Too many fans seem to be blown away

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

THE GAMMA PEOPLE is a weird and unsuccessful science fiction B-movie of the mid 1950s, shot in the UK substituting for Eastern Europe. It was directed by John Gilling, a man with a respectable career whose highs include the excellent double bill he made for Hammer Studios, THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES and THE REPTILE. Sadly, it's one of his lesser works, a film which all over the place tonally and which is more laughable than anything else. A couple of characters board a train and head into an Iron Curtain country, where they discover a mad plot to mutate children with radiation. Said children aren't remotely scary and British viewers had to wait until VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED until the story subject was done properly. Paul Douglas is way too old and bloated to be the hero, although Leslie Phillips does the comedy well (of course) and Eva Bartok is very fine.

This is more of a light comedy than a science fiction thriller. It's actually a film about the different stereotypes of nationalities, beginning with the "ugly American" and the "waggish British" reporters.The film always moves briskly, due more to clever writing, good casting, and strategic directing, than on effects and big money. This is a textbook film on how to make a film look like it's more action packed than it really is.We know it's a spoof on the nationalities from the start, as the pair of reporters are oblivious to their train car being dislodged, by accident, and rolling into a "duchy" that resembles the European duchy we get in classics like THE INSPECTOR GENERAL, THE MOUSE THAT ROARED, and others.The duchy citizens also play to part.However, like most good films, this takes stereotypes and changes them into three dimensional characters, or at least two dimensional. The film makes sure it doesn't lose its light hearted approach. It has the cult look of a Rocky Horror in that regard, of taking stereotypes and making more out of them.This is a fun film, and well done, obviously low budget. There are no dull moments, which is more than I can say for most big budget science fiction movies. Much of this is because the film creates a very good atmosphere.Never underestimate "atmosphere" and "fundamentals". This film has both.

Gamme People, The (1956) ** (out of 4) Extremely bizarre science-fiction film from Columbia has Paul Douglas and Leslie Phillips playing American and British journalists who accidentally wind up in a small European town, which seems to be ran by a strange scientist. After a slow start the journalist soon learn that the scientist is doing experiments with a gamma ray, which he's using to try and create geniuses. Of course, whenever the experiments fail he ends up with ghouls who will do all his evil deeds. I don't think anyone in their right mind would put THE GAMMA PEOPLE on any sort of "Best of.." list but you could possibly find it on several "WTF" lists. This is without question one of the strangest films to come from the 1950s because not only does it try to capture the horror/sci-fi genre but it also mixes in some very strange comedy as well as some political undertones. All of this stuff thrown into one screenplay just leaves the viewer scratching his head because it's impossible to really figure out what's going on or what the filmmakers were trying to do. The screenplay itself is a mess as it's all over the map and what's worse is the horrid bits of comedy that are thrown in. At times it almost seems like you're watching a spoof of a horror movie but then you get more ghoulish activity that reminds you that this is supposed to be a horror film. Speaking of ghouls, the monsters here are downright silly and it's doubtful the youngest viewers in the world would be remotely scared of them. Not for a single second are any of them scary and that silly walk they do makes one want to laugh more than anything else. With this strange blend of genres you're almost looking at a horrid movie but what saves it from the "so bad it's horrible" file are the strong performances and the fact that it's rather well-made. When I say well-made I do mean on a technical level because the direction holds the material about as well as one could hope and the cinematography is also quite nice. I'm not sure how much they had to pay Douglas to appear in this film but he does a very good job in the lead and plays it straight throughout. Phillips is also very good in his role as is Eva Bartok who plays an assistant who finally gets some courage to fight back. THE GAMMA PEOPLE has pretty much been forgotten over the years but it's certainly an interesting little experiment. It certainly doesn't work but fans of the genre will want to check it out just to see how strange it actually is.

The Gamma People is a classic mix of post WWII aimlessness sprinkled nicely with a generous dose of Hitlerian medical experimentation by a quasi dictator named Boronski. Unnoticed by the outside world save a chance happenstance of an uncoupled railroad passenger car with 2 reporters, American and British sliding down a side rail and ending up engine-less in the rail yard of the Dutchy of Gudavia, the whole town is in an uproar about the arrival of uninvited foreign guests.A postage stamp country if there ever was one, in fact, it's smaller than a postage stamp. With a pompous Hoenzollern-like police chief, a quaint hotel, and other assorted hovels leered at by a castle on the hill (that's where Boronski lives), Gudavia holds a hideous secret. The youth of the town are being zapped by Boronski with a huge gamma-ray projector causing two types of effects, geniuses like Hugo, a Teutonic dictatorial little snit and Hedda, a musical genius, able to whip out complex Beethoven or Bach at the drop of a piece of strudel, and morons, goon-like guys who run around with their arms at their sides and mouths wide open, catching flies, and moaning their compliance to the will of Boronski and his broken pitch pipe. The Brit Lothario goes wench hunting and ends up running into one of the goonies..The two reporters decide to visit the schloss and see what's happening in Good Old Gudavia's seat of government. The castle is ostensibly a school, with a lot of secret doors that make the coolest sound when opening and closing.. much neater than the doors on the original TOS Enterprise. There, they meet Dr. Boronski's assistant Frau Wendt, who tours the guys around the school ending up with a sculpture class where they meet Hugo and his huge goon mask, that still scares me. Here and there mysterious deaths, screams and crumpled bodies in the bottom of ravines spoil the peaceful tranquility of Gudavia,maybe you were expecting all edelweiss and shtollen ? A totally trippy festival with an awesome musical piece is used quite effectively to flesh out a who's hunting who scene in the city streets. Finally, Hedda is kidnapped and conveyed to the castle where she, Paula Wendt and the American reporter Wilson are subjected to the gamma rays, while Hugo watches, becoming more and more upset until he finally turns on the doctor pushing him off a balcony as the building begins to crumple in the intense explosion caused by the falling Boronski. Hugo and Hedda and Wilson and Paula are safe, staggering away from the castle Boronski which is now erupting like a big volcano, fade to a happy scene another festival, Hugo and Heda are happy-go-lucky young children again, free of the shackles of artificially induced genius, now just a couple of crazy kids. I think I liked them the other way.You can read into the movie whatever you want. I look at it as a classic that fascinated me as a child, and now still does as an adult. Safe, escapist, preachy but in a nice way, and entertaining. It may be corny and cheesy but hey, I like corn and cheese.