Lou Place Movies

Though Roger Corman was still new to sci-fi in 1956, he made up for lost time with the above-average quickie It Conquered the World. Peter Graves heads the cast as Paul Nelson, who suspects that his best friend, eccentric genius Tom Anderson (Lee Van Cleef), is up to no good. Sure enough, Tom has contacted the denizens of the planet Venus, who hope to exploit Tom's weak nature in order to take over the world. Before long, the Venusians have taken over the minds and bodies of virtually all of Tom's friends and loved ones. It is up to Paul and a handful of un-brainwashed earthlings to halt this subversive alien invasion. Scripted by Charles Griffith (of Little Shop of Horrors fame), It Conquered the World is a thinly disguised attack on totalitarianism, from both the Left and Right. Corman regulars Beverly Garland, Dick Miller and Jonathan Haze make brief but significant appearances. The film represented first "monster" creation of Paul Blaisdel, whose Venusian leader looks like a surly carrot. It Conquered the World was remade--badly--as Zontar, the Thing from Venus (1968). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 1870s Arizona, Anne LeBeau (Joan Taylor) is caught between two cultures in a conflict that may kill her and her brother Armand (Lance Fuller). They're the children of a white French father and an Apache mother (the daughter of a chief, no less), and they find that they're equally despised by both sides. With a series of raids on the stage-line killing whites, and apparently carried out by the Apaches, there's very little prospect for peace in their lives. Enter Rex Moffet (Lloyd Bridges), sent in by the government to try and settle the situation -- instead of being a militarist, Moffet is a conciliator, much to the outrage of the townspeople, who want all of the Apaches driven out or killed, starting with the LeBeaus. When Moffet starts to fall in love with Anne (and visa versa), he must face the wrath of her embittered brother and the Apaches as well as the whites. It turns out that Armand -- who is college educated, and a lawyer, no less -- is the man leading the attacks, out of his bitterness and anger over the rejection he's faced by the whites all of his life. One thing that Rex has on his side is the truth, that the raids are actually the work of a small band of renegades working in tandem with opportunistic whites from the town. But can he stay alive long enough to uncover the identities of those responsible and prevent an Indian War? ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide