around, so we know he's there. Later he does appear in a shadowy form, kind of see though, like the plot, and then later he shows up in a very solid form in clothes he stole from someone. This cosmic man fluctuates between these three states of being, based on his mood, I guess. I think some reason was given as to why, but I was still trying to wrap my mind around the concept of this notion of anti-gravity, so I probably missed it.

Well, the military starts to try and move the space ship, to no avail, and then tries to break into the ship, again, with no luck, while the scientist gathers clues to support that there was an inhabitant of the ship, and he has left and is now walking about freely. Things go on this way for awhile, and there is a sort of subplot involving a widowed woman and her disabled son that was really corny. Events finally do come to a head as the cosmic man makes his appearance known, and the military leaders become hostile at what they don't know or understand. A great effort was spent basically showing how ignorant the military and the average civilian is when it comes to the unknown compared against the value of what could be learned by those in the altruistic scientific community.

Does the cosmic man come in peace? Or does he herald an invasion of unstoppable flesh eating aliens out to steal our women? The print presented by Image Entertainment looks great, but there are no extras except for a few trailers. Oh yeah, there are many sort of unintentionally funny moments in this movie, but my favorite was when someone would mention the main female character's deceased husband and she would get this far away look on her face. I think it was supposed to represent longing and remembrance, but it appeared to me as a momentary lapse of brain function. Not a bad sci-fi movie, but not a great one, either, as it's plagued with wooden performances, predictable and corny plots, and a ham fisted delivery of a message I already got from a much better movie made eight years prior to this release.

An unidentified object is tracked going at extreme speeds around the globe. A mysterious object is found in Bronson Canyon (a real location used in the filming of "Robot Monster" 1953). Naturally the military is antsy and request a top scientist Dr. Karl Sorenson (Bruce Bennett) investigate.

All the elements are there with the three-way love interest between the widowed mother Kathy Grant (Angela Greene) of a crippled kid Ken (Scotty Morrow), scientist Dr. Sorenson and military Col. Matthews (Paul Langton.) They must speculate on the good bad and ugly of their mysterious invader (John Carradine).

An added plus is the fun of seeing the technology of the time this film was made. And a vintage look at the Griffith Park Observatory. Too bad they did not show the inside as there is a nifty pendulum that swings with the rotation of the earth.

We are in luck as we get two space speeches before the conclusion. Will we head the warning or is this the end?

Cosmic Man exists in that netherworld of zero-budget SF schlock (e.g., Astounding She Monster, Teenagers from Outer Space, Beast of Yucca Flats) wherein the lack of funds precludes any real special effects or exciting action, yet somehow a uniquely warped atmosphere is established that invites contemplation by dedicated bad-film fanatics. This was the freshman screenplay of cheesy-SF writer Arthur C. Pierce, who later penned mostly-boring 1960s "sci-fi" duds Destination Inner Space, Cyborg 2087, Dimension 5, etc., and also directed the far more interesting if even schlockier Navy vs. the Night Monsters, Women of the Prehistoric Planet, and Las Vegas Hillbillys. The plot steals shamelessly from The Day the Earth Stood Still, adapting the latter's ambitious 'peacenik scientists vs. military hawks' thematics to accomodate shoestring production values. Second-and-last-time director Herbert Greene had been assistant director on Invisible Invaders, The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake, and the Lone Ranger TV series. Lyn Osborn (Invasion of the Saucer Men, Space Patrol) and Ken Clayton (Johnnie in Lost Lonely and Vicious) both play Air Force sergeants here. Their radar station, while already tracking a UFO, receives a report of an 8-foot diameter silver hovering metallic sphere ("looks like a satellite") from forest rangers in nearby Stone Canyon. Astrophysicist Dr. Sorensen (Bruce Bennett, AKA Herman Brix, former 1930s Tarzan) is called in from the Pacific Technical Institute by slimy Colonel Mathews (Paul Langton; The Snow Creature, Incredible Shrinking Man, Invisible Invaders) to figure out exactly what to do with the big shiny golf ball. They use as their base of operations a nearby lodge (housing a beautiful Rock-Ola jukebox) owned by war-widow Kathy Grant (Angela Greene; Night of the Blood Beast, Tickle Me) whose wheelchair-bound son Kenny just happens to have read all of Dr. Sorensen's books ("he discovered omicron radiation!") and is an aspiring astrophysicist himself. Lots of meaningless technobabble concerning antigravity ensues, and the Colonel tries to put the make on Mrs. Grant, ick! The cosmic man (John Carradine) shows up (as basically a black, nearly featureless shadow) and proceeds to wreak havoc, accompanied by enigmatic silent vignettes, stock footage of police cars, and even some half-baked cheesecake. Then, in a bit seemingly borrowed from The Invisible Man, he shows up in humanoid form, bundled up in a parka, alpine hat, and weird X-Ray Spex-ish glasses, checks into the lodge right under everyone's noses, and hangs out playing chess with little Kenny in his bedroom! Meanwhile, the military men and scientists can't budge the floating ball, so Colonel Mathews, Dr. Sorensen, and Kenny (!?) have a lengthy debate on how to catch the cosmic man, brush up on some basic astronomical trivia, and discuss Dr. Sorensen's guilt over contributing to the bombing of Hiroshima (!!). It all winds up at Bronson Canyon, as these things often do, for the miraculous and hokey denouement. Not exactly a laugh-a-minute bad-film atrocity, Cosmic Man still has the twisted logic, awkward pacing, and strange, Woodian dialogue ("Here, Colonel, have a mint") that trash film junkies crave. Kind of like an "SF" episode of Father Knows Best, or a really poverty-stricken companion piece to Invaders from Mars or perhaps Giant Gila Monster (try it!). Mainstream movie fans beware!
Yet another entry in Image's Wade Williams Collection, Cosmic Man looks terrific on DVD. Apparently transferred from a British release print (it opens with the BBFC certificate and Associated British Pathe logo) the film looks virtually pristine, with excellent black level, contrast, brightness, sharpness, and shadow/highlight detail. Physical damage is limited to only some very light speckling and blemishing. I haven't a clue what the negative reviewer below is complaining about, unless Image actually dug up a far superior print and remastered the disc within the last two years (which seems unlikely). It really looks beautiful overall, especially for such a no-budget stinker. The included Cosmic Man trailer (narrated by Paul Frees) is also pretty crisp, with very good tonal values, but exhibiting some light scratching, lining, speckling, and blemishing. Twelve chapter stops and five bonus WWC trailers are the only other extras, but for bad-cinema lovers this is a pretty solid set for the money. "Goodbye, cosmic man."