The Puppet Masters

Robert A. Heinlein's The Puppet Masters bills its author as strongly as his novel.

And that is fitting, since Heinlein was one of the very small handful of science fiction authors to have had their audience appeal move from cult to mainstream - I can think of only Isaac Asimov and Frank Herbert who managed the same.

Heinlein was a fine writer in the 1940s and 1950s, but his novels became increasingly didactic and opinionated, if not plain nutty, as time went on. The Puppet Masters was one of his better early efforts, and this movie is a reasonably straight recounting of his chilling tale.

There are considerable changes between film and novel, but they don't go against the grain of the original. Not, at least, in the way that the film Starship Troopers deliberately subverted the original novel's meaning and underlying philosophy - although it did that so brilliantly that all could be forgiven.

What this movie lacks, which Starship Troopers had in abundance, was real cinematic tension and even occasional shafts of brilliance. The Puppet Masters is a reasonably tight little thriller, but lacks the core suspense and believability of the novel. It is a relatively disposable effort, but is certainly worth viewing before you head off to try to find the real thing... the novel. Donald Sutherland heads an otherwise undistinguished acting list; he does lend some distinction to the film.

This is a flawless anamorphic transfer, with colours well rendered and fine contrast levels.

Subterranean scenes of deliberate murkiness are well registered, and though outdoor scenes are somewhat muted, the relatively pastel tones seem deliberate and are employed to good effect.

The soundtrack is two-channel stereo only, and while the dialogue is crisp, there is little effort to create a cinema-like soundstage.

The audio is, however, good enough to not interfere with the overall presentation, even if it will leave some viewers feeling they've been cheated of some degree of ooomph.

There are no extra features.

I'd recommend rental; it's definitely worth viewing, even if only to lead the viewer to seek out one of Robert Heinlein's better novels.