THE BUBBLE (1966)

Mark (Michael Cole, pictured) and his pregnant wife Catherine (Deborah Walley) are vacationing at a mountain cabin when Catherine goes into premature labor. They charter a small plane from Tony (Johnny Desmond) to get her to a hospital but they're caught in a storm and make an emergency landing near a small village that resembles an Old West town. They get Catherine to a hospital where a doctor (Warner Anderson) delivers her healthy baby, but Mark and Tony are concerned by the odd appearance of the town, which seems to be made up of movie set buildings and props, and the strange behavior of the townspeople who act like automatons, repeating actions and stock phrases ("Taxi, Mister?" is all the taxi driver says) as though they have no will—though Tony manages to find some comfort that night with a show girl he meets in a saloon. When the three try to leave, they realize that the town is encircled by an invulnerable transparent bubble, and that periodically, a gigantic and presumably extraterrestrial being reaches down from the sky to carry a person off. As the three look for ways to escape, they must be careful not to become victims of the aliens.

This was originally released in 3D, in a format called Space-Vision, and watching the film flat as I did, you can see lots of gimmicky shots that would stand out in 3D: a Can-Can dancer; a tray of drinks (with very visible wires attached) that, with no explanation, rises up and floats in the air; umbrellas opening and closing, and more. The standard critical take on this movie is that it's an overlong Twilight Zone episode, and indeed that's what comes to mind while watching it, even some very specific stories that involve people plunked down in mysterious and artificial landscapes ("Where Is Everybody?," "Elegy," and one of my favorites, "Stopover in a Quiet Town"). At 90 minutes (cut down from an earlier version at nearly two hours), this feels too long, with lots of padding in the way of people whining and wandering around to no purpose. The special effects, such as they are, are cut-rate and unimpressive—for example, we never see the giant aliens, only their shadows as they grab people out of the bubble. The story is intriguing but don't expect a solid resolution to the story; it feels like the screenwriter, Arch Oboler (also the director), either just got tired and gave up or cared more about creating 3D ballyhoo. The acting is all over the map. Michael Cole (a teen idol of mine from his Mod Squad days) occasionally slips into sleepwalking mode, probably needing more direction than he was given, but generally is fine as a kind of average-guy figure caught in circumstances he can't fathom. Deborah Walley is pretty bad, but mostly because of what she's given to do, which is to hover on the edge of hysteria and act helpless. Johnny Desmond, best known as a big band singer in the 40s, is quite good as Tony, but he is underused. Warner Anderson, who despite a solid career as a character actor is unbilled, is fine as the doctor, the only townsperson to develop a personality. Despite this film's bad reputation, it does have a cult following, and it remains watchable. If I had the chance to see it in 3D, I'd watch it again. Rereleased later as Fantastic Invasion of Planet Earth. [Streaming]