Invasion of the Saucer Men

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello, police headquarters?

(00:01):
This is Carter. Johnny Carter.
Oh, sure, they're from another planet.
What a dilemma for young lovers Steve Terell and Gloria Castillo.
He thought I was kidding him.
Nobody will believe the Invasion of the Saucer Men.
All this makes it seem natural for a beer-drinking bull
to appoint himself,
chaperone of lovers lane.

(00:23):
[SCREAMING]
For Pete’s sake!
And a farmer with the longest shotgun
you've ever seen plays the villain.
What's so funny.
Well, I expected to be frightened on my wedding night,
but nothing like this.
It's our busy night, too.
We've been flooded with calls from people
who say they've seen flying saucers and little green monsters.
Wonder how that rumor ever got started?

(00:44):
[SCREAMING]
[SCREAMING]
It's too fantastic to believe.
[GUNSHOT]
[EXPLOSION]
Just think of it.
[GUNSHOT]
Only this special unit and the President of the United States
will know what happened here tonight.
You mean you think we know what's happened?

(01:08):
We're not talking about actors.
We mean a real monster.
I brought her back.
She'll live and I'll get her another body.
I know they're gonna catch me, but don't let anyone see me
like that. Please, doctor, help me!
Biologically speaking, it's ofa primary important
that man should want to mate.
Hey, that's right.
You don't get all your kicks from surfing, do you?
We want to be free to ride our machines without being

(01:30):
hassled by the man.
[CROWD MURMUR]
And we want to get loaded.
You think you're gonna make a slave of the world?
I'll see you in Hell first.
The American International Podcast.
Are you ready?
What's that up in the sky?
It's the American International Podcast.

(01:50):
I'm Cheryl Lightfoot.
And I'm Jeff Markin.
And today we're talking about invasion of the saucer
man from 1957.
Invasion of the saucer man was directed by Edward L. Cahn,
written by Robert J. Gurney Jr. and Al Martin, based on the short
story “The Cosmic Frame" by Paul W. Fairman.
And it was produced by James H. Nicholson.
Invasion of the Saucer Man stars Steve Terell as Johnny Carter,

(02:13):
Gloria Castillo as Joan Hayden, Frank Gorshin, as Joe Gruen,
Raymond Hatton as Farmer Larkin, Lyn Osborn as Art Burns,
Russ Bender as Doctor, Douglas Henderson as Lieutenant
Wilkins, Sam Buffington as Colonel Ambrose, Jason Johnson as
a detective.
Also appearing are Don Shelton as City Attorney Hayden, Kelly

(02:35):
Thordsen as Sergeant Bruce.
And as various aliens, we have Angelina Rosito, Eddie Gibbons,
Dean Neville and Lloyd Dixon, and also appearing our Paul
Blaisdell and Bob Burns.
Invasion of the Saucer Men opens with a story book.
This is the true story of the flying saucer.

(02:56):
We see a hand turning the pages of the book, and that reveals the
credits along with some cute little illustrations of flying
saucers.
And these illustrations we see of flying saucer chasing a
woman and the occupant of the flying saucer has a last
oh in his hand.
I thought that was amusing.
It's even more amusing when you consider that it's not
pertinent to the story at all.

(03:16):
Another page they have some army dudes shooting up and breaking
up the flying saucer and it goes on like that.
When you say shooting up, you mean shooting up the saucer, not
shooting up heroin, right?
Yeah, you should the saucer and it kind of disintegrates.
Well, there is a little bit of that in the story, but we'll
get there.

(03:36):
The movie proper opens on a dark and stormy night where the
narrator is telling the story of what happened this night.
The narrator introduces the farmer's house.
This is farmer Larkin's house and says that we are in the
town of Hicksburg, which he assures us.
There's a town's real name and that there's just not much for
the kids to do around here.
Well, there's one thing for them to do and that's to make out.

(03:59):
But first, the narrator is named Art Burns and he and his
partner Joe Groen are occupying stools in a diner and
striking out with the waitress.
They argue about whether they should stay in town and try
their scams or go somewhere else with more potential.
After one last hit and miss on the waitress, the two leave the
diner and then they split up.

(04:19):
Joe takes the car and Art says he's going to walk back to the
boarding house where they're staying.
So after they've parted ways, we followed Joe and it's not too
long before he sees a flying saucer.
Yeah, you wanted to find some action and instead he found a UFO.
He sees it landed in a nearby field and pulls over to
investigate and then we cut to a new scene with three teens

(04:42):
who are seeing the same thing that Joe did but from further away
obviously.
This is Bobby Dukin, Johnny and they see it too.
The soda jerk comes out from the soda shop to see what the
guys are talking at.
It's easy to them about seeing flying saucers of all different
colors.
This one was blue.
Also in the soda shop is an Army recruitment officer or so he

(05:03):
says he comes out of the shop as well and sees what everyone
else is seeing.
He doesn't say anything but we can plainly see that he knows
something.
Johnny's talking to his friends and says that he's waiting
for his girl Joan.
They have an asignation that night at 930.
The soda jerk makes a crack about Joan having all the right
parts in the right places for her dress and Johnny says, yeah,

(05:24):
they're all mine.
Ha ha.
Then Joan pulls up in her car and she and Johnny leave.
They're heading out to where all the kids in town head out
in the evening.
They're going to Lever's Point.
Lever's Point used to be private public spot but the land
has since been acquired by farmer Larkin who's farmhouse
the narrator introduced us to earlier.
farmer Larkin pops out of his house as Johnny and Joan drive

(05:46):
by.
He doesn't like kids trespassing on his property.
Unfortunately for him at this point in time, there are
several cars and they're all full of smoochers.
Johnny says that he hopes he doesn't run into Larkin's bull on
the way up.
Apparently this bull is a known problem amongst these kids.
Meanwhile, we're back with Joe and he sees something.

(06:06):
It lights up his face.
We don't see what it is.
But it causes him some concern and he gets in his car and drives
away.
So now we're cutting back to the kids and the aforementioned
bull comes up to one of the cars and he scares the couple
of making out.
Bobby the male part of this couple explains that Larkin's bull
is always looking for a handout and he throws a beer can out

(06:27):
for him.
This bull seems to be something of an alcoholic.
Yeah, it's a running gag that they give beer to this bull and
farmer Larkin is not too thrilled with this.
Nobody wants your cow getting drunk.
In Johnny and Jones car, they take a break from smooching to
talk about their plans.
They're going to alope that night.
And then we cut to the boarding house where Joe returns to

(06:48):
wake up.
Artie, who's asleep.
Joe is very excited.
He thinks what he saw means that they are going to be
millionaires.
They're going to be the first to exhibit a genuine flying
saucer.
Joe explains that he saw it land on the Larkin property.
Joe and Artie have only been in town for about a month.
But as long enough that everybody knows about farmer Larkin,
Artie doesn't believe Joe's story and Joe's like fine,

(07:10):
who needs ya?
And he leaves.
And Artie goes back to sleep.
Back with Joan and Johnny, Johnny shows Joan her wedding ring.
And then we cut to a scene with some military people.
Lieutenant Wilkins, who was the officer in the soda shop
earlier, talks to his commanding officer Colonel Ambrose,
or Ambrose, as he says.

(07:30):
The army has been tracking this UFO, so this is not an
unexpected development for them.
Colonel Ambrose cautioned Lieutenant Wilkins to keep a lid on
this information.
He used to be a public information officer, but he needs to
keep this away from all his news contacts.
So now that Johnny and Joan are officially engaged,
their elotement is in progress.

(07:51):
They're going head back to town, so they're driving with
their lights off.
So it's not to disturb the other kids, and hopefully not to
be seen by farmer Larkin.
Because they're driving dark, they nearly collide with the
carful of soldiers on their way to the flying saucer.
Johnny was blinded by their lights, and they didn't see
Johnny because he was driving without lights.
Having missed that collision, they actually do collide with
something.

(08:11):
It's a little creature with a big head, which they see when
they get out of the car and investigate.
At first they're afraid they hit a little boy, but then
some lightning flashes, and they see that it's not of this
world.
Johnny and Joan get back in their car, they want to get
out of there.
But they can't leave.
They're still got that alien stuck under the bumper.
As they try to maneuver out of there, the aliens

(08:33):
hand separates from its body.
The fingers allow it to crawl over to where the tire is.
And out of its fingers protrudes some needle-like appendages,
which puncture the tire.
Now they're truly stuck there, and the hand scuttles away.
Johnny and Joan hear the sound of the tire deflating and
go to investigate.
Then Johnny incorrectly deduces that the tire must have

(08:55):
deflated when he hit that thing.
At any rate, he doesn't have a spare.
So they'll have to go to farmer Larkin's place to use the
phone.
Now we're back with the Army men.
They have set up a perimeter around the flying saucer.
They're keeping tabs on the ship where currently nothing
is happening.
Wilkins asked Ambrose if he thinks this craft could be from
another planet.
Ambrose tells him that this isn't the time to think.
It's time to follow procedure.

(09:15):
And SOP calls for this to be called in.
Ambrose says that protocol calls for them getting Army
engineers out there.
They'll take over the investigation.
Then his commanding officer calls and Ambrose fills them in
on everything that's going on right now.
Meanwhile, Johnny and Joan have made it to farmer Larkin's
house.
He isn't home, so they make themselves a home, walk right in,

(09:37):
and use the phone to call the police.
The policeman we answer just takes the call, but he's not
very helpful.
He tells them that if they see any more of the green men to
give them his love and send them on home.
It's really no surprise that the police didn't take
them seriously, though.
Joan goes rummaging in the kitchen to find some candles.
Now we're back with Joe.
He returns to where the dead alien is under Joan and

(09:58):
Johnny's car.
He touches the creature and gets kind of grossed out.
It's pretty sticky.
He finds it even though he wants to.
He can't shift it.
It's stuck there.
Back at the Larkin farm, farmer Larkin returns.
Endring his home with shotgun raised, he's not happy to see
two kids in his house.
Johnny and Joan tried to explain what has happened, but
Larkin is convinced that they killed one of his heifers.

(10:20):
It was bound to happen with the kids driving all over his
property.
He drives the call to police, but as Johnny predicted,
the phone is dead.
Farmer Larkin asks Joan and Johnny if they've been drinking.
He sniffs the air and he smells alkyhull.
They deny having drunk anything, but do admit that they smell it too.
Farmer Larkin sends Johnny and Joan out into the night and
now they've no other choice but to try to fix the flat.

(10:41):
Larkin tries the phone again and he does get a call through this time.
He has said he the operator to send the cops over.
Somebody broke into his house, probably killed his heifers.
So Larkin asked her to send the police while he goes now to
check on his livestock.
We're back with Joe where he's still trying to get that alien out from under the car and
he can't.
Another alien watches him try though.

(11:02):
And then he runs off.
Just as Joan and Johnny return to the car.
And they hear a strange noise.
So do we, I guess.
We cut to a quick scene where we see that Larkin has found his bull and
he's sweet talking it.
A wujoo wujoo wujoo.
If you say so, Jeff, Joe grew and finds his way to Larkin's farmhouse.
It's probably the only building for miles.

(11:24):
He goes to the phone and makes a call to Arty.
Arty answers and Joe tells him that he's been telling the truth and he's got proof.
He tells Arty to get in the cab and come over.
So you can see it for himself, but Arty's not interested.
Joe changes tactics and instead tells Arty to clean everything out of the refrigerator.
He's going to bring home something perishable.

(11:44):
If he can get it out from under that car, then he takes off.
Joe runs out of the house just as Larkin returns.
Every time Larkin comes home, there's somebody new in his house.
He needs a phone booth is what he needs.
Arty realizes that it's better off not to fight it.
So he gets up and begrudgingly empties out the refrigerator.
Joe goes back to the alien, but again, grabbing it only gets him a handful of goo.

(12:07):
So he wanders into the woods and has a slug from his flask.
Then an alien sneaks up behind him and sucker punctures him with his needle fingers that
are dripping with some kind of substance.
This is around the same time that Arty decides that emptying the refrigerator is a fool's
errand.
He goes back to bed, this time with earplugs, and then we see a whole group of these saucer
men, they're dragging off the body of their fallen comrade.

(12:30):
And one starts pounding on the fender of Johnny's car.
Johnny and Joan hear the noise and are surprised to see another one of those creatures this
time a living one.
And they conclude that this creature is taking revenge on the car that killed their friend.
They hear sirens and they figure the police must have believed Johnny after all so they
run towards the sound since they now have evidence to present.

(12:53):
And it's trying to make first contact, but he's having no luck.
Colonel Ambrose supposes there was never anyone inside and it must be remote controlled.
Then Lieutenant Wilkins suggests they fire a few rounds just to see if they can get a
reaction.
When Johnny and Joan return to their car, the police are there.
They've just taken a body away from the accident site, not that they saw that.
Johnny and Joan tell the detective their story and this almost fits with what they know.

(13:16):
And it's pretty obvious from the conversation that the cops and Johnny and Joan are definitely
not on the same page.
Joan is confessing to hitting something small and alien, but the cop knows that a man died
out there.
This cop is incredulous when they start talking about little green men and they decide to give
Johnny a breathalyzer test.
While Johnny is taking the breathalyzer test, the cop and the coroner discuss how kids these

(13:41):
days are so desensitized to violence.
And the reason is because of all that killing they see in the movies.
Take that American international pictures.
And then both note that they can't smell alcohol on them, both of them, including Joan.
And she's a girl.
The detective tells Johnny and Joan that driving without lights and hitting a man, killing
him, is a crime.

(14:02):
Joan says that they can't be calling that little green monster a man, but nevertheless,
they all head downtown.
Johnny and Joan, now at the police station, are still trying to explain what they think
happened.
The detective is trying to get Johnny to sign a confession.
He did kill a man after all.
But Johnny and Joan adamantly insist that they killed no man.
Joan plays the "Do you know who my father is, Carden?"

(14:24):
The detective calls her bluff.
They already called her dad.
He's a city attorney.
And he's coming in.
As a matter of fact, he's here now.
Joan runs to him and he says that he thought that she was going out with Tommy, not with
this rough neck in his suit and tie.
And just then an officer comes in and says that the body is ready for identification.
So the detective leads everyone to the morgue.

(14:47):
Johnny is sure that when everybody sees this thing, then everyone will believe his story.
A gurney is brought out and the sheet removed to reveal the chameleon.
No, it's Joe Grooen.
Or is it the riddler?
It's Frank Gorshin.
Joan is stunned to see a person on that gurney.
She claims they did not hit him.
And Johnny insists he didn't kill this man.
He killed a little green monster.

(15:08):
According to the dead man's identification, his name was Joe Grooen.
We already knew that.
And he and a buddy had drifted into town about a month ago and are running a place on Maple
Street.
They tried calling the friend, but have so far not been able to get in touch with him.
That's a lot of identification he was carrying.
Joan's dad thinks that she didn't do anything wrong, but he has his doubts about Johnny.

(15:31):
Her father wants her to come home, but Joan refuses unless Johnny goes with her.
Now we're back with Colonel Ambrus and Lieutenant Wilkins and company and they're trying to
tear open the saucer with blow torches.
They must have hit something vital because the saucer explodes, which is momentarily distracting
to all the kids we're making out nearby.
And that explosion is even seen at the police station.

(15:53):
For whatever reason, Johnny and Joan have been left alone in a room.
And Johnny is thinking about his situation and he realizes that the little green monsters
are smarter than all of them put together.
And Joan thought that they were mad at the car for killing their companion.
And now it seems that they were dinting the fender to frame them for the death of Joe
Groen.
That is smart.

(16:13):
So Johnny realizes he's got to get out of this police station and find some evidence to
clear his name.
So they leave out the window.
They find the detective's car, conveniently sitting outside with the light flashing so
they jump inside and take off in it.
Just then the detective and city attorney Hayden returned to the room and find that Johnny
and Joan have gone.
Hayden, on a concern for his daughter's reputation, asked if this not go on record and says

(16:35):
that he will resume all responsibility.
Just then another officer comes in and is surprised to see that the detective is here because
his car just left.
Johnny and Joan drive to where Johnny's car is stuck.
They get out of the detective car and go investigate.
While they're looking elsewhere, the severed hand takes the opportunity to crawl into the
detective's car.

(16:56):
So Johnny and Joan realize that the by the head is gone, there's no evidence to be found
here.
So they need to come up with another plan.
So they're going to hop back into the detective's car they borrowed and go back up to lovers'
point to see if any of the other kids have seen anything.
Joan wonders if any of the gangs saw the alien and Johnny wonders if the cops will ever

(17:16):
listen to teenagers.
Probably not.
Meanwhile, the hand in the back seat has crawled up to the top of the front seat and is starting
to reach for Joan's bare shoulders.
Joan thinking about what the night has brought her.
It says that she expected to be frightened on her wedding night, but nothing like this.
As Johnny turns to go to the point, the hand gets thrown off the top of the front seat.

(17:38):
Back onto the floor of the back seat.
The hand scuttles up the back seat again and this time Joan sees it.
She screams and Johnny pulls over.
They escape the vehicle, shutting the doors and trapping the hand inside.
They realize that they do have some evidence now, but they have no way to get it to the police.
They need an ally and adult ally.
After they think about it for a minute, they realize Joe's roommate should help them.

(18:00):
Joan and Johnny know that the cops have been trying to reach his roommate all night.
And they mentioned his address when they were in the station.
So they're going to go to his place.
Despite his earplugs, he isn't getting much sleep tonight.
First Joe kept waking him up with weird stories and now these two kids are talking about little
green men.
Although already skeptical about the little green men's story, he does agree to phone the
police.

(18:20):
When he calls, the police confirm that they were trying to call him because Joe was killed
by hit and run driver.
They ask Marty to come claim the body the next day and he agrees.
Marty hangs up.
He tells Johnny and Joan that he intends to get a picture of this alien and he grabs his
camera.
Then he cracks a joke about Joe being the first victim of an alien on earth.
And Joan wins this a little bit.
Artie also grabs a gun and tells a story about how he took it off a Nazi and then has to

(18:45):
confess that it was a dead Nazi.
Back out at the Lorcan farm.
Lorcan's bull is wandering around again.
One of the saucer men is watching from behind a bush and then suddenly they do battle.
It's Mano a hoofo.
There's a bit of wrestling.
The alien digs its poison needle, claws into the bull's hide.
The bull gives his nose.
He gets though, goring the alien's bulbous eyeballs with its horns.

(19:09):
Has some opposable horns.
Apparently they twist and turn as needed.
In the end though, the heifer succumbs to its injuries and falls to the ground.
Johnny and Joan already headed out to the car to drive back out to where they left the
detectives car.
Artie mentions that he thought that Johnny had said the police had his car and they do.
He explains that this car belongs to Joan.

(19:30):
He turns the ignition, but the car doesn't start right away.
The battery is almost dead.
Joan has asked when is the last time she's checked the water.
Every time the man at the gas station asks her, she says, "Not the radiator water, the
battery water."
What's that she asks?
And I would ask that as well.
Actually, we both did ask that.
We didn't know you had to water your battery.
Artie commands Johnny and Joan to get out and push the car as arti steers.

(19:54):
I guess he's going to pop the clutch and get it to start.
As he does, Artie notices that Joan has a spotlight over where her side mirror is.
Then the car starts and shimmies and we learn that the car is called Elvis.
It bends and shakes, but man does it really go.
And then the three drive off.
Next we see that the Army personnel are cleaning up after the explosion.
They've called in a crashed fighter plane, so that's going to be the official story.

(20:16):
Now we're back at the car with the alien hand trapped inside.
Another alien is trying to jimmy the locks.
Artie, Joan, and Johnny pull up and the alien runs away.
They look inside the car, but they don't see that hand.
So Johnny puts Joan's spotlight on it.
The hand is visible and Johnny takes a picture with his flash bulb.

(20:36):
And the hand sort of emulates.
They're surprised, but agreed to go tell the cops.
I mean, now they have an adult witness.
However, their vehicle will not start at all.
And as Johnny continues to try to turn the ignition, saucer men start to emerge from the
woods.
Yeah, they had to kill the headlights.
And now it's full darkness.
Artie starts shooting at them with his Nazi gun.

(20:58):
And without the else to do, Joan shines the spotlight at them.
The light seems to hurt them.
So Artie gets out of the car to man the spotlight himself, but it's growing dimmer and dimmer.
It doesn't take long before it's so dim that it's not doing them any good.
So Artie decides he's going to make a run for it.
He doesn't make it too far though.
He gets accosted by one of the saucer men and injected with alcohol.

(21:21):
Johnny grabs Artie's camera and tries shooting off the flash bulbs.
It doesn't help Artie, but it gives them time to run away.
By now, Colonel Ambrus and Lieutenant Wilkins have finished cleaning things up.
Ambrus is proud of the work they've done tonight.
And how cool is that they get to do this top secret detail?
Only the president and this team will ever know what went on out here tonight.
Lieutenant Wilkins wonders if they even know what really happened that night.

(21:45):
Ambrus seems perturbed by this observation.
Elsewhere, Joan is tired of running and suggests that they turn themselves in and get the
police out there to help.
They decided to head back to Larkin's farm to use the phone once again.
They try to turn themselves into the police, but the police don't want them.
They've gotten the results of the autopsy and it suggests that Joe died of acute alcoholism.
They think Johnny and Joan ran over his already dead body.

(22:07):
They don't even want them for the stolen car.
Her dad took care of that.
So since they are once again unsuccessful in bringing adults to their side, Joan suggests
they go back to Lever's point.
The other kids there will believe them and they won't think that they're drunk.
Now we're with farmer Larkin where he checks on his prize heifer.
Fortunately for the cow, it's just drunk, not dead.

(22:29):
But those darn kids got him again.
Johnny and Joan reach the cars with the smuters inside and they marshal up help with their
plan to destroy the aliens.
Johnny has the kids arranged their cars in the circle and Johnny will signal them with
his horn, shaving a haircut style to have them turn on their lights.
It works because the creatures walk into the circle.
Johnny gives a signal and the creatures all disintegrate in the light.

(22:53):
Hearing that commotion, Arty wakes up.
He too, like the cow, he was just drunk, not dead.
Johnny figures out that this is what happened to Joe Groo and too.
Those creatures inject their victims with pure alcohol.
Nobody pronounces alcohol the same way in this movie.
Or correctly.
Arty is very drunk and Johnny figures that he won't remember what happened.

(23:14):
Only he and Joan and their friends will.
Just then, farmer Lurkin comes running over with his shotgun and the kids get back into
their cars and scatter.
Johnny and Joan end up in the backseat of Paul and Irene.
Johnny asks Paul if he'd be his best man.
But Joan says that she can't get married like this, pointing to her dress, which is in
shambles, for being slammed in car doors and such.

(23:34):
So Irene offers to switch dresses with her, which defaults her to made of honor status.
She's almost the bride, apparently.
And then we see Arty, he's being driven off in the backseat of some jolope, being
nuzzled by two teenage girls who just met him.
Okay.
Anyhow, the voice of Arty returns to close out the film.
That's his story plus some stuff that Johnny and Joan helped him remember.

(23:57):
And then we see the last page of the book that we saw at the beginning of the movie.
It says the end dot dot dot.
Until the next time.
[Music]
Welcome back to the American International Podcast where we are talking about invasion
of the Sosserman from 1957.

(24:19):
Invasion of the Sosserman was made by Malibu Productions.
Production of Sosserman began on April 8th, 1957, and the live action was shot in six days
at Ziv Studios in Hollywood.
Video effects required one additional day, and those were shot at the Howard Anderson
Studio.
Forest J. Ackerman's, Ackerman's science fiction agency owned the film rights to Fairman's

(24:39):
short story The Cosmic Frame.
The friendship between Ackerman and James Ackleson meant that AIP was assured the needed clearance
for the film version.
Which went into production with the working title Spaceman Saturday Night.
In the trailers from Hell Video about invasion of the Sosserman, Joe Dante said that the film
was based on the Kelly Hopkinsville alien encounter of 1955.

(25:00):
On August 21st of that year, five adults and seven children went into the Hopkinsville
Kentucky Police Station and claimed that small alien creatures were attacking their
farmhouse and that they had been holding them off with gunfire for almost two hours.
This report received widespread news coverage with various news outlets embellishing the story,
such as the detail that the creatures were little green men.

(25:21):
Special effects technician Paul Blaise-Dale, who provided four alien costumes, a mobile
severed hand and a flying saucer for the film, said in interviews that the invasion of the
Sosserman was originally intended as a serious horror film, but was turned into a comedy,
in part because of the alien's appearance in the film.
Composer Ronald Stein was asked to write a humorous score for the film, now considered

(25:42):
a sci-fi teenager friendly rock and roll picture.
In a script and in all publicity materials, the aliens were depicted as being little and
green, which served to help popularize the phrase "Little Green Men."
The same phrase that was used to describe the alleged aliens in Kentucky.
However, the masks and bodies were brown.
Not that the audience could tell in this black and white movie.

(26:04):
Blaise-Dale and his friend/assessent Bob Burns played two of the aliens, with the others
being played alternately by actors Angela Rosito, Eddie Gibbons, Dean Neville, and Lloyd
Dixon.
The little people in the cast were dressed in full-head-to-toe suits and masks, and were
used primarily for full-figure and medium-to-close shots.
In the extremely tight close-ups, the mask would be worn by either Bob or Paul.

(26:25):
The entire film takes place during the period of one night, with 98% of it filmed in a very
large studio soundstage.
Blaise-Dale felt that Frederick West's excellent day for night photography added a lot to the
clarity of the film's picture quality.
Blaise-Dale praised Ronald Stein's silly symphonic musical score and actor Linden Osborne's
rubbery emotional facial expressions, with setting the perfect mood for the film.

(26:49):
Linden Osborne had previously starred as Cadet Happy on TV Space Patrol in the mid-1950s.
Unfortunately, though, he died soon after completing his work on Sosterman.
The A.I.P. press book for Invasion of the Sosterman notes that Steve Torell received great reviews
from audience members and theater owners alike for his performance in Runaway daughters, his
first picture for American international pictures.

(27:11):
This positive response prompted A.I.P. in deciding Torell to have five-year contract.
Invasion of the Sosterman was released by A.I.P. on June 19, 1957, as the second half of
a double feature with "I Was a Teenage Werewolf."
Microsoft magazine suggested theater owners outfit a street team in alien costumes, complete
with enormous, hideous paper mache heads to walk about town, carrying picture credit

(27:34):
banners.
A.I.P. press book encouraged theater owners to park an ambulance in front of the theater,
with a sign indicating the vehicle was to remove anyone who faints from terror.
Also, owners should put one person on a stretcher, along with a sign indicating that the afflicted
person couldn't handle the sheer terror of the two movies, saying these gags have been
used for years, but they are sure fire attention getters and have never failed.

(27:57):
The only time this film has been officially released on home video was in the 90s when
it was released on VHS.
As of this writing, there has been no official DVD or Blu-ray release as Susan Hart owns
the rights to this film and has chosen not to allow it to be released.
Taglines for Invasion of the Sosterman include "Creeping horror from the depths of time and
space."

(28:17):
See the teenagers versus the Sosterman.
See the disembodied hand that crawls.
See the night the world nearly ended.
See the earth attacked by flying saucers.
They threatened the world until some happy youngsters took over.
The double bill of "I Was a Taged Werewolf" and Invasion of the Sosterman grossed $2 million
domestically, which at the time was a record for films of this kind.

(28:39):
Variety called the film a minor entry for the science fiction trade.
Noting that it suffers from poor use of attempted comedy and is further handicapped by
a half-hazard sort of yarn, which makes the film's 69-minute runny time seem much more.
"Box Office Magazine" wrote, "Because it required no small amount of courage to venture
with a limited budget, a comedy that undertakes to spoof that staple of contemporary filmmaking,

(29:03):
the space opera, this undertaking rates an A for effort."
The teaming of the picture with "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" to form one of AIP's popular
package bookings should, in itself, assure the film's success in its action exploitation
market.
In 1965, self-professed "Luck Meister" Larry Buchanan cheaply remade Invasion of the Sosterman
in color as Invasion of the Eye Creatures, a made for television feature for AIP TV.

(29:27):
The recurring alien character Morbo on Futurama was modeled on the aliens in the film.
And where have we seen some of these other players before and since?
This movie came out?
Well Steve Terrell, who played Johnny Carter, was in Runaway Daughters in 1956.
And in 1957, appeared in Dreckstrip Girl and Motorcycle Gang.
Gloria Castillo, who played Joan Hayden, had also appeared in Runaway Daughters, and would

(29:52):
go on to appear in Reform School Girl in 1957.
Frank Gorshin, who played Joe Groen, was in Hot Rod Doll, and Runaway Daughters in 1956.
Dreckstrip Girl, 1957, and would go on to appear in Tank Battalion in 1958, and take a AIP
break before appearing in Record City in 1977.
And Underground Aces, which was a film-wise release in 1981.

(30:15):
Raymond Headen, who played Farmer Larkin, and previously appeared in Day the World Ended
in 1955.
Girls in Prison and Shake Battle in Rock in 1956, and would appear in Motorcycle Gang in 1957.
Lena Sporn, who played Art Burns, would only appear in one other film, The Amazing Colossal
Man in 1957.
Press Spender, however, appeared in a lot of AIP films.

(30:37):
The Conquer of the World in 1957, also that year Dreckstrip Girl in The Amazing Colossal
Man and Motorcycle Gang.
In 1958, he appeared in Suicide Battalion, War of the Colossal Beast and Hot Rod Gang.
In 1959, he was in Ghost of Dreckstrip Hollow.
1962, he was in Panic in Year Zero.

(30:57):
1965, Space Probe Taurus, The Devil's Angels in 1967, Mary Jane in 1968.
Also, in 1968, he had an uncredited role in Wild in the Streets and The Young Animals,
which was also called Born Wild.
Douglas Henderson, who played Lieutenant Wilkins and Jason Johnson, who was the detective,
both appeared in Fireball 500 in 1966.

(31:21):
Don Shelton, who was City Attorney Hayden and Jones Dad, was in Dreckstrip Girl in 1957
and High School Hellcats in 1958.
And Scott Peters, the United States Air Force Sergeant with Bullhorn, would also in 1957
appear in The Amazing Colossal Man and Motorcycle Gang.
In 1958, we'd see him in Suicide Battalion, Attack of the Puppet People, Hot Rod Gang

(31:42):
and Submarine Seahawk.
And in 1962, he would appear in Panic in Year Zero.
Jan England, the waitress at the diner, was in Reform School Girl in Suicide Battalion.
Ed Nelson, who played Tom, appeared in Rockle Knight in 1957.
In 1958, he was in the Brain Eaters, Teenage Cavemen, neither the Blood Beast, and he had uncredited

(32:02):
roles in Hot Rod Gang and She Gods of Shark Reef.
And he appeared in one last movie for AIP A Bucket of Blood in 1959.
Keri Pickford, who played Duke, appeared in Shake Battle in Rock in 1956.
And Buddy Mason, the policeman, had appeared in Runaway Daughters, uncredited in 1956.
And would appear in a more prominent role in The Comedy of Terrorism in 1963.

(32:27):
Angela Rosito, who played in Alien, was in the trip.
In an uncredited role in 1967.
And in Little Sikars in 1973.
And our director, Edward Alconn, directed several pictures for AIP, among many others.
In 1956 alone, he helmed Girls in Prison, the Sheik Creature, Flesh in the Spur, Runaway
Daughters, Shake Revlon Rock.

(32:47):
In 1957, he was responsible for Voodoo Woman, Jack Shapurl, motorcycle gang, in 1958.
He would bring us Jet Attack and Suicide Battalion.
All right, Jeff.
That's all we could scare up on Invasion of the Susterman.
So why don't you tell us what you thought of the movie using our AIP scale where AI is
awesome, I as Intermediate and P is pathetic.

(33:07):
Well it may not seem like it, but Invasion of the Susterman is a very important film.
Not so much in the way it approaches the subject matter, or the acting, or the writing,
or the directing.
But historically speaking, Invasion of the Susterman is one of a handful of motion pictures
from the early years of AIP that really represents the modus operandi of American and national
pictures.
It's used to the younger generation, the main characters are kids, and none of the adults

(33:31):
believe anything they have to say.
So the adults actually become the antagonist here, more so than the alcohol poisoning of
flicking Susterman.
And the idea of a generation just struggling to be heard would go on over the next few
years, not only in films, but seeping into real life with the protests of the 60s.
But as I was saying, this film is just classic AIP.
It's really a shame that this is one of the titles controlled by Susan Hart and Nicholson

(33:54):
Hoffides, because the creatures here are iconic, but they've been largely hidden away because
of her litigious tendencies.
I can't venture to say what we may have missed out on, but I imagine there would have been
action figures, models, funcopeops, and there has been some attempts to do some of this
merchandising.
But I don't think any of them lasted very long before being shut down by lawsuits.

(34:15):
Keeping these films locked away is not going to increase demand for them.
Maybe there was a time when it would, but that time has long passed.
No one is nostalgic for these films anymore.
For most that are still around, it would just be a curiosity, because a lot has been written
about films like Invasion of Susterman, a Conquer of the World, I was a Tanged World.
And who knows if a release of the material would even be possible at this point?

(34:36):
No one seems to know what condition the original elements might be in, if they exist at all.
It's not full of Susan Hart has them stored away in a climate controlled film vault.
Maybe she has them tucked away in a box under her bed, but I think she lives in Palm Springs
and that's not a good place for store film elements.
I think the most likely scenario is that while she holds the rights to the films, she doesn't
have any physical elements at all, but I hope I'm wrong.

(35:00):
This film really deserves to be seen.
And it can be easily enough, it's available on YouTube and the internet archive for now anyway.
And they've all been uploaded from the Columbia TriStar VHS released from the early 90s.
That were released before the films ended up in Susan's possession.
But I would personally love to see a 4K restoration skin.

(35:24):
Oklahoma woman, and that's another of the Susan Hart titles.
And be watched at twice from two different sources and neither one was good.
And I think it's probably that's the best that anyone will ever see that film looking
again.
But I was supposed to be reviewing the vision of the saucer of men, the film, and not the
situation around it.
But spoiler, the situation weighs heavily into my rating.

(35:46):
I want to be sure to mention the score.
We have Ronald Stein doing this thing once again.
This one's really fun.
He picked up on the comic tone over that horror and it's whimsical, like a cartoon.
It's not too over the top, but it's just enough to set the mood that we're not supposed
to take this too seriously, even though a man has been killed and those alcohol dripping
needles extending from the creature's fingertips look really sharp.

(36:08):
But no, we're supposed to just sit back and have a good time.
Our two leads Steve Tarell and Gloria Castillo, who we would recognize from my way daughters.
If we had done that one, but we haven't done that one yet, so instead when we do, we'll
recognize them from invasion of the saucer of men.
They may both be a little over-dressed for a night of making out, but they do make the
decision to get married that night.
So maybe that wasn't as spontaneous as they'd let us to believe.

(36:31):
The rest of the cast, we have Frank Gorshin, whose character unfortunately dies too soon,
and Raymond Hatton as farmer Larkin.
I couldn't place where I'd seen him before, but it turns out he was Horace Fitzdingel, the
tolerating husband of Margaret Dumont's character in Shake Rattle on Rock.
This was a totally different character and fun to see in retrospect.
And there are other familiar faces, Russ Bender, who's done a lot and Don Schulte in a city

(36:52):
at Turning Hayden and Jones' father, who I did recognize as playing basically the
same character in Drakshep girl as Louise's that was face Spain's father in that film.
In my opinion, the most amusing characters of invasion of the saucer of men, though our
Colonel Ambrose and Lieutenant Wilkins.
I think it was a brilliant move just to make the army most of the comic relief in this film.

(37:16):
So what we have is a quick quirky film.
Aside from the look of the saucer of men themselves, who really could benefit from more screen time,
I don't really see it as much memorable here.
I don't know if it was intended or coincidental, but the story here would seem to serve as
a blueprint for the blob, which would come out a year later from an independent production
company in the Eastern US.
It's another film where kids know what's going on and know what to also believe them.

(37:41):
And it's dealing with something from Honour's face.
So what it comes down to is that there's really a lot to be said about invasion of the
saucer of men beyond just the film itself.
And I do hope that we are able to see a re-release of the saucer of men somehow during my lifetime,
because it really needs an accompanying commentary track, or three.
I feel like I barely scratch the surface and regards to the importance of this film, but

(38:01):
I will say that in a distance to its importance.
It's also very entertaining, and I can offer no other rating besides an awesome A.
What are your thoughts, Cheryl?
I watched this film for the first time for this podcast, but I felt like I'd seen it before,
because I had, well, kind of.
I saw the MST3K version of "Invasion of the Eye Creatures," which is this movie remade.

(38:24):
That movie received a lot of ridicule by the MST3K crew and deservedly so I thought.
So I was pleasantly surprised when I watched the original.
It's comedic without resorting to slapstick.
It's a little scary.
I mean, a man did die, but it's not terrifying.
And though none of the characters here are terribly deep, I have nothing bad to say
about the acting.
In fact, it looks like the cast were all having a fun time making this film.

(38:48):
I also felt that that sense of fun and even whimsy was present in all the production elements,
from the over-the-top alien designs to the effective use of nighttime as a cover for those
same aliens movements to the score, which kept the plot moving briskly without being so
intrusive that it demands your attention.
This movie is a light but tasty confection that I found immensely enjoyable.

(39:11):
As a matter of fact, I'm struggling to find something to not like about the film.
I guess, well, I think Johnny and John were too young to get married.
It seems like they were doing it just so they can make out without having to sneak away
from their parents, whom they were still living with and still would be after they got married.
Oh, and that brings me to another cliple.
What pair of teenagers ever necked for hours without getting past first base.

(39:34):
Even in the 50s, I think that would be hard to believe.
I suppose the fight between the heifer and the alien was probably a little goofy, but
I think it was forgivably goofy.
It's an absurd touch, but I love the absurd.
The scene seems like it would have fit right in as part of a money python's flying circus
episode and coming from me, that's high praise.

(39:55):
But I do wonder if this worked as a companion piece to I Was a Teenage Werewolf.
I have to wonder what the teens who watched both features felt seeing these movies back
to back.
Was the lighthearted comedy of Saucer Men a sav after the tragic melodrama of Teenage
Werewolf.
Over the two movies just so dissonant that they left audiences be wildered at the combination.

(40:18):
The only metric we have to go on though is a box office returns for both films and it says
they were record breaking so that must mean they worked well together.
So I guess even though I don't have a lot to say about this movie, I do want to just
I guess reiterate how much I enjoyed it.
It was silly, it was fun and I'm giving it an A for awesome too.

(40:40):
And that's going to wrap up this episode of the American International Podcast.
I'm Cheryl Lightfoot and I'm Jeff Markin and we'll meet you at the drive in.
Follow the American International Podcast on Instagram and letterbox @aip_pod and on
Facebook at facebook.com/americaninternationalpodcast.

(41:01):
The American International Podcast is produced and edited by Jeff Markin.
A man whose mind is distorted by hatred.
And Cheryl Lightfoot.
A girl hungry for too many things.
The American International Podcast is part of the Pop Culture Entertainment Network.

(41:24):
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