The Brain from the Planet Arous is a much-loved classic science fiction B-movie from 1957. Directed by Nathan Juran (Attack of the 50 Foot Woman,  7th Voyage of Sinbad and First Men in the Moon) it featured performances from John Agar (The Mole People, Sands of Iwo Jima and Fort Apache), Joyce Meadows (The Girl in Lovers Lane, The Christine Jorgenson Story and Flesh and the Spur), and Robert Fuller (Maverick, Return of the Seven and 70s action series Emergency). " />

The Brain from the Planet Arous is a much-loved classic science fiction B-movie from 1957. Directed by Nathan Juran (Attack of the 50 Foot Woman,  7th Voyage of Sinbad and First Men in the Moon) it featured performances from John Agar (The Mole People, Sands of Iwo Jima and Fort Apache), Joyce Meadows (The Girl in Lovers Lane, The Christine Jorgenson Story and Flesh and the Spur), and Robert Fuller (Maverick, Return of the Seven and 70s action series Emergency).

In one of a host of popular cold war science fiction movies, scientist Steve March (Agar) and his assistant Dan Murphy (Fuller) spot a blast of radiation coming from a place in the desert called Mystery Mountain. Our intrepid heroes decide to investigate, they stumble upon a cavern where they’re attacked by a giant floating brain that kills Dan and takes over Steve’s body. Upon his return home after a week at mystery mountain, Steve’s wife-to-be Sally (Meadows) immediately suspects something is wrong when he becomes very physical with her and is attacked by their dog. Steve flees the scene and is confronted by the brain, who tells him that he is Gor, an alien being who is using him as a dwelling place while he is here on earth due to his position as a nuclear scientist. Gor goes on to tell Steve that he also has desires on Sally, something that horrifies Steve, who promises to resist as best he can. Sally’s suspicions over Steve’s allegations that Dan has gone to Las Vegas lead her to head out to Mystery mountain with her father in search of answers about what happened with Steve and Dan. After meeting another floating brain, Vol, who informs them that Steve has been taken over by Gor, a criminal who has escaped from their world and who Vol is seeking to take home to serve his sentence, Sally and her father agree to help Vol and  Vol enters the body of Steve and Sally’s dog, George in order to stay close to Gor.

The Brain from the Planet Arous may be a cheap and cheerful B-movie, but it’s a very enjoyable one. The special effects are very much of the time and the science involved is negligible, however, the performances of the cast members are solid and the story is interesting enough. 

The disc from The Film Detective features the film in both widescreen and full-screen formats, as well as a special introduction from star, Joyce Meadows, as well as a commentary track by film historians Tom Weaver, David Schecter and Larry Blamire, with Meadows. There are also a couple of featurettes about Nathan Juran. 

Overall, this special edition Blu-ray from The Film Detective is a more than solid entry in the sci-fi B-movie genre, with a few interesting bonus features, and two decent prints of the movie. If you love classic 50s sci-fi then you’ll love this movie.