Just three years after The Day The Earth Stood Still raised the bar for Cold War sci-fi, British company Princess Pictures also produced a film in which a humanoid alien comes in peace to warn Planet Earth about the dangers of nuclear weaponry. Unlike its obvious inspiration, though, Stranger From Venus doesn’t boast an eight-foot-tall robot, eerie theremin-based soundtrack, or anything else that could be even remotely described as otherworldly.
A blink-and-you-’ll-miss-it shot of a hilariously unconvincing flying saucer (most likely a couple of pan lids) and a brief magnetic glow are the only special effects in a stagey, super-serious movie that treats the monumental meeting between mankind and extraterrestrials with all the wonder and amazement you’d expect for a town hall filibuster. Never let it be said the Brits broke their stiff upper lip.
