Movie Review: Attack of the Puppet People (1958)
Synopsis: Sally Reynolds answers a job advertisement at Dolls Inc., a doll manufacturing company owned by Mr. Franz. The job pays well, but Sally finds her employers behavior to be a bit eccentric, especially the way he talks to his dolls like they are alive. She becomes even more suspicious when her fiancé, Bob, disappears and Mr. Franz suddenly has a Bob-like doll in his possession. Soon after, following a failed attempt to convince the police she isn't crazy, Sally is drugged and wakes up a fraction of her size as part of Mr. Franz's doll collection.
Who's in it? The movie stars John Agar, June Kenney, John Hoyt, Jack Kosslyn, Laurie Mitchell and Marlene Willis.
Review: I was in the mood for a classic murder mystery but was unable to find one in a timely fashion so, as an alternative, I finally took the time to watch Attack of the Puppet People. I've seen quite a few movies that either feature someone being enlarged or shrunk and since the plots are largely the same, I had my doubts about this film. As it turns out, it was a bit better than I was expecting.
For the record, my favorite "shrunken victim" movie is Dr. Cyclops. This movie didn't change my mind on that even though it predictably was similar. It did, however, have some things I found I liked.
The biggest of these, at least for me, was Dr. Franz's (Hoyt) motivations. He was clearly a lonely man whose wife left him and even had a kind side to him. This was especially true of how he acted around children, though if the movie were made today, his interaction with that little girl (Susan Gordon) probably could be construed in a different, pedophile-like, light. He wasn't necessarily evil, just a guy who was a child at heart and wanted friends to play with.
I am also going to applaud Sally's (Kenney) intuition regarding her boss. There are way too many characters in films like this that are clueless to the point it is laughable. It was refreshing to see someone who doesn't completely ignore the obvious red flags, even if it ultimately didn't prevent something bad from happening to her.
My biggest problem with the movie is it doesn't really do a whole lot with the main plot. Other than a few half-hearted attempts at escape, Sally, Bob (Agar) and the others who were shrunk really didn't seem to be in too much of a panic about their fate.
In fact, most of them seemed much more docile and even carefree than I certainly would be in that situation. As a result of this, I wondered if any of them ever even thought about escape until Sally got there. Even when they were finally forced into action because they were facing the possibility they would be killed, the urgency just wasn't there.
On top of it, all the hazards they faced by being so small weren't really put on display until near the very end and those hazards (all animal-related) were rushed, though I did think the scene with the dog was well done considering the limitations of the time.
The ending also left a little to be desired as well, leaving a few loose strings and no real conclusion about Dr. Franz's fate. It wasn't necessarily a bad ending, it just left questions.
Final Opinion: As I said, there were some things I did like about this film, and it ended up being better than expected as a result. However, the lack of urgency from Mr. Franz's "puppet people" made it hard to buy into the film and I wouldn't grade it any higher than slightly above average.
My Grade: C+
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Here are some reviews of other movies from 1958:
Movie Review: In the Money (1958)
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