Review of This Island Earth (1955) by Andy A — 21 Jan 2009

Utterly fascinating piece of movie history. I find it sad that so many people misunderstand or at least misjudge this movie based solely on the merits of their own modern bias. That said, yes, there are cliches but amazingly, if you compare this one to the plethora of other B-movies of the era, "Earth" shares very few of the bad elements.

Even today, the special effects are not entirely half-bad (unless you're taken off guard by the 'mutANT'). Generally speaking, the bad rap probably comes from its stint in the Mystery Science Theater.

All things considered, if you gauge this as a cautionary atomic-age fable, then this movie is surprisinglywell-written, with a slow build-up accompanied by a fantastical journey into the unknown, all of it steeped in a kind of 'scientific' lore that is typically lacking in movies of this caliber.