I must admit that the colorized version released on the excellent Legend Films DVD is far more watchable than the original black-and- white theatrical release prints, but all the same Phantom from Space is still an inferior entry in the visitors-from-outer-space cycle. Too much time is filled in by the transparent device of allowing the characters to sit around – mostly in the same small, cheesy office set – and mull over possible explanations for the "mysterious" events. And when the long-awaited action climax does occur, it too is rather tame. Aside from Noreen Nash (what a pity she's forced to wear the same none-too-sexy wardrobe from first to last!), the major players are not a particularly interesting lot. It's left to familiar faces like Rudolph Anders (who has a major role with lots of close-ups, despite his extra-low position in the credits) and James Seay (who made well over 250 movie and TV appearances) to give the acting a bit of class and – shall-I-say-it? – confidence. The direction by W. Lee Wilder (Billy Wilder's somewhat less- talented brother) is neither particularly lamentable nor particularly stirring, but given the movie's obviously tight budget and short shooting time, reasonably competent.

An alien being with the power of invisibility lands in Santa Monica.Killing two people who attacked him due to the menacing appearance of his spacesuit, the creature takes it off while being pursued by government authorities.Now that he's naked and apparently not wearing clothes under his space suit, he's invisible!It's a very low budget B movie in B&W but it largely works as long as you realize what it's limitations are.There's a lot of up front talking and little action.This goes on for quite a while. Like most of the movie. I guess the who idea of making the space man invisible saved budget.

Phantom from Space (1953) ** (out of 4) W. Lee Wilder directed this well-made sci-fi flick about an invisible alien who lands on Earth wearing what looks like a diver's outfit. A few locals are trying to track down the creature but when he takes the outfit off it becomes nearly impossible to find him. PHANTOM FROM SPACE is basically The Invisible Man with an alien. The film runs 75-minutes, which at times feels long but there's also no question that this film tries to do a bit more than your typical drive-in fluff from this period. I thought the screenplay was actually decent as it tried to bring some real thought to the stuff going on. This includes the various ways they try to figure out what this creature is. I thought Wilder actually made a good looking film that at least looks very professional and it's even more impressive considering the budget and the no-name cast. As for the cast, the performances really aren't the greatest but I think for the most part they're good enough for this type of material. Another major plus is the look of the actual alien when we do finally get to see it. I'm not going to ruin how it's revealed but once you see it and the position he's in, it's certainly not something you'd expect to see from 1953. There are still many problems with the film including the pacing, which isn't all that strong. Another problem is some of the early stuff where stock footage and narration are used to tell the story. PHANTOM FROM SPACE certainly isn't a classic but fans of "B" films will know there's much worse out there.

An alien being with the power of invisibility lands in Santa Monica. Killing two people who attacked him due to the menacing appearance of his spacesuit, the creature takes it off while being pursued by government authorities.Having just watched "Invisible Invaders", the idea of invisible men from space is not foreign to me. Although here we have less a story about zombies and more a story that comes off like a detective story, a space mystery.I feel like the people who wrote this do not seem to grasp speeds. They have the alien traveling at 5000 miles an hour. That is pretty darn fast. That is fast enough to travel from New York TO Los Angeles in roughly a half hour. Depending on what direction he was going, accounting for time zones, he might arrive before he left... that is pretty silly. (Fairbanks to Santa Monica is roughly the same distance.)