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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, December 31, 2020

Visit To A Small Planet (1960)

Starring Jerry Lewis, Joan Blackman, Earl Holliman, Fred Clark, John Williams
Directed by Norman Taurog

(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)


A space alien trying to learn more about the earth descends to the planet and stays with the family of a gruff TV commentator who doesn't believe in extraterrestrial life.


Lewis stars as the alien in another of his "fish out of water" pictures.  This was based on a play by Gore Vidal, but according to my friend Dwight Kemper, there's little similarity, with the plot rewritten by Paramount's screenwriters.  When the alien discovers the Civil War is over, instead of trying to start a new war, as in the play, he uses his powers to impress a young couple, including levitating cars and people, and showing off magical drum work at a hipster club.  This leads to a romantic entanglement with the commentator's daughter and conflict with her fiancee.   Most of the humor is lowbrow but the special effects are pretty good, from the great John P. Fulton.

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