THE
COSMIC MAN (1959)Director: Herbert S. Greene
Image Entertainment
THE
COSMIC MAN (1959)A sphere-shaped UFO, resembling a giant golf ball, mysteriously appears in the middle of California's Bronson Canyon. The strange object just sits around for what seems like hours of running time, while scientists and the Air Force arrive to investigate. An amicable alien (played by John Carradine) shows up at a local lodge, bundled up and sporting coke-bottle glasses (and looking like Joe Flaherty in a classic SCTV skit) to disguise himself. The investigators soon discover his real identity; a raven-donned silhouette unveiled through unconvincing special effects. Obviously coming from the "shoot first, ask questions later" school, their first attempt at terminating him fails.
Posing as a visiting scientist, Carradine befriends a crippled boy who's room he visits at night to play chess and discuss astronomy. One open-minded physicist, Dr. Karl Sorenson (Bruce Bennett), is sympathetic to the cause but he's hysterically chastised by a colonel when he gives the boy a telescope (as a gift) in the midst of panic! Without bad intentions, Carradine kidnaps the lad to get the thickheaded militia to listen to him, but the oafs violently bring him down regardless. The boy then miraculously flings his crutches, and proceeds to walk off healthy in a finale that would make even Spielberg content! The end.
Obviously inspired by THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, this film just comes off as a poor man's (a very poor man) version of that. It's a totally insignificant bore and the acting is atrocious. The dreary Bennett couldn't act his way out of a paper bag and Carradine doesn't have much to do at all. I hope Carradine was at least able to hide a bottle of ten year-old Scotch in that giant sphere so that he could liven up the set with his intoxicated antics!
Like most of the transfers in Image's Wade Williams Collection, THE COSMIC MAN looks quite good, but it's a notch below in quality when compared to other outstanding recent releases (THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS, GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN). The black & white picture is sharp and well detailed, but there are a number of blemishes about, and I also noticed a slight flicker on the screen. Besides the usual collection of promos for other Wade Williams DVDs, the only extra is a really enticing COSMIC MAN trailer. Enthusiastically narrated by the legendary Paul Frees, it's much better than the film itself! (George R. Reis)