The Snow Creature (1954)

Starring Paul Langton, Leslie Denison, Teru Shimada, Rudolph Anders, Bill Phipps
Directed by W. Lee Wilder
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A botanist exploring the mountains of Tibet manages to capture the Abominable Snowman, and takes him back to California for study, but the creature escapes and stalks human victims.

Another of director W. Lee Wilder's collaborations with his son, Myles, who wrote the screenplay, the  picture is probably the weakest of their films, despite a promising concept and setup.  The major problem is we never get a good look at the creature, who's only seen in long shots, or a clip of him stepping in and out of the shadows, that's repeated ad infinitum throughout the film.  Odds are this probably masked the inadequacies of the creature costume, but it results in a film without a major payoff for the audience.  The first half of the film in which we follow botanist Langton, whose expedition is taken over by his sherpa Shimada when the man's wife is abducted by the creature, is a bit more interesting than the second half, where authorities search for the creature in the sewers, but both halves suffer from a lack of atmosphere and imagination.  Having said all that, I somehow keep coming back to watch this film, so there must be something about it that intrigues me.

Phantom From Space (1953)

Starring Ted Cooper, Harry Landers, Jack Daly, Noreen Nash, Rudolph Anders
Directed by W. Lee Wilder
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

The police and communications experts join forces in tracking a fugitive, who is in reality a space alien who is invisible when not wearing his spacesuit.

Another collaboration between producer/director W. Lee Wilder and his son Myles who co-wrote the screenplay, the production suffers a bit from its low budget, but the invisibility effects are fairly decent, and I found the story engaging enough.  There's not a dynamic lead actor among the cast, the camera setups are fairly static, and at times there's a bit too much expositional dialogue, which are to the film's detriment, but William Lava's music score is a strong asset, and the alien's reveal at the climax doesn't disappoint.  This is a better film than Wilder's Killers From Space and The Snow Creature, and the first I can think of that introduced the subject of an invisible alien being.

Killers From Space (1954)

Starring Peter Graves, James Seay, Steve Pendleton, Frank Gerstle, Barbara Bestar
Directed by W. Lee Wilder
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

An atomic scientist disappears after a plane crash, only to return with no knowledge of where he's been, and an insatiable desire to continue with planned atomic bomb tests.

Peter Graves, in one of his early starring roles, is the main attraction in this low-budget sci-fi film filled with plenty of stock footage.  The actor generates enough intensity to draw us into the tale, and he's supported well by some second or third-tier character actors.  Directed by Billy Wilder's less-esteemed brother, W. Lee, from a story provided by the director's son Myles, the first half of the film isn't badly written, with the mystery behind Graves' character's disappearance setting things up rather nicely.  Ridiculousness however, sets in in the second half, when aliens with bulging eyes and bushy eyebrows are revealed with a plot to invade the Earth and take control with giant-sized insects and lizards, who are rear projected instead of using more costly and convincing animation.  Nonetheless, Graves holds it all together, and although the film can't overcome its limitations, I still have a certain fondness for it.