Killers from Space

1954 HorrorScience Fiction 71 minutes Directed by W. Lee Wilder

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About Killers from Space

Dr. Douglas Martin, a nuclear scientist, is collecting data over an atomic test at Soledad Flats when the plane crashes. He reappears at the base unhurt. Under sodium amethol he says aliens revived him because they needed him. Their sun is failing. A billion of them mean to move to Earth, using giant insects and monsters. No one believes him. He forces a power cut. Ten seconds later the alien base explodes. Peter Graves plays Martin. W. Lee Wilder directed. An alternate title is The Man Who Saved the Earth.

Cast & crew

More about Killers from Space

Myles Wilder and William Raynor wrote the script. William H. Clothier photographed it. William Faris edited. Manuel Compinsky wrote the music. Mark Scott narrates. RKO Radio Pictures distributed the black-and-white feature and is also listed as a production company. Wikipedia dates the release 23 January 1954 and times it at 71 minutes. Planet Filmplays usually made pictures for United Artists. This one went to RKO.

Themes

  • A scientist who should have died in the crash
  • Aliens from a dying sun
  • A power cut that destroys their base
  • Douglas Martin
  • Soledad Flats
  • aliens
  • sodium amethol
  • Peter Graves
  • atomic test

Background

The opening is an American atomic test at a place the narration calls Soledad Flats.

Making

Lee Wilder hired his son Myles and William Raynor for the script, then shot Graves’s return from the dead in black and white for an RKO release.

Look

William H. Clothier shot the crash, the interrogation, and the desert test site.

Music

Manuel Compinsky wrote the score. Mark Scott speaks the opening narration.

Preservation

The film survives in circulation. Copies are on the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons.

Notes

  • Barbara Bestar plays Ellen Martin. Frank Gerstle plays Dr. Curt Kruger. James Seay and Steve Pendleton are billed.
  • The alien who explains the dying sun is called Denab in the longer plot summary.
  • The closing image is a mushroom cloud after the base goes up.
  • Copies are on the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons.

Scenes

  • Martin walks back to the base after the crash.
  • Under the drug he describes the aliens and their insects.
  • He pulls the power and the base explodes under a mushroom cloud.

Also available

  • Internet Archive (Killers_from_space)
  • Wikimedia Commons (Killers from space.webm)