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Target Earth
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Manufacturer: Vci Video
Find all by Vci Video
Directed By: Sherman A. Rose
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Theatrical Release: November 7, 1954
Average Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
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Retail Price: $9.99
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Starring: Richard Denning, Kathleen Crowley, Virginia Grey, Richard Reeves, Robert Roark
A large city has been completely evacuated. An alien force of robots has invaded the city and is destroying all mankind! Frank (Richard Denning) and a handful of strangers wake up to the empty city and band together. Not only must they escape the robot patrols, but also they must contend with a psychotic killer amongst them. All the while scientists are racing against the clock to save earth from annihilation. Based on the short novel, The Deadly City by Paul W. Fairman. Bonus Features: Commentary by Herman Cohen| Video Tribute to Producer Herman Cohen| Original theatrical trailer| Digitally Re-mastered| Anamorphic Widescreen - Enhanced for 16x9 monitors| Actor Bios| 3-D Motion Menus| Scene Selection| Booklet Insert| Trailers. Specs: DVD9; Dolby Digital Mono; 75 minutes; B&W; 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - NR; Year - 1954; SRP - $9.99.
User Submitted Target Earth Reviews
October 21, 2008
Please No More WideScreen.
I own a 32 inch WideScreen TV. But WideScreen DVD Movies have to be Adjusted to fit the Screen. I have turned Down many Movies now because they will harm the TV screen. Sometimes when you stretch you Distort the Image.
This is a Brand New Visio TV.
October 5, 2008
They Just Don't Make Them Like This Anymore
Target Earth is a low budget (very low budget!) thriller made in 1954. This is a familiar Sci-Fi story of invaders from space, but with very little focus on the actual "invasion." Instead, this story is told from the vantage point of a handful of people that accidentally (at least some of them accidentally) stayed behind after their city was completely evacuated due to the impending alien attack. They have no idea what is going on outside and what is coming and that makes for some good suspense. People react as people will in that sutuation. The special effects are certainly comical and the story-line is absurd, but hey, this is entertainment, right? What I really liked was that the DVD arrived packaged like a current version DVD and the quality of the playback is top notch, like it was just filmed last week (in Black and White of course). This movie was always a favorite of mine when I was a kid and now I have a quality copy to watch when I want. Worth the price.
August 16, 2008
Better Than Expected
This film is well acted and directed. The only weak spot would be the robotic enemy invading the earth. And they're not really too bad. The story demands a lot emotionally of the acting and in general the actors do a very good job of it. Not the typical Sci-Fi type film. More reality based. See for yourself.
March 4, 2008
raw not so much panic
I Love 50's Sci-Fi but the best thing about this is the DVD box....The Robot on the box is factors of 100 cooler than the one in the movie. If you want to see a so-bad-it's-good movie kind of like PLAN 9 then go for this but don't buy this thinking it's some kind of Forbidden Planet or D.T.E.S.S.
I will say that the idea behind the movie is interesting but it is let down by terrible effects even for this era (taken with a grain of salt and a Martini)....this movie COULD have been really good and would make an AWESOME remake in the right hands. I found the special features about the Director very interesting.
May 30, 2007
What can I say?
This movie scared the hell out of me when I was a little kid. Is there any other service for a B movie like this? The dark elements of the woman being suicidal, etc. made it even creepier, for a 50's horror movie. I can see it being re-made, sort of Independence Day mixed with Night of the Living Dead, only the zombies would be robots. I think I'm having an Ed Wood moment...
February 16, 2007
A little below the usual B-movie standard
I hate to come down on B-movies. Even though a lot of people think they're cheesy and cheap, I feel they project a certain creativity. "It! The Terror from Beyond Space" (1958), "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla" (1974)--but not "Target Earth" (1954) as much.
The plot and concept were perfect, in theory. A city has been evacuated due to the invasion of robots, most likely from Venus. A few stragglers must battle their way to freedom and safety.
However, the only sci-fi element used in the film was a robot--who represented a whole army of them. No spaceships--blurry laser beams and hollow acting.
"Target Earth" (1954) isn't that bad. If my copy didn't work any more, then I'd still buy another.
November 4, 2006
Old Fashion Sci Fi
I enjoyed this movie years ago when I was younger. Believe it or not it is still as good as I remember. Suspense, bad acting, crummy special effects. This is how movies were made back then without all the flash and gore this is still a good movie.
September 1, 2006
Target Earth - Not a Classic, but deserves a chance.
While Target Earth may not be a well known, classic Sci-Fi movie, it certainly gives a decent swing at the genre. Being Herman Cohen's first solo-produced film, Target Earth most definately IS science fiction. The plot of the film is one of the most frightening and classic ideas in the anals of sci-fi - that of the Earth being invaded by beings from another world. The threat in Target Earth, however, is an encroaching vanguard of robots which precede the actual alien invasion. A novel idea indeed. The acting in TE is good, with Richard Denning (Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Day the World Ended, The Black Scorpion) cast as the hero.
If you enjoy watching and collecting classic sci-fi from the 1950s, then Target Earth will make an excellent addition to your DVD library.
September 1, 2006
"Denning...Crowley...Grey...Reeves ~ Target Earth (1954)...Herman Cohen"
VCI Home Video and Allied Artists presents "TARGET EARTH: (1954) (75 mins B&W) . . . under Sherman A. Rose (Director / Editor), Herman Cohen (Producer), Kay Rose (Producer), Paul Fairman (Book Author - based upon the story "Deadly City"), Bill Raynor (Screenwriter), James Nicholson and Wyott Ordung (original screenplay), Guy Roe (Cinematographer), Paul Dunlap (Composer (Music Score), David Koehler (Special Effects), Stanley Orr (makeup), Morris Hoffman (set decorator), James Sullivan (art director) --- cast includes Richard Denning (Frank), Kathleen Crowley (Nora), Virginia Grey (Vicki), Richard Reeves (Jim), Robert Roark (Wilson), Mort Marshall (Charles Otis), Arthur Space (General), Whit Bissell (Scientist), House Peters, Jr. (Technician), Jim Drake (Lieutenant), Gaylord "Steve" Pendleton (Colonel) . . . . . . our story thus follows raw panic, an astounding science fiction drama of a deserted metropolis and the frenzied few who were left behind...our cast of survivors living day and night in incredible terror, mixed with uncivilized violence in the savage battle for survival against the horror of the fantastic unknown... this very early film in the genre of science fiction uncovers our silent thoughts, is it possible for aliens from another world to invade our planet...much to ponder as this wonderful script with top notch performances by Richard Denning, Kathleen Crowley, Virginia Grey and Richard Reeves pull us into the story and give us a thriller to remember for days...remember this is a '50s sci-fi when we were still young and innocent, films of this nature was thought provoking and entertaining.
SCENE SELECTIONS:
1. Awake
2. Ghost Town
3. Unexplained Death
4. Abandoned
5. Finding Friends
6. The Shadow
7. Seeking Shelton
8. A Suite
9. Military Defense
10.Captured Enemy
11.The Robot
12.Domestic Dispute
13.Tests
14.Dangerous Stranger
15.Villainous Plan
16.Out of Time
17.Trapped
18.Rescued
Specal footnote, producer Herman Cohen (August 27, 1925 - June 2, 2002) was a producer of B-movies during the 1950s, who helped to popularize the teen horror movie genre with films like the cult classic "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" (1957)...his motion picture career began at his local cinema, the Dexter Theater in Detroit, during his preteen years; he worked there as a "gofer" and later as an usher...his next stop was assistant manager of Detroit's Fox Theater. After a Marine Corps hitch, Cohen worked as sales manager for the Detroit branch of Columbia Pictures, then relocated to Hollywood and worked in the publicity department of Columbia there. He produced his first movies for Jack Broder's Realart Pictures in the early 1950s and made several subsequent pictures for Allied Artists and United Artists. Cohen made exploitation history in the mid-1950s when he began producing some of American International's earliest hits, among them the cult favorite "I Was a Teenage Werewolf." (1957) featuring unknown horror actor Michael Landon as a troubled teenager and Whit Bissell as the primary adult. It was written and produced by cult film producer Herman Cohen, it was made on a very low budget but grossed as much as US$2,000,000 per week in its early weeks of release,and was one of the most successful films released by AIP (American International Pictures)..Herman Cohen's filmography, The Bushwhackers (1952), Kid Monk Baroni (1952), Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952), Battles of Chief Pontiac (1952), River Beat (1954), Target Earth (1954), Magnificent Roughnecks (1956), Dance with Me Henry (1956), The Brass Legend (1956), Crime of Passion (1957), I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957), I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957), Blood of Dracula (1957), How to Make a Monster (1958), Horrors of the Black Museum (1959), The Headless Ghost (1959), Konga (1961), Black Zoo (1963), A Study in Terror (1965), Berserk! (1968), Django il bastardo (1969), Crooks and Coronets (1969), Trog (1970), Craze (1973), Gatto dagli occhi di giada, Il (1977)...In the 1960s and 1970s, he began producing horror films in the United Kingdom, working with such stars as Joan Crawford in "Berserk"! and "Trog" and Jack Palance in Craze. In 1961, he returned to his roots in Detroit purchasing the Fox Theater he had worked for in his youth. By the late 1970s, Cohen was working more in writing and distribution than in film production. He founded Cobra Media, a domestic distribution company, in 1981. Cohen died of throat cancer June 2, 2002.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
1. Commentary by Producer Herman Cohen
2. Video Tribute on Producer Herman Cohen
3. Original Theatrical Trailers
4. Previews
BIOS:
1. Richard Denning (aka: Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr.)
Date of birth: 27 March 1914 - Poughkeepsie, New York
Date of death: 11 October 1998 - Escondido, California
2. Kathleen Crowley (aka: Betty Jane Kathleen Crowley)
Date of birth: 26 December 1931 - Green Bank, New Jersey
Date of death: Still Living
3. Virginia Grey
Date of birth: 22 March 1917 - Los Angeles, California, USA
Date of death: 31 July 2004 - Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California
4. Richard Reeves
Date of birth: 10 August 1912 - New York, New York
Date of death: 17 March 1967 - Northridge, California
5. Sherman A. Rose (Director)
Date of birth: 27 May 1915
Date of death: 22 September 1986
6. Herman Cohen (Producer)
Date of birth: 27 August 1925 - Detroit, Michigan
Date of death: 2 June 2002 - Los Angeles, California
Want to thank VCI Home Video for releasing "Target Earth" (1954) - Director Sherman A. Rose , the digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '40s & '50s...order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment where there are plenty of copies available, stay tuned once again for top notch wonderful character actors of the cinema brought back so many wonderful memories of the times when film makers cared about you who purchased a ticket and came back for more...just the way we like 'em.
Total Time: 75 mins on DVD ~ VCI Home Video 8305 ~ (2/25/2003)
July 9, 2006
Independent psychological film just happens to resemble sci-fi
Story opens on a scene from the air zeroing in on L.A. and slowing down to silently show an unconscious woman (Kathleen Crowley); beside her is a half empty bottle of sleeping pills.
The story is of a hand full of people who wake up to find the city is empty of humankind that is live human kind, they must piece together the missing parts to the puzzle they must learn to cooperate with each other and huddle together.
Soon they will realize that they are at ground zero on "Target Earth."
The film has all the feel and dialog of an old twilight zone episode, However the actors of frontline majors. Virginia Grey was in over 140 movies and programs including "Bachelor in Paradise" (1961). Richard Denning was in "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (1954).
The whole movie was made on a shoestring budget so they only had one robot (Steve Calvert the head bartender at Cerro's nightclub) that they tinkered together in a garage. The car (Oldsmobile convertible) with the dead uh...err... battery belonged to the producer (Herman Cohen.) And they used a buddy in the police forces to stop the traffic for the empty street shots. All shot in seven days, mostly in the deserted L.A. streets on a Sunday morning.
One of the most horrifying parts of this movie was that they were forced to drink warm beer.
Kronos
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