How many of us have had that nightmare where you show up naked and invisible on an alien planet? That's just what happens to the poor extraterrestrial in 1953's Phantom from Space. An extremely low budget film consisting of little more than a few people talking interspersed with stock footage there's nonetheless something genuinely eerie and sad about it.
A group of expert men from the government start investigating reports of a strange man wearing what's described as a diving suit wandering the countryside. The Geiger counters tell them this fellow is radioactive.
Witnesses say that without his helmet he has no head. So, apparently panicked by being pursued, the creature removes his clothing, rendering himself totally invisible. He makes contact with the one beautiful woman among the group of investigators, Barbara (Noreen Nash), and tries to communicate with her by tapping some kind of code with scissors on the table.
She's surrounded by guys who are handsome and confident, it seems an awful imposition for the alien to think he's worth her time, yet circumstances have forced him to be naked, unintelligible, and alone with her. Not reading into this would require a herculean effort of will.
When we finally do see him, still naked, still trying to escape, still unintelligible, it's a really eerie shot and there's something genuinely disturbing about how helpless and weird he is.
Phantom from Space is available on Amazon Prime.
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