Review of “The Monster that Challenged the World” (1957)

This black-and-white monster flick is our latest Saturday pizza and bad movie offering. It was the usual fare in many ways, but atomic contamination did not spawn the monster this time.

Plot:

Outside a naval research base near the Salton Sea in Southern California, an earthquake rocks the seabed. Later, a seaman named Hollister executes a parachute jump into the water, and a patrol boat carrying Seamen Fred Johnson (Jody McCrea) and Howard Sanders (William Swan) goes to recover him. His parachute floats on the surface, but they find no sign of the jumper. Johnson dives into the water to search for him but sees no trace. He submerges again to look on the other side of the boat.

Sanders becomes concerned when Johnson does not resurface. A shadow falls across him, and the viewer sees panic on his face. He screams.

When the land radio operator, Seaman Wyatt (Charles Tannen), cannot raise the patrol boat, he eventually contacts Naval Intelligence. The new guy in charge, Lt. Cmdr. John “Twill” Twillinger (Tim Holt), goes out with Lt. Robert “Clem” Clemens (Harlan Warde) in a boat to investigate.

They find Sanders dead aboard the anchored boat but no sign of Johnson. They also find a white, sticky substance and collect a sample (in a cigarette case?) for analysis at the lab. While they search, the body of Hollister, the parachutist, surfaces, oddly desiccated and the skin darkened.

The authorities wisely close the beaches.

At the lab, the viewer (and “Twill”) meet the lovely Gail MacKenzie (Audrey Dalton), who works the phones and types. Her friend, Connie Blake (Marjorie Stapp), brings Gail’s daughter, Sandy (Mimi Gibson). She’s there to pick up her husband, George (Dennis McCarthy), a lab assistant. Judging by the oversized smock-like shirt she’s wearing, Connie is either an artist or in the family way.

George Blake tells Twill that the white substance is a “marine secretion,” whatever that is, and that he wants to perform more tests on it.

When Twill checks with Coroner Nate Brown (Byron Kane), he learns that Hollister died of a puncture wound. Something drained all the fluids from his body. Sanders died of a stroke, induced, the coroner supposes, by extreme fear or excitement.

Two men from the lab, George Blake and Dr. Tad Johns (Max Showalter, credited as Casey Adams), dive into the lake and find an odd balloon-like structure. They cut it loose and bring it up. A creature about the size of a Volkswagen, looking like a segmented worm with pincers at the sides of its mouth, attacks and kills Blake. Johns returns to the surface.

An egg/larval stage of the creature, which the science-y people insist on calling a mollusk, is submerged in a vat of cold water to keep it from maturing.

What could possibly go wrong with that? Especially when there are no failsafe mechanisms?

Thoughts:

The movie contains some genuinely scary moments. The viewer can’t help but feel for the poor sailors who end up as monster fodder during the opening scenes. Where is Hollister? There’s his ‘chute. He can’t be far. Johnson jumps in the water after him, and then Johnson’s gone.

The monster is goofy-looking, but its shadow is scare-the-bejesus-out-of-you material.

To my surprise, one scene reminded me of Jaws. After a fight with her mother, one character, Jody Simms (Barbara Darrow), takes off to the beach—after it’s been closed, naughty girl—to go swimming with her boyfriend, of whom her mother disapproves. She is suddenly swimming by herself. Something pulls her under. There are no ominous alternating two-note bass note march of death warning her she’s going be munched, of course.

The big flaw in this flick is that it is a bit slow and complicated. It involved a lot of people. There is some comedic relief with the introduction of eccentric characters. The title doesn’t fit the movie, either. The monster is a danger, but he’s just doing his monster thing. Bummer that he finds humans tasty. He’s not trying to take over the world.

The cynical part of me can’t help but note the irony: the “mollusk” is a disaster released when water from the Salton Sea (an artificial lake) awakens dormant monsters. The Salton Sea, regarded as a resort in the 50s and 60s, became a real-life environmental disaster. How aware of that the people making the movie were, I can’t say.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie. There are scary moments, goofy-looking monsters and all. Not everything that the trailer shows happened in the movie.

Unfortunately, the only places I could find it for streaming were subscription services.



Title: The Monster That Challenged the World (1957)

Directed by
Arnold Laven

Writing Credits
David Duncan…(story)
Pat Fielder…(screenplay)

Cast (in credits order)
Tim Holt…Lt. Cmdr. John “Twill” Twillinger
Audrey Dalton…Gail MacKenzie
Hans Conried…Dr. Jess Rogers
Barbara Darrow…Jody Simms
Max Showalter…Dr. Tad Johns (as Casey Adams)

Released: 1957
Length: 1 hour, 24 minutes