Oh, the horrors of 1950s B-movies. And I’m not talking scary good, but scary bad.
So many of the creative ideas for monsters were never realized because of low budgets and ridiculously short shooting schedules. Viewers accept that the creatures in these films might look cheap and even laughable, perhaps because that’s considered part of the charm.
But sometimes a low-budget creature can be interesting enough to grab your attention. That’s what happened when I saw photos of the title creature in The Monster That Challenged the World (1957).
It was a giant slug with two big eyes and was surprisingly intriguing. I can’t put my finger on why it looked interesting instead of cheap or ridiculous, but it did. So I went with my gut, watched the film and wasn’t disappointed. Even the writing surprised me in a good way with a touch of humor, characters with some depth and the many tropes we love from ‘50s horror films.
The Monster That Challenged the World follows the horror B-movie formula: An opening narration to set the scene, some type of research/experiments, natural disaster, mysterious deaths and a plucky group of officials and townsfolk who will save the world. Lest not forget grand proclamations which, in this film, include “I’ve never seen anything like this!” and my favorite, “From the moment they’re born, they’re hungry!!” Cue the dramatic music and the warning for humanity. This is why we love these films.
That opening voice-over is usually done by a deep-voiced narrator who holds our attention with his serious tone. Not here. This guy speaks in an odd monotone like a school principal making an announcement on the loudspeaker. By the end of the film, I realized the deadpan tone may have been on purpose since the movie has an unexpected dry sense of humor. (More on that later.)
Our narrator sets the scene in Southern California at the Salton Sea, a strange (and real) phenomenon of 400 square miles of salt water in the desert. So it’s also the site of secret experiments and a Naval research base. Jump-starting the story is a small earthquake, a parachute jumper and two sailors in a patrol boat. We’ll quickly have our first three victims and plenty of questions, like what is that gooey substance on the boat?
Never fear, we’ll get answers along with talk of radioactivity, ancient waterways and prehistoric eggs that means there’s more than one creature, plus explanations of how the dead are drained of blood and water.
It even has the educational nature film scene, also common in these horror movies, where the smart guy explains what’s going on. He’s found that whatever is killing people is like a prehistoric mollusk (think snails). We see one genus, the gonaxis, that has “scissor-like teeth” to shred the flesh off its victims. They are such tiny little teeth that the gonaxis is somehow cute and creepy at the same time.
Beaches will be quarantined and patrols will roam the highways, but the body count continues. It’s up to Dr. Rogers (played by Hans Conried), Commander John Twillinger (Tim Holt) and Dr. Tad Jones (played by familiar face Max Showalter who is billed here as Casey Adams) to use their varied skills to get to the bottom of everything.
Also in the mix are Gail MacKenzie (Audrey Dalton), a widowed secretary at the research facility, and her adorable little daughter Sandy (Mimi Gibson) who just wants to spend time with the bunnies in the lab. What could go wrong? Exactly what you might expect, so be prepared for a tense scene as one of the creatures looks for its next meal.
I think the creature scenes work well because they don’t show too much. We don’t see it “walking,” for example. When it shows up, it makes a statement like when it rises out of the water to tower over a boat or when one tears apart a door with its sharp teeth.
In an interview with Tom Weaver for his book Return of the B Science Fiction and Horror Heroes, producer Arthur Gardner said the creature was made by special effects man Augie Lohman. It stood about 10 feet high and weighed about 1,500 pounds. with a Fiberglas exterior. It took three men – Lohman and two assistants – to control it through a series of air pressure valves.
Unexpected humor, even depth
Since scripts for B-horror movies are so formulaic, there’s usually not much to say about them. But screenwriter Pat Fielder has done a nice job that raises the film up a notch. Her characters have backstories and I like how Commander Twillinger lightened up from being a terse military dude in early scenes to become more patient and likeable.
There’s a low-key humor that allows viewers to smile and even laugh. Case in point is a scene at the morgue:
“The lieutenant said there was something unnatural about the condition of one of the bodies,” says a doctor.
“There was – it was shriveled,” deadpans Commander Twillinger, which made me laugh.
Wait until you meet museum archivist Lewis Clark Dobbs, played by Milton Parsons. It’s a small role that is uncredited in the film, yet it takes over the two scenes he is in. Navy officials visit the museum seeking maps of underground rivers to find more creatures. There, they meet the droll archivist who puts an odd emphasis on words as he speaks, drawing raised eyebrows.
Credit Parsons, a character actor who played more than 150 roles, for the portrayal. But also thank Fielder who smartly gave him a running joke about the failure of “Proposition 14A” (it would have allowed the museum to add a room for maps and other documents). Dobbs repeatedly brings it up, to reinforce the fact that the museum doesn’t have maps because Proposition 14A failed.
“Every once in a while, somebody dies and leaves us a whole lot of documents for our room – the one [room] we didn’t get, you understand. Proposition 14A was defeated,” the archivist says.
I wanted more of this character, but realize too much of him would have spoiled it. He would have been a great recurring character on television sitcom.
Background and trivia
- Fielder and director Arnold Laven also worked together on The Vampire (1957), The Return of Dracula (1958) and Geronimo (1962). Her name was all over television from the late 1950s through the early 1980s. She wrote multiple episodes of The Rifleman, Baretta, The Eleventh Hour and McMillan & Wife, plus the 1981 mini-series Goliath Awaits with Christopher Lee, and single episodes of everything from Starsky and Hutch to The Love Boat and B.J. and the Bear and The High Chaparral.
- In 1951, Laven formed a production company with Jules V. Levy and Arthur Gardner which eventually became Levy-Gardner-Laven. He came up with the concept for the television series The Rifleman and was an executive producer on The Big Valley.
- Look for Jody McCrea, son of Joel McCrea and Frances Dee, in the brief role as doomed Seaman Fred Johnson.
– Toni Ruberto for Classic Movie Hub
You can read all of Toni’s Monsters and Matinees articles here.
Toni Ruberto, born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., is an editor and writer at The Buffalo News. She shares her love for classic movies in her blog, Watching Forever and is a member and board chair of the Classic Movie Blog Association. Toni was the president of the former Buffalo chapter of TCM Backlot and led the offshoot group, Buffalo Classic Movie Buffs. She is proud to have put Buffalo and its glorious old movie palaces in the spotlight as the inaugural winner of the TCM in Your Hometown contest. You can find Toni on Twitter at @toniruberto or on Bluesky at @watchingforever.bsky.social
