robertguttman In 1957 Hollywood produced "The Brain from Planet Arous" so, in 1958, the British replied with several brains from Manitoba.A number of mysterious murders have occurred in a small town in Manitoba which, naturally, the locals blame on a nearby U.S. Air Force Base. Why an American Air Force base should happen to be in Canada in the first place, when Canada has an Air Force of it's own, is not explained. But then this is a British production, and perhaps the British were unaware of that fact. In addition, since this is a British production, the Canadians are depicted as a bunch of ignorant, superstitious yokels who scarcely have a brain between them. Well, actually they do. The problem is that they are unaware of that fact because the Townies cannot see them, because the brains are invisible. Those invisible brains, which have been committing all the mayhem, are the creation of a mad scientist (English, naturally), who also has settled down in the remote Canadian community in order to pursue his irresponsible scientific experiments unhindered. Without a Face is classic 1950s sci-fi horror at it's best (or worst, depending upon your point of view). Either way, check your brains at the door, and enjoy.

dougdoepke Towns-people near a US airbase in Canada turn up dead under mysterious circumstances. Survivors blame an atomic power plant on the base for the deaths and other strange happenings. So what's going on. Will the Cold War airbase be forced to retreat by upset Canadians. Too bad the fiend turns out to be so hokey since the rest of the film is both competently made and involving. That's especially unusual for the time when drive-in hokum cared little for quality. Probably the fiend would have been best left invisible since the squishy brains are really more yucko than scary. Looking for a good place to drink beer at the time, I missed few of these epics. I remember our carload of guys laughing when the special effects crawled across the screen. To that point, we had all been unusually quiet while immersed in events. Anyway, production does a good job of creating a military atmosphere at the airbase, with effective use of stock shots of the air and ground. Then too, Marshall makes a persuasive airforce major, refusing to just walk through the part as was often the case with these low- budgeters. And what about Miss Kim Parker, a good little actress in addition to filling out a tight sweater. Too bad her career was a short one. But stealing the film is Reeves as the aristocratic looking professor. He doesn't get much screen time till the last, but then really comes through in dramatic fashion.Plot-wise, cynics might note the way the atomic power plant is treated. I'm really surprised that in the 1950's it's made as controversial as it is, particularly by its supposed effects on the environment. In that period nuclear energy was generally considered the wave of the future. In that respect, the movie seems more contemporary than dated, while the final frame appears especially daring.Had someone in production come up with a better fiend, this drive-in special might have achieved sleeper status. As things stand, it's still superior of its kind.

Dan Franzen (dfranzen70) Fiend without a Face is a little better than the title would suggest, as long as you have low standards. It's about an invisible menace terrorizing a military base and surrounding town in Canada, and it stars Marshall Thompson, late of First Man into Space.Thompson plays Major Cummings, who's in charge of a nuclear-powered program run at the base, a program intended to enhance surveillance techniques and allow the U.S. to spy on the Soviets at a greater range. The trouble is that even when maximum nuclear power is exerted, the images returned by the spy plane soon fades.At the same time, the locals are a mite anxious about having a nuclear program nearby (some things never change). The constant takeoffs and landings of the various aircraft scares the cows, annoys farmers, and so on. And then a bunch of cows winds up dead, and no one can figure out why. The carnage is only beginning, though – soon prominent citizens and soldiers alike are meeting their demise, with their brains apparently – I am not making this up – sucked out of their skulls through two holes in the back of the head.Oh, and there's a love interest. There has to be. How could our hero save the day if there were no love interest? Here she's played by Kim Parker, for whom movie this was undoubtedly a career highlight.So this is a low-budget, 1950s monster movie. Except you can't see the monsters, hence the "without a face" part. They're like Predator, if Predator was merely a brain and a spinal cord and kind of shuffled on the ground like an inch worm. Still, when these monsters are invisible, they're effectively scary, which is a nice respite from the low-budget effects.

ShadeGrenade Arthur Crabtree's 'Fiend Without A Face' used to play a lot on late night '70's television ( along with 'The Night Caller' and 'The Earth Dies Screaming' ). It scared the hell out of me the first time, and even now manages to elicit the odd shudder.It is set in Canada, where an experiment is underway at an Air Force Base to develop long-range radar with nuclear power. A sentry on guard duty is attacked by an invisible creature which sucks his brain out through two holes in his neck. Similar deaths occur in the village. Major Jeff Cummings ( Marshall Thompson, later to star in Ivan Tors' hit television show 'Daktari' ) investigates, and the trail leads to one Professor Walgate ( Kynaston Reeves ) who has been experimenting with thought power. He has inadvertently unleashed the 'fiends' - invisible for most of the film ( hence the title ) but when we get to see them they are truly horrible, resembling nothing less than human brains with waggling antennae and which propel themselves along the ground like caterpillars. The creatures were realised with stop motion animation, and are impressive for their time. What really makes them scary though is the ghastly sound effect which accompanies their attacks - a slurping combined with what sounds like a man with a wooden leg clumping upstairs. Once heard it cannot be forgotten.The climax has the main characters barricaded in a room while the fiends endeavour to break in by coming down the chimney and the window and so on. The film was shot in the U.K. hence the presence of British actors such as Reeves and Michaerl Balfour. The story has its absurd side, of course, such as Barbara ( Kim Parker ) embracing Jeff at the end, seemingly forgetting her father has just died.A nice little British sci-fi B-movie then. Joe Dante must have been a fan as his 'Looney Tunes Back In Action' ( 1998 ) features a cameo from the fiends!