Having been successful with their Gothic horror film BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE, Robert S. Baker & Monty Berman next attempted to produce a black & white science fiction movie patterned after Hammer’s QUATERMASS series. Those movies dealt with alien invasions from outer space and how they were successfully thwarted. Once again they hired Hammer freelance writer Jimmy Sangster to come up with something. The basis of his screenplay was a British TV serial called THE TROLLENBERG TERROR that had first been broadcast in 1956 and had been produced by Baker & Berman. That made it a quick and easy adaptation to do. It was even shot in the same film studio.
This time around the setting isn’t England but Switzerland which may account for the presence of Jennifer Jayne who played Hedda Tell on the 1957 TV series WILLIAM TELL. A mysterious cloud has settled in on top of a Swiss peak known as the Trollenberg. Suddenly there are a rash of accidents where climbers have been found beheaded. An observatory near the top of the mountain has discovered that the cloud is radioactive so the head scientist sends for a U.N. specialist to try and get to the bottom of the mysterious deaths. The specialist arrives along with a sister mind reading act. It turns out that one of the sisters is particularly sensitive to whatever it is in the cloud.
The typically subtle American re-title of THE CRAWLING EYE gives it all away and when the creatures do appear at the very end, they are a major disappointment. The close-ups aren’t bad but the long distance group shots are what landed the movie on the snarky MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 series. Fortunately the filmmakers are smart enough to keep the creatures out of sight until they have no choice and that makes for 2/3 of a decent science fiction movie in the British tradition. The pace is deliberate and the performers treat Jimmy Sangster’s script with the utmost gravity. Many people find this straight faced approach rather boring but I find it quite enjoyable.
Forrest Tucker is the required American presence needed to put 1950s British movies over in America. He made a handful of horror/sci-fi films in England and he acquits himself well as the U.N. researcher who is called in to investigate. Along with the aforementioned Jennifer Jayne, Janet Munro plays the other sister whose telepathic powers threaten the aliens. The rest of the cast consists of dependable British character actors including Laurence Payne of TELL-TALE HEART fame. This was the Baker/Berman team’s only stab at sci-fi and it’s pretty good until the end. The Image Entertainment Widescreen European Edition DVD is the one to get as it is the original uncut British version.
The Capsule Critic 