Watch It Conquered the World For Free

Thanks for the memories!

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

When I first saw this movie, I thought it was kind of slow and boring. I don't know what was wrong with me. I admit I had already checked out Zontar: The Thing from Venus on youtube some years before. I did it wrong and should really have watched Corman's It Conquered the World first. Zontar is a remake of this film that somehow manages to be sillier and is definitely far worse in the acting department. This one comes off quite a bit more serious and professional, which might turn out to be less appealing for some, I guess. The thing is: I am a fan of 50s sci-fi movies, and after a second, more considered viewing, I feel that this is one of the stronger ones. The reason? It's got some thought put into it; the characters are mostly rather sympathetic, there are no annoying child actors, it's free of cloying sentimentality or meaningless, dated patriotism or political messages. It's possible to read an anti-commy subtext into the film, if you want to, what with the alien mind control devices supressing emotions and free will and all, but I think you'd be clutching at straws to do so. Besides, isn't it Mars that's "The Red Planet", after all?It struck me that this film is actually a lot like the British classic, Quatermass/The Quatermass Xperiment/the Creeping Unknown. it's probably a coincidence, but still interesting how the stories can be viewed as parallel. here, of course, the satellite sent out into space is unmanned, so instead of a lost astronaut slowly turning into a Space Vegetable before going on a rampage, we get the Venusian Space Squash himself, who immediately finds a nice hot cave to hole up in so he can start mind controlling a few key personnel. It doesn't seem like the smartest plan at first, but I figure if he just turns the citizens of the town into a fighting force of some kind, and if they're the only ones with working power, he might eventually be able to storm the government or something, and enact bigger, more immediately profitable things.I mentioned the cast in my title, and indeed, Corman has assembled a small but reliable group of actors who acquit themselves very well, as far as these things go. Particularly I have to single out lee van Kleef as a rather sympathetic, misguided scientist, who gets lured into some kind of long-distance friendship with the alien, whom he is convinced is coming to Earth to save us from our evil, destructive natures. There were some classic science fiction stories with a similar premise, only in many of those that I can recall, the radio-alien did in fact turn out to be benevolent. not so here. it clearly seeks to dupe our mr Anderson, and enslave the world! Anderson's wife is played by a woman named Beverly Garland. I'm not sure off-hand if I've seen her in anything else, but I must say she delivers a concerned, somewhat intense performance, that was above average for this kind of film. Although, I must point out that her continual dismissal of her husband at the outset as a sick, insane man seems a little unfortunate. She means really well though, and after all, is kind of the quintessential "normal, caring 50s housewife", I guess. In the end, she transcends this and kind of becomes the hero of the piece.What struck me about this, moreso than in Zontar, which just seemed kind of bad-tempered (or maybe that was John Agar?), was just how grim this film actually is. Most of the characters die, and not very nicely. Dr. nelson shooting his wife was particularly cold-blooded seeming. He didn't even bother to try and find out whether she could be cured or something. It felt unusual to me that a 50s SF film should so mercilessly bump off its characters. In the end, I think it adds to the sense of authenticity or serious intent which this movie has. I've read comments about people finding this film slow and "talky", as if movies where people talk to each other are somehow a bad thing. To hell with that, I say. Sure, this film's dialogue is largely functional rather than stylistic, but you understand these characters and their motivations; you believe Van kleef and peter Graves' characters are friends and there's no doubt especially that Van Kleef's Anderson is not psychotic and genuinely wants to make the world a better place. All this makes the ending that much more tragic.Give this movie a chance, if you are into classic science fiction. If you are willing to settle in for the stately pace, and a story that depicts small stakes to represent much larger ones, I think you may well be as impressed as i eventually was.

An amusing, entertaining and cheesy little B-movie from exploitation king Roger Corman. All factors are present and correct for this typical alien invasion flick, from the violence to the bad special effects to the glamour content. Dispensing with any slow-paced moralising about humans destroying the planet, instead this film concentrates on a plot of alien possession, murder, and then take-over. The cheapness of the movie is clear, but doesn't detract from the inherent fun to be had from the simple premise.This film isn't remotely plausible, but don't let that put you off from watching. Where else can you see flying bat-creatures capable of possessing human beings? What if I were to say these creatures are poorly-animated and unconvincing? On top of that, another major plus is that the killer alien RESEMBLES A GIANT CARROT! That's right, it hides in a warm cave for most of the film's running time, only to emerge as a hulking vegetable with rubbery, crab-like pincers! The alien is only destroyed when a scientist sacrifices himself and shoves a blowtorch into its eye, unleashing a steady flow of strawberry jam from the empty socket! The acting is pretty wooden and non-existent, with one notable exception: a winning performance from Lee Van Cleef, who would later go on to star in numerous westerns. Cleef is exceptional as a multi-dimensional scientist, torn between his human instinct for survival and his willingness to help an alien invader conquer the world! His dilemma and eventual sacrifice is actually quite moving. On top of this, a high percentage of the cast die violently; all the women are sacrificed or murdered, and Corman regular Dick Miller appears as a comic-relief soldier. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is an obvious influence, but this doesn't stop IT CONQUERED THE WORLD throwing in its own ideas as well as a few snatches of fearful paranoia. Not bad at all; apart from the monster that is!

Roger Corman directed this cult classic that stars Lee Van Cleef(!) as Dr. Tom Anderson, a disgruntled scientist who aids a creature from Venus in its plans to conquer the world. It uses bat-like creatures to brainwash and control the population to minimize resistance, but Dr. Paul Nelson(played by Peter Graves) successfully overcomes the creatures, and leads the authorities to the cave where it is hidden, though Tom's wife(played by Beverly Garland) gets there first, since she plans to shoot it dead. It is revealed to be a bizarre cucumber-like alien that can only wobble around! Good cast and memorable(though laughable) looking alien can't save this ridiculous film. Not yet on DVD, though has been on YouTube.

While It Conquered the World can't compare with some of the best sci-fi from the 50s, it's still a fun movie if you can get past the special effects. The plot is straight out of the 1950s Guide to Sci-Fi/Monster Movies. An alien comes to earth with the intention of taking over the place. The alien uses some sort of bat looking things to help him gather "volunteers" to his cause (they hit them in the back of the neck and inject them with some mind-control device). The biggest difference between the plot of It Conquered the World and other similar movies is that one character, Dr. Tom Anderson (Lee Van Cleef), is in communication with the alien and willingly tries to help him. This brings the whole Red Scare subtext found in a lot of these movies to the front as Dr. Anderson's friend and colleague Dr. Paul Nelson (Peter Graves) calls him a traitor. Being called a traitor (i.e. a commie) was about as bad as you could get in the 50s.One thing that elevates It Conquered the World is the cast. You don't expect (at least I don't expect) to see names like Peter Graves, Lee Van Cleef, Beverly Garland, and Dick Miller in the same low budget Roger Corman film. I can't think of many movies shot on this kind of budget with four names I'm so familiar with. Corman really had a knack for spotting young talent.The less said about the special effect the better. The monster is not as bad or poorly thought out as something like Ro-Man from Robot Monster, but it comes close to being just as silly. It Conquered the World might have benefited from not showing the monster. I recently watched The Space Children and noted that Jack Arnold was wise to limit his monster's screen time. What I wrote for that film applies here too – "Too often, low-budget sci-fi films from this period look ridiculous because of the desire for elaborate special effects (i.e. monster and aliens) that outstripped the funding it would require." In the end, while you can certainly find better sci-fi from the 1950s than It Conquered the World, you can just as easily find much worse. This one is about average but worth at least one look if you're into this kind of thing. You might want to check it out just to hear Peter Graves closing speech – "Man is a feeling creature, and because of it the greatest in the universe. He learned too late for himself that men have to find their own way, to make their own mistakes. There can't be any gift of perfection from outside ourselves. When men seek such perfection they find only death, fire, loss, disillusionment and the end of everything that's gone forward. Men have always sought an end to our misery but it can't be given, it has to be achieved. There is hope, but it has to come from inside, from Man himself." It's worth the price of admission if you ask me!