User reviews

What a concept...he slipped in time!!

While The Atomic Man is not purely 50's sci-fi, as mentioned in other reviews, it does provide enough interesting plot twists and thrills to keep you guessing until the end.

Definitely worth a watch for fans of the genre. I am proud to have this little seen gem in my collection. Nice story, creepy atmosphere, good acting and a great score make this one worthwhile!!

Also recommended for fans of little seen 50's type sci-fi are Mutiny in Outer Space, Satellite in the Sky, On the Threshold of Space, The Magnetic Monster and Riders to the Stars.

This early Merton Park production is no relation to the children's TV sci-fi adventure of the same name made fifteen years later. The sci-fi component is novel but ends up taking a back seat to a conventional Cold War thriller about saboteurs, atmospherically photographed by A. T. Dinsdale and briskly directed by Ken Hughes, soon to graduate to 'A' features.

Gene Nelson makes a whimsical hero, while Faith Domergue, newly returned from Metaluna, is here buttoned up in an overcoat against the London cold. Also in an overcoat, plus a trilby, rather than playing one of the scientists Joseph Tomelty is here unusually cast as the inspector following the case.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Gene Nelson and Faith Domergue star in a fascinating story of unlawful scientific tampering and a man who is temporally out of phase with the rest of humanity. The original British title emphasizes that point: "Time Slip". Ken Hughes directed, and 15 years later had graduated to making an expensive, major studio important motion picture, "Cromwell", which starred Richard Harris and Alec Guinness.

Like many British films of the time, the two leading players were American actors, plus a local supporting cast including Joseph Tomelty, Peter Arne, Donald Gray and William Lucas.

Ken Hughes directed five feature films and two short films in 1955, and this is one of the features. It is a superior B picture with the female B star, Faith Domergue, she of the big soulful brown eyes. The story and screenplay are by Charles Eric Maine, and he has written a good yarn. Some of the ideas for the technical background are mentioned in passing, and they concern a scientist named Stephen Rayner who works for the Atomic Energy authorities. He has learned how to achieve the alchemical transmutation of elements in order to produce tungsten in the laboratory from cheap materials. This threatens the interests of the United Tungsten Corporation of Argentina, which controls two thirds of the world's tungsten supply, so they have another scientist's face transformed by plastic surgery to replace Rayner, and the film starts with Rayner being shot one night and falling into the Thames. He miraculously survives but is in a coma for some time while everyone is trying to figure out what happened. After he is identified, the police are puzzled because his employers say he is at work in his lab. Something strange has also happened to him because he has undergone a slight forward time-shift of 7.5 seconds due to exposure to radiation, so he answers questions put to him before they are asked. When the police and others finally figure out why his interviews don't make any sense, because the answer to each question is really to one that will be asked next, they then begin to piece together his story. The film is very intriguing and entertaining, despite being low budget. The hints of escaped corrupt Nazis in Argentina who will kill anyone who gets in their way were well understood in 1955, only ten years after the War. The film's original release title was TIMESLIP, and it is under that title that the DVD is now once again available. As another reviewer says, this is not really a sci fi film but is an industrial espionage thriller with some intriguing sci fi background elements which are significantly under-developed. Both the timeslip angle and the tungsten angle could have been much better developed and turned into a much stronger film. As it is, the film is rather mediocre.

1955's "The Atomic Man" was a very early example of British science fiction, before the landscape was changed by the release of "The Quatermass Xperiment" from Hammer Films ("The Creeping Unknown" in the US). Its American title somewhat gives the game away, as the original "Timeslip" more accurately depicts the slight sci/fi elements in the script by Charles Eric Maine (he also wrote "Spaceways" and "The Electronic Monster," plus the novel "The Mind of Mr. Soames," later adapted by Amicus for a 1969 feature). Essentially an espionage thriller with the incongruous presence of a 30s-type wisecracking journalist (Gene Nelson), complete with his very own Girl Friday in breathtaking Faith Domergue, capping off a banner year with "Cult of the Cobra," "This Island Earth," and "It Came from Beneath the Sea" preceding this. A critically wounded man (Peter Arne) is rescued from certain drowning, the bullet removed just as the patient expires on the operating table. Incredibly, the corpse opens his eyes shortly after being pronounced clinically dead, with no memory of who shot him or why. The newshound recognizes the patient as renowned physicist Stephen Rayner, nicknamed 'The Isotope Man' for his expertise working in radiation, his recollection of a name (Vasquo) and the initials UTC helping to uncover a plot to destroy the research laboratory where Rayner works. The actors and direction from Ken Hughes are better than the script so its no classic but more enjoyable than the usual quota quickie has any right to be, typical of the period wherein a Hollywood star was toplined to ensure distribution in the US (interestingly, like QUATERMASS this too was adapted from a BBC serial, initially telecast in 1953). Gene Nelson would soon alternate acting with directing, his debut behind the camera the infamous "Hand of Death," starring stalwart John Agar.

With a title like "The Atomic Man" and it being in the public domain, I sure had my doubts about this one. You'd think, being made in the 1950s that it was some sort of space monster film or perhaps a film about communism--but it isn't. It's actually a very well written and taut sc-fi mystery--with a strong emphasis on mystery. And, it's very much worth your time.

The film begins with a guy being left for dead--and thrown in the river. He's rescued and on the brink of death--and the doctors expect to lose him...which they do TEMPORARILY. While they are operating on him, his heart stops and they give up the surgery--and suddenly, he spontaneously begins breathing and begins a slow recovery! When he awakens, he's an oddity. He looks like a famous scientist--but the scientist is accounted for and is certainly NOT near death. And, he talks strangely...very strangely. How does all this fit into the total picture--that's the mystery. To try to sort all this out is a pushy reporter--the sort of guy who was almost a cliché in the 1930s in films. Yet, somehow Gene Nelson manages to make it work--along with his girlfriend (Faith Domergue).

Now that I mentioned Nelson and Domergue, that brings up the production itself. Despite these two American actors in the major roles, the rest of the film is very British--made by Brits, filmed in Britain and with British extras. The reason was that in the 1950s and 60, many European film companies brought in Americans to star in their films--figuring it would help box office appeal (especially in the States). Well, in this case it sure worked well because the plot was intelligent, well written and a nice production all around--so nice, I was very tempted to give this little film a 9! My advice is to download (for free and perfectly legal) the film from archive.org--a site often linked to film listings on IMDb or from Amazon (which IS linked to IMDb). Well worth your time and full of wonderful suspense--especially at the end.

Great little British SF paranoia film featuring the wonderful Faith Domergue (This Island Earth) and a plot that really does hold up well. Having said that a lot of the acting and sets don't stand the test of time and the script is a bit dodgy. It does look like there is a brief appearance by Charles Hawtry part way through. Fun film.

The science fiction gimmick in this "B" British mystery is a man who after his highly radioactive body is fished out of the Thames, comes to life. After he awakes it is discovered that his brief death and exposure to radiation causes his consciousness to be 7 seconds into the future. This film soon drifts into a typical "wise cracking reporter" mystery after a reel or two and the "timeslip" gimmick is forgotten. Most of the film deals with a male and female reporter trying to prove the mysterious man is actually a famous scientist who is now being impersonated by an enemy agent. The script written by Charles Eric Maine, based on his novel, is typical of most of Maines screen/published science fiction; he comes up with an interesting science fiction gimmick and works it into a mundane plot. In this case a typical "wise cracking reporter" mystery. Another of example of this is the film THE ELECTRONIC MONSTER aka ESCAPEMENT from a script by Maine based on his published novel. An historical note; American actor Gene Nelson was dancer and singer who starred in many musicals. He was in an accident about a year before this film was made and it prevented him from dancing.

Although this sci-fi film is not really a terrible bomb, it is pretty boring, and a good solution to watch if you are having trouble getting to sleep. It is too talky, and the actors arent all that believable. The plot is vaguely interesting, but the production values are attrocious; half the film seems like it was shot in the dark. Better to take a pass on this one.

A wounded atomic scientist is found to be 7 1/2 seconds ahead of time and has a radioactive halo about his body that can only be seen in photographs. Unfortunately, it is more of a cops, robbers and gangsters picture with a scientific twist than a true sci fi picture. It is intriguing at first, but it fails to live up to its promise, although it does eventually explain the time slip. However, the acting is solid and the subplots are fine but the film misses the mark overall.

An injured man (Peter Arne) is found near dead in the river Thames who turns out to be a nuclear research scientist. An American journalist (Gene Nelson) attempts to investigate the mystery and tries to work out why the man's mind is 7 seconds in the future.

A low budget thriller with pretentions of pseudo-science. American actor Nelson is very annoying in the lead role, but director Ken Hughes does an adequate job in spite of a general lack of suspense.

The scene stealer in this film was the lovely Actress Faith Domergue... I'd never heard of her before but without her this was a dull watch. Definitely worth a watch overall though. A very corny film with a ham script. One reason I seek out these British films from the 40s, 50s and 60s are the location shots perhaps of London or other parts of the UK... sadly this was shot 'indoors' and totally made in the studio. I think this film is also known as The Atomic Man.

For some reason Anglo decided to have 2 American leads and neither was much good..The longer this film went the sillier it became.. Perhaps if the leads had been Terence Morgan and Hazel Court you could take it more seriously.