"The Space Children" is a rather obscure sci-fi film--and after seeing it, I can understand why. Now I am not saying it's a terrible film--but it's not a very good one, that's for sure! The film is set near a secret military base working on some rocket. An alien force doesn't want this project to commence and so it approached the children of the workers. The alien 'thingie' looks a lot like the Horta from the original "Star Trek" series--like a big squishy brain that grows. It not only holds a strong sway over the children but it also has the ability to make adults who see it unable to talk or write about what they saw--it even has the ability to kill! What's next? Well, I don't want to spoil it, but it all ends with the kids telling the parents that bombs and the like are bad and they all are about to sing "Kumbaya" when the credits begin to roll! The film is preachy, preachy, preachy. Now a similar sort of thing was done with "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and it worked very well due to excellent writing. Here, however, it just comes off as kind of stupid.

If you instantly think of the 1961 cult classic "Village of the Damned" and its 1964 follow-up, "Children of the Damned", then you are not alone. This is definitely a C-grade variety of that plot with a bit of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" thrown in. A whoosh through the sky gets the attention of a child whose parents are arriving at a nuclear plant where a missile is ready for testing. The parents do not see this strand of something moving through the air, so when the boy disappears to go exploring in beach-front caves, he encounters a strange group of children and a little tiny blob of something that somehow gives them directions to sabotage the launching of this missile. A sign from God? Visitors from outer space? Hopefully not that creepy flem-like blob from a recent Steve McQueen movie that swallows its victims whole and has that ghoulish song about that thing that creeps and glides across the floor.

It all unravels in 69 minutes, thankfully enough time to eat a bag of popcorn and laugh at the silly adults who are at first unaware of how the children are acting different all the time. A father chases his son over rocks, repeating over and over how he's going to break his neck when he finds them then literally becomes a frozen pop-circle when he sees the blob. Scientists wonder how the children break into the locked military base, then simply tell them to "scat!" without further investigation. And when the blob, which has gotten bigger, starts batting a single eye, don't be drinking your soda, 'cause you'll douse your TV screen with another sticky substance as you accidentally spit it out in laughter.

I know the writers of this movie probably meant well in the nuclear era of the late 50's, but the unintentional humor takes this film all over the place. Throw in such TV sitcom actors as Russell Johnson, Jackie Coogan and a toupee-less Raymond Bailey, and you'll find yourself snickering. When Bailey (Mr. Drysdale of "The Beverly Hillbillies") confronts the eye-batting blob and pleads to be let in on the secret, this film hits its nadir. No fan of "The Addams Family" will take Coogan (Uncle Fester) seriously as he disciplines a child. A biblical quote at the end tries to explain it all but just adds to the ridiculousness of it all.

Leave it to the director of several excellent 1950s sci-fi flicks to take a no-budget plot and turn it into one of the best and most intelligent Cold War melodramas of the period. CHILDREN concerns a brain-like alien blob that teleports to Earth with the purpose of stopping the American military from launching a nuclear weapon into orbit. To do so, it enlists the aid of several children residing on base. For reasons best known to the script writers, the blob keeps growing in size, until it is the size of a tank. The acting is at least of TV quality, the production solid. No big names in the cast, but pay attention to the actress playing little Edie. This actress dropped out of Hollywood early on, which is a shame since one can see her potential here. For old-time TV buffs, watch for Uncle Fester, the Professor (minus Maryann) and the McCain kid.