Invisible Invaders

Release Date: May 15, 1959
Starring: John Agar as Maj. Bruce Jay
Jean Byron as Phyllis Penner
John Carradine as Dr. Karol Noymann
Philip Tonge as Dr. Adam Penner
Cinematographer: Maury Gertsman
Director: Edward L. Cahn
Producer: Robert Kent
Editor: Grant Whytock
Screenwriter: Samuel Newman
Music: Paul Dunlap
Released through: United Artists
Time: BW 67 mins.

Purchase Invisible Invaders (DVD) from Movies Unlimited (2nd feature Journey to the Seventh Planet.)

Interesting Tidbits

Filming of Invisible Invaders began on December 11, 1958; this was character actor's Philip Tonge (b. 1897) final role. He died January 28, 1959 - before this film's release date. Jean Byron had a role in an earlier sci-fi movie The Magnetic Monster in 1953.

The scene of a car crashing into an electrical substation was originally seen in Thunder Road (1958) starring Robert Mitchum. It has been used in several movies and TV too.

The Plot

The Earth is attacked by mysterious invaders from outer space, who plan on destroying humankind. The invaders are invisible in our atmosphere, but are able to inhabit and reanimate the bodies of the dead. The armies of rotting corpses march on the cities, and it seems as though there is no defense.

Major Bruce Jay (John Agar) is put in charge of a small, secret research center with a group of scientists, who must find a way of combating the invaders. Personality conflicts develop as Jay's hard-nosed, by-the-book approach to his job -- which requires him to kill anyone who might jeopardize the mission -- put him in opposition to the scientists (played by Jean Byron, Philip Tonge, and Robert Hutton). They develop an ultra-sonic gun that has the combined effect of rendering the aliens visible and killing them, but first they must test it, by capturing an alien, an action that forces them to run the risk of being discovered.