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Best movie ever!

A lot of fun.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

First of all let me say the title of my review is not for the film itself but for the excellent blu-ray 3D edition that has returned the film its brightness. Superb colors, amazing 3d deepness quality. This IS true 3d and one of the best 3d restorations I have ever seen that is a joy for the viewer. This does not mean the film has other interests apart from the visual one. Filmed in George air force base near California, it has an interesting - and atypical for a sci-fi movie- plot. In fact, the opening scene in the cryogenic research lab. is one of the best frightening ones I have seen in movies. Do not expect monsters or aliens here but a more subliminal, whodunit mistery story that frightens in a more subtle, permanent way. I also like the fact that many scientific artifacts and tests done in the base are shown and briefly explained -although some of them are not too accuracy real like radiation travelling straight- like being in a sort of scientific tour. That probably will defraud viewers who expect a terror film, which is not, at least in its typical form: here, terror flows underneath. Ivan Tors, who wrote the script, was a sci-fi fan and avid reader of Scientific American, so he did not want to do a monster film but one scientifically accurated and with a realistic futuristic basis. The secret base where the action takes place is a sort Nasa precedent four years before it was created in 1958 developing a space station that enables man to live in space. And, by the way, it does not takes place in outer space -as both opening and ending titles may suggest- but in an underground base in the New Mexico desert. Nice job by Richard Egan as a security expert who comes to investigate several murders and sabotage in the base, Herbert Marshall as chief scientist and the rest of the cast, taking their roles seriously. If you have the chance to watch this film in a big 3D tv screen you will really enjoy it and I do strongly recommend it. Also not to miss the blu-ray 3D extras that include interesting interviews with director Herbert L. Strock explaining how he could film a 3D movie having monocular vision (like André de Toth, who also directed 3D movie House of wax) or finding Tors script too documentary toned, and with master 3D cameraman Lothrop Worth and a blink of the highly interesting restoration process (where not only the bright colors and deepness can be seen but also the editing process of removing film marks and stains or cutting unaccurate angle views such as hanging microphones seen by mistake and the difficulties finding left side negative print -that had been missing for years-and the hard process to manage matching it properly with the remaining right eye negative, since it was very deteriorated). You can see in NOVAC computer a precedent of Hal 2001. Not for everyone, you will enjoy this film if you prefer feeling frightened more than watching it. If you like this film you will probably enjoy Forbidden planet as well. As bonus, a rarely seen tandem-rotor McCulloch MC-4C helicopter appears in the film. One of the first movis with an helicoper in it. And finally, for those who are interested in ancient mithology and history, Gog and Magog ("the land of Gog") are respectively the names of the governor and the region linked in the genesis to the apochalipsis and final judgement. So you may have an idea of the roles they play in the film. Final note: in the original trailer -added as an extra in the 3D blu-ray edition- we can see an aparently deleted scene: chemist scientist fiancée approaching her stealthily. By the way, guess who put the atomic powder in the device?

Corny but entertaining 50s sci-fi about a secret military base working on space hibernation for astronauts, but the things get weird when a supercomputer and it's robot minions begin taking over. Nothing great, but not terrible either. I did enjoy the low budget simulation of weightlessness.

Richard Egan is a civilian scientist and security expert called in to investigate queer goings on at a military experimental station in the desert. The CO of the station is Herbert Marshall. The requisite scientific assistant is Constance Dowling.It's all very confusing at first. Two scientists freeze and unfreeze a monkey then are themselves frozen by a mysterious force that locks them in the chamber and manipulates the controls. The monkey had been already removed, so not to worry. He's okay.The first thing that comes to mind while watching this inexpensive SF flick, aside from "What the hell is going on?", is that the design of the station is very precisely laid out for us, so much so that it makes us wonder if Michael Crighton might have ripped it off for "The Andromeda Strain." There are two multi-armed robots (pronounced "ROW-butts") that grind around the room and do dated tricks like twisting knobs while the observers stand around and gawk at them. Their names are Gog and Magog, nebulous figures from the Old Testament. Each is more animated than one or two of the supporting cast.About half the movie is exposition that isn't blended too well into the narrative. "This is the monitoring chamber, where the molecules are broken down. Over here, for instance, isotopes." I suppose with all the borrowed electronic junk around -- the clicks, beeps, and blinking lights -- it might as well be shown on screen, though it may have nothing to do with the story.Man, do things go wrong. One device after another goes berserk. Death follows death. And long past the point at which the whole establishment should have been shut down and fumigated, Herbert Marshall is saying things like, "We'd better tighten security," and, "We'll work in pairs from now on." The villains of the piece are Gog and Magog, who are being ordered to do naughty things by a rocket ship overhead.I've always found Richard Egan to be a likable actor but not a magnetic one. Herbert Marshall does well enough by the role of leader, especially considering the booze he was pounding at the time. And nobody could deny that Constance Dowling is attractive in an idiosyncratic way and that, in her tight jump suit, she cuts a splendid figure for a scientist.

In my opinion this is one of the best films made by Ivan Tors. Tors created "Science Fiction Theater" for TV and made several SciFi films (like The Magnetic Monster) before this genre was really popular. He brought real science to the screen in plots that may seem dated today but afterall, it was 1954. In GOG, Tors brings in then brand new inventions such as jets, computers, robots, high frequency sound, cryogenics, sunlight as a weapon, electronic surveillance, atomic power and even man-made satellites (which would not become reality for 3 more years). To an audience unfamiliar with such things, it was exiting and scary. Especially scary when you were made to think such super weapons were under the control of a foreign power. The Korean War had just ended and the USSR was making aggressive comments about atomic war with us. This movie gave me nightmares for quite awhile.-BullMoose