al Meacham (Reason) walks away from his plane knowing he should have
crashed. His jet was dead and out of control, but at the last minute
it was grabbed and safely landed by--something, some unknown force.
More strangeness waits at his lab. A mysterious supply catalog arrives, with
plans for a powerful machine he's never heard of: an Interociter. Meacham
doesn't hesitate to build one. Through his Interociter, Meacham finds
himself talking to Exeter (Morrow), a scientist possessed of advanced
technology. The plans, Exeter explains, were a membership test for a group
of exceptional scientists. Meacham passed.
Fascinated yet suspicious, Meacham joins up. An unmanned plane flies him,
surprisingly, to rural Georgia. There he's brought to Exeter by an old
flame, Dr. Ruth Adams (Domergue), who seems not to know him. Exeter tells
him that his group's goal is to end war, but Meacham notices that everyone is
working on atomic energy.
Adams confirms they don't know what their research is being used for. They
try to escape in an old airplane, but Exeter is suddenly ordered to evacuate--with Meacham and Adams. Exeter launches his spaceship; on the
way out he pulls in the fleeing scientists, plane and all.
As they approach Exeter's home planet, Metaluna, Meacham and Adams
understand Exeter's true need for atomic power: Metaluna is being sapped by
constant enemy bombardment. Its only hope is power for a defense screen,
but most of their scientists are dead.
Exeter might have persuaded them, but Metaluna's ruler reveals his plan to
invade Earth and orders the humans brainwashed. Alone on an alien world,
Meacham and Adams must fight their way past
hideous mutants back to their only hope of escape--Exeter's spaceship.
Assemble your Interociter...
Exeter would have only one rival for Most Compelling Alien of the Fifties;
that would be Klaatu (The Day the Earth Stood Still). The differences
between the two are profound. From the moment he appears, Klaatu is an
arresting presence, an advanced being even at his most humane. Exeter, in
contrast, comes from a technologically advanced culture, but he is very
human: emotional, powerless to resist fate, but resilient and optimistic in
the face of total destruction, a symbol of ethical perseverance. Side by
side they serve as a reminder that humanity can aspire to more than one
goal. One question the film doesn't answer: Were there more Exeters on
Metaluna, or was he unique?
As with Klaatu, the performance of Exeter is crucial. Morrow strikes the
right note: His dignified, soulful portrayal lays this alien bare for the
audience. At first, This Island Earth slyly packages itself as
Meacham's story; but bit by bit Exeter takes over the film from this
square-jawed, deep-voiced, two-dimensional scientist-cum-hero. Reason and
Domergue do a fine job with their forgettable roles; nonetheless Exeter is
much the more interesting character. (The supporting cast includes poor
Russell Johnson in another role later overshadowed by his unfortunate
three-hour tour.)
The art direction and special effects--always trumpeted as two and a half
years in the making--are superb, and not just for 1954. Tremendous effort
went into communicating the scale of destruction on Metaluna, which is
mutilated by meteors remote-controlled from enemy spacecraft. (Brilliantly,
the barely glimpsed Zahgon ships look harsh and alien even from the
standpoint of the Metalunans.) Yet the creators had the sense to remember
that the purpose of effects is setting. The people behind today's
effects-obsessed science fiction dreadnoughts need to see This Island
Earth immediately.
