ThiefHott
Too much of everything
MoPoshy
Absolutely brilliant
Voxitype
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
thejcowboy22
Another classic from the vault of the Million Dollar Movie in New York. Watched it over and over again. Nora King (Kathleen Crowley) wakes up to an empty boarding house. Walks outside and realizes there's no people around. Sees a dead woman with her eyes wide open screams and a chain smoking Richard Denning catches up with her. Next they meet up with two alcoholics Virginia Grey and Richard Reeves who are celebrating like it's 1999. Anyway next they find this paranoid yammer Charles Otis (Mort Marshall) who was scouring the city and also came to the same conclusion that their city is invaded by Robots hence lack of people around. Otis has no patience and runs out only to get the death ray sprayed on him. The others look in horror and make their way to a high rise apartment away from the deadly cathode ray tubed robots. After being settled in their high perch above the city another straggler finds his way upstairs and breaks in on our foursome survivors.Enter actor Robert Roark portrayed as Davis a two bit crook with a pistil who quite frankly is annoying and plays his role as a scoundrel to the max. Now there's trouble upstairs and trouble below for our vicarious foursome. Meanwhile the movie cuts away to a lab miles from the city. Chief scientist Whit Bissel and his staff work diligently for a way to destroy the mechanical menaces buy using ultra sound to destroy their face tubes. Can the army get to our feared foursome in time? Will Davis use his gun on the four at bay? I had some issues.
You never see more than one robot at a time. Secondly how did our alcoholic friend sober up so expeditiously? Thirdly I would have loved to see a mass evacuation at the beginning of the movie . That would have been something to behold but the budget was low AND WE'LL HAVE TO LEAVE IT TO THE IMAGINATION!! The Diary Of Ann Frank would be much more suitable viewing hiding for Nazi turmoil than these four hiding from clumsy robots which at the right angle you could probably tip over. Hard to watch this sci-fi schlock movie more than once.
Leofwine_draca
TARGET EARTH sounds like an epic sci-fi movie on paper: see! Earth attacked by an army of killer robots with death rays! Sadly, as is usually the case with these things, the real story is far more prosaic, and a dearth of money means that this is a typically cheap and plodding sci-fi pic with more in common with ROBOT MONSTER than WAR OF THE WORLDS.Cult producer Herman Cohen delivers us a tale of a quartet of survivors trapped in a deserted city and at the mercy of a robot seemingly made out of cardboard boxes. A few scenes of military speak are interspersed with the main narrative, no doubt to pad out the running time a little. Whit Bissell plays in support.Nothing much happens here. There are a few cheesy death scenes and attempts at suspense that will disappoint all but the smallest child. Needless to say there are few effects. I like 1950s B-movies but this really doesn't have much going for it, although Robert Roark is fun as the human villain of the piece, Richard Denning is the likable everyman hero, and Kathleen Crowley certainly fills out a form-fitting sweater. What more could you want?
MARIO GAUCI
Since it was co-written by the man behind ROBOT MONSTER (1953), I really wasn't expecting anything from this one (whose SE DVD I bought dirt-cheap from VCI outright). However, the film proved worthy of some attention – though failing to keep up the initial momentum, despite a brief 75-minute duration.The plot starts off with a typical 'Last Man On Earth' scenario (albeit restricted in this case to just one big American city, and the reason it's deserted is due to evacuation rather than decimation). Eventually, a handful of people (including a constantly squabbling couple) band together in a hotel; we gradually learn their individual reasons for being left behind – which would actually be replicated in the much later THE QUIET EARTH (1985) – and, amidst fighting one another (especially the bossiness of an armed criminal on the run), they heroically withstand the alien invasion (consisting of a single solitary robot!) which is threatening the planet. Ultimately, the military springs into action – scientist Whit Bissell having finally hit upon a particular sound wave which can 'kill' the clunky automaton(s), also able to shoot a deadly ray a' la Klaatu from THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) – and rescues those still standing (obviously the hero and heroine).The male lead is once again played by Richard Denning, whom I had just watched in THE BLACK SCORPION (1957): amusingly, as in that film, for all his ruggedness he's made up to be something of a dope as well, since Denning cluelessly purports to defend himself with a mere firearm (at the end, when he's told the alien was actually a robot, his character displays genuine amazement – duh!). In the end, though no classic, the film is extremely typical of its time and reasonably entertaining while it's on (with, as I said, the best moments coming at the very beginning via the eerie depiction of deserted city streets).The extras are perhaps over-generous for such minor genre fare: that said, I haven't listened to its late producer Herman Cohen's Audio Commentary – while I was already familiar with the tribute featurette to him from its inclusion on VCI's own edition of HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM (1959).
ferbs54
This movie used to scare the crap out of me when I was a little kid, mainly for the reason that a dead woman that is shown at the picture's opening looks EXACTLY like a neighbor that we had back in 1964. When you're 8 years old, that's enuff to frighten the bejeebers out of you. After seeing "Target Earth" the other day, for the first time in over 40 years, I must say that I no longer find it as scary as I once did. The film's opening, in the abandoned, nameless city, is well done, but that giant lumbering robot that used to be such a thriller as a kid, these days is just a laff riot. (The shot of the dead woman is still kinda freaky, although I honestly don't recall what my old neighbor looked like now!) Anyway, the picture is competently acted, the leads are likable, and at a mere 70 minutes, the film never outwears its welcome. It's good for fans of Grade B, 1950s sci-fi. You know who you are!
