Oh, this is some fast-paced fun from start to finish with
Freddie Francis directing this at a canter, with hardly any budget and with a plot
that feels loose, and almost improvised! It’s got a great poster with a group
of sexy aliens menacing the Earth but it can’t quite live up to the imagination
of the graphic design and commercial artist even though all involved give it
their best shot.
They Came from Beyond Space is based on The
Gods Hate Kansas, a 1941 novel from the American sci-fi writer, Joseph
Millard. Made directly after Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966),
the film uses some sets and props off that film although none of the pepper pot
aliens, favouring a more existential threat posed by a species that takes over human
minds with the aid of some psychedelic affects and noisy electronica. It’s
effective enough although what the aliens are actually up to isn’t necessarily that
clearly logical.
It all begins with the mysterious appearance of several meteorites
all descending to Earth, a space research station looking a little like Jodrell
Bank (but is actually in New South Wales), tracks the event and sends a team to
investigate. The senior scientist, Dr. Curtis Temple (Robert Hutton), cannot
accompany his colleagues as he – being a classic car enthusiast – has had a
metal plate inserted in his skull following a particularly nasty prang in his nippy-but-risky
Bentley.
As he stays behind, his brainy love interest Lee Mason (Jennifer
Jayne), heads off with Richard Arden (Bernard Kay) and the rest. Arriving at
the site they see the meteors buried in a filed, the rocks begin to glow and
suddenly a light fills the scientists’ eyes, the screen swirls and they stare
intently having been taken other by alien will.
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| Jennifer Jayne is taken over... |
The other-worldly brain-nappers move quickly as alien-Lee
extracts a more than generous loan from the Lloyds Bank in Cookham High Street
whilst others return to the research station to take a “science-drawing” that
has cleverly worked out that the rocks had originated on the Moon. The aliens
encounter Temple but, unable to be controlled with his cranial metal
protection, he is knocked unconscious and they escape.
Temple and the teamwork out strange movements of goods
towards a farm in Berkshire and he sets off to investigate. He meets a striking
short-haired platinum blonde at a patrol station (Luanshya Greer) and the two
flirt like anything because, er, he’s an alpha male cool dude and she’s a
rather forward kind of gas girl.
 |
| Baby you can drive my car... Luanshya Greer |
Temple finds that the aliens have already set up a heavily
defended base of their own, he tries to force his way through but the odds are
too great and Lee emerges to tell him he’s not wanted. He encounters a British
Intelligence officer who is tracking all the comings and goings from the base
but, after holding up in the finest inn Cookham has to offer, the man dies
launching a slightly random sub-plot involving a biochemical attack from the
aliens. There’s even a guest appearance from Kenneth Kendall as a TV report,
which is a nice touch.
As people die, Temple has another go at the aliens’ base
and succeeds in gaining entry to their subterranean sanctuary where he gets
locked up by the now evil Richard Arden after discovering a rocket ship under
construction. Temple escapes and manages to extract Lee, locking her up in the
trunk of his car as she is still under the influence.
 |
| Kenneth Kendall reporting |
He takes her to his friend Farge (Zia Mohyeddin) who is
something like Brains and something of a specialist in alien mind control… or
at least not phased too much by it. Farge and Temple manage to exorcise Lee’s
possessor and realise that silver is the solution: it blocks and weakens the
aliens. Temple’s skull plate is silver – which explains everything – and Farge
sets about creating protective headgear for their return to the aliens’ base.
Ah, but when do we get to meet the real aliens, I hear
you ask? Well, there are all kinds of revelations to come before the full story
is revealed by Michael Gough – the Master of the Moon and the film freestyles
its way towards an interesting denouement which doesn’t follow the usual path
of stand-off and destruction…
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| Zia Mohyeddin with alien-proof helmet |
Dusty Verdict: They Came from Beyond Space
is rainy-day fun and has some style even with a threadbare plot. The actors do
the best they can with Robert Hutton especially impressive proving that at 47
you can still be a leading man. He had form with this kind of film having starred
in The Slime People (1963) as well as Invisible Invaders (1959)
both of which look classy!
They Came from Beyond Space is available on
DVD from Studio Canal and is worth seeking out at a reasonable price.
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| Michael Gough is the Master of the Moon |
Postscript: Why exactly do the Gods hate Kansas? “For
a reason no scientist can explain, more stony meteorites strike little Kansas
than any other place on Earth. One-third of all known North American aerolite
falls, and one-sixth of those reported in the world, have been in Kansas...”
Joseph J. Millard, The Gods Hate Kansas (1941)
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