THE STRANGE WORLD OF PLANET X

Gaby Andre caught in a spider's web with another bug

THE STRANGE WORLD OF PLANET X (aka The Cosmic Monsters/1958). Director: Gilbert Gunn. 

In a small British village, a crazy scientist named Dr. Laird (Alec Mango) is doing experiments in which his apparatus builds up a magnetic field that causes certain problems, the least of which is interference with TV reception. Laird hires two assistants,  the American Gil Graham (Forrest Tucker of The Trollenberg Terror) and the pretty French lady Michele Dupont (Gaby Andre). Naturally there's the usual silliness about how someone so beautiful can't be a scientist and all that. Gil and Michelle have an undeniable attraction towards one another, but they are also concerned that Laird's field may be expanding, and causing deadly complications.

Gaby Andre and Forrest Tucker

On this they are right, as Laird's device has broken through some type of barrier and inexplicably is causing gigantism in insects! In the film's most memorable sequence, Michelle goes into the woods to reach the school house and warn the new teacher to get the hell out of there. Unfortunately, Miss Forsyth (Patricia Sinclair) has already been cornered in the building by crunching, noisy bugs trying to get at her through the windows and doors, and then Michelle herself, beating a hasty and intelligent retreat, winds up stepping into a giant spider's web and waiting her turn as it advances on some kind of beetle already caught in its net. 

Martin Benson as the Visitor

The most notorious scene in the movie, one generally cut for TV in the old days, shows a big bug eating off the face of one poor soldier, and after all these years and multiple viewings I'm still not sure how this was done, as the bug is real and the doll or whatever would have to have been incredibly tiny. Anyway, it's so gross who wants to watch it over and over again? Martin Benson [The 3 Worlds of Gulliver] plays "Smith," a benevolent visitor from another world (according to him the "Planet X" of the title is actually our dear Earth) who comes here to monitor our dangerous experiments, such as that idiot Laird's, that may endanger the entire universe. Reportedly Gaby Andre was dubbed and has a British accent in the film, but her accent is clearly French and I don't believe the actress is dubbed at all. The performances in the movie are good, the sound and visual FX are generally well-done, and there's an eerie score by Robert Sharples. This was loosely based on a 1958 British TV serial of the same name. 

Verdict: Once those bugs start chompin', watch out! ***.