The Man from Planet X

Infobox Film
name = The Man from Planet X


image_size = 165px
caption = theatrical poster
director = Edgar G. Ulmer
producer = Jack Pollexfen
Aubrey Wisberg
writer = Aubrey Wisberg
Jack Pollexfen
starring = Robert Clarke
Margaret Field
music = Charles Koff
cinematography = John L. Russell
editing = Fred R. Feitshans Jr.
distributor = United Artists
released = 9 March fy|1951
"(San Francisco)"
7 April "(NYC)"
27 April "(general)"
runtime = 70 minutes
country = FilmUS
language = English
budget = $50,000 "(est.)" [Butler, Craig [http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:101183~T1 Review (Allmovie)] ]
gross =
imdb_id = 0043778

"The Man From Planet X" is a 1951 science fiction film starring Robert Clarke, Margaret Field and Raymond Bond. It was directed by Edgar G. Ulmer who had directed the Bela Lugosi/Boris Karloff teamup picture "The Black Cat" in fy|1934.

Plot

An alien visitor arrives at an observatory on the moors of Scotland. Unike most aliens from the time, the alien came to Earth asking for help to save his dying planet. None of his pleas for help were listened to, and both the alien and the spaceship are destroyed by the military.

Cast

*Robert Clarke as "John Lawrence"
*Margaret Field as "Enid Elliot"
*Raymond Bond as "Professor Elliot"
*William Schallert as "Dr. Mears"
*Roy Engel as "Tommy the Constable"
*Charles Davis as "Georgie, man at dock"
*Gilbert Fallman as "Dr. Robert Blane"
*David Ormont as "Inspector Porter"
*June Jeffery as "Wife of missing man"
*Franklyn Farnum as "Sgt. Ferris, Porter's assistant" (uncredited)

Cast notes
*Both Pat Goldin and dwarf actor Billy Curtis are credited by different sources with playing the role of the alien. [imdb title|0043778]
*"Robert Clarke"' was paid $350/week for his work on this film.McGee,Scott and Stafford, Jeff [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=17210&category=Articles "The Man from Planet X" (TCM article)] ]

Production

The film went into production on 13 December fy|1950 at Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, California and wrapped principle photography "six days later". TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=17210&category=Overview Overview] ] To save money, the film was shot on sets for the fy|1948 Ingrid Bergman film "Joan of Arc", using fog to change moods and locations.TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=17210&category=Notes Notes] ]

Miscellany

*"Invaders from Mars, The War of the Worlds," and "The Thing from Another World" all began production around the same time this film was made.
*The alien can only communicate using modulated musical sounds, a concept used three decades later in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

Notes

External links

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