VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED

   Film (1960). MGM. Dir Wolf Rilla, starring George Sanders, Barbara Shelley, Martin Stephens. Screenplay Sterling Silliphant, Rilla, George Barclay (Ronald Kinnoch, the producer), based on The Midwich Cuckoos (1957) by John WYNDHAM. 77 mins. B/w.

   In this faithful but pedestrian adaptation of Wyndham's novel, everyone in a UK village mysteriously falls asleep for 24 hours. During this period all the women of childbearing age are unknowingly impregnated by ALIENS. In due course they give birth to 12 strange children who grow very rapidly and possess powers of telepathy and mind control. Some years later it is realized that the children represent an attempt by another planet to colonize Earth, and they are destroyed by the scientist (Sanders) who has been their friend - with difficulty, since the method of destruction (a bomb) has to be mentally concealed from them. The children, with their glowing eyes, are the most successful feature ofthe production; their sang-froid is chilling and seems authentically alien. A virtual remake of this film, this time in an urban setting, was CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED (1963).

   JB/PN