Search - The Brain from Planet Arous on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1957 DVD Release: 02/27/2001 Format: DVD - Black and White Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 11 mins Studio: Image Entertainment Members Wishing: 2 Genres: Science Fiction, Horror, Alien Film

The plot of The Brain from Planet Arous has something to do with a huge floating brain which takes over the body of nuclear scientist Steve March (John Agar) as the first step in its takeover of the earth. Tipping off the fact that March is not himself are his strange eyeballs and his rather violent mood swings. Additionally, the arrogant alien brain occasionally leaves Steve's body to brag about its superiority. Meanwhile, a "policeman brain" from the villain's home planet hides out in the body of March's dog, awaiting the chance to arrest the renegade graymatter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Agar - Steve March
Joyce Meadows - Sally Fallon
Robert Fuller - Dan Murphy
Henry Travis - Col. Grogley

The Brain from Planet Arous, directed by Nathan Juran (working as Nathan Hertz because it was a quick, non-union shoot), wasn't taken too seriously at the time of its release and isn't highly regarded today outside the ranks of fans of science fiction B-movies, despite several genuinely eerie touches and a script that anticipates the plot of Jack Sholder's The Hidden by more than 30 years. A pair of scientists (John Agar, Robert Fuller) investigate a radiation source on the desert, only to discover that the source is a disembodied alien brain, who kills one of them and inhabits the body of the other (Agar); he becomes a vehicle for the invader's plans of conquest, but unknown to him, another alien brain has arrived on Earth and is pursuing him, awaiting the chance to kill the first alien, if he can be caught outside of the host-body. As in The Hidden, a pet dog belonging to one character plays an important part in hiding one of the aliens. As low-budget science-fiction goes, this is a nicely put together movie, with enough disquieting scenes to overcome the obvious use of model planes and stock military footage of nuclear explosions. The cavern sequence, in which the two scientists hunt for the source of the radiation, is downright eerie, and the close-ups of Agar's face (complete with black contact lenses) as his possessed body exults in the alien's destructive power, offer some pleasing low-rent chills. One particular shot, of Agar's face enlarged and distorted through a water-cooler bottle, is not only very effective but echoes one of the better scenes in Juran's other sci-fi thriller of that year, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. The new transfer for the DVD is about the best edition of this film seen in more than 40 years, which doesn't mean it's great, merely good. There's only a finite amount that even the best transfer can do with a movie shot on this low a budget, and it seems doubtful, given the very slight softness of the transfer in the first half of the film, that the makers had access to first-generation "original source materials," as they seem to claim. Image Entertainment has respected the movie enough to break it into 16 chapters, which is sufficient for a 71-minute feature. The sound is very crisp and clean, which enhances the value of the musical accompaniment to several of the eerier scenes. The menu opens automatically on start-up of the disc, and it offers the unedited main-title theme music as accompaniment. The original trailer, which looks far softer than the movie, is included as the only bonus feature. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide