(1959)
Plan 9? Ah, yes. Plan 9 deals with the resurrection of the dead. Long distance electrodes shot into the pineal and pituitary gland of the recently dead
Criswell: "Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future. You are interested in the unknown... the mysterious. The unexplainable. That is why you are here. And now, for the first time, we are bringing to you, the full story of what happened on that fateful day. We are giving you all the evidence, based only on the secret testimony, of the miserable souls, who survived this terrifying ordeal. The incidents, the places. My friend, we cannot keep this a secret any longer. Let us punish the guilty. Let us reward the innocent. My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts about grave robbers from outer space?"
(click center twice to play movie trailer)
Criswell: Perhaps, on your way home, someone will pass you in the dark, and you will never know it... for they will be from outer space.
This was Bela Lugosi's final film. Lugosi was portrayed by Martin Landau (the villainous man in black in Hitchcock's North By Northwest) in the movie "Ed Wood"
Fun Facts from IMDb.com
* Funded by a Baptist church, several members of the cast let themselves be baptized.
* The aliens obligingly fly by the ABC, CBS and NBC buildings in Los Angeles, perhaps with an eye to TV sales of the film
* The film's original title was "Grave Robbers from Outer Space", but, supposedly, the Baptist ministers who financed the picture objected
* Named 'Worst Film of All Time' in the book "The Golden Turkey Awards". A video release, making note of the actor's death before production began, lists on the cassette box, "Almost Starring Bela Legosi". This same box also touted the film as being "science fiction gold"
* This film was shot in late 1956. It took almost three years to find a distributor who would handle it.
* Much of the filming took place at an independent soundstage called Quality Studios. Though it hasn't been used as a soundstage for many years, the building still exists. It is located on Santa Monica Blvd. near Western Ave. The entranceway is located next to the Harvey Hotel.
* Copies of the original 35mm release prints are extremely rare. There were reportedly fewer than 20 release prints struck for the original release.
* Goofs: The grass wrinkles and the gravestones flap in the wind and topple over. The white wrought-iron patio furniture moves itself from the patio to the bedroom. Day changes to night and back and forth in the same scene, many times.
* When the police leave the station house to go to the graveyard, they pile into a black 1956 Ford. A long shot of the police car driving on the road to the cemetery shows a 1957 Ford (although '55 and '56 Fords are almost identical, '56 and '57 models are very noticeably different). When the car pulls up to the cemetery, it is a 1956 Ford again.
* The tombstones are in the cemetery are too close together for there to be room for bodies.
* The exploding rockets are clearly firecrackers set off in front of a backdrop.
Clay blinks when he is supposedly dead.
* None of the public that spot the flying saucers seem to be in much dismay or panic, and act very natural in some cases.
* The priest at Clay's funeral is obviously reading from a cue card.
* Three flying saucers and one mother ship are shown, yet the humans win the battle after destroying only one saucer because the Ruler recalled the other ships.
* Clearly visible lines holding the flying saucers. Jeff describes the saucer-shaped flying saucers as "cigar-shaped". The flying saucers cast huge shadows as they leave their "planet".
* When Colonel Edwards, Lieutenant Harper and Jeff Trent confront Eros and Tanna for the first time in the flying saucer, white X's, used to indicate the actors' places on the set, are clearly visible on the floor.
* When Kelton and the second police officer hit the zombie Inspector Clay on the head knocking him unconscious, he falls to the ground dropping the passed out Mrs. Trent who the zombie captured in a previous scene. As Mrs. Trent falls, pillows placed on the ground to cushion her fall can be seen.
* Zombie Vampira flinches when Inspector Clay fires at her.
* When the Ghoul Woman attacks the two grave digggers, they are standing in broad daylight, but in the shot that shows her attacking them, she is in the middle of a pitch black night.
* Stock footage of rocket launchers is used to show the attack on the flying saucers, which are up in the air. The rocket launchers are ground-to-ground weapons. Also, one of the rocket launcher vehicles shown is a Russian 'Katyusha' truck, filmed during the Russian counteroffensive during WWII.
* The aerial shots of the saucer make it appear to be round, but shots from the ground show it as having straight sides and square corners.
* Stock footage shows a completely different cemetery.
* While Kelton is in Clay's opened grave, the tombstone that fell in a few scenes earlier isn't there.
* A strong wind from the flying saucer's exhaust is enough to blow Jeff and Paula to the ground, but not to move their hair. This is true every time people get knocked to the ground.
* The shot of the Ghoul Man walking down a path towards the cemetery is repeated many times during the course of the movie.
* Tor Johnson's character, a police detective, is called "Inspector Dan Clay". Although San Francisco and a few other cities use the title "Inspector" for their detectives, virtualy every police department in California - and in Los Angeles, Burbank and San Fernando, where this was filmed - uses the title "Detective".
* The map on the wall of Gen. Roberts' office, which is supposed to be in the Pentagon, is clearly imprinted on the bottom left-hand corner with a large logo of the Santa Fe Railroad. Later, when the General points out something to Col. Edwards on the map, the words "Santa Fe" have been taped over.
* In the cockpit scene, the curtain separating the cockpit from the rest of the plane is rustled, and you can catch glimpses of the stewardess behind it. It's obvious she's waiting for her cue, even though she shouldn't be anywhere near the cockpit at that moment.
* During the attack on the UFOs, the Military Officer with the binoculars casts a shadow on the "sky" backdrop.
* Sequel was "Night of the Ghouls | Plan 10 from Outer Space"
* Someone is watching this movie on TV in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
* The original title, "Grave Robbers From Outer Space", was filmed and appeared on the preview print. The replacement title "Plan Nine From Outer Space" was filmed and matted over a special effects shot showing the alien space station. The original title was simply cut out and the new title footage spliced onto the negative. The footage of Criswell introducing the film as "Grave Robbers From Outer Space" was left unchanged.
* Bela Lugosi appears in footage shot just before his death, but with no script in mind. Edward D. Wood Jr. wrote the script to accommodate all the footage shot in a cemetery and outside Tor Johnson's house in the new production. Lugosi was doubled by Tom Mason, Wood's wife's chiropractor, who was significantly taller than Lugosi, and played the part with a cape covering his face.
* The scar worn by actor Tor Johnson had to be moved every day, as it caused severe skin irritation (this moving scar was spoofed in Mel Brooks movies including Young Frankenstein). The company was able to get police cars and uniforms through Tor Johnson's son, Karl Johnson, an officer in the San Fernando Police Department.
* Bela Lugosi's role in the film is listed in the credits as "The Ghoul Man". In Wood's screenplay it is called "the Dracula character". Lugosi supplied his own costume. He wore one of the capes he used when portraying Dracula on stage.
* One of the legends about the production of this film was that Edward D. Wood Jr. used everything from automobile hubcaps to pizza pans to pie tins and even paper plates as flying saucers. The truth is that he bought a number of children's plastic model kits of flying saucers for use as props.
* According to Maila Nurmi, she would put on her Vampira makeup and costume at home and then take a bus to the Quality Studios soundstage where her scenes were filmed.
* Footage from the same shoot that produced Bela Lugosi's performance in this movie was meant to be used to make another film, "The Ghoul on the Moon". When Wood went to retrieve the film, he found it had been ruined, so the new movie was scrapped.
* The DVD release of the colorized version of the film features an audio commentary track by comedian Michael J. Nelson of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988) fame. The producers of the series at one point actually screened the film for airing on the show, but found it to have too much dialog to fit the show's format.
* One of the locations used for the silent footage shot with Bela Lugosi was the home of co-star Tor Johnson.
* Eartha Kitt's name can be seen as an entertainer on a marquee.
* Turner Classic Movies website speculates what went wrong with the previous 8 plans from outer space
