Science fiction is, I assert, difficult to write well; unlike many other genres of "fiction", it requires some imagination, a strong ability to relate characters to values, and a ruthless logic. "Village of the Damned", adapted, by Stirling Silliphant, the film's director Wolf Rilla and George Barclay, from the famous novel by John Wyndham "The Midwich Cuckoos" is often an absorbing film. It never, in my judgment, establishes enough of a reality of English life against which to set the presence of the film's aliens. These are children; ordinary looking children, who are super-intelligent, have psychic powers and whose eyes glow gold. One cannot discuss this film's eerie story line without disclosing too much of its evolving direction; suffice it to say that one day, strange occurrences happen in a number of countries: everyone blacks out for four hours in the small town of Midwich England as elsewhere, the setting being the one for the British whose fortunes we follow. As a result of these happenings, every fertile female in town--married or not--gives birth to an odd child--strange, to say the least, but blond-haired and human in a full sense by every appearance. The central characters of the film are an older couple played by Barbara Shelley, who is beautiful and very professionally sympathetic in her role; George Sanders also does quite well in the part of an understanding teacher who demands that the children be taught ethics and tries to do the job himself; thus he becomes the children's professor. The alternative is a plot to kill all the children, the military's position-to safeguard the country's populace. Others prominently featured in the steady but not stellar cast include fine actor Laurence Naismith, Richard Warner and Rosamund Greenwood. The plot moves the participants from shock, to curious acceptance of the strange offspring, to fear and then beyond at a surprisingly good pace, I suggest. Ron Goodwin's usual musical contribution is very successful indeed, aiding the atmosphere of the film. Cinematography was by Geoffrey Faithful with consistent Art Direction by Ivan King and convincing special effects by Tom Howard. The taut and moving first half of the film seems to me as a writer a bit rushed in the second portion of the work; However, this very influential film--whose effects, ideas and setting have been copied many times since, stands on its own. It has some very good actors, a straightforward development and two leads who are world class--plus a very logical and memorable ending. This is a taut and often literate black-and-white sci-fi film that can be watched more than once, I suggest.