1954’s Target Earth has an intriguing premise.
Nora King (Kathleen Crowley) wakes up in a Chicago hotel room, surrounded by the pills that she took the previous night as a part of an unsuccessful suicide attempt. The room is quiet, too quiet. Getting out of bed, Nora eventually finds herself walking around Chicago. The city, which should be busy, is silent. At first, there doesn’t seem to be anyone else around. Eventually, Nora does run into a man named Frank (Richard Denning) and later, they meet a couple (Richard Reeves and Virginia Grey) who are busy getting drunk at a local cafe.
It’s a premise that feels like it could have been used in an episode of the Twilight Zone and the somewhat harsh black-and-white cinematography only increases the sense of isolation. Obviously something big has happened in Chicago but no one is quite sure what it could be. Our four survivors meet a few other people as they wander around the city. Some people are terrified. Some people, like the psychotic Davis (Robert Roark), aren’t concerned with what happened but instead are focused on how they can take advantage of the situation. From the start, the atmosphere is effectively creepy and ominous. Richard Denning and especially Kathleen Crowley give strong performances, capturing their confusion at the situation.
And then the robot shows up.
Now, I have to be honest. I love this robot. It’s big and ludicrous and it move so stiffly that there are times that it looks like it’s going to trip and end up flat on its back. There’s something undeniably charming about the fact that, in 1954, an actor got into a silly robot costume (complete with fake arms) and then waddled around while everyone pretended to be terrified of him. While the robot is definitely dangerous and it can fire a laser beam from its eye, I have to admit it immediately reminded of Torg, the cardboard robot from Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. It’s exactly the type of thing that people like me tend to love about cheap, 1950s science fiction. Back then, robots were considered to be so exotic that they only had to exist to be intimidating. Today, we’re spoiled by fancy robots. We expect every robot to be The Terminator.
That said, as charming as I found the robot to be, it totally altered the atmosphere of the movie. As soon as the robot shows up, Target Earth goes from being atmospheric to campy. The actors are still good. Robert Roark is genuinely menacing as the evil Davis. But that robot pretty much assures that we’ll never forget we’re watching a l0w-budget sci-fi flick.
As was typical of 50s sci-fi, things are eventually explained by the military. We get some stock footage. We get some scenes of concerned officers discussing what’s happening in Chicago. Personally, I would have preferred it if the film had extended the mystery a bit. It’s at its best when the viewer doesn’t know what’s going on. That said, the film’s first half is wonderfully suspenseful. The robot is perhaps too adorable for its own good but the movie still leaves you wondering what you would do if you woke up and discovered that the rest of humanity has vanished.
Through the Shattered Lens 