Attack of the Puppet People (1958)

"Sally" (June Kenney) ought to have had the alarm bells ringing when she goes for an interview with doll-maker "Franz" (John Hoyt) who positively begs her to take the job. They ought to have rung even louder when she discovers that his previous assistant never turned up at her new position. Swiftly, we discover that her new boss is collecting people - but at a fraction of their size and he is keeping them alive in glass jars. He lets them out to play every now and again and even manages to procure what has to be the smallest bottle of Champagne ever seen! Meantime, though, the slow on the uptake "Sally" is beginning to suspect something's amiss - especially when her beau "Bob" (John Agar) disappears too! She goes to the incredulous police who offer a cursory investigation - but can they, or she, rescue her love? I actually quite enjoyed this. That's entirely down to the almost maniacal (and accidentally comedic) effort from Hoyt. A frequent participant in daft sci-fi stories, but rarely with just such a big part as he has here. It's padded out a little too much, but there's some fun to be had with the giant telephones, a great big dog and a really annoying stage-door man at the theatre. The title doesn't really do it any favours, but if you like the B-feature horror genre then this is worth a watch, I'd say.