Review of This Island Earth (1955) by Jeff B — 13 Sep 2011

I first saw this years ago in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie. Even as a kid I never found the film version as entertaining as the series. But seeing the film on its own years later, I can kind of see why.

It is not nearly as bad as the films the show had already gone through over the years, and their jokes don't feel as great when poking fun at something that is average, not horrendous as per usual.

The make up effects, the monster costume, the matte paintings, the opticals, and even the sets are all pretty state of the art for their day, even if they all seem just a cut below Forbidden Planet. But unlike Forbidden Planet the film has only a half realized script.

Its story is interesting and unique, but it sort of falls apart half-way through, becomes sort of a slow moving pointless monster film with no real ending. Every plot line just sort of ends anti-climatically.

If they spent half as much time on the script as they had on the amazing visuals, this film wouldn't be as forgotten as it has sort of become. In the end I'll stick with Forbidden Planet.