Nathan Juran Movies

This adventurous horror movie chronicles the exploits of a boy whose father is changed into a wolfman. The trouble begins after the newly separated father and his son are attacked by a werewolf on a camping trip. Once the wife figures out what happened, she divorces him. The boy tries to explain it to the authorities, but they disbelieve him at first. Eventually they do believe, and the werewolf is finally slain. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A race of shapeless aliens transforms themselves into exact doubles of the Robinsons, kidnapping the originals and reprogramming the Robot for evil. It is all part of a scheme to take over the earth with similar replicants. Escaping from their captors' clutches, Will Robinson (Billy Mumy) and Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) take the places of their lookalikes in order to foment dissension amongst the aliens and reclaim the Jupiter 2. The highlight of this episode is a side trip to Chicago, which though supposedly set in 1999 looks exactly like the Windy City of 1968! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Vitina Marcus) returns as Athena, a green-skinned girl from another dimension. Having rejected her brutish suitor Urso (Harry Raybould), Athena proceeds to romance her "handsome pretty handsome" dream lover Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris). Going along with the gag in order to gain the power to foresee the future, Smith soon learns that there is a terrible price to pay for incurring Urso's wrath--while back at the Robinson camp, Will (Billy Mumy) is himself turned green by Urso in order to guarantee that Smith will not weasel out of a duel to the death! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As the Jupiter 2 continues its journey through space, Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) picks up a radio message, supposedly from earth. Blindly following the message (the voice on the other end is alluringly feminine!), Smith redirects the spacecraft to a strange, spectral planet controlled by robots. Almost immediately, the Robinsons are enslaved by the metallic aliens--while their own Robot, incapacitated by a ray gun, is unable to come to the rescue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Veteran movie heavy Torin Thatcher guest stars as The Trader, an intergalactic con artists who arrives on the Robinsons' planet in a ship full of attack dogs. As a means of drumming up business, the Trader conjures up a storm which destroys the Robinsons' food and water supply. Recognizing a kindred spirit when he sees one, conniving Dr. Smith persuades the Trader to take him in exchange for supplies; the deal is that Smith will become the Trader's slave--but only after a period of 200 years! Unfortunately, the good doctor hasn't read the fine print of the Trader's iron-clad contract. This episode marks a reunion between actor Torin Thatcher and director Nathan Juran, who'd previously worked together on the 1957 fantasy film The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The planet is besieged by a band of black-shrouded mechanical aliens, who promptly steal the Robinsons' robot. It is the aliens' intention to take the robot apart and study how it works--the better to create their own machine that will (they hope) enlist all the other machines in the universe for a full-scale "revolution". Racing against time to prevent the aliens from taking over literally everything, the Robinsons are again impeded by the incompetence of Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although John (Guy Williams) has warned his son Will (Bill Mumy) to stay away from the matter-transfer "maser beam" left behind by the Taurons in the earlier episode "The Sky is Falling", Will activates the device to keep Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) from messing with it. Instantly, the beam transports Will all the way back to earth, where in addition to searching for some much-needed carbon tetrachloride to help repair the Robinsons' ship, the boy also attempts to tell the citizens of a rural community who he is and where he comes from. But the locals don't believe his story--after all, weren't the Robinsons supposed to have perished in space?--and prepare to pack Will off to an orphan asylum. Featured in the cast is Sheila Matthews, the wife of Lost in Space producer Irwin Allen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this adventure, set in 19th-century India when the British were attempting to stop the slave trade against the Sudanese Moslems, a brave trooper and a new lieutenant must help a governess and her charge get to safety. The two soldiers despise each other. The experienced trooper has little tolerance for the naive bumblings of the lieutenant. As they travel, they encounter a variety of adventures including bouts with wild animals, dangerous geography, and Moslem guerrillas. The two men begin to respect each other. The older soldier also falls in love with the governess. Eventually, the rag tag travelers end up blowing an arsenal sky-high and rescuing several British soldiers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this epic medieval adventure, King Arthur is in his second decade of ruling Camelot when he becomes gravely ill and must journey to the castle of a good Saxon friend to recuperate. The ailing king does not know that the treacherous Saxons there are planning to kill him and commandeer the throne. At first the traitors' plans are foiled by a dashing outlaw who saves the king. Unfortunately, the Saxon dogs eventually succeed. Their leader tries to insure that he gets the crown by marrying Arthur's daughter. But instead, she goes off with another, causing the usurper to proclaim that she has died and that he is now the rightful king. Fortunately, she is not dead but off in the country seeking Merlin. She and her lover succeed and with the mighty magician manage to return to Camelot just as the new king is to be crowned. At this point the crusty Merlin demands that the Saxon prove his fitness to reign by removing Arthur's beloved Excalibur from its scabbard. Of course he fails. And of course the good princess succeeds. Immediately, the usurper and his band flee the country, but not before they are vanquished by the newly united British army. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Woolner Brothers, ever on the cutting edge of cinema with rank imitations of popular hits, strike again with Flight of the Lost Balloon. In response to the upcoming release of Mysterious Island in 1961, the Woolners put together this cheapjack tale which, like Island, is partially set in a flying balloon. Doctor Faraday (Marshall Thompson) is an American adventurer living in Africa, who is sent to locate a scientist, missing since his plane went down in the wilderness. Since the area is inaccessible by motor flight, Faraday mans his balloon and takes off. Unfortunately, the film never does. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman may well be one of the worst science-fiction films of all time, but that's not to say that it isn't thoroughly enjoyable. Allison Hayes achieved screen immortality as Nancy Archer, the wealthy, dipsomaniac wife of shameless philanderer Harry Archer (William Hudson). When she witnesses the crash landing of a alien spaceship -- whose occupant is a 30-foot giant, dressed in the manner of a medieval Frenchmen! -- Nancy goes to the local sheriff (George Douglas) with her story, only to be laughed off as a drunken crank. Even the local TV anchorman makes cruel fun of Nancy on his nightly newscast. Meanwhile, hubby Harry is making whoopee at a roadhouse with his latest tootsie, Honey Parker (Yvette Vickers). Not long afterward, Nancy, who's been exposed to the radiation of the spaceship, begins to feel queasy. Within a few days, she has grown to the height of 50 feet and is lumbering around the countryside clad only in a gigantic towel, smashing houses and trees in search of her faithless husband ("HARRY-HARRY!!!") Hilarious in its ineptitude (the special effects are particularly shoddy), Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is impossible to dislike, which cannot be said of its slicker but less entertaining 1993 cable-TV remake (with Darryl Hannah in the title role). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Springdale, NE, bank is held up and robbed by a well organized gang. One of the members is Eddie Campbell (Robert Vaughn), a onetime resident of the town and orphan who was brought up in part by Ben Cutler (Fred MacMurray), an ex-lawman-turned-rancher. While pursuing the robbers, the town marshal, Hiram Cain (Emile G. Meyer), is shot dead by Campbell, who in turn is wounded and captured by Cutler. The town council appoints Cutler as temporary marshal, and the prosecution seems like an open-and-shut case -- he begins to see signs of trouble when his own daughter Laurie (Joan Blackman), who was raised with Campbell and was once his sweetheart, refuses to believe that he's guilty of the crime. Ben's fiancée, Ruth (Maggie Hayes), also feels the boy deserves leniency, but the real trouble starts when Campbell's attorney, William Selby (Edmon Ryan), shows up; he first tries to compromise the jury pool by ingratiating himself with the asking the townspeople what we would now call "push" questions, about Campbell's being an orphan and a hard-luck case all of his life, under the guise of building his case. He's also just clever enough at the trial to shake the testimony of the five other witnesses to the shooting, but Cutler's testimony is enough to put the jury into the guilty column. Then Campbell starts working on the sympathy of Laurie and the townspeople who've been persuaded by his lawyer -- it's also been a long time since there's been a capital case like this in the state, and Cutler discovers that the townspeople and even the law may not be as ready to execute a killer as common sense says they should be. Cutler's and Ruth's romance is jeopardized, and he is pushed to the point of resigning when matters come to an explosive head. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

The plot of The Brain from Planet Arous has something to do with a huge floating brain which takes over the body of nuclear scientist Steve March (John Agar) as the first step in its takeover of the earth. Tipping off the fact that March is not himself are his strange eyeballs and his rather violent mood swings. Additionally, the arrogant alien brain occasionally leaves Steve's body to brag about its superiority. Meanwhile, a "policeman brain" from the villain's home planet hides out in the body of March's dog, awaiting the chance to arrest the renegade graymatter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide