The Gamma People
Tags: insanity

Plot synopsis:
A train travels through snow-covered countryside. Mike Wilson (Paul Douglas) and Howard Meade (Leslie Phillips) are aboard playing chess and discussing the trip so far. Wilson complains about the boredom, Meade is far more enthusiastic. He recalls a trip to Bulgaria as a photographic journalist.The carriage they are traveling in becomes uncoupled from the rest of the train. The engine forges ahead, but the detached carriage is diverted onto a siding by two boys throwing a rail switch. The carriage rolls on, accidently crossing through a customs check point for the country Gudavia.A customs officer manning the border crossing calls ahead to Commander Koerner (Philip Leaver) wanting to confirm if a train is expected. The commander is surprised; there have been no trains in Gudavia for five years due to government policy.As the carriage rolls to a halt, government troops board the train to investigate the passengers. Wilson explains that they are in route to a music festival in Salzburg. The two passengers are puzzled by the reaction of the soldiers and the fact they can't find Gudavia on a map. Once thrown in jail they begin to appreciate their depth of their situation. Each is disgusted with the lack of consulates for them, Wilson American and Meade British. In another part of the city an experiment is being conducted. A group of five children are wired up to a machine. Doctor Bronski (Walter Rilla) explains how the experiment has to be taken to the very edge. They need to understand what the limits are, of how a matter of a tenth of a degree can make a fatal difference.
Bronski is contacted by Koerner; after hearing what has happened he instructs the commander to get the men out of jail, and to fuss over them. Bronski dismisses the idea they are spies and understands the danger having two journalists in jail could represent.The commander takes them to the local hotel run by Hans (Paul Hardtmuth). He is told to look after them in the very best of ways. In the meantime Meade goes to the telegraph office and arranges to send a telegram to the newspaper. The clerk accepts his message but then explains the telegraph office is not actually open and the message won't be sent. Meade looks on puzzled as the clerk rips up his message.At the hotel the two men see a girl, Hedda (Pauline Drewett) playing the piano at an extraordinary level for her age. They watch spellbound as she performs. A local man arrives at the hotel and gives one of the staff, Anna (Jackie Lane) a note and asks her to pass it on to the men for the good of the children of Gudavia.A young boy, Hugo Wendt (Michael Caridia) is watching the girl play, suddenly orders her to stop playing. He then corrects her in harsh tones explaining music is not an emotional exercise, but a strict recurring pattern. The girl cries and refuses till her mother comes in and takes her away.As they are shown to their room, Anna passes the strange note to the men. It explains the children must be saved and Dr Bronski needs to be destroyed. The men are shocked and believe it is a crank and are going to ignore the message. Wilson is trying to contact his office in London by phone a scream echoes from the street below. A woman frantic with fear screams "murder, murder!" before she is quieted down and whisked away. The men decide to investigate and bump into Koerner. He dismisses the commotion as nothing more than hysteria caused by an accident to a local child. Koerner then tells them that Bronski will see them in the morning.Continuing their exploration they are stunned by the lack of people till a crowd of men run past them into the darkness. Meade becomes separated from Wilson when he investigates a shop that may be open. Out of the darkness a strange man who can't speak corners Meade, moments later there is a whole group of the men. As Meade begins to panic another man hiding in the bushes blows a whistle and all the men suddenly run off
Meade finds Wilson but struggles to explain what hed just experienced, Wilson thinks he is just tied and decides to go back to the hotel. There he questions Anna about the note and what is going on. Anna tries to deny everything till she slips and admits the man who gave her the note is now dead.She then has a slip of the tongue and remarks if anyone finds out what she did she would be in trouble with Dr Macklin, she then corrects herself to Bronski. Wilson is immediately interested in the name Macklin, he is trying to remember where he knows it from when the phone rings distracting him.On the phone is Koerner to confirm details of the visit the next day with Dr Bronski. Meeting Bronski and he seems affable but insists on no photos. Wilson then challenges Bronski by using the name Macklin, slowly Bronski admits he is indeed that person. Macklin was a famous biologist and then explains why he left the west for the. He became depressed over his work in longevity. Now he is nothing more than the local school principle.He takes them to visit a student; it is Hedder the girl they saw playing in the hotel. Theyre then introduced to Paula Vendt (Eva Bartok) who is the schools senior tutor. She gives them a tour of the school and the activity currently underway for the upcoming cultural festival. They are then reintroduced to Hugo, who is the schools most gifted student.Hugo is working on a large mask and shows it to the guests; Meade is shocked to see a resemblance between the mask and the group of men he encountered the previous evening. Koerner and Bronski have a private conference; Bronski decides they need to wait a few more days before allowing the foreigners use of a car. Koerner then brings up the issues of the previous evening, especially the group of unfortunates prowling around the town last night. Bronski explains he created them; Koerners job is now to care for them.Later that day Meade and Wilson see a funeral and assume it is for the man who passed Anna the note. The reporters decide to snoop around see if there is a widow or family they can interview. They do locate his widow, Frau Bikstein (Rosalie Critchley) they show her the note and she agrees it is real, and goes on talk about experiments her husband was doing with Dr Bronski. They press her for more information but she refuses out of fear but she does give them access to an old diary from Bronski that her husband stole from the laboratory.Wilson reads the diary. It outlines the experiments Bronski is conducting, by exposing young immature brains to gamma radiation; both geniuses and imbeciles can be created at will. The gamma ray accelerates the brains development and allows the full potential to be used.Hugo has followed the men to their hotel and waits for them to go out. Bronski instructed him to retrieve a photo Meade had taken of Hugos mask. Hedda and her father are discussing plans to escape to Vienna when Hugo walks in. Hugo then admonishes Hedda for the weak sentimental music she is playing. Lockner then tells the boy he is Heddas father and he will not make Hedda stop playing. Hugo argues Lockner has no rights because the state is raising his child. Lockner throws the boy out, as he leaves Hugo gives a dire warning about the consequences of his actions.Hugo sneaks back into the house and gains access to were the photos are kept and is caught by Meade. Hugo acts innocent and engages in a discussion about chess, before escaping
Wilson comes across Paula Vendt riding a horse and begins questioning her about what is happening at Bronskis laboratory. Paulas father was a friend of Bronski, and came to the country to work for him. Wilson doesnt believe she supports the research. Her mood becomes defensive and gallops off.Hugo finds Bronski fishing and reports what he has discovered about Hedda and her fathers plans. Bronski asks the boy to continue the observations when he sees Paula watching them from behind a tree. He orders Hugo to go after her, stop her getting to the village.In the village Meade sees Hugo and gives chase, determined to retrieve the photo. After giving chase Meade catches Hugo at a playground. Meade admits he has the negative but refuses to give it to the boy. Hugo calls on a gang of school boys who beat Meade and take the negativeAt Bronskis lab he and Paula are finishing up for the night. Once he leaves Paula follows a series of secret passages that lead out of the castle and gives chase to the fleeing Hedda and her father. She finds them on the road out of town and warns Lockner that Bronski knows of their plans and will try to stop them.
Within minutes they are attacked by a group of thugs and Lockner is killed when thrown off a cliff. Paula witnesses the attack and goes to help. Wilson sees Paula and follows her to site of the incident. Sobbing she tells Wilson the basics, but wont go into detail, she is concerned he is just writing a story and really not interested in helping.Wilson catches up with Bronski and shows him Lockners body, Bronski acts clueless and Wilson leaves after threatening Bronski that if anything happens to Hedda he will go after Bronski. Bronski whistles up a gang of his thugs and they chase Wilson till called offNext morning Bronski tells the commissioner her wants no public gatherings and tells him to cancel the festival. Wilson confronts Koerner in the street as people gather around. Wilson wants to know where Hedda is and will not take no for an answer. He then tells the people Bronski is behind the murders and Koerners role is to hide the truth.That night, despite the official proclamations the people gather in the street to have their festival. Wilson looks for Meade at the hotel and cant find him, going back on the streets he is followed by Hugo who sees him speak to Frau Bikstein who then leads him to a hiding place where he finds Paula. He realizes she has had a change of heart and is going to help Wilson bring down Bronski.She tells him Hedda is being held in the castle, as they discuss their options the police arrive. Paula and Wilson hide, but a discovered. A fist fight breaks out and the couple escape, blending into the festival makers on the streets.Meade appears with a car finds Paula and Wilson. Meade unaware of Wilsons encounter agrees to drive them to the castle. A puncture forces them to abandon the car, and as they begin to walk the car explodes.
Wilson sends Meade back to town for help, while he and Paula enter the secret labs. Paula finds Hedda and readies her for escape. Bronski returns with some of his goons and begins an experiment while Wilson hides in a cornerPaula successfully sneaks past the experimenters links up with Wilson and is nearly clear of the castle when they encounter Hugo. Paula tries to talk Hugo out of giving the alarm. She tells him she is his sister and Bronski killed their father. Hugo does not care and sets the alarms offBronski traps the three of them in a control room and gives them an ultimatum. They can exchange their lives for Heddas. Unseen a group of villages closes on the castleBronski explains the process of the Gamma ray process, and then turns the instrument on Wilson Paula and Hedda. He tells them they will suffer extreme discomfort before their brains are shriveled
At the gates the villages encounter the first of Bronskis goons and over powers them and continues to the castleIn the control room Bronski continues to intensify the ray explaining to the party they have but a matter of seconds left. Hugo begins to react badly to the situation, breaks into a sweat as if unable to control himself. Bronski orders him to his room. The boy sees Meades group entering the castle and warns the doctor. As Bronski climbs stairs for a better look, Hugo pushes him to his deathHugo then sets about triggering a series of explosions throughout the lab, and the area is soon engulfed by fire. Wilson goes to help Hugo who is being attacked by a goon, somehow Bronski revives and attacks Wilson who finally kills him by pushing him into the flames. He then gathers Hugo and the others and begins escaping from the castleEveryone finally gets out of the castle in time and watches the entire structure destroyed by flames and a series of explosionsSometime later there is a street parade to honor the two journalists who helped save the citizens. Koerner arrives with a brand new car and gives it to the men. They quicly load up Hedda, Hugo, Paula and leave passing through the adoring crowdsChapman_glen@yahoo.com

Review: Made before the British scifi/horror boom of the late 50s, this eccentric film mixes gruesome scientific experiments with farcical comedy, set in a fictitious Iron Curtain state.
And one of the stars, playing a straight role, is Leslie Phillips.
Well the clash of styles is somewhat disconcerting, but the film is attractively photographed and the action and horror scenes well staged.
Some talented personnel worked on it ; the likes of Ted Moore and John Box, plus John Gilling who went on to do some good Hammer horrors.
Quatermass a bit too much--accidently winds up breaking off from the rest of the train leaving the 2 men stranded in a strange little European country named Gudavia.
They investigate and uncover a mad scientist's conspiracy to control the people by turning them all into slaves of the state with the help of a gamma ray machine.
Still the lead actors are likable and the film is silly  fun..
Not a Good Film but a Very Weird One. Gamme People, The (1956) ** (out of 4) Extremely bizarre science-fiction film from Columbia has Paul Douglas and Leslie Phillips playing American and British journalists who accidentally wind up in a small European town, which seems to be ran by a strange scientist.
After a slow start the journalist soon learn that the scientist is doing experiments with a gamma ray, which he's using to try and create geniuses.
I don't think anyone in their right mind would put THE GAMMA PEOPLE on any sort of "Best of.." list but you could possibly find it on several "WTF" lists.
This is without question one of the strangest films to come from the 1950s because not only does it try to capture the horror/sci-fi genre but it also mixes in some very strange comedy as well as some political undertones.
All of this stuff thrown into one screenplay just leaves the viewer scratching his head because it's impossible to really figure out what's going on or what the filmmakers were trying to do.
At times it almost seems like you're watching a spoof of a horror movie but then you get more ghoulish activity that reminds you that this is supposed to be a horror film.
Not for a single second are any of them scary and that silly walk they do makes one want to laugh more than anything else.
With this strange blend of genres you're almost looking at a horrid movie but what saves it from the "so bad it's horrible" file are the strong performances and the fact that it's rather well-made.
I'm not sure how much they had to pay Douglas to appear in this film but he does a very good job in the lead and plays it straight throughout.
Phillips is also very good in his role as is Eva Bartok who plays an assistant who finally gets some courage to fight back.
THE GAMMA PEOPLE has pretty much been forgotten over the years but it's certainly an interesting little experiment.
It certainly doesn't work but fans of the genre will want to check it out just to see how strange it actually is..
This one will leave your head spinning like an Ed Wood film.
Here we have science-fiction mind control based on factual events that instill a real life horror and remembrance of a not too long ago plague of pathology.Hitler youth, enslavement encampment, and a mad scientist are at work here along with foreign journalists and feather headed throwbacks in this offbeat and mind-boggling concoction that almost but doesn't quite work.The movie also, for some reason, throws in a bit of slapstick humor and coy dialog that got lost on its way to some other film and found its way into this sometimes sombre scenario of tortured children and monstrous and zombified men who were victims of the villains.The result is a jigsaw made up of pieces from different puzzles.
Interesting and never dull, but occasionally so twisted and ill fitting that one is left with a jaw dropping experience that will have you shaking your head, and that just might be the effect of that mind-melting gamma ray gun..
This is more of a light comedy than a science fiction thriller.
It's actually a film about the different stereotypes of nationalities, beginning with the "ugly American" and the "waggish British" reporters.The film always moves briskly, due more to clever writing, good casting, and strategic directing, than on effects and big money.
This is a textbook film on how to make a film look like it's more action packed than it really is.We know it's a spoof on the nationalities from the start, as the pair of reporters are oblivious to their train car being dislodged, by accident, and rolling into a "duchy" that resembles the European duchy we get in classics like THE INSPECTOR GENERAL, THE MOUSE THAT ROARED, and others.The duchy citizens also play to part.However, like most good films, this takes stereotypes and changes them into three dimensional characters, or at least two dimensional.
The film makes sure it doesn't lose its light hearted approach.
It has the cult look of a Rocky Horror in that regard, of taking stereotypes and making more out of them.This is a fun film, and well done, obviously low budget.
There are no dull moments, which is more than I can say for most big budget science fiction movies.
Much of this is because the film creates a very good atmosphere.Never underestimate "atmosphere" and "fundamentals".
How did they get Paul Douglas into acting in this film?!.
Although he looked like a VERY ordinary man, in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s Paul Douglas was an actor highly in demand--particularly at 20th Century-Fox. He's appeared in lots of big-budget prestige films such as "A Letter to Three Wives", "We're Not Married", "Executive Suite", "The Solid Gold Cadillac" and "Clash By Night".
In light of this, I have no idea why he would ever agree to star in a silly film like "Gamma People".
When I tell you the plot, you'll understand what I mean.Two reporters are traveling through Europe by train.
One is an American (Douglas) and the other is a Brit (Leslie Phillips).
However, in a hard to believe twist, the train car they are on (and no one else) become uncoupled from the train and drifts into a tiny fictional communist country.
And, while they are waiting to get out of this country that seem stuck in the 19th century, the authorities give them the run of the country--but they also are careful NOT to let them learn about the 'Gamma People'.
What, exactly, are Gamma People?
Well, it seems these evil commies are using gamma rays in order to turn the people into obedient little pawns of the State!
In a way, this combines two B-movie genres--sci-fi and Red Scare films.
In addition to being an odd plot, this film is odd because of its tone.
Often it's played for laughs--yet other times it's deadly serious.
I think the paranoid deadly serious stuff was a lot more entertaining and in keeping with the story idea.All in all, this is a film you watch less for the film's quality and more because of its historical value.
So many of these types of films made during the 50s had very small budgets but took themselves VERY seriously.
That is why many of them turned out as high camp.I am guessing the producers of this film must have taken a look at the budget and the script and the actors and decided that it was gonna be a hard sell to audiences as just another mid 50s low-budget "horror" pic.
The basic outline of the plot has so many European stereotyped characters and so many plot clichés that no one would ever go to see it.So I bet they did some minor changes to the dialog, replaced some of the standard scary background music with a lighter score and told the actors to play it for laughs with tongue in check.
If you judge it as a sort of send-up of it's genre it fares a lot better then if you try to take it seriously.
A lot of the jokes fall flat and the actors seem to do their best with it but as a "scary" movie it fails miserably.
Weird combination of science fiction, political commentary and comedy.
This movie seems to be pulling in so many different directions at once that it's difficult to figure out exactly what the filmmakers were actually trying to achieve.
Was this intended to be a science- fiction thriller, a political comment on totalitarianism, a comedy or perhaps all three at once?
For example, if this movie wasn't intended to be a comedy then why did they cast Paul Douglas and Leslie Phillips, both of whom were known principally for playing comic parts, in the two lead roles?
And why do the police who administer the supposed Police State in the movie go about dressed in comic opera uniforms and seem no more formidable than the proverbial "Keystone Kops"?
Even the head of the police comes off as such a hopeless buffoon that it is impossible to feel the least bit intimidated by him.
One gets the impression that the country in the film was supposed to represent a sort of miniature Nazi Germany or Stalinist Soviet Union, but it simply comes off as a slightly bonkers version of San Marino or Andorra, complete with the obligatory colorful folkways.See this if you have never seen it, just for the experience of a film that is so truly strange that it is almost impossible to categorize under any single genre..
Perfect for a movie night with sci fi friends..
My impression of this wonderful tale is colored by my experience seeing it for the first time at age ten on the late late show in NYC.
There is the usual mysterious mad scientist.A mark of quality in a film like this is that the principal players are in roles that make them accessible; they are real people and not just cardboard cutout characters.
You feel as though you could at least strike up a conversation with them and try to figure out this mystery.The movie is not currently in copyright, so is available on www.archive.org for viewing or downloading, which I highly recommend.
This movie is very deceiving.It seems to have a good story that makes sense but it's actually just an anti-Hitler movie full of plot holes.For once someone actually tried to make a good movie,they just failed.
It starts with a train car taking several minutes to gently break away from the train.The car only has 2 people(reporters) in it because that's completely normal.
One guy pushes the buzzer for the waitress(I have never been on a train but I doubt those buttons ever existed) and he immediately gets up to check on why she hasn't shown up.Nevermind that there were NO wires going from their car to the rest of the train.It was 1956, I guess they had wireless buttons.
As their car drifts away from the train,we see two Hitler youth looking kids run out and throw the track switch so the car goes to their town.How did they know the car had broken free?
The car stops and there's 10 minutes of time killing confusion before we learn that they are in an imaginary country that is exactly like Nazi Germany(except for the French-style military uniforms),they even use some German words.
The whole time there are hints about the reporters never being able to leave but there is nothing in the story to actually support that.
They get a car and drive into the country.It gets a flat and they all get out immediately and run to the front of the car,which immediately blows up.
Everything that happens in the castle is stupid and I won't waste any more time on this movie.
Although I have nothing good to say about this movie,I am going to say you might want to give it a chance just to see how silly it is..
The Gamma People is a classic mix of post WWII aimlessness sprinkled nicely with a generous dose of Hitlerian medical experimentation by a quasi dictator named Boronski.
Unnoticed by the outside world save a chance happenstance of an uncoupled railroad passenger car with 2 reporters, American and British sliding down a side rail and ending up engine-less in the rail yard of the Dutchy of Gudavia, the whole town is in an uproar about the arrival of uninvited foreign guests.A postage stamp country if there ever was one, in fact, it's smaller than a postage stamp.
With a pompous Hoenzollern-like police chief, a quaint hotel, and other assorted hovels leered at by a castle on the hill (that's where Boronski lives), Gudavia holds a hideous secret.
The youth of the town are being zapped by Boronski with a huge gamma-ray projector causing two types of effects, geniuses like Hugo, a Teutonic dictatorial little snit and Hedda, a musical genius, able to whip out complex Beethoven or Bach at the drop of a piece of strudel, and morons, goon-like guys who run around with their arms at their sides and mouths wide open, catching flies, and moaning their compliance to the will of Boronski and his broken pitch pipe.
The Brit Lothario goes wench hunting and ends up running into one of the goonies..The two reporters decide to visit the schloss and see what's happening in Good Old Gudavia's seat of government.
The castle is ostensibly a school, with a lot of secret doors that make the coolest sound when opening and closing..
There, they meet Dr. Boronski's assistant Frau Wendt, who tours the guys around the school ending up with a sculpture class where they meet Hugo and his huge goon mask, that still scares me.
Finally, Hedda is kidnapped and conveyed to the castle where she, Paula Wendt and the American reporter Wilson are subjected to the gamma rays, while Hugo watches, becoming more and more upset until he finally turns on the doctor pushing him off a balcony as the building begins to crumple in the intense explosion caused by the falling Boronski.
Hugo and Hedda and Wilson and Paula are safe, staggering away from the castle Boronski which is now erupting like a big volcano, fade to a happy scene another festival, Hugo and Heda are happy-go-lucky young children again, free of the shackles of artificially induced genius, now just a couple of crazy kids.
I think I liked them the other way.You can read into the movie whatever you want.
Unsuccessful attempt to mix comedy with horror and social commentary.
I should say right up front that I have a lot of respect for the cast in this movie.
They look good, they have professional presence (even the oafish HMS Pinafore style commander with his ostrich plume hat)(and yes, even Leslie Phillips playing a professional lightweight) and they work hard to get the movie across.
And the movie looks pretty good in a lot of places - there are some nice setups, some moody lighting, even a good set piece or two.
But Paul Douglas is badly miscast in this movie, the characters act like comic relief idiots for the first half and then the movie tries to turn them into dramatics heroes in the second.....and these guys can't shoot an action scene to save their lives.
I think I can see what they are going for here - a Hammer style movie with comic elements that either relieve the gloom or give the horror aspects more of a surprise - but they just can't pull it off.
This one probably got away from the screenwriters right from the beginning and they never could get it into focus (nor could they walk away from it once the resource were committed.) This isn't a "bad" movie by any means, because the cast is too good for that.
But you can give this one a miss unless you are determined to see every last 50's film with a science fiction element ever made..
Two reporters, one American and one British, have their train car (not the train itself) accidentally diverted into the tiny country of Gudavia where their arrival causes excitement.
Once there they eventually discover nefarious goings on performed by the evil Boronski, namely subjecting people to gamma rays to make them brainy or brain-dead.
It sounds strange and it is but I found it enjoyable and watched all the way through.
It starts off like Ruritanian comedy then moves into a more sinister direction.
There is a classic in there somewhere but unfortunately it didn't come out.The reporters, Paul Douglas as Mike Wilson and Leslie Phillips as Howard Meade are chalk and cheese but actually they make a plausible pairing.
Walter Rilla makes a fine villain but is not in it enough.There are two scenes that impressed me a lot.
The first is when the reporters hear a child playing the piano really well and on seeing her they are delighted with her skills but hovering over her is Hugo and it becomes apparent that the child hates being a brilliant player and when she makes a mistake Hugo berates her in a cruel fashion.
THE GAMMA PEOPLE is a weird and unsuccessful science fiction B-movie of the mid 1950s, shot in the UK substituting for Eastern Europe.
A couple of characters board a train and head into an Iron Curtain country, where they discover a mad plot to mutate children with radiation.
Said children aren't remotely scary and British viewers had to wait until VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED until the story subject was done properly.
Paul Douglas is way too old and bloated to be the hero, although Leslie Phillips does the comedy well (of course) and Eva Bartok is very fine.