Release
A general theatrical release through Emerson Film Enterprises was launched with an official opening in Los Angeles on 3 July 1962. An advertising campaign was begun, including the broadcast of short TV spots. Unlike most film posters of the time, which were printed by a four-color process that allowed a full range of eye-catching colors to be used, the posters for this film were two-color printings limited to black, white, red, grays, pinks and browns. The use of a two-color poster for a small independent black-and-white film was not uncommon, but it was unusual and unhelpful when one of the selling points of the film being advertised was the fact that it was in color.
Makeup artist Jack Pierce participated in the 1962 publicity campaign by giving interviews and making up a Los Angeles TV movie host as a humanoid, complete with special contact lenses, during a live broadcast. Progress in the application of the makeup was televised during commercial breaks in the unrelated film being shown. The live segments were saved on videotape and rebroadcast several times in the following days.
After running its theatrical course in drive-ins, low-end suburban theaters, "kiddie matinees" and urban theaters specializing in exploitation films, the film was released to television, where it was being shown by late 1964. It was released on Beta and VHS videocassettes by Monterey Home Video in 1985 and was later available from Something Weird Video. The first licensed DVD release came in 2006 on a double-feature disc from Dark Sky Films.
The film's running time is often listed as 75 minutes. The Dark Sky DVD release runs 84 minutes and is presented in anamorphic 16:9 widescreen, which approximates the matted aspect ratios most commonly used for 35 mm projection in the US in 1962. The earlier videocassette releases are not pan-and-scan versions of a widescreen image, but simply unmatted full-frame 1.33:1, revealing areas at the top and bottom of the image not normally seen in a theater.
Read more about this topic: The Creation Of The Humanoids
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—Stefan Zweig (18811942)
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—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)