Not of This Earth (1957)

People are voting emotionally.

hyped garbage

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It's a real pleasure to be able to access and see "Not of This Earth" in a great transfer DVD after being obscure for such a long time. Kudos to the folks at Shout Factory for bringing one of Roger Corman's best Allied Artists drive in flicks back to sci-fi fans after so long. NOTE has been a bit of a legend for a long time. Originally released on a drive-in double bill with the seafood classic "Attack of the Crab Monsters", NOTE disappeared from view sometime in the mid-60s after it popped up now and then on local "chiller/shock" late night TV with some local dressed up as Dracula doing the scary movie hosting.NOTE was a really remarkable effort, running a scant 60 minutes. The Corman regulars are here, hipster Dick Miller, stoic Paul Birch, the lovely scream queen Beverly Garland, a surprisingly hunky Jonathan Haze, and a briefly seen umbrella-creature designed by the legendary Paul Blaisdell. A terse story about an alien sent to Earth to seek out blood. Not a vampire, but close enough. Paul Birch's "Mr. Johnson" is a real piece of work: wooden, unemotional, thirsty, and evidently a ringer sent to Earth by his superiors on the planet Davanna to find subjects that will reinfuse the radioactive blood of the residents. The Davannites have been poisoned by atomic war and need fresh blood. Mr. Johnson sends victims back to his world by means of a teleportation machine he hides in the closet of his mansion. The scenes of interaction between Johnson and his superior are very unsettling. Understated, like everything else in this odd flick.Paul Birch, the white-eyed alien, is given great support by the other actors, including a brief but chilling appearance by a female alien played by Anne Carrol. The female Davannite falls victim to a transfusion of rabid dog blood. "There is activity inside me" she telepathically tells Johnson. Little time is wasted in this tale of interplanetary hunting, using a sharp script and tight direction by Roger Corman. The last shot in the movie is terrific.If you love the drive-in classics of the Fabulous Fifties, seek out NOTE and marvel at how well it's done. No cucumber Venusians conquering the world or 50 foot women, just a rarity from Corman: a superior scifi thriller that rose above it's humble origins.

As cheap and cheesy as this is, it is pretty captivating and has some wonderful characters. Some aliens from a dying planet are teleported to earth to find blood. They have the ability to look into the eyes of a person and drop them to the ground. They then remove the blood and do whatever is necessary with he bodies. Paul Birch plays the principle alien, hiding behind dark glasses so his lifeless eyes can't be seen. Beverly Garland is hired to look after him (he is actually dying and needs the blood to survive). He also hires Jonathan Haze (Little Shop of Horrors), an idiot ex-convict to be his driver and helper. Of course, clues start forming and our young woman, despite being warned, starts to do too much investigating. There is some really interesting 1957 dialogue, especially from Haze. There is also a great scene where an obnoxious vacuum cleaner salesman comes to the door and tries to sell the alien a vacuum cleaner. The only thing that gets vacuumed is his blood. This is just plain fun and has a bit of a kicker at the end. Roger Corman was responsible for many enjoyable evenings in my childhood.

"Moments of Genius" may be an overly enthusiastic summary for this 1957 B flick. I admit to a love for and fascination with this movie that few other Corman movies have ever elicited. My early memories of seeing this as a kid on the Saturday horror showcase remain vivid to this day, 45 years later, and certain of it aspects have not worn out their welcome at all.Among its strengths are Paul Birch (playing "Paul Johnson") speaking with a carefully worked out accent, which uses a cadence and intonation that is quite unique and very effective. His dialog is written in an oddly stilted English that makes him sound highly educated but obviously foreign to the planet. (When his chauffeur honks the car horn, Johnson barks at him "Jeremy! I have ordered you not to sound the warning horn or make any high decibel noises while near me!") Birch matches this with a kind of physicality that is stiff but not at all ungainly. The bat/umbrella/cuttlefish thing is one of my favorite B movie props! The two final scenes are particularly effective as "Johnson" is fleeing the police, attempting to get them to look at his eyes. And the very last moment of the movie has stayed with me these many years as a singularly creepy conclusion.It is well known that Paul Birch and Corman had a sour relationship that devolved into fisticuffs and led to Birch leaving the movie before it was finished. Birch complained that the large contact lenses or scleral shells that created his white eyes were very painful and that he could only stand to have them in for a couple of minutes at a time. No wonder his fuse was a bit short!There are many ridiculous plot holes. Much of the acting is simply awful. But compared to its partner film "Attack of the Crab Monster" Not Of This Earth is relatively refined and watchable.

An alien from another world, who goes by the name of "Paul Johnson" (Paul Birch) has come to Earth because his race needs blood. But prior to invading Earth and subjugating the human race, the aliens need more data from him on whether human blood can sustain them and for how long. His mission then is to stay alive long enough to collect this information and in order to do that he needs blood as well. After acquiring some from a nearby clinic, he hires a nurse named "Nadine Storey" (Beverly Garland) to administer blood to him on a daily basis and to keep him healthy for as much time as possible. In the meantime, he continues to kill people and send their blood through a portal to his home world of "Devana". At any rate, rather than divulging what happens next I will stop right here. However, I think it's only fair to say that this film is definitely a bit dated. Further, the film quality wasn't good and neither was the dialogue for the most part. Likewise, other than Beverly Garland, none of the actors really stood out in my opinion. Even so, I still enjoyed this movie and I think most people who are able to take films of this nature and from this time period into account will be able to do so as well.