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Best movie ever!

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Aliens seem to have two things in mind when they drop in on planet Earth, subjugating the natives or enlightening them. In this dull tale its the latter.Every expense is spared so don't expect eight-tentacled, six-eyed, poison-spewing monsters. What you get instead is a human-shaped man who is shot from behind for the first ten minutes of the film in a desperate attempt to generate a little suspense. From behind he resembles one of Kraftwerk. Obviously he has no shocking features otherwise those who see him face on would have emitted screams or fainted. The story plods on taking in a hint of inter-species relations, miracle healing and betrayal until it reaches a "dramatic" finale with an appearance of an alien spaceship borrowing its design from a dinner plate.

Yes, there is a stranger from Venus, played by the dashing Helmut Dantine. He indicates that Venus is the earthly name for his planet, preparing for the arrival of others from his home. He warns that earth itself is like the unruly younger brother which needs to be disciplined and educated in the dangers of the progression of nuclear power and other energies. All interesting to read about in a science fiction short story, and already explored in much better science fiction films, most obviously "The Day the Earth Stood Still". The presence of Patricia Neal adds to the obvious connection between the two films, but a good majority of the film is just chat, constant and boring.Is this supposed to be a science fiction analogy of what the world is doing wrong in its attempts to keep peace? If so, it never goes past what could have been explained in a 10 minute educational short, adding a romance in between Neal and Dantine. Best known for his roles as Nazi soldiers in propaganda films of World War II, he gives a very good performance, passionate in an otherwise lifeless film. Neal, with her strong eye expressions, is hard to resist, but her presence only explodes the idea of why this has failed to be nearly as stunning as "The Day the Earth Stood Still". The rest of the cast is rounded out with some of England's finest character performers, but the laziness of an un-intriguing film takes away any real impact that it could have had. Desperate attempts to bring in some last minute suspense seems to be too little, too late.

Well, imagine if "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was made with no special effects, no Gort, bad sound, and lots of actors with weird accents, and you'd have "Stranger from Venus".Yes, borrowing the leading lady (who looks like she's phoning it in) and the basics of the plot (benign Christ-like alien comes to Earth and tells human race to knock it off) from the American version, this film blunders on for an hour and a half or so with no point, really.I'm not sure what inspired the producers to make this film. It wasn't like all copies of "Earth" had vanished or something. I am less sure why Patricia Neal decided to lend her talents to this, unless someone just promised her a vacation in the British countryside.Keep in mind, this was the 1950's, where people really believed benign aliens were visiting Earth with messages of peace, an offshoot of our own fears of nuclear war, and Charlatons like George Adamski made a lot of money doing it. So I guess people thought there was a market for this sort of thing.Interesting to watch for buffs of 1950's Science Fiction, not much else to recommend it.

Helmut Dantine stars in the title role and sleepwalks from scene to scene looking like he's just had extensive back surgery. This film is basically a ham-handed ripoff of "Day The Earth Stood Still" and "The Cosmic Man" only not as good as either. The running time is padded out with endless shots of slow-moving cars interrupted occasionally by in- action in the plotline. The direction as well as the not-so-special effects is amateurish (look for the shadow of the boom mike in one scene)and the whole thing comes across as one big bore. In short, this is the kind of film one should show to a blind date if one wanted to get rid of him/her. Why Patricia Neal (who co-starred in the excel- lent "Day The Earth Stood Still") decided to star in this lifeless yawner is a mystery. "Stranger From Venus" makes "Devil Girl from Mars" play like "Ben-Hur". 'Nuff said.