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Stranger from Venus
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Image Entertainment
EAN: 0014381960020
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC
Item Dimensions: 125
Label: Image Entertainment
Languages: English (Original Language),
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
MPN: ID9600CODVD
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Image Entertainment
Region Code: 1
Release Date: September 05, 2000
Running Time: 74 minutes
Studio: Image Entertainment
Theatrical Release Date: 1954
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Editorial Review:
Providing further evidence that 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still had an immediate and lasting influence, this quiet little gem from 1954 spins off from the earlier film's trendsetting premise, and features a fine role for that classic's costar, Patricia Neal. With those similarities accounted for, it's only fair to assess Stranger from Venus on its own terms. Fashioned more like a respectable B-movie melodrama than a sci-fi thriller, it offers only a few seconds of cheesy special effects (in the form of an ultra-low-budget flying saucer), and instead emphasizes mature dialogue and competent acting to deliver the time-honored theme that humankind has a lot to learn on the intergalactic scale of civilized behavior.
Helmut Dantine plays the title role--a dapper gent from Venus who arrives in a rural English town, possessing awesome powers (and a brain packed with the entirety of human knowledge), and intending only to inform the military powers-that-be of the dangers of atomic weaponry. With her trademark empathy, Neal plays a local American who understands, accepts, and quietly falls in love with the nameless alien. There must be tragedy, of course, and when the military hawks prevent the Venusian's rendezvous with his mother ship, the cost is regrettably high. (As we've learned earlier, centuries-old Venusians merely vanish when they expire.) By this time, however, the requisite wisdom has been expressed, human foolishness has been exposed and humbled by alien superpowers, and Stranger from Venus ends on a quiet note of melancholy optimism. Unfolding with thoughtfulness and filmmaking economy, this is an obscure genre entry that devoted fans are encouraged to discover. --Jeff Shannon
Tonight first contact will be made! A beautifully-crafted tale of a superior being from Venus who has the power of life and death at his touch. Academy Award-winning actress Patricia Neal's glowing and sensitive performance as a woman caught up in the biggest event in history is complemented by Helmut Dantine's powerful moving portrayal as the Stranger. Suggested by events in the sci-fi classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still" this film is a touching humanizing and haunting story of "first contact" with a peaceful and advanced intelligence from another planet coming to Earth with an ultimatum and out-of-this-world powers to back it up.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY/ALIENS Rating: NR UPC: 014381960020 Manufacturer No: ID9600CODVD
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - "I am drunk or you are dead"
A no-name stranger (Helmut Dantine) comes from Venus with a message. Naturedly the message is too important to trust to any one country. So he arranges to meet with all the representatives of the world in two days. While waiting for this meeting He interacts with a handful of people at a local English inn. There they get to know each other personally. Some such as Susan north (Patricia Neal) very personally. Will they make the meeting or will greed raise its ugly head and try to use this no names ... Read More
Rating:  - WARNING - DO NOT EXPECT A LOT OF SPECIAL EFFECTS !
I don't know I could be wrong, but it seems to me that movies made today require a ton of special effects ( especially in the Sci Fi - Fantasy genre ) to keep an audience interested. Nothing wrong with this though, as I myself enoy a little escapist entertainment as much as the next person. Having said that though I must confess that it is my opinion that good writing and acting will win out over high tech effects almost everytime with few eceptions and nothing is better if you have both. Which brings ... Read More
Rating: - Stranger from Venus
I concur with most of the reviews already written.. a "soft" sci-fi story relying on dialogue rather than special effects. Patrica O'Neil definately made this movie.
Rating: - Funny, in a strange sort of way
This movie is the most obvious remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. I like both films, but besides the hilarious special effects and the casting of an American actress as English, I prefer this film. The stranger, played by Helmut Dantine, is very believable in the part, maybe just because of his Austrian accent. Also, the slightly romantic departure from the plot of The Day the Earth Stood Still warmed my unscientific heart. The messages are the same: anti-war, and that was very timely in the ... Read More
Rating:  - The Day the Earth...Yawned
From Image Entertainment and The Wade Williams collection comes the mid 50's British answer to The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). But where The Day the Earth Stood Still excels and survives as a classic atomic age science fiction thriller, this film fell into the realm of the anti-thriller, nearly putting me to sleep. Starring Patricia Neal as Susan North and Helmut Dantine as 'The Stranger', the story begins with the landing of a craft, which we never actually see, and the crashing of a car driven ... Read More
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