MovieChat Forums > The Trollenberg Terror (1958) Discussion > Best space monsters from the 1950s

Best space monsters from the 1950s

posted 16 years ago by jquirk-1
13 replies | jump to latest

When you think about it, "The Crawling Eye" aka "The Trollenberg Terror" probably had the best, most imaginative interplanetary creatures compared to other science fiction movies from the 1950s.

What else is there? The "Id" monster from "Forbidden Planet" was pretty cool, but we only saw it for about a minute and it was an obvious Disney animated creation.

There was "The Thing from Another World" played by James Arness. Basically it was a guy wearing makeup. There were the brain suckers from "Fiend without a Face," but they didn't come from space.

There were the creatures from "It Came From Outer Space" which were pretty cool looking, but they weren't very mobile. The creatures from "The Crawling Eye" seemed to get around much better.

There were the bug-eyed mutants from "Invaders From Mars" along with the Mu-Tants from "This Island Earth," but these were obviously people wearing costumes.

What I'm saying is the alien creatures from "The Crawling Eye" are the most imaginative space monsters dreamed up during the 1950s, and the special effects featured in this film, particularly considering the competition at the time, are far from cheesy. I mean, those eyeballs imbedded in those tentacled blobs looked real. Those eyeballs moved!

[–] altair42002 16 years ago

I've been trying to find the tv show that this movie is based on. would you happen to know where i can find it?? I've heard it's not available, but I wonder if anyone has a homemade copy of it that could be transfered to dvd.

[–] jquirk-1 16 years ago

I don't know. I'd be very interested in seeing the TV version of this, as well. After I read your message, I tried searching the web for it but came up empty. I wonder what the monsters looked like in the TV version?

[–] sarchiorama 16 years ago

quatermass probably beats most
but there are some interesting scenes

bbc 'b' movies seen last night

[–] escalera-2 15 years ago

I agree. When they got to looking around I used to wonder "How'd they do that?" Those were great creatures. Even those ivy like tentacles were creepy.

In the movie "Eraserhead" David Lynch seems to use a dead animal for certain scenes. It apparently was manipulated by pulling its tendons. I'd read on the making of that film and Mr. Lynch is reluctant to reveal how he pulled off such a realistic creature. But this is my guess here.

I mention it only because those eyeballs in the title in question look REAL.
I wonder if it was a sheep's head?

[–] xnet95 14 years ago

I'm so glad I read your post. I agree that the eyeballs were the most imaginative space monsters from the 50's. I was really getting frustrated reading so many other comments on IMDB about the "terrible SFX". This was a great movie, and I wish there were more scenes with the aliens, but it probably was too expensive to do any more.

LONG LIVE THE EYEBALLS!

[–] amazon423 14 years ago

Between the eyeballs and the cloud splitting up into 5 clouds it was a case of where are those clouds pointing to now. When the girl went back to get her ball that was nail-biting time with the tentacles. The movies of the 50's had it together for monster movies.

[–] stevieg-13 13 years ago

Hey, j-quirk,

Need to take one exception. Yes, the mutants in "Invaders From Mars" had very obvious zippers I believe that was by design. After all, what else would a young boy growing up at that time and watching weekend cheep-o horror and scicence fiction films expect???

Remember, the entire tale is told strictly from the child's perspective. Hence, the simply enormous front desk at the police station and I think it all just works wonderfully.

Also, Menzies was far too clever a designer to not cover zippers unless he intended that they be VERY visible.

bye,

s

[–] Strazdamonas 13 years ago

I agree with you on this on.

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I've been vandalized by Elvis! -Ernest, Ernest Goes to Jail (1990)

[–] Grendel1950 13 years ago

I've always liked this picture. The atmosphere, sets, adult dialog didn't interfere with the monsters at the end. I just wish they hadn't used the skinny tentacles during the scenes where the "eyes" interact with the characters. The bigger tentacles when they were shown on the roof of the observatory were much better.

[–] michael-abatemarco 8 years ago

I am rather fond of the Ymir from 20 Million Miles to Earth but I do think the aliens in The Crawling Eye are much better than some reviewers would lead one to believe. I think this would make a great double bill with Fiend Without a Face.

''It's a lonely way, you know, the way of the necromancer.''