Phantom from Space—and Trouble You Can’t See!
BOOTLEG COMICS • A little movie history with BJ
Hazen
Third from left in this cast scene.
Barbara Randall
Lieutenant Bowers
Portrait later in life.
Director and producer: W. Lee Wilder
Older brother of filmmaker Billy Wilder.
Well, folks, after that little adventure, I’m keeping one hand on my coffee and the other on the cookie jar. An invisible visitor might fool the scientists, but he’s going to have a hard time sneaking a snack past Pede!
Our comic takes a playful turn with Phantom from Space, a black-and-white science-fiction picture released in May 1953. W. Lee Wilder produced and directed it for Planet Filmplays, with distribution through United Artists. Filming began in December 1952, and the movie runs roughly 72 minutes—just enough time for a strange visitor to cause considerable confusion.
The story begins with an unidentified object and mysterious radio and television interference. Investigators soon hear reports of a frightening figure wearing something resembling a diving suit. The real complication? Without that protective outfit, the visitor becomes invisible. Suddenly, tracking down a suspect requires more than a good description and a police flashlight!
Three key performers are Ted Cooper as Hazen, Noreen Nash as laboratory assistant Barbara Randall, and Harry Landers as Lieutenant Bowers. Wilder was the older brother of Billy Wilder, the filmmaker behind Some Like It Hot. His son Myles helped write this movie. Hollywood connections certainly didn’t guarantee a lavish production!
Here are three things you might not know:
1. Bette Davis helped Harry Landers get started.
Before playing a policeman chasing an invisible alien, Landers worked as a laborer at Warner Bros. Davis learned about his Merchant Marine service, met him, and paid his Screen Actors Guild initiation fee. That opened the door to film work. Television viewers later knew him as Dr. Ted Hoffman on Ben Casey. Imagine going from working around the studio to having Bette Davis personally help launch your career!
2. Noreen Nash built another life beyond acting.
Nash’s career included The Southerner, Giant, and The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold. After leaving acting, she studied French in college and became an author, publishing the historical romance By Love Fulfilled in 1980. Our laboratory assistant had considerably more going on than screaming at things nobody else could see!
3. Filming an invisible actor was a practical challenge.
According to a published account of Nash’s recollections, Dick Sands wore a black body suit against a black background for invisibility effects. The production also faced cramped working spaces: film historian Janne Wass reports that office scenes used Wilder’s own office. Those crowded rooms help explain why the characters sometimes appear lined up along one wall. These were production constraints, rather than a documented disaster on set.
What interests me is the mystery beneath the monster costume: how do people react when they encounter something they cannot understand? There’s room for suspense, sympathy, and a little good-natured laughing at the science.
Now settle in for Phantom from Space. And if your coffee suddenly floats across the room, don’t blame the player!
—BJ
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