‘Somewhere in this world stalks a thing that is…’
Not of This Earth is a 1957 sci-fi horror film about an alien who is sent to Los Angeles via a high-tech matter transporter. There, he terrorises the locals in an attempt to acquire blood for his dying race, the result of a devastating nuclear war.
The movie was produced and directed by Roger Corman from a screenplay by Charles B. Griffith (Doctor Heckyl & Mr. Hype; The Little Shop of Horrors; A Bucket of Blood; et al) and Mark Hanna (Attack of the 50 Foot Woman).
The movie stars Paul Birch, Beverly Garland and Morgan Jones.
The movie had a reported budget of $100,000 and a return of $1,000,000 although neither figures are verified. That said, it is clear that Not of This Earth was a huge financial success. Corman remade it twice, in 1988 and 1995.
Co-writer Charles B. Griffith said that after he and Corman had collaborated on the film Gunslinger, he suggested they make a science fiction film and Corman agreed; Not of This Earth was the result. He also said he originally wrote the part of the vacuum cleaner salesman for himself.
Griffith also said the movie “started all this X-ray eye business. Most of Roger’s themes got established right in the beginning. Whatever worked, he’d come and take again, and a lot of things got used over and over. During the production of Not of This Earth, I was married to a nurse, and she helped me do a lot of medical research. I remember how we cured cancer in that script. Somehow the film was a mess when it was finished.”
Paul Birch complained bitterly about having to wear the white contact lenses for so many hours during filming. Corman wanted him ready to roll on a moment’s notice, so he asked him to leave the contact lenses in his eyes all day long, which caused Birch extreme discomfort. Birch and Corman wound up getting into a shoving match on the set, and Birch walked out on the production before it was finished. Corman used a double (wearing Birch’s dark glasses and slouch hat) to finish the few scenes Birch had not completed.
Plot [contains spoilers]:
A man who is “not of this Earth” has adopted the name “Mr. Johnson” for moving among the populace of Los Angeles. Johnson is from the planet Davanna, where the inhabitants have developed an incurable blood disease as a side effect from a nuclear war. He has been sent to Earth to examine the blood of humans for its possible usefulness in curing Davanna’s dying race.
Johnson communicates to an authority on Davanna through a device hidden behind a sliding panel in the living room of his Griffith Park mansion. His bodyguard, Jeremy, provides him support and protection, but is unaware of him being a murderous alien.
The alien has a sensitivity to high-decibel sounds and is conspicuous for his stilted syntax and his sunglasses, which he wears even in the dark. The sunglasses hide his blank white eyes, which kill his victims by burning into their brain. He removes the blood of his first victim (a teenage girl walking home at night from a date) using a system of tubes and canisters that he keeps in an aluminium attaché case.
Johnson hires nurse Nadine to look after him in his house. Her boss, town physician Doctor Rochelle, is under Johnson’s hypnotic control after discovering his patient’s peculiar blood cell structure. With a limit on the number of transfusions he can be given, Johnson takes to murdering locals and simply draining their blood. Adding to his victims are a strolling Chinese-American man, a sleazy door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman and a trio of homeless drunks. The police are mystified by these “vampire killings”.
Johnson’s plans are disturbed by the unexpected appearance of a female from Davanna. The alien female asks him for an immediate transfusion, because her physical condition is rapidly deteriorating. Johnson breaks into Rochelle’s office, but accidentally steals blood contaminated with rabies. The blood proves fatal to the Davanna woman, who collapses in the street and dies at a hospital. Nadine’s friend, police patrolman Harry Sherbourne, tries to question Doctor Rochelle about the dead woman, but he is unable to speak while under Johnson’s mind control.
Now fearing discovery, Johnson sends a bizarre oxygen-activated umbrella-like flying alien creature to kill Rochelle. He also kills Jeremy, who has discovered evidence of Johnson’s alien origin. Nadine, whom he attempts to kidnap and take with him, manages to call the police as Johnson chases her through the park in his car. Johnson abandons her and flees, pursued by the arriving Sherbourne on his motorcycle. When Sherbourne turns on his siren, the sound causes Johnson to lose control of his car, and he dies in a crash.
After Johnson’s burial, Sherbourne and Nadine stand by his grave, which bears the inscription “Here lies a man who was not of this Earth”. While Sherbourne expresses mild compassion for Johnson, for his attempt to rescue his world’s dying populace, Nadine refuses to offer any kind of pity.
They leave just as a mysterious man approaches the grave site. Like Johnson, he wears the same sunglasses and carries the same distinctive case containing transfusion equipment…
Choice dialogue:
Harry Sherbourne: “Johnson’s some kind of foreigner, isn’t he?”
George, Desk Sergeant: “This killer’s a fiend of the most diabolical kind!”
Cast and characters:
Paul Birch … Paul Johnson – Queen of Outer Space; Beast with a Million Eyes; Day the World Ended
Beverly Garland … Nadine Storey – Twice-Told Tales; The Alligator People
Morgan Jones … Harry Sherbourne – The Giant Claw; Forbidden Planet
William Roerick … Doctor F.W. Rochelle
Jonathan Haze … Jeremy Perrin – Blood Bath; The Terror; The Little Shop of Horrors
Roy Engel … George, Desk Sergeant
Dick Miller … Joe Piper, vacuum cleaner salesman – Matinee; Evil Toons; A Bucket of Blood; et al
Anna Lee Carroll … Davanna Woman
Pat Flynn … Simmons
Barbara Bohrer … Waitress
Roy Engel … Sgt. Walton
Tamar Cooper … Joanne
Harold Fong … Specimen
Gail Ganley … Girl
Ralph Reed … Boy
Filming locations:
1725 Camino Palermo, Los Angeles, California (location of the house)
Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California (park scenes)
Release:
The movie was distributed by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation from February 10, 1957. The theatrical release had a running time of 67 minutes although a TV version included some additional footage.
Trailer [1080p HD]:
Free to watch online on YouTube [1080p HD]:
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