The Cosmic Man (1959)

Starring John Carradine, Bruce Bennett, Angela Greene, Paul Langton, Scotty Morrow
Directed by Herbert S. Greene
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

The American military track the descent of a UFO and try to seize its secrets, but also bring in a civilian astrophysicist who has a less aggressive and more peaceful approach.

I've seen this film knocked for being a rip-off of The Day The Earth Stood Still, and while thematically it does use similar characters and ideas, I think it stands on its own two feet, and have been charmed by it.  It of course doesn't compare to that classic film, but Arthur C. Pierce's screenplay has something of its own to say about scientists and a more reasoned approach to the unknown.  Carradine is a welcome presence as the film's titular alien, in a nod perhaps to The Invisible Man, appearing as both a shadowy partly transparent figure, and disguised in bulky clothing, allowing his rich voice to tell the background of the aliens who visit Earth.  Bennett, a frequent co-star to Humphrey Bogart in the 1940s, is perfectly cast as the cool-headed and reasoning Professor Sorenson.  The music score by Paul Sawtell & Bert Shefter adds weight to the tale, and there's some clever photography and editing on display that make the film ascend above its budget.

Before I Hang (1940)

Starring Boris Karloff, Evelyn Keyes, Bruce Bennett, Edward Van Sloan, Ben Taggart
Directed by Nick Grinde
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

An elderly doctor is imprisoned for euthanizing a patient, but is allowed to work with a prison physician to find a cure for the ravages of age, only to err in using a serum from a killer's blood. 

Karloff stars as the elderly physician in a return to old age makeup similar to what he used in Night Key, and his characterization is excellent, giving a very sympathetic portrayal.  Of course this changes, as does his performance when his blood is contaminated, which for me was not as interesting, and a bit too reminiscent of Jekyll & Hyde, and other films of the era that borrowed that formula, like Black Friday and Invisible Ghost.  Nevertheless I still enjoyed the picture and Karloff's supported by some fine character actors, including Pedro de Cordoba, very good as an aging classical pianist, and Edward Van Sloan as the prison doctor, who had appeared before with Karloff in Frankenstein and The Mummy.  Although about the same length as his other "mad doctor" pictures for Columbia, this one seems a bit more slow-moving and drawn out.

The Alligator People (1959)

Starring Beverly Garland, Bruce Bennett, Lon Chaney Jr., George Macready, Frieda Inescort
Directed by Roy Del Ruth
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

In probing a young woman's mind, psychiatrists discover that she's suppressing memories of the horrifying experience her husband went through after a risky operation in the Louisiana swamp.

This is a fun science fiction picture, but not a great one, with some interesting creature makeups from Ben Nye and Dick Smith, and one of Lon Chaney Jr.'s craziest performances as a drunken hired hand with a hatred of alligators.  The screenplay by Orville H. Hampton is smartly structured around Beverly Garland's character, and the actress gives a good performance, although her character's unconcerned stumbling over ravenous alligators is rather hard to believe.  Still, veteran director Del Ruth has helmed a good looking and suspenseful film, accompanied by an effective music score from Irving Gertz with some very eerie themes.  The main problem with the film is its climax, which involves the reveal of a creature makeup that looks great in closeup but is not very convincing in medium shots and a rather lacklusterly filmed finale.  Despite those shortcomings, I'm fond of the picture, and wish 20th Century Fox, with the production values at their disposal, had made more like it in the 1950s.

Mystery Street (1950)

Starring Ricardo Montalban, Sally Forrest, Bruce Bennett, Elsa Lanchester, Marshall Thompson
Directed by John Sturges
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A Cape Cod detective turns to a Harvard professor for help in determining how a skeleton discovered on the beach got there.

Almost a mystery in reverse, the film begins by showing us the identity of the murder victim and where and how she meets her fate, and then introduces us to Lieutenant Morales, who must deduce what we've just seen with only her skeleton as evidence.  Although Montalban was one of MGM's stars by this time, it's refreshing to see him headline the picture with nary a reference to his ethnicity, and he does a nice job in his role, convincingly portraying a dedicated cop on his first murder case.  The picture is also stylistically interesting, commencing with scenes drenched in shadow, a nice device symbolizing how much Morales has to uncover.