Teenagers from Space (1959)

"I shall make the Earth my home, and I shall never, never leave it," says Derek (David Love), the teenager from space in this 1959 horror sci fi flick. In 86 minutes, writer director producer Tom Graeff manages to wedge in references to Godzilla, Fahrenheit 451, Asimov's I, Robot, and at least a dozen other 1950s science fiction stories. The early special effects of the alien ship landing "out by the old mine shaft" (of course) sparkled and delighted, but by the time they had to figure out the monster, I think their $20,000 budget was mostly eaten up (pun intended, which you'll get if you watch the movie). [Spoiler: they used the shadow of a lobster as the giant monster eating up the local inhabitants.] The final third of this B movie featured several touching scenes, even though almost all the main actors spoke with little emotion (a device the director overused, I believe). I enjoyed this tale of fleeting love between a robotlike alien boy and a sweet porcelain doll-like girl from the suburbs.