The Man from Planet X

Poster tagline: RACING OUT OF SPACE... A FACE TO HAUNT THE EARTH FOREVER!!! In Czechia we have an old saying that fits this piece perfectly: “It was need that taught Dalibor to play the violin”, similarly, the low budget ($50,000) actually benefited this film – perhaps unintentionally. Ulmer couldn't rely on shooting on location, numerous extras or attractive props to enliven the narrative, so he devoted a large part of the first half of the film to frequent shots of a small spaceship, the alien itself, and supported it all with a seductively gloomy atmosphere, where, as in 1930s horror films, fog rolls lazily over moors and the lighting and camera work are sensitively handled. It's good that the script takes an ambivalent attitude towards the alien, we never really get to know whether it arrived with good or hostile intentions, and the final dialogue doesn't resolve it (“You know, I think that creature was friendly. I wonder what would have happened if... if Dr. Mears hadn't frightened him.” - “Who knows? Perhaps the greatest curse ever to befall the world, or perhaps the greatest blessing.”), which is refreshing in the sci-fi genre with evil aliens. Since there was no money for special effects, the alien ice planet, which, like the one in Trier's Melancholia, crosses the solar system, is only talked about, just as its bad deeds – in the words of the main character, the alien turns people into obedient zombies (but we don't see any of it). At the end, some excitement is provided by lame pyrotechnic effects and a B-movie duel between the protagonist and the alien. If I had to sum it up, I saw a decently atmospheric sci-fi flick with mostly seven actors, nice cinematography, a weaker second half, a nicely paced ending, and one thing you can't deny: it was the first low-budget sci-fi of the Golden Age about an alien invasion; it would be followed by dozens of similar ones. (30.08.2014)

Okay "béčko" (which unfortunately doesn't excel in anything and is quite ordinary at first, second, and third glance). On Earth, specifically in Scotland, where the environment is not utilized as well as it could be, a weird alien arrives who communicates with truly unbearable sounds. Well, that's basically it, except for the fact that it has a tragic ending. (24.11.2015)