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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Thursday, June 6, 2013

They Came From Beyond Space (1967)

Starring Robert Hutton, Jennifer Jayne, Zia Mohyeddin, Bernard Kay, Michael Gough
Directed by Freddie Francis
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

When a team of scientists investigate a group of meteorites that landed on Earth, their bodies are taken over by alien minds that direct them to construct a secret installation.

Based on a novel by Joseph Millard called "The Gods Hate Kansas," the setting is updated for this film to Cornwall, England making that title obsolete.  The plot is very reminiscent of the British television serial Quatermass 2, which was also made into a film with the same title, both of which are better than this movie.  There are some effective scenes in which the aliens take control of their human bodies and a plague spreads from one victim to another, effectively directed by Francis.  I also liked Hutton in the lead role, but the film is rather flatly photographed and unfortunately has a low-budget look and feel the filmmakers can't overcome.

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