Saturday, April 9, 2011

On Screen -- Target Earth (1954)



Invader, Crowley and Denning

 "Target Earth" is a pretty good 50s sci fi flick.  A woman awakens in her apartment to find the electricity and water not working and the apartment building as well as the surrounding area deserted.  As she makes her way through the city (possibly Chicago, though the name of the city is never mentioned) she discovers a dead body and then a few survivors. The group learns that there has been a mass evacuation due to "an invading army".  The survivors soon find that the "invaders" are mechanical men from another planet. 

Members of the group learn about each others personal lives while they try to avoid being detected by their attackers who stalk the streets and lurk around every corner.  The use of special effects is minimal.  Still photos and stock footage are used throughout the film and the design of the robots can't compare to the multimillion dollar special effects budgets available to production companies and studios today.  Overall the film is fun to watch, and fans of the genre won't be disappointed.

The film stars Kathleen Crowley as "Nora King", Richard Denning as "Frank Brooks", Virginia Grey as "Vicki Harris" and Richard Reeves as "Jim Wilson".  Costarring is veteran actor Whit Bissel as the "scientist".

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