It! The Terror from Beyond Space
It! The Terror from Beyond Space is a 1958 film about the first manned expedition to Mars which is decimated by an unknown life form, and which then stows away on the rescue ship.
- Directed by Edward L. Cahn. Written by Jerome Bixby.
It Breathes. It Hunts. It Kills! (taglines)
Col. Edward Carruthers
[edit]- [opening narration] This was the planet Mars as my crew and I first saw it. Dangerous, treacherous, alive with something we came to know only as Death. This is what we faced when our spaceship cracked up and landed just six months ago in January of this year, 1973. But it seems as if six centuries passed before rescue ship arrived. For today of all my crew, I, Col. Edward Carruthers of the United States Base Command, am the only one alive. Now I will be going back to face my superiors on Earth. In Washington. And perhaps there, too, I will find another kind of death.
- [telling his story to Ann] We were all outside the ship exploring the southern tip of syrtis major. Suddenly a sandstorm came up and we started back. I was driving the jeep. Sand was so thick we could barely see. We were almost back to the ship when Cartwright just disappeared. One minute he was there and the next minute he was gone as if something had just plucked him out of the jeep like... candy out of a box.
Ann Anderson
[edit]- So I decided after one bad marriage to bury myself in science.
Col. Van Heusen
[edit]- There's only one kind of a monster that uses bullets.
Spokesman at Press Conference
[edit]- Ladies and gentlemen of the press: As you know, the first attempt to send a spaceship to the planet Mars was made six months ago. We knew that that ship, the Challenge 141, had reached its destination, but that's all we knew. Teleradio communication with Mars ceased immediately and we were forced to assume that the ship and crew had been lost. The man in charge of this expedition was a man who had become known to the world as the first man to be shot into space, the man who pioneered interplanetary space travel - Col. Edward Carruthers. Two months ago, we sent a second ship to Mars to learn the fate of Col. Carruthers and his crew. The President has asked me to pass onto you this significant news: Col. Edward Carruthers has been found alive on Mars. But there's a tragic side to this history-making event: Col. Carruthers was the sole survivor of this first expedition. One hour ago we received a teleradio communication from Col. Van Heusen, commander of the second spaceship. This ship is now ready to take off for its return trip to the Earth from Mars, and Col. Carruthers is being brought back for a court martial, to face trial for the murders of the rest of the crew.
- You have been called here again to receive further information about the story which you didn't hear last night. I will read you the text of a teleradio message received from the Challenge 142 less than an hour ago: "This is Eric Royce talking. Of the 19 men and women who have set foot upon the planet Mars, six will return. There's no longer a question of murder but of an alien, an elemental life force, a planet so cruel, so hostile, that Man may find it necessary to bypass it in his endeavor to explore and understand the universe. Another name for Mars is Death".
Other
[edit]- Lt. James Calder: Mars is almost as big as Texas. Maybe it's got monsters.
- Eric Royce: It has to kill us or starve and we've got to kill it or die.
- Mary Royce: Every bone in his body must be broken, but I'm not sure that's what killed him. That shriveled up effect, it... I'll have to do an autopsy.
Dialogue
[edit]- Col. Edward Carruthers: What is the usual reason an intelligent creature kills?
- Mary Royce: It's hungry? What made you so certain it's intelligent, Colonel, not just an animal?
- Col. Edward Carruthers: It opened the door to 'C' compartment.
Taglines
[edit]- It Breathes. It Hunts. It Kills!
- IT! ... Reaches through space! ... Scoops up men and women! ... Gorges on blood!
- The revelation shocker of things to come!
- $50,000 by a world renowned insurance company to the first person who can prove that "It" is not on Mars now!
Cast
[edit]- Marshall Thompson — Col. Edward Carruthers
- Shirley Patterson — Ann Anderson
- Kim Spalding — Col. Van Heusen
- Dabbs Greer — Eric Royce
- Paul Langton — Lt. James Calder
- Robert Bice — Maj. John Purdue
- Richard Benedict — Bob Finelli
- Ann Doran — Mary Royce
- Richard Hervey — Gino Finelli
- Thom Carney — Joe Kienholz
- Ray Corrigan — It
