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Simply A Masterpiece

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Middling, talk-filled giant monster movie in which US Naval officers are attacked and eaten by giant sea slugs that have evolved as a result of atomic testing (what else?). I'm sure even the most patient of movie-viewers will have a tough time sitting through this endless movie, in which the eighty minutes feel like double that. The main problem is that, while the monsters themselves are pretty darned cool, there's just so damned little of them in the movie that it makes you wonder why they bothered! I would estimate that the monsters appear for approximately 10% of the movie with the rest being packed with dialogue and slow investigation.Another of the problems is that the characters are so unlikeable, the typical stuffy military types who tend to display no personality at all in their actions. Tim Holt is the most characterised of the lot but even he comes across as a grumpy, occasionally stupid hero, definitely not someone to root for. The female characters are dated and subservient, either acting as love interests or victims in the movie. There's also an annoying little brat who deserves to get eaten but inevitably doesn't. The film does have some things to recommend it. These include the corpses which have hilarious rubber faces with ping pong eyes and a couple of quickly minor characters who are more interesting than the leads. One is a mortician who keeps his sandwiches in a morgue freezer, the other a local librarian who talks like Boris Karloff. Also keep an eye out for the first victim of the monster (which we see in shadow), and his incredible unbelievable wooden acting (he says - not screams - "ahh, ahh!" as the monster gets him!).The scenes with the giant sea slugs are generally a lot of fun, in that tacky '50s way. Although they can't move they are pretty well animated and look hilarious (and kind of cute - it's gruesome when one of them gets its eyeball popped out!). Some of the underwater scenes do develop a sense of tension with the hidden monsters but most are too murky to enjoy. The ending, with a giant slug loose in the laboratory, is however classic stuff and a riot (the hero uses a fire extinguisher to subdue it before the firing squad arrive!). There's also a presentation on snails which will tell you some interesting facts about our mollusc friends. Unfortunately, the major part of this film is all about wining and dining, official procedure, and boring people with their boring lives - definitely not a movie in which pacing is a strong point. Watchable but only as a last resort (i.e. there's nothing else on).

This story takes place in California - on, under, and near the Salton Sea. One day an earthquake unleashes a particularly hideous brand of giant monster on the locals - massive mollusks. Our heroes include such people as Lieutenant Commander Twillinger (Tim Holt) and the scientist Dr. Jess Rogers (Hans Conreid).All in all, "The Monster That Challenged the World" is an intelligently done, sometimes suspenseful example of this particular genre that blossomed in the 1950s. The thing is, it might not appeal that strongly to all members of the modern audience because there's just not a lot of good monster mollusk action. The runtime is mostly devoted to the efforts of our determined human cast to solve the problem. There's a fair bit of exposition to digest, and there's also a romance that begins to develop between Twillinger and a receptionist named Gail (the very pretty Audrey Dalton).This is still worthy of a viewing from fans of these films. The special effects are pretty good for the era; the creatures are formidable when engaged in battle. People who've seen this are likely to remember that fun grossout moment when one of the mollusks loses its left eye while fighting with some people. This also benefits strongly from some crisp black & white photography by Lester White and a decent music score composed by Heinz Roemheld. The cast is effective all the way down the line. Holt is a likable hero, and Conreid has a valuable presence because he makes the exposition worth a listen. Max Showalter, Harlan Warde, Gordon Jones, and Jody McCrea co-star. That's director Arnold Lavens' wife playing Sally. One cast member in particular is worth mentioning: Milton Parsons as the rather eccentric, helpful Lewis Clark Dodds. He makes the most out of a small role.The finale is reasonably exciting, and Laven and company wrap things up quickly once it's over.Seven out of 10.

My scale for movies sometimes is affected by issues such as whether the movie has aged well/how well it holds up, how good it is ranked against other movies in its genre and time, and whether the movie gives me any excuse at all to enjoy it.On that scale, "Monster" isn't quite the classic as "Them!", but compares favorably to "Tarantula" (with Leo Carrol), and it beats the heck out of almost everything Corman and his studio has ever directed or produced.Sure, it's a little cheesy in spots, the lead role is pure cardboard (leavened with a bit of humanity here and there, and this is really how an official for "Navy Intelligence" might act)...and some of the other acting may leave something to be desired, but the director knows how to keep things moving, actors like Hans Conried manage to deliver a metric ton of exposition without faltering or dragging the movie down, the women are cute and adorable, the men are stalwart and heroic, and the scenario is an interesting one.The title turns out to be a bit of a misnomer, since the original monster is dispatched rather easily, but his brothers and descendants turn out to be the real problem, and I quite enjoyed some scenes that might have been boring and stupid in the hands of a lesser crew.Unjustly overlooked, seemingly forgotten, but worth your time to watch if you enjoy this sort of thing.

An earthquake in the Salton Sea (near Palm Springs) unleashes a horde of prehistoric mollusk monsters. Discovering the creatures, a Naval commander (Tim Holt, " The Treasure of the Sierra Madre") and several scientists attempt to stop the monsters, but they escape into the canal system of the California's Imperial Valley and terrorize the populace.Aside from Tim Holt, there is a rather strong ensemble cast here. Audrey Dalton ("Mr. Sardonicus") plays the romantic lead. Hans Conried, who regularly provided voices for cartoons, plays the scientist. The boy who finds the hat may be unrecognizable, but it is actually Charles Herbert -- the same boy who appeared in both "13 Ghosts" and "The Fly", making him a horror icon before he even hit puberty! Milton Parsons ("The Haunted Palace") tried to steal the show as the historian Dobbs, with some success.The story came from David Duncan, who is remembered for his subsequent work in the films "The Time Machine" (1960) and "Fantastic Voyage" (1966). Director Arnold Laven, with producers Jules V. Levy and the Wisconsin-born Arthur Gardner, had their own production company since 1951 and had been creating films like "Without Warning!" (1952), featuring a psychopathic killer. Laven had previously studied under the wing of Feed Zinneman and William Wyler.For a 1950s movie, the film is actually rather scary. Not necessarily because of the creature, though, but rather because it includes footage of mollusks (snails or slugs or something) that may be disturbing or frightening for some people. Certainly, they are rather gross in many people's minds. (See, of course, J. P. Simon's "Slugs")Did this film influence future horror and science fiction films? One suspects it must have. You could try to make the connection that it relates to "Jaws" with the closing of the beach, but this is doubtful. And yet, with such an impressive-looking monster, it seems hard to believe that no one took notice.The most unfortunate thing about this movie is that it has fallen into the public domain. Some copies (such as MGM's Midnite Movies version) may be better than others, but far too many prints are dark. A nice digital transfer and restoration would do numbers for this film, but is not likely to ever happen.