Not of This Earth (1957)

Few people rattled off B-movies faster and better than Roger Corman, and Not of This Earth (one of ten -- yes, ten -- films that Corman released in 1957) ranks with the best of his black-and-white 1950s sci-fi epics, before he hit his stride with his famous cycle of color/widescreen Edgar Allan Poe movies in the early 1960s. Dispensing with rubber monsters for most of the movie's running time, Corman presents the first wave of an alien invasion in the form of one guy (played by Paul Birch) in a dark suit and sunglasses. While budget may have dictated this interstellar reconnaissance force, the low-key invader actually works to the film's benefit; Birch gives his character a suitably creepy, affectless menace, and, from the first moment we see him, he seems strange enough that we know something's not right with this guy, even if he may not look like a martian. Leading lady Beverly Garland (who at this time was Corman's love interest offscreen) gives a firm and capable performance, keeping the screaming to a minimum and exuding a unruffled cool that's a refreshing switch from the usual shrieking damsel in distress. And Corman stalwarts Jonathan Haze and Dick Miller deliver witty performances as a lanky bodyguard-cum-errand boy and the world's first beatnik vacuum cleaner salesman. Fast, efficient, and spooky, with just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek humor, Not of This Earth never pretends to be more than good fun -- and it's never less than that either. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide