The Space Children

The Space Children (1958)

A glowing brain-like creature arrives on a beach near a rocket test site via a teleportation beam. The alien communicates telepathically with the children of scientists. The kids start doing the alien's bidding as the adults try to find out what's happening to their unruly offspring.

Date of release
1958-06-01
TMDB
4.2 / 10 (43)
Runtime
1h 9m
Genres
Science Fiction
Director
Jack Arnold

Casting

Interesting facts

The Space Children is a 1958 independently made American science-fiction film, produced by William Alland, directed by Jack Arnold, and starring Michel Ray, Jackie Coogan, Russell Johnson, Johnny Crawford, Johnny Washbrook and Richard Shannon. The film's special effects were handled by John P. Fulton, and the makeup was by Wally Westmore. The film was released on June 26, 1958 by Paramount as a double feature with The Colossus of New York (1958).

Production

The Space Children was William Alland's first feature film with Paramount. It was loosely based on The Egg, an unpublished story by Tom Filer (involving a girl with polio) that was significantly different from the final plot of the film.

The alien brain was created by special-effects artist Ivyl Burks and used $3,300 of neon lights to create its glowing effect.

According to Webber, the original leading lady dropped out at the last minute. In a panic, Alland called Orson Welles (for whom he had acted in The Mercury Theatre and Citizen Kane) and asked if he knew any actress who could step in on such short notice. Welles replied, "Yes. Peggy Webber." (She'd worked with him on radio and in his 1948 film version of Macbeth and had impressed him with how rapidly she could find her character.)

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