ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

John Hoyt ("When Worlds Collide", "The Lost Continent") plays a lonely (and crazy) doll manufacturer with a strange hobby; he shrinks people with a gizmo he invented, then he imprisons them in his back room where they hibernate in glass tubes until he revives them periodically to stage miniature rock 'n roll parties and other bizarre social events.





One of the victims is John Agar (beloved star of numerous sci-fi cheapies), who leads the little people in several attempts to escape.





The plot is lunatic and funny, both intentionally and unintentionally. Bert I. Gordon produced, wrote, directed, and did the special effects (the latter of which aren't too bad).





The over-sized props are fairly convincing. Gordon's young daughter, Susan, has a small role as a little girl who wants to play with Hoyt's "dolls". Watch for a subtle plug for another Bert I. Gordon masterpiece, "The Amazing Colossal Man". It's the feature film at a drive in movie where Agar and his girlfriend go to do some heavy necking.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

I recall watching this movie not too many years ago & enjoying it considering its B status. As you write Bud, its visuals weren't bad.

I've always been fascinated by the concept of humans being reduced in size.

Dr. Cyclops, Fantastic Voyage, Land of the Giants, & Honey I Shrunk The Kids are all favorites of mine that employ that premise.

Isaac Asimov explained the science against humans being shrunk, as well as the physics in a giant world & why it will not work. I enjoy science & always want writers of sf to strive for accuracy & not be dumb about it.

However, the miniature human beings continues to intrigue me. I am still waiting for a Fantastic Voyage reboot or sequel.

[Bud Brewster]

I think Disney still hasn't released a widescreen version of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. I hope I'm wrong about that.

Meanwhile, here's the trailer for this quirky film, with a flawless picture, something you rarely get with trailers!

_____ Attack of the Puppet People - 1958 Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bogmeister]

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_________ Attack of the Puppet People Trailer


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Mr. B.i.G. is at it again — after astounding us with The Amazing Colossal Man (57), Bert I. Gordon switches things up by shrinking down a group of people.

In a sense, there is a giant in this one, too — the villain of the piece played by John Hoyt. He seems to be a nice, harmless doll maker, but in reality he has been shrinking down various people for some time before the film begins. His secretary has disappeared so he hires a new one (June Kenny).

Then a salesman (John Agar) comes around. They soon get suspicious over the disappearances and become the latest additions to the doll maker's special collection — there's 6 of these little people in all, each about 6 inches in height.

The mad doll creator explains his technique. It's similar to the transporter of The Fly films, involving the dissolution and reintegration of matter — at a smaller level. His chief aim is to just relieve his loneliness at choice moments. At all other times, the doll people are kept in suspended animation in their containers.


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The whole visual of the doll people in their clear plastic containers recalls the doll people of Dr. Praetorius in The Bride of Frankenstein.

Mr. B.i.G.'s FX aren't too shabby, with a multitude of giant props to keep things in perspective. He also uses the split screen technique a lot. I think this was more a labor of love for Gordon because of his background in puppetry — he even includes a scene with a real puppet show.

He has also written that actor Hoyt considered this his favorite role. One weak part to the script is the scene when the doll people first make an appearance. They seem strangely complacent with their lot in life, even at 2 weeks or so. This diffused the possible tension of such a scenario. There's also an annoying little girl character who almost makes away with a shrunken cat.

The ending is abrupt, with most of the puppet people still shrunken.

BoG's Score: 5.5 out of 10

Trivia of Puppet People: This movie obviously tried to capitalize on The Incredible Shrinking Man, released the previous year.

UK TITLE: SIX INCHES TALL

In one scene at a drive-in, we see the film The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)


BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Eadie]

Those tubes the people are in look like the cryo-tubes from Lost In Spaces's (TV) Jupiter II.
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Art Should Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.

[Eadie]

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ On the evening of June 17, 1972, if Alfred C. Baldwin III (in a nearby hotel as a lookout for the Watergate burglars) had not been so engrossed in a broadcast of this film, he might have sooner warned his colleagues of the two plainclothes detectives who made the historic arrests.[color=darkblue]~

Note from me: This is a very funny trivia item. I hope it's true.

~ In the scene at the drive-in, Bob and Sally see an earlier Bert I. Gordon film, The Amazing Colossal Man (1957).

Note from me: I wonder what drive-in it was filmed at. I'll check on that next time I watch the movie.

~ Director Bert I. Gordon's daughter, Susan Gordon, was a last-minute substitute for another actress who was ill and unable to work.

Note from me: Nice to have a substitute available who works for scale.

~ This film was rushed into production by American International and Bert I. Gordon to ride the success of Universal-International's The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)

Note from me: I wonder if the two movies were ever book as a drive-in double feature.

~ Character actor Hank Patterson, was a stock actor in several Bert I. Gordon films for American International Pictures. First as "Henry" in The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), then as the janitor in Attack Of The Puppet People (1958), also plays essentially the same character "Hugo the Janitor" in another Bert I. Gordon film, The Spider (1958). He also played a character called "Dave" in Bert I. Gordon's The Beginning Of The End (1957).

Note from me: Hank has a funny scene with Miss Mara Corday in Tarantual shortly after the sexy heroine arrives in the small desert town.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]