First Man Into Space [VHS]

The results were nothing short of disastrous.

Although "First Man" seems cheesy and at times downright plodding by today's frenetic standards for scifi films, showing a movie that includes a mutated, cyclopic, blood-drinking murderous monster to a crowd of under-ten children resulted in pandemonium in the theater and countless youthful nightmares afterward. I was so scared by the "monster" (I was certain it was going to come bursting through my bedroom window) that I could not sleep alone for several nights.

Since I never forget to just what extent "First Man" scared the bejibbers out of me was back in 1959, I eagerly anticipated seeing the movie again some forty-plus years later. Needless to say, it was a very different experience the second time around. The "monster," who actually was the "first man into space" deformed by some mysterious variety of cosmic radiation, still appeared slightly scary (the one staring eye was an inspired effect, truly). But overall, the film seemed slow, dull, and oh, so cheesy. As other reviewers have indicated, the plot line of the movie has some admirable elements, with its "pride goeth before a fall" morality and the compassion showed by the authorities in the final scenes. But the film definitely qualifies as fodder for ridicule and wisecracks a la the late (and much missed) series, "Mystery Science Theater 3000."

In seeing the movie for the first time themselves, my own sons, far more jaded in terms of what qualifies as "frightening," politely commented that they "could see how the monster might be scary," but I confess they were so bored by the production overall that it was all they could do to keep from leaving the room prior to the conclusion.

I guess to appreciate some of the virtues of this not-bad-but-not-great fifties scifi "thriller," you hadda be there, in the dark, on a Saturday afternoon with a hundred other terrified suburban kids.

Boy, was I wrong!

While the picture was obviously made on a low budget, it comes off much better than you'd think. The special effects are surprisingly good, especially the scenes of the experimental rocket in flight.

There is some interesting stock footage of planes from the X-1 era, being launched from bombers (which at the time was how they thought they'd do rocketry).

I kept wondering when the picture would start to go bad, but it kept my interest throughout. Low budget 50's sci-fi, but a real gem!