Under the guiding hand of Hollywood fast buck shlockmaster Jack H.Harris, the Valley Forge folks shot their little horrors in and around suburban Chester County, Pennsylvania.......as it so happens, only a hop and a skip away from the BQ's humble abode for many years.....before the lure of the crashing waves called to us away....
Having endured a tad too much diva-ism from their "Blob" star, Steve McQueen, the filmmakers turned to intense Hollywood journeyman Robert Lansing to play their title role, he of the burning gaze and craggy eyebrows.
It's cruel karma that Lansing, who possessed charisma and rugged good looks equal to McQueen's, never achieved superstardom. He labored away in popular TV shows and lesser films without hitting any true career jackpot........regardless, the guy was definitely movie-star material....on screen, he maintained a quite authority while looking like he could barely contain his bottled-up rage. You couldn't take your eyes off him.
And that makes him a perfect 4D man, a scientist who dives off the sanity board when he discovers he packs enough brain power to make him move through solid objects.......including walls and people. This.....as Howard The Duck says......does not bode well.
The walking-through-people part of his superpower lands 4D Man in a peck 'o trouble, since this neat trick instantly ages his victims to death, turning them into 100 year old corpses. And the process adds a few unflattering years to Lansing too, as his cheeks wither and his rich head of hair turns that frosty white that Hollywood makeup artists use on young actors to signify the Golden years......
Lots of cheesy fun here as the 4D man literally walks in, around and through Downingtown, Pa......the little town last seen being gobbled whole by the Blob. At one point, there's even a nod to the legendary sequence in 'Frankenstein' as the lethal Lansing encounters a little girl demanding a playmate.....(played by the destined-for-bigger-things Patty Duke, of "The Miracle Worker")
The effects? Not bad at all, considering it's a 1959 film shot with minimal money. And though it might drive some viewers up the wall, we kind of love Ralph Carmichael's insistently loud big band jazz score. loaded with bongos, drum snares and screaming horns.....(after a few minutes, it starts to sound like a demented parody of Elmer Bernstein's "Sweet Smell Of Success" score)
Like "The Blob", an ominous "?" appears next to 'The End"......and that's good news indeed for sci-fi fanboys everywhere......with so many one-dimensional movies out there, we say
it's high time for the 4D man to ooze out of the walls again. 3 stars (***).....just don't let him shake your hand....
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