Customer Reviews
Somewhere Under the Rainbow 
2006-03-20
This movie is has its moments. Some aspects are interesting to watch. Others are not. The movie falls just short of the mark to be classic. The movie is also just good enough to keep it out of the garbage category. Viewers who enjoy classic science fiction movies of the 40s and 50s may appreciate the better qualities of this movie.
Space ships keep disappearing. A viewer gets to learn that the reason for the disappearances is an asteroid populated by people who have the technology to keep the asteroid invisible. At the beginning of the movie we see a space ship which is being accelerated at 11 g's. Though the ship is accelerating at 11 g's, the men on board have little problem moving and are awake and alert. The technology of the future is amazing. Today, pilots pass out somewhere around 8 or 9 g's, and movement is very difficult.
On the other hand, the cockpit of the space ship was outstanding. Some of the instruments made little sense, but the controls were nicely arranged, and a number of features made this cockpit above average for science fiction movies of the late 50s and early 60s.
A short time later the two crewmen on the space ship are walking about on the exterior of the ship without restraints. It appears that the men are pulled toward this ship as though there was gravity toward the ship. The men's shoes looked a lot like street shoes.
Captain Frank Chapman (Dean Fredericks) survives the crash of his ship on the mysterious asteroid. Chapman stumbles from his ship and swears he sees little people about the size of those in Lilliput. After opening his helmet, Chapman too shrinks to the size of the little people, which has something to do with the atmosphere of the asteroid and the fields surrounding the asteroid. We later discover that the name of the asteroid is Rayton.
The little people speak English because all languages on Rayton are translated through voice tone waves, or something like that. I love scientific gobbledygook double-speak. We need the English because Chapman is suddenly part of some kind of love quadrangle. Liara (Coleen Gray) is the hot blonde babe who is a social climber. Zetha (Delores Faith) is a beautiful mute babe who is shy and has a major crush on Chapman. Exposure to an enemy Solarite warrior caused Zetha to become mute. The other guy in this is Herron (Anthony Dexter), who loves Liara, though she is fickle.
After some fighting and the usual male bonding, Chapman and Herron become great friends. The people of Rayton realize that Chapman is an all right guy, so they decide, after a huge fight with the Solarites involving lots of hand movements over lighted plastic (which controlled their fields and weapons) that it is time for Chapman to go home. But wait, a critical fight scene with a captured Solarite has to happen. I actually felt sorry for the Solarite, who was played by Richard Kiel. The costume apparently had poor visibility because Kiel had a hard time walking down stairs or moving in general. By coincidence, I also just reviewed "Eegah," yet another Kiel movie that Kiel would probably like to forget. At least in this movie you could not see his face.
Eventually Chapman is repatriated and the movie ends, but not before the most awful audio effects I have ever heard in a movie. Many movies use an echo effect or reverberation effect for the narrator. In this case, the narrator literally repeated the same lines over and over, with the volume reduced each time. The ending was like an Ed Wood moment for this film.
This movie has too much hokum to qualify as a classic. However, it still has its moments and I recommend it to people who like science fiction movies of the 50s. Just be sure to keep your expectations low. If you believe there were only six good science fiction movies made in the entire 1950s, I can guarantee you that this movie was not one of them. Good luck!
Well there's really not much to say here.... 2006-03-06
Well there's really nothing much to say about this flick. It's a classic, late atomic age sci-fi space adventure that our parents probably went to see at the drive-in while they were dating. This movie had a lot of potential to be a `so bad it's good' movie, but it's just a forgettable piece of celluloid that's been all but forgotten except for us few fans who live for these kooky old movies.
Space explorers end up missing when they enter a particular section of space. So in steps our gallant hero. He's a tall blond due who does a few scenes without his shirt (typical for these films). There's also a lot of sci-fi gibberish that's also a norm for these films.
Well here's the plot. Our hero crash lands on an asteroid planet where he is immediately shrunken to the size of a bug. This is easily explained by the planet's inhabitants. The strong magnetic force of the planet makes everything small. OK then.
Well we have a fight scene between a jealous suitor and our hero. It seems the love interest is a mute girl who I know I've seen before in other movies and the ruler's daughter. The fight is comic relief at best. The two men must use a brace to push each other onto gravity pads. If you step on the pad the magnetic pull is so great you will disintegrate. (Like I said Sci-Fi gibberish at it's best. The whole movie talks about high magnetism).
Well the finale is the attack from the space aliens. They fly on space ships resembling flaming arrows on strings. Of course the director's probably forgot that since there is no oxygen in space, there cannot be fire, but who's keeping track of this stuff? It is reveiled to us , the fortunate viewer, that an alien had been captured from a past battle. He is being held prisoner. How you ask? I'll let you guess. Yes that's right. He's being held in a cell consisting of a highly magnetized force field. Our Ed Wood moment comes when the power goes out and our alien friend escapes. Check out how he walks down the stairs. The actor obviously could not see where he was going and needs to reassure his footing with each step.
Well the aliens are defeated, and our hero is rescued by yet another rescue party. The final scene is our heart broken hero who has nothing to remember his love interest but a small pebble.
Folks this is definitely not Cat Women of the Moon.
Neither as Bad nor as Good as You Might Expect 2006-01-30
Capt. Chapman (Dean Fredericks) lands on an asteriod which is unexpectedly inhabited by six-inch tall humans. When the atmospheric properties reduce him to their size he not only finds himself working to save their civilization but ensnared in several romantic complications and rivalries as well. While it sounds slight, the plot is actually cohesive and many of the concepts involved are unexpectedly ambitious--but as it happens, the 1961 PHANTOM PLANET has a less-than-B-movie budget, and the result is a film that alternates between being interesting in terms of ideas and often hilariously bad in execution.
Some of the special effects are pretty good for 1961, but then again some of them are ludicrous beyond belief. The space sequences are reasonably done until the asteroid appears on screen; depending on how you look at the thing, it might be a clump of trail mix or a deep-fried chicken nugget. The sets and costumes are adequate until the monster of the piece appears on the scene; even by "B" movie standards it is pretty silly stuff. And then there is the cast.
The most interesting of the actors is Francis X. Bushman, one of the great stars of the silent era and perhaps best recalled as Messala in the 1925 version of BEN-HUR--a film in which he gave a noticeably stagey performance. By 1961, however, Bushman had shed such mannerisms, and he gives a performance here that leads you to suspect he could have had a more distinguished career in sound film if he had gotten the breaks and the scripts. The rest of the cast, however, ranges from merely adequate to down right atrocious, with leading man Dean Fredericks a case in point.
Ultimately, PHANTOM PLANET reads very much like an Ed Wood movie but without hilarious inadequacies of plot and script that you expect from such. Fans of sci-fi "B" pictures of the era will likely enjoy it, and I give it three stars for them, but if you are looking for an unintentionally comic bad movie you'll find this one neither as bad nor as good as you might expect.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Scared Little Guy 
2005-08-09
I saw this movie when it first came out, (I was six or seven years old). It scared me pretty good, I couldn't walk down darkened hallways or into dark rooms. My older brother (by almost four years) however, exploited these conditions fairly well, and succeeded in terrorizing me even further, every chance that he got.
Without a doubt, this movie is hokey by today's standards. But it was well worth the purchase price to relive an influential fraction of my childhood.
Phar Phetched Phantasy Or Phactual Philm?... 2005-08-08
PHANTOM PLANET opens with dire-sounding narration that is in total contrast to the actual movie itself. After a spaceship is destroyed by a big asteroid (phantom planet), a two man crew is quickly dispatched to find out what happened. Frank Chapman (Dean Fredericks) and his co-pilot encounter a meteor shower (like in almost every space flick) and must repair the damage done to the ship as a result. Frank is knocked out and the co-pilot helps him back into the ship. Uh-oh! The co-pilot is hit by something, sending him hurtling through space to his certain doom! Frank records a message and passes out. When he wakes up, he finds himself on the phantom planet. He is greeted by little people (sort of like space leprechans). Frank's helmet comes open and he begins to shrink (!) due to the planetary gasses. Soon, he is the size of a canary. Well, he tries to fight, but is subdued by the planet's strange inhabitants. Chapman is put on trial, found guilty of being a big meany, and promptly made a citizen as punishment. He is then ordered to get married to one of two beautiful babes! The rest is pretty goofy. Frank must battle his love-rival in a furious game of push-the-guy-onto-the-disintegration-pad! He also helps his captors to defeat the horrible solarites, who fly what look like burning marshmallows! The solarites themselves resemble bug-eyed, bipedal bloodhounds with titanic shoulderpads. Richard Keil plays a solarite prisoner who escapes and lumbers around for about two minutes before being obliterated. I don't know, if I were Frank, I'd pick my future über bride and settle down on the PHANTOM PLANET! Watch and see if you don't agree...
For nostalgia only, or hardcore 60s scifi fan 2008-06-12
I watched this with my son (9), who enjoyed the story and laughed at the clunky special effects. He dutifully listened to my stories about seeing it and similar films - he is at the age where he accepts my reminiscences instead of rolling his eyes like his sister does at 13 - and we talked about the space age, etc.
I quite enjoyed this for what it made me remember. But, as with my son, for other viewers it is only of passing interest, like background TV. Thus, I think it is headed for oblivion or of interest only for film historians once those who watched it as kids are no longer around.
The story has a nice sense of possibility, like we all felt during the space race and which is rather humdrum today. The hero, while not very charismatic, is open-minded and a lonely explorer, hence his vulnerability to the charms of the mute girl. He encounters an advanced civilization that has chosen a primitive lifestyle, on a planet fleeing strange enemies and with an unimaginable technology manipulated by what looks like broken wine glasses. He even makes friends from a natural enemy. Then, restored to his colleagues, he wonders if it was all a dream. It ends on a hopeful note for exploration. I liked it then and still do now.
Recommended.
the phantom planet 
2008-04-10
this 1950 movie and the people cant be done again even for one trillion its there way and intelligence who made and acted in the movie all these are five stars if cant see then your to ignorant.
Better than expected 
2007-04-29
I just watched this yesterday, with very low expectations, and was pretty surprised at how good it was. Definitely worth viewing, esp if you can track it down on a multi-movie set. (The transfer used in Mill Creek's Sci-Fi Classics box set is just fine.)
Others have talked about the story and the acting, but I want to mention is the non-stop use of special effects. Sure, they're hokey, but they keep coming, and that's what keeps your (or at least my) interest. There's the ping-pong-table Moon base, complete with whirling radar dish; plenty of spaceship shots, a space walk, meteor shower, invisible asteroid, shrinking astronaut/tiny people, Rock of Oblivion... and that's not even mentioning the monster. I don't think 3 minutes pass by in this movie without some "special effect" or other. That makes for pretty fun, engaging viewing, in my opinion.
Also, you can practically count the future Star Trek episodes... The one with the hollow asteroid traveling across space... The one where Kirk and Spock engage in mortal combat... The one where the girl falls for Kirk. (Oh wait, that's all of them.) And so on. Even the Rock of Oblivion acts suspiciously like the transporter, set on one-way of course.
All in all this is a fun film that rarely flags, perfect for a rainy weekend afternoon.
Phamtom Planet 2007-01-10
The Wade Williams' collection is always superior in quality.
He has hard to find films and reproduces them in the best format.
It is worth the cost.
It's not the size that matters..... 2006-06-25
Dan Fredericks stars as Capt. Frank Chapman is launched away into space when Earth discovers an undiscovered planet which appears in the solar system. Chapman crash lands his ship on the surface of the planet, gets out and falls unconsious. A race of tiny people who find Chapman lying there on the ground. He wakes up sees them and eventually shrinks to tiny form. He is taken into the place where they all live. He's giving tests of strength and so forth. They tiny people possess the technology to move their planet from galaxy to galaxy to evade their enemies. Soon their enemies the Solarites, Chapman helps them in their aid to help them save the day. 'Twas an interesting watch. The Solarite was hilarious and hey Richard Kiel (Eegah!, The Longest Yard) plays the part...whooo! Fredericks wasnt that bad actually in his role and ze women were lovely to look at. A terribly silly hokey pokey adventure. Also starring Coleen Gary, Anthony Dexter, Francis X. Bushman, Richard Weber and Al Jarvis
