The Space Children 1958

The Space Children 1958

The Space Children 1958
1h 9m | Sci-fi | June 1958 (USA)

Storyline:

A glowing brain-like creature arrives on a beach near a rocket test site via a teleportation beam. The alien communicates telepathically with the children of scientists. The kids start doing the alien’s bidding as the adults try to find out what’s happening to their unruly offspring.

User review:

While not Arnold’s best film, IMHO (I find it a bit preachy and badly hampered by the rubbery silliness of the Big Alien Brain), this is still a memorable film. Though set in a beachfront area it happens mostly at night, using Arnold’s typically haunting black-and-white compositions to set an appropriate tone of strangeness and isolation. The children, alienated from their preoccupied and overworked parents, are almost adopted by the space creature, which takes them under its protection (a drunken and abusive father is disposed of soon after the brain’s arrival) even as it enlists them in its pacifist mission. At first fairly typical kids, they quickly develop an air of gravity and wisdom that remains after the alien departs, suggesting a lasting, even evolutionary effect. The film’s title is perfect: the kids do become Space Children, more in tune with alien than human thought.

Director: Jack Arnold
Writers: Tom Filer(story)Bernard C. Schoenfeld(screenplay)
Stars: Michel Ray, Adam Williams, Peggy Webber
Country of origin: United States
Language: English
Filming locations: Paramount Studios – 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA