Leofwine_draca THE PHANTOM PLANET is another low budget, endearingly cheap US science fiction movie of the early 1960s. This one could easily have been made a good decade previously because it feels very dated for its era. The story is about a ship of astronauts who find themselves on a miniature world in which the inhabitants are menaced by ugly alien creatures and the like. It's a film full of cliffhanger action, dated but effective special effects, and a cool-looking man-in-a-suit alien played by a youthful Richard Kiel. Sometimes, it's the dated films which are the most fun, and so it proves with this simple but effective slice of US sci-fi cheese.

gavin6942 After an invisible asteroid draws an astronaut (Dean Fredericks) and his ship to its surface, he is miniaturized by the phantom planet's exotic atmosphere.The most notable thing about this film is that it features the debut of Richard Kiel. Unfortunately, he is wearing a mask and is completely unrecognizable. If no one has done so, I hope someone gets an interview with him about this film and puts it on a future special edition release.Other than that, it is pretty standard 1950s-1960s science fiction, with some laughable moments concerning how they treat gravity in space. Apparently you can walk on a spaceship without problems, but moments later float away for no reason.

flapdoodle64 This is typical of the schlock era of scifi, the time when budgets, technology and expectations were all low, and drive-in theaters kept demand for product fairly high. The cheese will either put you off entirely, or you will find it mildly charming, as I do.One highlight of this film is the spaceship designs by Bob Kinoshita, who later designed the interior of Jupiter II and the Robot on Lost in Space. These designs aren't spectacular, but are fun and functional. Another highlight is the creative shrinking effect used to miniaturize our astronaut hero...it is not realistic per say, but not nearly as silly as most FX of this era.The script for this film is variously ingenious and silly, but the writer should be commended for creating rationalizations for the cheap sets weak action. For instance, you have a super-advanced race of people who possess hyperdrive spaceflight yet who nonetheless live in rock caves and eschew comfortable furnishings and conveniences...the incongruity is explained by stating that they have adopted a spartan philosophy regarding daily life.Our hero is a sort of low-rent Nick Adams type, but less likable. There is a lovely mute girl as the love interest, thus telling us something about the director's attitude toward women. There is a silly ceremonial fight. There is space battle against an alien race featuring primitive yet creative FX.This film contains no socio-political commentary or other food-stuff for the brain, the only value is for escapism, ridicule value, or curiosity. There are certainly worse schlock scifi, although perhaps this film would have been helped if the writer and director had taken a few more risks, put in something shocking, subversive, or bad taste...this one appears aimed more toward the 12-year-old's at a matinée than at teens at a drive-in.

Alex da Silva Dean Fredericks (Captain Frank Chapman) and Richard Weber (Lt Makonnen) are sent into space to search for the previous rocket and occupants that seems to have disappeared. They go into the unknown where they come across a meteor shower that damages their ship but only Fredericks survives the repair mission that they undergo, before he and his ship are sucked into the gravitational pull of a large meteorite. Or is it a planet inhabited by tiny people? The majority of the film plays out on this meteorite/planet before Fredericks is picked up by a rescue mission. Has it all been a dream? The cast are pretty wooden but so what. The film has a nice idea that leaves you thinking at the end. The effects are funny but still entertaining - watch as popcorn threatens the rockets and how about those flying, squeeling pigs? This is a story with a romance that lends itself to a sadness and it creates a romantic tragedy type of film. I thought that this film would be a heap of junk but I was pleasantly surprised. It's nothing great but it's a fantasy type film where everything is certainly real to Dean Fredericks.