I watched the 1958, American International Pictures[1], science fiction horror film “Attack of the Puppet People” on Svengoolie. Secretary Sally Reynolds is grateful to her seemingly kind boss, Mr. Franz when he introduces her to a dapper young man, Bob. Little does she know that Franz is more than a doll maker. He is really a merciless mad scientist who fights off loneliness by shrinking people and forcing them to serve as his living dolls. But, when he shrinks Sally and her new beau, they refuse to be his playthings and escape into a dangerous world that towers over them.
The movie was written, produced, and directed by Bert I. Gordon (Serpent Island, King Dinosaur, The Cyclops, A Amazing Colossal Man, War of the Colossal Beast, Attack of the Puppet People, Village of the Giants, Empire of the Ants) who also supervised the special effects.
The film was originally called “The Fantastic Puppet People” but Gordon thought that teenagers were more likely to by drawn to “Attack of the Puppet People”. In the U.K. it was titled “Six Inches Tall”.
Cast
- Agar, John as Bob Westley – (January 31, 1921 – April 7, 2002) Sands of Iwo Jima, The Rocket Man, Revenge of the Creature, Tarantula, The Mole People, The Daughter of Dr. Jekyll, The Brain from Planet Arous, Attack of the Puppet People, Invisible Invaders, Journey to the Seventh Planet, Women of the Prehistoric Planet, Night Fright, Chisum, Big Jake, King Kong, TV episodes of Destination Space, Rawhide, Death Valley Days, The Virginian, Combat!, Family Affair, Charlie’s Angels, Highway to Heaven, The Twilight Zone
- Hoyt, John as Mr. Franz – (October 5, 1905 – September 15, 1991) Lost Continent, When Worlds Collide, The Black Castle, Attack of the Puppet People, Curse of the Undead, Spartacus, Cleopatra, X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes, The Time Travelers, Flesh Gordon, Desperately Seeking Susan
- Kenney, June as Sally Reynolds – (July 6, 1933 – June 25, 2021) Teenage Doll, Sorority Girl, The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent, Attack of the Puppet People, Earth vs. the Spider, The Ladies Man
- Mark, Michael as Emil – (15 March 1886 – 3 February 1975) Frankenstein, The Black Cat, The Black Room, Son of Frankenstein, Tower of London, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, The Mummy’s Hand, The Ghost of Frankenstein, House of Frankenstein, Phantom from Space, Rock Around the Clock, The Ten Commandments, Attack of the Puppet People, The Wasp Woman, Return of the Fly, Funny Girl, Hello Dolly!
- Kosslyn, Jack as Sergeant Paterson – (December 28, 1920 – June 24, 2005) The Amazing Colossal Man, Attack of the Puppet People, War of the Colossal Beast, The Spider, The Magic Sword, Play Misty for Me, High Plains Drifter, Magnum Force, The Eiger Sanction, Empire of the Ants, TV episodes of Surfside 6, Hawaiian Eye, Ben Casey, Rawhide, The Brian Keith Show, Emergency!, Hawaii Five-O, Blind Ambition, Charlie’s Angels, Voyagers!, Dynasty, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Cagney & Lacey, Cheers
- Willis, Marlene as Laurie/Theme song vocalist – (January 13, 1942 – March 29, 1982) Rockabilly Baby, Attack of the Puppet People, TV episodes of The Bob Crosby Show, Wagon Train, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Loretta Young Show, Wagon Train, The Andy Griffith Show, Maverick, Laramie
- Miller, Ken as Stan – (October 15, 1931 – May 8, 2017) I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Attack of the Puppet People, Surf Party, TV episodes of Public Defender, Flash Gordon, The Cisco Kid, Dragnet, Official Detective, Father Knows Best, B.L. Stryker
- Mitchell, Laurie as Georgia Lane – (July 14, 1928 – September 20, 2018) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Attack of the Puppet People, Queen of Outer Space, Missile to the Moon, Some Like It Hot, The Girl Who Knew Too Much
- Peters, Scott as Mac – (July 12, 1930 – January 15, 1994) Invasion of the Saucer Men, The Amazing Colossal Man, Attack of the Puppet People, Submarine Seahawk, TV episodes of Navy Log, The Silent Service, The Gray Ghost, State Trooper, 77 Sunset Strip, The Texan, Highway Patrol, The Thin Man, Gunsmoke, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, The Untouchables, Encounter, Bonanza, Death Valley Days, Gomer Pyle: USMC, Get Christie Love!
- Gordon, Susan as Agnes – (July 27, 1949 – December 11, 2011) Attack of the Puppet People, Tormented, TV episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Gunsmoke, The Danny Thomas Show, The Donna Reed Show, Route 66, The Twilight Zone, General Electric Theater, Alcoa Premiere, 77 Sunset Strip, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Ben Casey, My Three Sons
- Jocelyn, June as Brownie Leader – (May 30, 1919 – April 11, 1987) The Ten Commandments, The Amazing Colossal Man, Attack of the Puppet People, Vertigo, War of the Colossal Beast, Teenage Cave Man, Spider, Girls! Girls! Girls!, TV episodes of Schlitz Playhouse, The Joseph Cotten Show: On Trial, I Dream of Jeannie
Click on Lobby Cards to scroll through
Susan Gordon is the daughter of director Bert I. Gordon. All the props had to be super-sized like the telephone they borrowed from the phone company. Others were created by painter, sculptor, and visual effects creator Paul Blaisdell.
A scene from The Amazing Colossal Man, another of Gordon’s films, is shown at a drive-in during this movie. The music is by Albert Glasser (Monster from Green Hell, Beginning of the End, Viking Women and the Sea Serpent, The Cyclops, The Amazing Colossal Man, War of the Colossal Beast, Giant from the Unknown, Teenage Cave Man, Earth vs. the Spider).
The film was rushed into production by American International Pictures and Bert I. Gordon to capitalize on the success of The Incredible Shrinking Man, which had been released in 1957. I liked the movie OK and will give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Footnotes
- American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing films from 1955 until 1980, a year after its acquisition by Filmways in 1979. It was formed on April 2, 1954, as American Releasing Corporation (ARC) by former Realart Pictures Inc. sales manager James H. Nicholson and entertainment lawyer Samuel Z. Arkoff, and their first release was the 1953 UK documentary film “Operation Malaya”. It was dedicated to releasing low-budget films packaged as double features, primarily of interest to the teenagers of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The company eventually became a part of Orion Pictures, which in turn, became a division of MGM. On October 7, 2020, four decades after the original closure, MGM revived AIP as a label for acquired films for digital and theatrical releases, with MGM overseeing across streaming platforms and United Artists Releasing handling theatrical distribution in North America. [Back]
Notes
The Newspaper clipping in the Featured Image (Top) was
Clipped from the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Oct 29, 1958, Wed
Sources
Wikipedia
IMDB
Rotten Tomatoes
Svengoolie
Newspapers
