I Married a Monster from Outer Space

Despite the dreadful title, this is a well made, thought provoking Sci-fi film. A young bride discovers that her husband is not the man she fell in love with, but a hideous alien in a specially constructed shell. The thought provoking part, is the ambiguous character of the aliens. At first you are convinced that these ugly creatures are on earth for evil intent. as the film progresses, you are aware of their desperation to survive, even if they have to kill to do it. In one excellent scene, a hooded alien stares longingly at a doll in a shop window, and then ruthlessly kills one of the locals without a second thought. this stimulates both compassion and revulsion. Both Gloria Talbott and Tom Tryon as the leading actors, give good understated performances, and in the final scene, Tryons' alien becomes a terribly pathetic creature whose only desire was to see the continuation of his race. Are the aliens good or evil? the jury is still out.

Despite the fact that this film has a ridiculous title, it really is quite a little gem. During the 1950's the spread of Communism was the great fear in America and many films reflected this through the analogy of aliens infiltrating society. This movie is one of them....aliens taking over the population without being noticed....the guy next door may be a Communist (or a monster from outer space). Gloria Talbot,who appeared in a score of 50's movies (whatever happened to her?) does a good job as the suspicious wife but she wears one of the strangest pointed bras you've ever seen and even wears it in bed! Tom Tryon sleepwalks through the part of the husband, which in this film is appropriate for the role. He was a very bland actor and eventually went on to a sucessful career as a novelist. The black and white cinematography is well done and the film evokes a sense of impending doom. The special effects, which are limited, are not too bad...remember this was 1958. This film is a standout in a series of lower budget movies of the time but the awkward title may cause some to pass it by. Recommend it to a friend.

In Norrisville, Bill Farrell (Tom Tryon) leaves his bachelor party on the eve of his marriage with Marge Bradley (Gloria Talbott). He is abducted by an alien that takes his shape and marries Marge on the next day. Marge feels something strange with Bill and one year later she realizes that he is a totally different man. One day, Marge follows Bill and he goes to the woods; she finds that he is an alien and sees his spacecraft. She tries to tell to Washington and to the FBI, but the aliens have dominated key people in town that do not allow any sort of communication with the exterior world. What is the intention of the alien invasion?

"I Married a Monster from Outer Space" is a great sci-fi movie from the 50's. The storyline is a rip-off of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", with aliens switching places with humans in a small town with the purpose of breeding. But the plot is well-constructed and supported by good performances. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "I Married a Monster from Outer Space"

Another thinly veiled reference to the Communist witch hunt, 'I Married A Monster From Outer Space' is a movie with a cheesy title and a decent story. Aliens have come to Earth to impersonate American men while using a ray-gun on the women (they really don't like hookers). The flip here is that while they ARE taking over the bodies & lives of the men they capture, they're trying to live the way we do. Are they also trying to love? It's almost touching. Even though the classic paranoia sci-fi flick 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' is an obvious influence, the second half is where the two movies diverge. You can almost root for the body snatchers in 'I Married A Monster'.

The B cast never humiliate themselves, but none of them are particularly memorable either. Gene Fowler Jr. (longtime editor, sometime director) leads his actors through the paces in competent fashion. Tom Tryon and Gloria Talbott don't cause too many sparks, but they're not really supposed to. Along with the actual subversion of humanity, this is also an allegory for how newlyweds can quickly grow apart and---okay, I'll say it---alienated. And although this movie is classified as horror/sci-fi, the American Film Institute saw fit to nominate it for their list of 400 great American love stories.

Filled with subtext and double-meanings (as so many overlooked B movies are), the flick accomplishes more by saying less. The F/X are about as dated and obvious as such things get, but they weren't perfect in other '50s genre films either. You might laugh at 'I Married A Monster', but you could do much worse for 78 minutes. This can't be said for half the modern movies out there, but you SHOULD look closer at this one.

Often over-looked gem from the 1950s, in which Gloria Talbott plays a young bride who discovers that her husband is actually an alien impostor, a member of an advance force of alien invaders who are secretly replacing the male populations in Gloria's town.

The female population on the alien's home planet has been wiped out by solar radiation prior to a nova, so their race is dying out. Now the aliens hope to `alter' the bodies of the Earth women so they can produce alien children. The script by Louis Vittes does a good job of dealing with the most unsettling aspect of the plot; alien husbands doing things with their human wives that only HUMAN husbands are supposed to do.

Vittes also manages to weave some very sly humor into the story. When Gloria goes to the local doctor for help in battling the aliens, he quickly realizes that the only men in town who are verifiably human are the ones whose wives are pregnant. So we see him hurrying into the waiting room of the hospital's maternity ward to round up a pose' to battle the aliens! Funny.

The aliens are scary and well designed, and the ray gun effects by ace effects artist John P. Fulton are above average. Don't be fooled by the unfortunate title; this is a fine entry to the list of 1950s sci-fi films.