THE MAN FROM PLANET X
Production: 1951 - USA, United Artists, b/w, 70 min.
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Screenwriters: Aubrey Wisberg and Jack Pollexfen
Special Effects: Andy Anderson, Howard Weeks and (not credited) Jack Rabin
Music: Charles Koff
Cast: Robert Clarke, Margaret Field, William Schallert, Raymond Bond, Roy Engel, Charles Davis, David Ormont, Gilbert Fallman, Tom Daly, June Jeffery
Because his planet is dying from the effects of an ice age, an alien comes down to earth to find out if the environmental conditions are adaptable for the survival of his race. His intentions are not belligerent: in fact, he's only seeking help to save his people. But from the humans he encounters, he gets only misunderstanding, and some military bazooka attacks.
In contrast with the tendencies of this era, the premise of the film presents the figure of an alien as someone "different," not hostile, yet in need of help, a theme that developed in the '70's, with films like The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976), ET the Extraterrestrial (1982), Brother from Another Planet (1984), and Starman (1984).
Edgar G. Ulmer (The Black Cat, 1934) ably succeeds in escaping from the conventions of the genre (in particular, he does not seem to give much importance to the unavoidable sentimental partisanship between the young reporter and the girl, against the "bad" scientist) and puts everything on the alien who almost acts with a cosmic gloominess, in which his impassive face, like a mask framed in shadow and deep black. The Man from Planet X, nevertheless was produced with the smallest means and in record time (six days), reusing the movie set of Joan of Arc. Today, it's considered a small classic of the genre.
©	English version by Vince Mattaliano