THE SPACE CHILDREN (1958)

The government has set up a mobile home park on the California coast to house the families of workers who are engaged in a top secret mission: to build a new missile called the Thunderer that can send an atomic payload into space. Dave Brewster's kids, Bud and Ken, see a streak of light in the sky and later, while playing on the beach with some other kids, see a ray of light shoot down from the sky to a small cave where it seems to deposit something before it vanishes. The kids find a brain-like blob which glows and pulsates and communicates telepathically with Bud. The creature becomes something of a protector to the children. When Dave thinks Bud is lying about the blob and aggressively grabs his son's arm, Dave's arm goes numb. Tim, another kid, is attacked by his abusive drunken stepfather, who winds up dead in his trailer. It soon becomes clear that the alien wants to stop the Thunderer launch and is using the children (and, perhaps, Dave, the only adult who figures out what's going on) to achieve its goal. The film's director, Jack Arnold, made a number of classic 50s sci-fi films (TARANTULA, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE). This doesn't quite have the impact of his other films, partly because of what must have been a very low budget—mostly filmed on a beach and in trailers, and skimpy on special effects. Still, its unusual focus makes it interesting: children are the main characters but it's not a children's movie—Village of the Damned would expand on this idea two years later. Individually, only Michel Ray (as Bud) and Johnny Washbrook (as Tim) get any real characterization, and adults get most of the lines, but it's the actions and fate of the group of children that interest us most. Among the adults, Adam Williams (as Dave) comes off fairly realistically as a distracted dad—he's also one of the least movie-star-looking actors to get a lead role in a 50s movie. Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester on The Addams Family) plays another dad, and Russell Johnson (the Professor on Gilligan's Island) is the drunken stepdad. Also recognizable are Raymond Bailey (Mr. Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies) and Ty Hardin (hunky TV Western star of Bronco). I'm glad I don't give star ratings with my reviews because I wouldn't know what to give this one. It's short (a bit over an hour) with fairly threadbare production values, but on its own terms, it works well enough. [Amazon Prime]