Truly Dreadful Film

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

A curious film. It starts off very much as a Quatermass-style mysterious-alien-object-lands-on-Earth science fiction tale, with a trio of likeable scientists trying to get on with their job of working out exactly what the strange meteorite is whilst being both helped and hindered by the military. Then, after about half an hour, the film suddenly does a volte-face and turns itself into a detective yarn as Scotland Yard's finest attempt to unravel the mysterious abductions of numerous young women. Along the way there's also a comedy interlude where the parents of one of the missing girls are interviewed by the investigators, an extended scene which feels somewhat out of place and serves to slightly undermine the drama of the whole piece.In spite of straddling different genres the overall narrative does hang together (just) and it is, of course, an alien visitor that is abducting the women. The purpose behind this has some logic but the methodology is rather ludicrous. And that's the main problem with this film: the script. For all its good intentions and, it has to be said, some bold thinking, it's very hit-and-miss with some ideas working well and catching the viewer off-guard, and other ideas so banal that they leave the viewer wondering how they could possibly have ever got off the drawing board.Usually a film based on such shaky foundations fails in most other respects too but this is a rare exception when everyone else helps pull it out of the mire: the direction (by John Gilling) is good, the lighting very considered, achieving a wonderfully gloomy atmosphere to key scenes, and the special effects, though cheap, are generally competent with glimpses of the visitor wisely kept indistinct for the most part. Best of all, the film boasts a stellar cast, drawing on the cream of British character actors of the day for both the major parts and the minor ones. True, the cast is headed by a token American, as was so often the case in order to help sell the film to overseas markets, but when the American happens to be the wonderful John Saxon that's not such a bad thing. And I'm pleased to report that his role doesn't suffer from the usual stereotypical failings of a dashing American hero being written in a manner of how British writers think a dashing American hero would speak and behave. It is Saxon's character Dr Costain who is initially involved in the recovery of investigation of the alien sphere who then goes on to advise the police investigation, thus being the constant through the film's duration. Maurice Denham gives one of his trademark authoritative performances as Costain's senior colleague, and Alfred Burke, just before his memorable ten-year stint playing Frank Marker in TV's Public Eye, excels as the dour but determined police superintendent. For me, the highlight was a scene where Burke's Superintendent Hartley questions a rather fey, effete character richly brought to life by Aubrey Morris, just for a glimpse of two great actors at the top of their game playing off one another superbly.In conclusion, this is a very ropey film that still has much to commend it, and is well worth a look. However, as a word of warning, when you have that look please make sure you avoid the ghastly colourised version. Unlike many purists I am not actually against the notion of adding colour to black and white films per se, but this is a film that carefully uses its monochrome medium to maximum advantage, so it is an odd choice to undergo such a process. Furthermore, the colouring job is surely the very worst I have seen applied to a film with everything painted in very flat, unnatural hues and some things, such as Alfred Burke's hair and jacket, not even coloured at all. So if this is the version that comes your way, do yourself a big favour and turn down the colour on your TV!

The reason I've rated this film as awful is down to the fact that I am watching a truly AWFUL "colorized" version of this otherwise brilliant black and white film on Talking Pictures (Channel 81, Freeview UK), a channel that generally prides itself on showing old and often obscure black and white films, as I type this review. Would Talking Pictures Kindly obtain an ORIGINAL Black and White copy of this film and run that in future? I'd much appreciate it- this version I'm watching is ghastly!!!

*Spoiler/plot- Night Caller from Outer Space (Blood Beast from Outer Space), 1965. A strange orb from space lands on Earth in the UK and the Govt takes charge. The orb seems to have special properties that coincides with the disappearance of young women from the area.*Special Stars- John Saxon, Patricia Haines.*Theme- War is dangerous for women and other living things.*Trivia/location/goofs- B & W, British. Made at Shepperton Studios in England.*Emotion- This film was interesting and had such suspenseful dramatic pacing that kept me fully involved in the script's plot. I enjoyed the weaving of the plot with the disappearing women idea. The end of the film is done very well and plausible. It was not preachy or insulting of the viewer's aesthetics. I give this film high makes and would recommend it to be seen, even though the film theme is very common in the film's of this Cold War era.

Almost intelligent British sci-fi with a Mod theme. The black and white cinematography is stylish and some of the sets and clothes have a nice Mod feel, but it never turns into a full style fest. There is one quite odd scene with two distraught parents doing a sort of Stiller and Meara routine for the police and scientist. John Saxon is as hot as can be, but alas, never gets around to removing his shirt or even unbuttoning his collar. What a waste of his greatest talent. The one thing that makes this worth watching is the gay character. Aubrey Morris, best known as the long-suffering but sadistic quasi-pedophile caseworker from "A Clockwork Orange", plays Mr. Thorburn, a purveyor of used books, and, I suspect, naughty magazines, perhaps even male physique pictorials. When the police superintendent comes to question him, he gives the cop hell. The subtext makes it obvious that he has been harassed and probably jailed for his proclivities, but he doesn't let that stop him. Commenting on the unearthly green eyes of the alien, he says "I love men with fine eyes, don't you superintendent?" then blows him a kiss when he leaves. Four years before Stonewall, he's still getting busted, but he's very much in control of his interaction with the cop. The ending of the movie is utterly cheesy but what did you expect from a movie called Night Caller from Outer Space?