Phantom Planet, The
2274. THE PHANTOM PLANET (1961-usa). With Dean Fredericks, Tony (Anthony) Dexter, Colleen Gray, Francis XC Bushman. This ingenious science fiction drama is set in the future: 19801 An Air Force space ship travels through the cosmos on a routine reconnaissance mission. “It’s quiet and lonely out here,” the pilot casually observes to his second-in-command. Almost immediately the ship comes in direct and fatal collision course with what appears to be an asteroid the size of a planet. Lean and mean Air Force Captain Frank Chapman is ordered into space to investigate. What he and his subordinate encounter is too frightening to imagine. Suffice to say. Chapman ends up on a planet whose inhabitants are six inches tall! He promptly shrinks down to their size and begins what can only be described as an amazing adventure. It is amusing to see vetÂeran silent screen star Francis X. Bushman as the planet’s “leader and judge.” It also is intriguing to note the manner in which the filmmakers conceived space travel to be like in what was for them the not-too-distant future but what for us is now the past. 82 minutes. Science Fiction