THE STRANGE WORLD OF PLANET X

I've just watched the Strange World of Planet X [1958] on TV. I'd never seen it before and it made a pleasant change from the dreadful breakfast News. 

I really enjoyed Strange World. It had many elements of Sci-Fi that I recognise, elements I suppose are now tropes of the film genre. The isolated school teacher [ The Birds], the wandering child who stumbles upon creatures [Jurassic Park 2], the male-female bond which carries the film [Quatermass and the Pit] and of course huge creatures, a mad scientist and a super-smart alien humanoid.

Strange Planet also has some features which seem very familiar. The use of the Theremin to create eerie swirling music and the classic flying saucer all have the feel of the earlier The Day the Earth Stood Still [1951]. The final shot of Smith walking back towards to his saucer could well have been Klaatu returning to his own, the ascending ship only adding to its Stood Stillness.

Strange World was also billed as the Cosmic Monsters and also the Crawling Terror in a double-feature with the Trollenberg Terror also known as the Crawling Eye! there was an awful lot of terrors and crawling going on in that package!

I've read that the film was based not only on a novel by Rene Ray [why not go the whole hog and name yourself Green Ray!] but also a TV series [anyone got this?], both of the same name. the novel was easy to locate online and there are two standout covers, the first and Digit editions:

I adore the first edition at the top. In all my years actively collecting sci-fi and horror novels I've never seen either of these. I would have snapped up the top one. 

The green lady reminds me completely of a toy I like too, the green X-Ray Woman of Fisher Price's Adventure People below [via Mego Museum]. What do you think?

I had a phase of collecting any loose figures and vehicles from this range years ago and found it quite addictive!

I also enjoyed seeing the chunky course uniforms of the British infantry in the Strange World, along with the berets and steel helmets. The British soldier of the time featured in many classic Sci-Fi flicks as the Military often took control of alien activity almost immediately. just think of Colonel Breen and his squad in Quatermass and the Pit.

However the stand-out film of the time for me, which involved the British military, is X The Unknown with Dean Jagger from 1956. I love this film and I hold it in the same regard as any of the Quatermass movies. 

The course green  uniforms of the period went on to influence my beloved Action Man and his infantry outfit, probably one of the first I ever got back the Sixties. Along with millions of other kids we shall forever be indebted to Palitoy for those fabulous times playing with our fighting man!

The Strange World starred the angelically beautiful Gaby Andre and the gritty Forrest Tucker, who also starred in the Trollenberg Terror. Its director Gilbert Gunn also directed What a Whopper, which reader Paul Adams recently watched and will write about soon.

Have you seen the Strange World of Planet X?