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The Cosmic Man
A strange sphere settles down in a California canyon, causing both the scientific and military communities to gather around to investigate.
Release : | 1959 |
Rating : | 4.8 |
Studio : | Futura Productions Inc., |
Crew : | Director of Photography, Special Effects, |
Cast : | John Carradine Bruce Bennett Angela Greene Paul Langton Scotty Morrow |
Genre : | Adventure Thriller Science Fiction |
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I love this movie so much
Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
I have recently gotten into the habit of watching these old science fiction movies from the fifties and sixties, and I have to say that, even though they are a bit ridiculous and campy, some of them are actually very well put together, such as this one.Cosmic Man is a film about a UFO landing in a California desert while government officials decide what to do with it. During their debate, a transparent figure (John Carradine) emerges secretly from the UFO and begins to aid a doctor (Bruce Bennett) in his research, unbeknownst to the doctor. While it seems as if this transparent figure is harmless and wishes only to seek information from these people, a general (Herbert Lytton) thinks otherwise.Through a very lengthy monologue, the transparent man (now known as the "Cosmic Man") explains his actions and his wishes to the doctor and the general. While the Cosmic Man commends the doctor for his progressive outlook towards him and other civilizations, he harshly criticizes the general for his barbaric thoughts and plans. This does not sit well with the general and he threatens to harm the Cosmic Man if he does not comply with the general's demands.Rejecting the general's demands, the Cosmic Man attempts to escape. In a climactic scene pitting the Cosmic Man against the general and other government officials, the Cosmic Man is shot before he can reach the UFO. As the general goes in to finish the job, the doctor talks him out of it, predicting that the general in doing so would bring worse possible outcomes in the future.The Cosmic Man disappears along with the UFO, without any indication as to whether or not he survived the gunshot from the general. Though the outlook for the Cosmic Man does not seem good, the doctor says that he will indeed be back.While the film was a little bit campy, I really did enjoy it. It was very well put-together and acted out, for a B-grade 1950's science fiction film. While there is not much in the way of science fiction (other than the UFO and the Cosmic Man himself), the film certainly makes up for in philosophy and speculation.The doctor's philosophy towards the Cosmic Man and the other possible universal civilizations that could be eventually discovered are very progressive in the sense that the doctor wants to befriend the Cosmic Man and make peace with him so as to show other civilizations that he wishes to "collaborate" with them in inter-spatial and intergalactic affairs. It also demonstrates really well in speculation as to why UFO's are being seen at such an alarming rate and what business they might have in being on Earth. During this time, UFO's had been seen quite often which could be a possible reason why this film was made.Overall, I found the film to be very enjoyable and quite thought-provoking as well. While it is very campy in some aspects, it is a very intricately performed and produced film that I will probably watch multiple times in my life. I give this film a seven out of ten.
"The Cosmic Man" is a charming attempt to make a $5.00 version of "The Day the Earth Stood Still". It's an extremely low-budgeted Sci-Fi movie from the late fifties, so this generally means there are stern scientists talking a lot of pseudo-philosophical gibberish and asking themselves way too many rhetorical questions, villainous looking military men fantasizing about weapons of mass destruction and mysterious alien forces with minds that are immeasurably superior to ours. When a spherical UFO – a gigantic golf ball actually – is discovered in a small Californian canyon community, the army wants to nuke it and a local scientist wants to study it. Meanwhile, the alien passenger sneaks out of his interstellar golf ball and begins exploring the earthly habits, rites and inhabitants. This is where our cute and cheap little B-movie rips off "The Day the Earth Stood Still", in fact, as the alien witnesses the imbecility and self-destructive nature of the human race. How come aliens get such a kick out of observing how stupid we are? Like in a few hundred of the films he starred in, John Carradine receives top-billing even though he appears all together perhaps for a whole five minutes. "The Cosmic Man" is often rather dull and doesn't contain any real action, but it certainly has good intentions and an earnest supportive cast.
Even though this film is essentially a reworking of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (hence, lacking some originality), it still is one of the better sci-fi films of the 1950s and is well worth watching. It's also far better than the paltry 4.0 rating would indicate.The film is another struggle within the human race over whether to openly embrace an alien or blow the snot out of him out of fear. On one hand, you have Dr. Sorenson (Bruce Bennett) who has a wait and see attitude--we can't act with hostility towards the alien until we know it means us harm. On the other, you have the military guys who want to exploit the space ship for military reasons and kill the alien because...well, just because! All this come to be after an odd floating sphere arrives in a rural place in the mountains. Oddly, this space craft defies gravity and just hovers--impervious to being moved in any way. They aren't sure exactly what sort of craft it is, but they are fairly sure it's unmanned because it's pretty small. Of course, since the film is called "The Cosmic Man", we know that someone (John Carradine) is inside. Interestingly, he doesn't even make an appearance until late in the film--long after the military start attacking the sphere with blowtorches and heavy equipment (to no avail).What's particularly interesting about this film is that there are no clear answers. Carradine is just visiting the planet to see what's here and when he's met with such stupidity, he decides to leave. After all, why would aliens want to deal with such a group of morons?! Well written and intelligent, this is no bug-eyed monster sort of sci-fi film. Good acting and a decent production all around.By the way, Bruce Bennett soon went on to play a character 100% different in one of his next films, "The Fiend of Dope Island"--a terrible film due to the fact that Bennett plays one of the most berserk characters in movie history! Also, if you get a chance, read Bennett's IMDb biography--it's really, really interesting and he only recently died at age 100.
Not expecting much at all, I was a little surprised at how much I enjoyed this very small budget take on Day the Earth Stood Still. For all the plodding along and pretty miserable effects, the story is quite literate and even has some elements of HG Wells First Men In the Moon, that being the idea of space travel via an "gravity" repelling shutter device. The lead scientist does his part well, in a role that would have been Peter Graves' had he not been busy on Beginning of the End. He has a certain combination of ease and comfort in his role and it comes across as very realistic, the best of the cast, and livens up all the scenes which he is in. John Carradine puts in a typical decent performance but has to do double-duty since there is no Gort available here. Unfortunately, this weakens the film, and we wish there were more of a menace on his part, or more of some kind of ultimatum, but then that's why we return to view Day the Earth Stood Still again and again. Yet you can watch this "version" at least one time and not feel disappointed.