Search - The Cosmic Man on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1959 DVD Release: 10/17/2000 Format: DVD - Black and White SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 13 mins Studio: Image Entertainment Members Wishing: 0 Genres: Science Fiction, Psychological Sci-Fi

The Cosmic Man is a moralistic sci-fi tale that does not quite live up to the pretensions of its title. Everything starts when a strange sphere settles down in a California canyon, causing both the scientific and military communities to gather around in an instant. The object appears to have one figure inside but no clear way of penetrating the sphere. As the military brass argue for a destructive course of action, scientist Karl Sorensen (Bruce Bennett) defends the sphere and its passenger, advocating a reasoned approach to the enigma. In the meantime, a ghostly entity wanders around town and a man nearly hidden underneath heavy clothing checks into the lodge where the antagonistic investigators are staying. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Bruce Bennett - Dr. Karl Sorenson
John Carradine - Cosmic Man
Angela Greene - Kathy Grant
Paul Langton - Col. Mathews
Scotty Morrow - Ken Grant

This DVD is probably the most respectful treatment that Herbert Greene's The Cosmic Man has ever or will ever receive. An ultra-low budget rip-off of Robert Wise's The Day the Earth Stood Still, the movie has just a couple of scenes that are memorable in their own right, principally those sequences in which the title character (John Carradine), in a nearly transparent, wraith-like form, wanders around the scene of the action. The source print for this disc was from the UK, as revealed by the British Board of Censors approval certificate in the opening -- it is entirely possible (and even probable) that no surviving American print looks as good, the movie having bounced from one low-budget distributor to another over the years without much concern about preservation. The DVD offers a reasonably crisp, sharp focus and decent audio transfer. It's all broken into nine chapters, which is more than adequate for this 73-minute movie -- the disc opens automatically onto the menu, which is built on the movie's main-title sequence (one of the better parts of the film); the only bonus is the trailer, which assembles excerpts from most of the eerier scenes from the movie. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide