jellyfish, Johnson corners young girls, transients and even a hep-talkin’ vac- uum cleaner salesman (Corman regular Dick Miller) and literally fries their brains by taking off his glasses and exposing his milky white, pupil-less eyes. After drain- ing the bodies using tubes and flasks kept in his suitcase – a neat trick that an- ticipates the scientific bloodsuckers in George A. Romero’s Martin and Bob Clark’s Deathdream– he incinerates the corpses in his cellar furnace. Despite his bloodthirsty rampage,


PLANET CORMAN NOT OF THIS EARTH (1957) DVD


Starring Beverly Garland, Paul Birch and Morgan Jones Directed by Roger Corman Written by Charles B. Griffith and Mark Hanna Shout! Factory


Many of director Roger Corman’s earliest films


are overshadowed by their elaborate but slapdash monster creations – sea monsters with ping- pong-ball eyes, rubber ser- pents and lumpy insect masks. But with Not of This Earth, the King of the B’s en- gaging sci-fi twist on vam- pire mythology, the thrifty director proves that his big screen monsters can benefit from simplicity in design and purpose. One of an astounding nine


Corman films released in 1957, Not of This Earth incor- porates a briefly glimpsed jellyfish creature and the dis- turbing image of alien eyes without pupils into a tightly scripted tale of interplanetary intrigue. The plot follows the enigmatic Mr. Johnson (Paul Birch), who appears in a doctor’s office demanding a no-questions- asked blood transfusion. At first, the attending


RM46 R E I S S U E S


physician (William Roerick) refuses to help, but gives in when he dis- covers Johnson does seem to suf- fer from mysterious and potentially deadly symptoms. The doctor even recommends that his pretty young nurse, Nadine (Beverly Garland), ac- company Johnson home to keep him alive with daily transfusions. Before long, Nadine moves in with Mr. Johnson


and his sleazy, ex-con chauffeur (Jonathan Haze), but she still doesn’t know what to make of her pa- tient and his odd behaviour; he doesn’t eat food, won’t take off his sunglasses, and he locks her in her bedroom at night. Of course, Nadine could never guess that John- son is an alien on an experi- mental mission to save Davanna, his home planet, which has been ravaged by war and a debilitating blood disease. If their scout man- ages to survive on human blood, the Davannians plan to suck the Earth’s population dry and obliterate the planet. The film’s parallels to


Dracula are immediate and obvious, as Mr. Johnson


bends the wills of those who oppose him and at- tacks everyday citizens to obtain more blood sam- ples. Aside from creating havoc with his flying


though, Mr. Johnson is almost the hero of the film – a common ploy by writer Charles Griffith, who clearly identified with outsider charac- ters in his scripts for Corman. Johnson is in almost every scene, and as he steps out of his black Cadillac, clad in a sharp fedora and large dark glasses, he gives off a steely but charismatic cool. Until the ultimate blood-harvesting plan is revealed, it’s even easy to sympathize with his quest for fresh plasma to stay alive. But Johnson takes no delight in his work – rather, his exacting,


matter-of-fact approach to murder seems tinged with some degree of sadness for the plight of his people. Even though the audience never gets a peek at


Davanna, and the picture is comprised largely of dialogue scenes on just a handful of sets and lo- cations, the story crackles with atmosphere and tension. Blame Corman’s talented co-conspirators: Ronald Stein contributes one of his eeriest and most realized scores, while cinematographer John J. Mescall gives the film a shadowy, sumptuous feel. Mescall, a screen veteran who had previously shot Universal classics The Bride of Frankenstein and The Black Cat, helps place the film firmly within the tradition of those classic horror pro- grammers. But while Not of This Earth is just shy of being a


1950s horror classic itself, it’s still probably Cor- man’s best of the decade, mostly on the strength of Paul Birch’s performance as Mr. Johnson. An uncomplicated but creepy monster in a three- piece suit, Johnson remains one of the most memorable killer creatures of his time. Difficult to find on home video in the last 30


years, Not of This Earth finally gets a DVD release along with classic Corman treats War of the Satel- lites and Attack of the Crab Monsters. This is a the title to beat for the best vintage horror release of the year.


PAUL CORUPE


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