This Island Earth (1955)

Directed by

Jack Arnold, Joseph M. Newman

Genre

science fiction film, monster film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 27m

Rated

12

Rating

6.0 of 10 from 238 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A group of scientists are recruited to a remote island to work on a secret project. They soon discover their employers are aliens who need help saving their home planet.

retroearnestslow-burnsuspensefulcolorfulatmosphericseriousotherworldly

What happens

This Island Earth is a 1955 American science fiction film produced by William Alland, directed by Joseph M. Newman and Jack Arnold, and starring Jeff Morrow, Faith Domergue, and Rex Reason. It is based on the 1952 novel of the same name by Raymond F. Jones. The film, distributed by Universal-International, was released in 1955 on a double feature with Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. Upon initial release, the film was praised by critics, who cited the special effects, well-written script, and the eye-popping Technicolor as being its major assets. In 1996, it was edited down and lampooned in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, a film adaptation of the popular film-riffing television series Mystery Science Theater 3000. The 1952 novel by Jones was originally serialized in the science fiction magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories as three related novelettes: "The Alien Machine" (June 1949), "The Shroud of Secrecy" (December 1949), and "The Greater Conflict" (February 1950). Jones had taken the novel title from a line in Robert Graves' poem "Darien": It is a poet's privilege and fateTo fall enamoured of the one MuseWho variously haunts this island earth (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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