Target Earth

There are certain movies that tend to stay with you for your whole life. For me a lot of those films are in the science fiction genre. As a kid I used to watch those ‘B’ flicks after school, amazed by the fanciful stories. For several decades I remembered parts of a film about robots invading a city. The few survivors are in hiding while the US Army works on a weapon. Finally, some forty five years later I have this piece of my childhood on DVD; Target Earth. Seeing this flick as an adult my childhood fascination was not diminished. To the contrary I am now able to see a new level to enjoy the film. Some of the nuance in the film was missed by my younger self but now has added a whole new dimension for me.

Nora King (Kathleen Crowley) awakens in a somewhat downscale hotel room. Although disoriented she pulls herself together and goes outside. Once there she notices that the streets are completely deserted. On the sidewalk Nora sees the body of a dead man. As Nora looks around she spots a man, Frank Brooks (Richard Denning) who assures her that he did not kill the man. The pair go off to find out what happened to the millions of people who should be on the streets. Frank is the more rational of the two. He figures that to remove such a large population there had to be an organized evacuation of the city. They speculate that a nuclear attack may be on its way and they where overlooked by the authorities. Nora was unconscious after a failed suicide attempt and Frank was out after being mugged. As they roam the deserted streets they hear the sound of a piano playing. They follow it to an upscale nightclub where they find Vicky Harris (Virginia Grey) drunk at the keys. She and her long time boyfriend, Jim Wilson (Richard Reeves) are helping themselves to the bar and having a grand old time. Fearing the worse is yet to come Nora and Frank try to get Vicky and Jim to follow them out of town. At first the inebriated couple just wants to drink the day away but the more rational couple convinces them that there are a lot of great places to drink along the way. They start out and begin to look for a working car. Frank discovers that the distributor caps have been removed. They are attacked by Charles Otis (Mort Marshall), who once he clams down explains that every car in sight has had the cap removed. Frank recalls that in World War II this practice was done to prevent the invading forces from using the vehicles, a typical military ploy. Frank figures that an invading army as come to the United States. The five people seek safety in a hotel but Charles is too on edge to say put. He runs out to the streets and is killed by a robot with a death ray that emanates from his face plate. The scene then shifts to a military command where the army is planning their response. The army has captured a disabled robot, the face plate smashed. Scientist are called in to analyze what deactivated to mechanical monster in hopes of finding a weapon. Meanwhile back at the hotel the two couples are joined by a small time crook, Davis (Robert Roark) who is on the run from a murder rap. What follow from this point on is some human drama and the army saving the day.

This film was made on a very low budget and it does show. They could only afford one robot costume so thought there was a vast army of robots only one is ever seen at a time. Modern special effects could easily create a huge numbers of robots but that would not add on iota to the story. Part of the charm of these fifties cult classics is the simplicity of the effects and settings. The scenes are set in regular sets; they look like something from a college drama club production. The production company did not get permits to shoot so they had to sneak around on early Sunday mornings to get the exterior shots. All of this makes the film character driven instead of relying on special effects. If CGI had been available fifty years ago it only would have detracted from the emotional impact of the movie. Some of the themes I missed as a child included the back story of Nora’s attempted suicide. Here is a woman who found that life was not worth living placed in a situation where she is force to fight to survive. The dynamic between Jim and Vicky is great. They argue, she is tired of waiting ten years for marriage but there is an incredible amount of love between them. One theme that is very prevalent for the fifties is the two edge sword of science. Advanced technologies on Venus created the threat but it was the imagination and hard work of human scientist who save the day. The military is there to protect the American public, first by evacuating a large city over night and eventually rising to defeat the invaders. At this point in time the Communists where perceived by the American public as inhuman monsters. Robots set to destroy without feelings fit perfectly with how most Americans thought the Communists acted.

When I was growing up I thought Richard Denning was a major star. After all he was in so many of the films a kid in the fifties watched, science fiction and westerns. He even ended his long career with a recurring role as the Governor of Hawaii on ‘Hawaii Five-O’. He is a solid working actor who took every role seriously. Here he is the clam, intelligent man; a think man who is the direct opposite of the automatons he is fighting. He also played well opposite Kathleen Crowley. The two of them bring an emotional human element to a tale of fanciful fiction. Virginia Grey and Richard Reeves are perfect as the low class couple. They are the average people trapped in the direst of circumstances but still able to hold on to the one thing that matters, their love.

VCI has done a very good job bringing this film to DVD. The technical specifications indicate a port from an analogue source and there is some artifacts notable in the letterbox video. Overall the video is clear and acceptable. The Dolby mono audio is clear and better than I had hoped. For a little cult flick there are some notable extras. The best is the commentary track by producer Herman Cohen. He was involved with many of my favorite fifties sci-fi. Here he tells the audience just how much work it took to create these little gems. There is also a video tribute to this man that is fitting considering how many of us loved his films as kids. For anyone growing up in the fifties like I did this is a must have. It is a piece of our childhood that we can now enjoy over and over again. Take an afternoon and watch it with your kids and show them what movies where like for us back then.

Posted 01/04/06