Dave Brewster (Adam Williams), his wife Anne (Peggy Webber) and their two children Bud (Michel Ray) and Ken (Johnny Crawford) are traveling to a military complex near the ocean. Dave has been working on a high security project called “Thunderer”. The Thunderer is a satellite one thousand miles above the Earth that will contain a hydrogen warhead. The purpose of the armed satellite is to discourage any other country from launching an attack on the United States. Nearing the end of the project the government plans on launching the warhead tipped satellite soon.
The Brewsters, like the families of other engineers from the project, are housed in trailers near the complex and the beach. In the trailer next to the Brewster family is the Johnson family. Hank Johnson (Jackie Coogan) and his wife Frieda (Vera Marshe) have a daughter, Eadie (Sandy Descher). Also in the trailer park are Joe and Peg Gamble (Russell Johnson, Jean Engstrom) and their son Tim (Johnny Washbrook). Other children in the temporary trailer park are Buster, George and Helen.
The seven children head down to the beach to play. Inside a cave on the beach they find a glowing and pulsing crystalline object resembling a rock. The rock is an alien brain. It begins to telepathically communicate with the children, especially Bud. Bud and Ken tell their parents about the glowing thing in the cave. Dave goes with the kids to the cave and brings the alien object back to the trailer. In the morning the alien brain has grown twice its original size. Bud and Ken bring the brain back to the cave.
Through the children the alien brings about several problems connected to the Thunderer project. Doctor Wahrman (Raymond Bailey), the project doctor becomes suspicious of all the problems. When he confronts Dave about what is going on Dave brings him to the cave. By now the alien has grown tremendously. Realizing that the glowing mass is an alien Wahrman is afraid that something terrible will happen to Project Thunderer and that the children are being used as pawns to bring about the Earth’s destruction.
“The Space Children” was released in 1958 and was directed by Jack Arnold. It is an American science fiction film. It’s also a cold war film. Like “The Day the Earth Stood Still” 1951 “Space Children” relies on an alien from outer space to show the world the error of their ways.
Unfortunately there’s not a lot going on here and the pace is rather slow. It’s not bad for a low budget film it’s just not very engaging. Most of the time the children communicate just by staring, which doesn’t help to add character to the movie. There is some suspense with the alien and its motives but not enough to keep the tension exciting. Like most cold war films it is a movie with a message. The message, war is bad, is intended for adults. Children may find the movie lacking in science fiction aspects that make sci-fi cool.
The highlight of the film is the alien brain. Its only requirement is to glow and pulse. It cost several thousand dollars to make and was the pride and joy of prop man Ivyl Burks. It was made of a translucent pliable plastic that was soft enough to pulsate and clear enough to show light through. A few thousand dollars worth of neon lights were stuffed into it. It was then covered in strips of Lucite. The final brain weighed about a thousand pounds and measured about five feet wide. The pulsating feature was done with an elaborate system of solenoid and needle valves and manifolds. Of note: The boy that plays Ken Brewster is Johnny Crawford. He is known for playing the son, Mark McCain, in “The Rifleman” television show. Sandy Descher, who plays Eadie Johnson, is the little girl who was in shock in the beginning of the movie “Them” 1954. Other notable stars in the film were Jackie Coogan, who played Uncle Fester in “The Addams Family” television show, Russell Johnson who played The Professor in “Gilligan’s Island” and Raymond Bailey who played the banker, Mr. Drysdale, in “The Beverly Hillbillies”.