The Monster That Challenged the World
by Arnold Laven
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Actor: Audrey Dalton, Hans Conried, Harlan Warde, Max Showalter, Tim HoltDirector: Arnold Laven
Cinematographer: Lester White
Editor: John Faure
Producer: Arthur Gardner
Producer: Jules V. Levy
Writer: David Duncan
Writer: Pat Fielder
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 83 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-08-28
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of The Monster That Challenged the World
DVD Review: Monsters We Can Believe In
Summary: 4 Stars
Audiences of the 50s took their monsters seriously. The events of the Second World War were still fresh enough in their collective minds to demand that the United States defeat Hollywood's squiggly beasties with the same determination that it confronted the Axis powers. In THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD, director Arnold Laven creates a high level of tension in his tale of a voracious oversized caterpillar that emerges from a salt lake to devour swimmers. For a film that was saddled with a low budget, Laven nevertheless managed to assemble a superstar stable of Class B actors, all of whom treat seriously and believably the threat. Tim Holt is the lead as the Handsome Navy Commander who faces down fearlessly the Big Bug with a fire extinguisher. Gordon Jones (from Abbott & Costello's Mike the Cop) is convincing in his role as the town sheriff. Hans Conreid who here plays drama as deftly as he did Uncle Tonoose in comedy in Make Room for Daddy shines as the atomic scientist who tries to identify the creature.
When an earthquake hits the area, the bottom of the lake bed widens to release several gigantic sea bugs that had been hibernating since the Cretaceous. These bugs begin to eat swimmers and lay their eggs for the next generation. The US navy gets involved as it tracks their progress from lake to ocean. TMTCTW is full of varying emotions, not all of which relate to terror and suspense. There is also some underplayed yokel comedy of a weirdly speaking cartographer and the obligatory romance between Holt and Audrey Dalton, who plays a secretary who takes a liking to the beefy Holt. There is also the near obligatory scene of a cute and innocent child who turns a switch the wrong way to awaken the beast from his slumber. But the dramatic thrust of the film is a straightforward account of the discovery, growth, spread, and ultimate confrontation of the bugs by the navy. Audiences saw in these bugs the same sort of threat posed by the enemy of the past decade: squash 'em and get entertained in the process. Hollywood might wish to remember that the old ways to film monster movies may work as well now as then.
DVD Review: Full screen, where is the wide sceen. Its here
Summary: 3 Stars
A good classic film from the 50's. The fact you are looking at this you probably know already. What you might not know is next. 1:85 is made from 35mm film that is cropped in the viewfinder, top and bottom at the time of shooting. During the days of VHS why would a studio crop a 1:85 to full screen when the film minis the crop was already full screen. If it is a major film they might have done pan & scan but a lesser film, just scan it as is. You can see the cost savings. This appears to be the case also with some full screen DVDs but to a lesser degree. I believe "It! The Terror from Outer of Space" and "The Monster that Challenged the world" are these full prints. Just set your DVD player to full and TV to Zoom. Your player and TV may us different terminology. I watched It! and Monster this way (Wide 16:9) and it works! No heads cut off. No missing action. You'll notice the title and credits fit perfectly. (If they don't you don't have the set up right.) It actually played better because the close up added tension. No extraneous views of sets or background. Just as I'm sure the director and cinematographer wanted. Just crop it and watch it in wide screen.DVD Review: SOLID 50'S SCI-FI WITH A MEMORABLE MONSTER!
Summary: 4 Stars
It's tough for me to be hard on these old Sci-Fi films. I loved them so much as a kid I just can't seem to pick apart these kooky monster movies. This film is better than the title suggest, but there are some plot points that are laughable! The "Monster Mollusks" are very cool looking and graced the interior pages of Famous Monsters magazine many times. It's a pretty solid flick with a very good cast.
The print looks pretty good, but it states it has been "modified to fit your TV screen". This is not true as this film was shot in this format. Back in the day most of these films were matted when shown at theaters giving it a widescreen appearance. So this is the correct aspect ratio. I'm glad to have this film in any form, but I wish there were some extra material. The creatures deserve a featurette and a complete restoration and remaster of the print would be nice. This film deserves better treatment. I see this has been re-released on DVD as a double feature with 'It The Terror From Beyond Space' which is another good film from the 50's. Buy the double feature and enjoy these old classics!
DVD Review: SCARED THE BE-JEEZUS OUT OF ME!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this as an impressionable young tyke & it's gastly images still hold root.
Played in a pretty straight-forward sombre tone this sci-fi thriller shocked me right off in the opening sequence when the Navy diver...well, no sense spoiling anything... And a wife's loss of her husband is certainly more touching than most of what this genre offers.
And it's these little touches that make this offering somewhat more realistic than let's say, THE GIANT CLAW.
Good acting, good direction and an interesting story keep this moving right along. Hero Tim Holt is not your ordinary military type; he's revealed to be more humanistic, awkward at times, uncomfortable in the romantic situations, unsure of his actions yet determined to put an end to THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD!
I fondly remember Holt with actor Richard Martin in an earlier series of B-Westerns in which they usually played Tim & Chito respectively. These were lots of fun and should be checked out by those who may be interested.
THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD is a very well-made example of 1950's Horror/Sci-fi.,competently made and executed on all levels.
And the MGM print is EXCELLENT!!
This is a must-have.
DVD Review: MERELY RIDICULOUS
Summary: 1 Stars
There are two glaring omissions in this movie that send it below the camp category to the merely ridiculous bin.
First, is that thoughout the movie, the U.S. Navy fights the monsters with no weapons. Even at a research lab you would think the Navy might have a spare .45 or M-1 lying around. Yet even when the sailors go out to find the monsters they carry no weapons. Here plot necessity drives reality. Since the mollusks are soft-bodied they are easy to kill. Therefore, the Navy has to be disarmed to sustain the tension. Even when it becomes clear that monsters are indeed challenging the world, no armed troops show up. Instead, the "hero" {Tim Holt} is reduced to throwing glass beakers at a mollusk threatening the love interest and her adorable daughter {Mimi Gibson}.
Moreover, the film makers did this on a shoe-string and a very frayed one at that. The Navy has no boats. Instead, the sailors float around on a couple of tacky looking wooden rejects, no doubt borrowed from the localfishing fleet.
You may enjoy the primitive amateurishness of this, but only if you keep your tongue very hard pressed against your cheek.
Blaine in Seattle.
Description of The Monster That Challenged the World
A highlight among 1950s creature-features, The Monster That Challenged the World is a near-classic B movie that never goes out of style. When an earthquake reveals a nest of giant, prehistoric sea mollusks at the bottom of California's Salton Sea, the local body count skyrockets. Navy lietenant Twillinger (Tim Holt) takes command, assisting the obligatory scientist (Hans Conreid) while wooing the June Cleaver wanna-be (Barbara Darrow) who inevitably tangles with the monster--a flailing caterpillar-like beastie with snapping mandibles and a voracious appetite. With a moment of vintage gross-out ("Get the eye! Get the eye!"), well-handled suspense, and the requisite balance of tepid romance and sci-fi jargon, this is a prime companion to any film in the atomic-monster lineup. The aging Holt made only two more movies after this (following a thriving career in Westerns), but he gives Monster his best shot and comes up a winner. --Jeff ShannonScience Fiction DVDs
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