With most sci-fi monster/alien flicks from the fabulous Fifties, most of us know the drill-- alien invades, gets nasty, we get smacked around, we develop a new weapon, and the alien is toast.  There were a few exceptions to that, of course, with The Day The Earth Stood Still coming immediately to mind.  But there was another flick that also went against that convention, one that not only shows that the true enemy of mankind is, well, mankind itself, but also doesn't make the alien some sort of plaster saint in the bargain.   In fact, it kind of does The Day The Earth Stood Still one better in that respect.  And when you consider that this is a cheapie B-film we're talking about, why...

By JEFF BERES

Funny thing. This film begins with a British Board of Censors certificate which is weird since it was made in the US, according to the IMDB.

This is another DVD from the Wade Williams collection. If you love Fifties sci-fi/horror films and you grew up in the Fifties or Sixties, the best of the cheesy DVD’s are in the Wade Williams collection. I’m not sure what he had to do with these films since he’s not listed as producer. But most of the DVDs bearing his name, which includes the Ed Wood Collection, have a certain charm to them. And a strong taste of the Fifties.

End of commercial. Now, back to The Cosmic Man.

We plummet through space (and the credits) to arrive at a military UFO tracking station. Col. Mathews (Paul Langton) and General Knowland (Herbert Litton) see a blip on radar traveling at 180,000 miles per hour. What’s strange is they usually get "sighting" calls from civilians when they note blips like this but no one’s called in about this one.

Shortly afterward, Forest Rangers find a ball shaped object hovering about five feet above the ground in the woods near the military base. This beginning is very similar to The Night Caller, the film we reviewed in June.

Gen. Knowland calls Dr. Karl Sorenson, an astrophysicist friend of his played by Bruce Bennett. Bruce Bennett. That’s a good, solid, Fifties leading man’s name. Gen. Knowland arranges for Dr. Sorenson to meet Col. Mathews at the sphere. Don’t be confused by these titles. There’s basically Sorenson, the Colonel, and his boss, the General.

The sphere, about 10 feet in diameter, looks like a big, round glass ball just floating in the air. The Colonel believes nothing living could be in the sphere. Dr. Sorenson doesn’t commit himself.

Dr. Sorenson suggests that a new theory, anti-gravity, may be keeping the sphere from falling to the ground. The Colonel says it may be helpful to the military if they learn something from the sphere. He’d love to take the sphere apart and see what makes it tick. Dr. Sorenson points out that some intelligent being created the sphere and is controlling it and that is what they should learn about.

The Colonel says he guesses one’s point of view depends on what team you’re on. Sorenson says there’s only been one team since Hiroshima. And this conversation begins the central conflict of the film. The military want to destroy the sphere to learn how it’s made so we can be ahead of the Russians in the space race. Dr. Sorenson wants to find out who sent the sphere and how and why.

These two points of view create a Socratic dialogue that is the heart of the film. Even the space creature is merely an element in this argument. While the dialogue at times falls into fifties clichés, the discussions among the scientists and between the scientists and the military are realistic and logical. Each side makes a good point, even though the script is weighted in favor of Dr. Sorenson’s point of view.

Next we meet Kathy Grant (Angela Greene) and her son Ken (Scotty Morrow). Ken uses a wheelchair, probably due to polio, which was an all too common affliction of the fifties. When I was about seven years old, I visited a friend at his grandmother’s farmhouse in upstate Pennsylvania. He swam in a pond the day before I arrived and developed a fever. When we returned home the following week, he was diagnosed as having contracted polio in that pond. He spent the rest of his life with a brace on his right leg. So, unfortunately, back in the fifties, a young man with polio was a common sight.

The kid meets Dr. Sorenson and dazzles him with his knowledge. Turns out Kathy runs the lodge where Sorenson and the military men are staying.

The General calls the Colonel to find out how things are going. The Colonel whines to the General that Sorenson doesn’t know how the military works. The General fires back that Sorenson is a Major General in the reserves and that he worked on the A bomb. That is a bombshell to the General. And you think the Colonel would respect Sorenson more, but noooooo.

Sorenson goes to the Hall of Science and discusses the anti-gravity theory with another physicist, Dr. Rich Richie. Sorenson has a warm, fatherly way about him that makes you want to believe that science is the answer to everything.

In the meantime, the General and a handful of soldiers rent rooms at Kathy’s hotel.

Back at the UFO site, the Guard on duty thinks he sees something in the shadow. His commanding officer tells him he’s hallucinating, but we know John Carradine’s skinny ass is shuffling over those rocks.

As soon as the Guards turn their backs, the sphere emits a ray. The Commanding Officer takes his jeep back to the hotel. As he gets out, the jeep shakes, like someone else got out with him. Apparently, this is how aliens travel.

Inside the hotel, the Colonel puts the moves on Kathy. (Interesting point:; Angela Green, who plays Kathy, also portrayed the woman scientist in NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST.)

While the Colonel hits on Kathy, she vents about her son’s handicap. The Colonel tries to lighten the mood and get her to dance, but the General calls and puts a damper on the evening.

As Kathy closes the bar, she hears something. She steps into the next room and sees the silhouette of the Cosmic Man (John Carradine.) She screams and the soldiers come a running but can’t find anything.

Outside, we see a crappy, yet creepy, series of double exposure shots of the Cosmic Man walking around the neighborhood. The residents see him and call the police who send out cars.

In the wee hours of the morning, the Cosmic Man enters the empty Hall of Science. He checks out the equipment used to test the anti-gravity theory.

The next morning, Dr. Richie discovers that all of the tapes at the Hall of Science were erased and the errors on the anti-gravity machine blueprint were corrected.

Before they have a chance to speculate about this, the Colonel calls Sorenson and tells him the public wants the military to drop a bomb on the sphere. They think a creature is running amok in their town. Sorenson tells the Colonel he agrees with the towns folks. There very well may be a creature but they should wait. The Colonel ignores Sorenson and says he’s going to move the sphere out of the canyon at dawn.

Sorenson and Richie say they’re going to go help. Before they go, Dr. Sorenson digs the MX1 out of the closet (we don’t know what it is) and then sees the Cosmic Man on his radar screen. He set a trap for him, knowing he’d come back to the Physics lab.

The Cosmic Man leaves and the scientists say our friend didn’t want to make contact yet. These guys are pretty casual for just having seen a space alien.

The scientists join the military at the lodge. Dr. Sorenson tells the General that the Cosmic Man was at the lab and the military guys make fun of him. The Colonel is acting more and more like a dick and Sorenson is getting pissed.

Kathy really wants a new dad for the boy so she flirts with Sorenson. She tells Sorenson that the Colonel is afraid of him. Sorenson says people think they’re afraid of scientists but actually they’re afraid of what the scientists don’t know. I’ve heard smoother pick up lines, but he makes an interesting point.

As soon as Sorenson leaves, Carradine pops up out of nowhere. While the other times he was two dimensional (physically; not his personality), he now has substance. He wears thick glasses and talks distinctly. Kathy thinks he’s one of the scientists and gives him a room.

She says she’ll drive him to the site to join the others but he declines her offer. He wants privacy and rest. He takes the key and says he’ll find the room himself. He mentions she has a child that does not walk. You might think she would catch on, but his behavior falls within the realm of "eccentric scientist."

At the UFO site, the military try to move the sphere with heavy equipment. It won’t budge. Sorenson smirks.

Sorenson says he has a plasma gun that may cut into the sphere. The Colonel asks if he could try, and Sorenson says he could but he won’t. He doesn’t add the "Nyah-nyah," but we know better.

Instead, Sorenson runs tests on the sphere and hears what he believes are communication waves.

He and Richie also find out there’s an electromagnetic field around the sphere that converts sun rays into electricity.

Sorenson attaches a 12 volt battery to the sphere. He tells everyone to take cover. He hits a switch and…nothing happens. But the wire wasn’t grounded. He grounds it and hits it again. And blam. The colonel says it sounded like a sonic blast. They point out that a larger charge would wipe out the closest city.

They give up for now and go back to the hotel. Sorenson and Richie discuss their theories and the kid listens in. Sorenson asks questions the kid can answer to make him feel like he’s included. The kid’s smart.

Richie mentions the Cosmic Man only operates at night. Sorenson thinks the alien is partially visible in daylight but invisible at night.

Sorenson’s working on a deflector ray theory. Before he tries it, he wants to talk to the Cosmic Man. Meanwhile, the General visits him. He thinks the alien is dangerous. He wants to surround the area of the sphere and blow it away. He adds that he hired another scientist who’s more sympathetic with the military’s goals to help him. Kathy says he must be the guy who signed in this morning. Then the kid asks what the military would do with the Cosmic Man if they found him. The big brass can’t admit to the kid that they want to blow the Cosmic Man away, but the kid gets the idea. As a soothing gesture, Sorenson breaks out the MX1, which is a kid’s telescope, and gives it to Ken.

Suddenly, the lights go out and the Cosmic Man announces his presence. He’s come to talk to Sorenson and the scientists.

The General tells the Cosmic Man to step out into the light. He does. He’s all in black. The Cosmic Man says he’s only concerned with the Earthlings philosophy. He brings knowledge. He also collects stuff his people need, like rocks from the oceans that we don’t use. He says he’s leaving at dawn and he won’t hurt anyone. And he says it’s better if no one knows his plan.

The Asshole Colonel shoots at the Cosmic Man, but the bullets pass right through him. Or he misses. John’s a pretty skinny guy.

The General says the other (i.e., bad) scientist is coming and he knows how to stop the Cosmic Man, too. Sorenson tells the Colonel that this is their last chance to develop friendly relations with the Cosmic Man. The Colonel says the Cosmic Man ruined every nuclear plant he went to. How could he be friendly? Sorenson says everything the Cosmic Man damaged can be replaced and no one was hurt or killed. He also points out that the Cosmic Man could kill them all if he wanted to, but he hasn’t.

The Colonel tells a soldier not to let Sorenson out of his sight, then leaves.

Kathy asks Sorenson if he’s still going to help the Cosmic Man. Sorenson says he’s not sure about anything anymore.

That night, Kathy hears Ken, her son, talking to someone. She enters Ken’s room and finds him playing chess with the Mysterious Scientist who checked in earlier (who we know is the Cosmic Man.) She reams out the Scientist, who says they were having fun. The Scientist says he’s leaving in the morning.

Kathy tucks the kid in and leaves. The Scientist/Cosmic Man comes back into Ken’s room and tells him not to be afraid.

At the site of the sphere, the military and the bad Scientist set up the deflector rays that will destroy the sphere.

Back at the lodge, Kathy comes to see Sorenson and asks if the Mysterious Scientist might be the Cosmic Man. This is a bit of a fluke in the script I think. Everyone forgot about the Mysterious Scientist even though they were hot to find out who he was.

They all go to the Mysterious Scientist’s room and find Sorenson’s bag, which the Cosmic Man was using to pretend he had luggage. When they all go outside looking for the stranger, Kathy runs out after them and says Ken’s gone. Sorenson orders the Sergeant to drive him to the site. Well, technically, the Sergeant’s not letting Sorenson out of his site.

At the site, the Cosmic Man comes out from behind a rock holding Ken. He says if they do what he says no harm will come to Ken. The Cosmic Man tells them to turn the magnetic field off. They do.

The Cosmic Man sets Ken down then gives a speech. He says his work is done. He may be back in the future and maybe they’ll have a better understanding of him. He tells them to not move until he’s gone.

The "bad" Scientist runs over and turns the deflector on. Sorenson runs to turn it off but it’s too late. The Cosmic Man drops.

Ken gets up. He can walk. Kathy runs to him.

Now the military guys walk away from the Cosmic Man, like they see a fallen alien every day. Then a ray from the sphere sucks the Cosmic Man back into it. Sorenson says "He’ll come back." And the sphere disappears.

The end.

I guess I like this film because it merges science and humanism in the character of Dr. Sorenson. He admits how imperfect science and scientists are, and he accepts the limitations of others, like the stubbornness of the Colonel. Sorenson is human and humanistic. He wants to understand the alien, not destroy it.

Other films in that era presented variations on this theme. The Thing, for example, where the scientist tries to communicate with the alien. But the scientist ended up being a dope in that film, relegated to the role of "Victim Number ____."

In The Cosmic Man, the scientist uses his head and saves many lives without violence. That’s my kind of hero.

Thanks, Jeff.  The Cosmic Man is, indeed, a well above average sci-fi monster/alien flick, intelligently written and (mostly) well acted, with enough twists in the standard "alien invader" plotline to keep audiences interested.  Its low budget isn't much of a hindrance at all; the power of the film comes from the true-to-real-life reactions of the Earth people to the visitor from another world, not the usual special effects blowout that would dominate a similar film made today.  It's another modest but effective film that deserves much more appreciation than it has gotten.  We heartily recommend that you, the reader, discover--or re-discover--it.

Article copyright © Jeff Beres

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