1950s Monster B-Movie Reviews (Page 2)

The USAS Sturgeon atomic submarine is mysteriously lost. It is one of many disasters. Commander Vandover is assigned to the Tiger Shark, a specially equipped submarine, and dispatched to the same location, near the Arctic Circle. The human conflict comes via Holloway and the seemingly useless son of his previous superior. The father was a war hero, the son an anti-war peace-lover who lacks conviction. Experts plot the previous attacks and find a pattern. The source seems to be coming from the Pole itself.

A sinking iceberg damages the Tiger Shark, making it temporarily dead in the water. It is at this point they spot an underwater flying saucer they dub 'Cyclops' due to an eye-like aperture at the top. It is around 200 feet across. They complete repairs and the sub begins a search for the aggressor. After each attack it returns to the Pole, so it is surmised that the craft gains its power via magnetism. They decide to place the atomic submarine directly in the path of the Cyclops - between its last attack and the Pole. They go to silent running and wait.

When it shows up they arm torpedoes. When it is within range they fire the torpedoes but they are caught by a gelatinous substance. They decide instead to ram the craft, but they are unable to disengage. The two craft locked together sink to the depths.

They use the Explorer, a new and experimental submersible, with the idea of cutting the sub loose. The peace-loving man, Dan, pilots them to a docking, and a bunch of the crew enter the alien craft. But then they are pulled by the craft towards the Pole. 

As they continue cutting the sub loose they hear a voice. Two of the men are dispatched - one burning with radiation and the other trying to escape.

Commander Holloway meets a huge, intelligent single-eyed and many tentacled creature. It has been seeking out worlds suitable for colonisation, and Earth is a prime candidate. It wants to take Holloway back as a specimen. Holloway shoots its large eye and escapes back to the submersible in the confusion. The submarine pulls loose and the submersible rushes to dock with it.

Meanwhile the eye is repairing itself, and its craft returning to the Pole. The crew of the Tiger Shark have to prevent it from leaving the Earth, and so adapt an onboard missile with a guidance system to home in on the craft as it leaves. As the Cyclops breaks through the ice the surface-to-air missile destroys it.

This one has no notable creature to create the fun element. The obviously very low budget means that a large eye with tentacles does nothing but take damage from a gun, and then takes just enough time to heal itself to allow our heroes to get away. The alien spacecraft interior consists of one cheap set of ramps and walkways (why do tentacled aliens require walkways?) which is filmed in very low light in order to disguise its inadequacies.

There is lots of stock footage to establish locations, and the acting is only tolerable (what do you expect for pocket change). This one, I'm afraid, is dull rather than fun. At least with Robot Monster you know it's trash but can still have a laugh at its expense.

(original review Ty Power 2020)  

A brilliant scientist, his wife and young son travel to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. However, he is knocked down and killed by a truck. While his brother attempts to get into the dead man's wife's affections, his father locks himself away in his laboratory.

Eventually, the father shows his other son a human brain which is connected to several pieces of electronic equipment, and can solve mathematical equations. They work together to build a human automaton, and the dead son Jeremy's brain is inserted. They convince Jeremy he can see, hear and move, but when he sees his image in a mirror he screams out and collapses.

Of course, his supposed widow Anne has no idea what is going on. Jeremy recovers but asks to be destroyed. His father convinces him to continue his work for the good of mankind. Jeremy finally agrees, but stipulates that he will only work in the lab and wants no one else to see him. While they are working Jeremy has a premonition of two ships colliding in heavy fog. Later, the factual news is announced. Jeremy the Colossus has extra-sensory perception.

On the anniversary of his official death Jeremy leaves the lab for the first time, and goes outside to see his grave. He sees and talks to his son, but has to flee when his son's mother Anne arrives. The boy describes the thing to his mother as "The nicest giant ever."

Jeremy witnesses his brother Henry lying to Anne and seducing her. Anne faints and Jeremy carries her Frankenstein's monster-like to her bed. She calls a friend, John, to help her but he doesn't believe her story. Henry has fled to the city but rings for funds. Jeremy's abilities allow him to know just where the man is. Jeremy walks under the water and ascends at the dockside to confront Henry. A light shoots from his eyes and Henry is no more.

He returns to the lab to destroy the equipment, before telling his father that to help the right people he has to destroy the 'useless and the sick slum people of the world' and so has to remove the humanitarians. He hypnotises his father  into helping him, by ensuring he brings Anne and their son to the United Nations building at a certain time.

The Colossus of New York travels there under the water again. Once at the United Nations building he smashes his way in and starts killing people with beams from his eyes. His son Billy runs  up to him, pleading with him to stop. He tells Billy he doesn't think he can, but wants Billy to stop him by moving a handle on his side which switches him off. He collapses heavily. Surprisingly, they just leave with no recriminations, and miss the tears escaping the dead thing's eyes.

Although an enjoyable romp, there are a number of things which are odd about this story. The 'Giant man' asks Billy to call him ,father  and when Billy tells his mother it's the first inkling of the creature's nature. But when the Colossus - the last vestiges of her husband - dies she sheds no tears, as if she is merely an unconnected on-looker. Strange! Indeed, in the flickering lights movement of the carnage-laden climatic scene, no one  seems to be concerned about anyone else who has been struck down.

There are some nice  moments though; in particular the sound of sparking/crackling electricity that accompanies the heavy, stumbling walk of the Colossus. This sometime incorporates other people so they resemble 1920s flickering Keystone Cop movements. Which brings me to the music by Van Cleave. It's a very piano-oriented silent movie style, but it kind of works.

(original review Ty Power 2019) 

Operatives on a wheel in space have been building a ship to very specific designs. The men in blue will be the crew. They have separate training and are not permitted to eat real food, only food supplement pills. After a short period of involuntary paralysis one crewman is given proper food. He knows what this means and refuses to eat it. The condition could become permanent, so he is sent back to Earth.

A scientist arrives on the wheel and tells General Sam Merritt they will not be going to the Moon, as believed, but to Mars. Three of the trained men are chosen to accompany the General and his son, Captain Barney Merritt. During the journey two of the men are sent outside to repair the topside camera view. A huge asteroid looms towards them and the ship is obliged to take evasive action. Even afterwards they are bombarded by stray fragments, and one of the men is killed. He is given a burial in space by the General.

However, the General has his own problems. He is ill and takes to quoting from the Bible, talking of Man’s blasphemy in entering God’s heaven of space, when they were meant to remain on Earth. The others assume extreme fatigue and mental strain, and that rest will combat the ailment. As they prepare to touch down on Mars, the General mutters that they can’t land, they haven’t got the right. He turns on the thrusters, nearly crashing the ship before his son manages to grab the controls and secure a landing on Mars. General Merritt tries to sabotage the ship by opening the water valves. When, again, his son Barney stops him the general pulls a gun. In a wrestle for possession of the weapon it discharges and General Samuel Merritt is killed. The General’s friend accuses the son of murder, threatening a court martial when they return. The General is buried on Mars and a makeshift marker cross placed.

The water is drained from the heating system of the ship in order for them to survive the year until they are able to take off – when the Earth is in the right position. Then the impossible happens: it snows! Heavily. This solves the water shortage problem. The time for take-off nears and rock sample elements have been collected which will prove that, with care and hard work, Mars can be made fertile. Confirmation comes from a seed planted by the General’s grave, which has sprouted.

A Mars quake and rock fall opens up holes in the ground, affecting the stability of the ship. Short on time now, they have to take a chance and fire the retros, hoping it will level the ship so that they can take off. Eventually, it does. They are on their way home. Sergeant Mahoney decides that the story they will tell back home is the General died ensuring a safe landing on Mars. A fitting end for The Man Who Conquered Space.
 

The effects on this one are a little less convincing than they were on George Pal’s earlier offering, Destination Moon. However, the spaceship interiors and particularly the Mars surface are very well realised. Characterisation is good whilst being understandably dated. Many films from this era had similar characters. Whilst not exactly ciphers, they are somewhat predictable. There is even one joker in the pack, again someone less officious with whom the viewers can more comfortably relate. Essentially though, this is a people story, as any genre should be. Yes, it is about a journey and landing on Mars, but it is more about how the crew is affected by being taken out of their comfort zone. 

(original review Ty Power 2018) 

After four years of planning, a satellite rocket test blows-up and crashes. Two years later a private sector engineer is approached to develop a rocket to go to the moon. The idea is presented to the prospective backers by use of a Woody Woodpecker cartoon which answers all the questions sceptics might have. But what really sells it is the military aspect. It’s implied the Russians are planning their own journey by rocket to the moon. Whoever is the first to establish missiles on the moon will hold the power, as there is no defence of an attack from space. The race is on.

The problems they encounter from the outset are very real ones. They are refused permission to test the atomic engines, and there is an organised ground swelling of propaganda against the project. Therefore, they decide to launch the manned rocket untested, and bring forward the take-off to only 17 hours hence. After their communication and radar expert is rushed to hospital at short notice with appendicitis, a reluctant replacement is found – who only accepts because he thinks the others are all crackpots and it will never get off the ground. Someone arrives with a court order to stop the launch, but the astronauts make it to the ship first.

The crew comprises: General Thayer (Tom Powers) – the idea behind the plan, and co-pilot; Jim Barnes (John Archer) – the businessman financing the project; Doctor Charles Cargraves (Warner Anderson) – designer of the craft, and power expert; and Joe Sweeney (Dick Wesson) – radio/electronics expert.
 

There is real tension in the launch sequence. Initial gravitational force and then weightlessness is handled well; you almost feel it with the crew. Their first view of the Earth from space is a spectacular one – although they point out American cities they can see. It’s the first indication this film was made 19 years before the ‘supposed’ first moon landing. A problem with the antennae means the men are obliged to undergo a space-walk outside of the moving ship. A man is accidentally cast adrift and another uses an oxygen bottle, releasing a little at a time to change his direction, to get him back. The landing on the moon is not without complications, but they arrive safely, and two of them leave the ship to be the first men to set foot on the surface.

Earth comes through on the radio and the men describe their first impressions. They might have detected a trace of uranium, but they have another more immediate problem. Corrections in their landing means they do not have enough power to lift off. So they strip the ship of all unnecessary weight. But it’s not enough. They argue about who is going to stay behind; the new recruit even tries to make the ultimate sacrifice. However, desperation has them devise a cagey plan to lose the extra weight of the spacesuits themselves. The last suit is tied to the line of the expired oxygen tank and dragged out of the airlock – the door closing securely behind. The rocket takes-off successfully. They are going home. ‘This is the End of the Beginning.’
 

The acting is competent enough that the moments of ‘people jeopardy’ carry real weight. You feel for the characters. There is even an everyman for the audience to relate to, in the shape of Joe Sweeney. But it’s the technical side of the production which makes the movie work so well.
 

This film has an impressive pedigree. It was produced by George Pal, who went on to make The War of the Worlds in the same decade and The Time Machine in the 1960s. It’s based on the book by science fiction premiere master writer Robert Heinlein, and so reflects Heinlein’s realism. This is foremost an adventure, but is scientifically correct based on what was known at the time (how quickly times change!). The finned rocketship was to be copied in countless other films that followed. Proof of the confidence in this movie is reflected in the extra money spent on colour film and very high production values. The background artwork by artist and designer Chelsey Bonestell is phenomenally impressive, and the special effects won an Academy Award in the year of the film’s release. This was said to have been America's first major science fiction movie. 

(original review Ty Power 2018) 

Lt Prescott is a test pilot who becomes the first man in the stratosphere. He disobeys orders and pushes the craft beyond its planned progress, but then needs to be talked down by a scientist. Chuck Prescott is not only his brother but his superior. He isn’t impressed when Dan wrecks the rocket plane and then disappears, to be found at his girlfriend’s apartment. At another test Dan again disobeys orders to turn, and presses on into space. He is caught in the tail dust of a passing comet, and just manages to return in the nose cone, landing by parachute. But there is no sign of the pilot when authorities arrive at the scene. 

In seemingly unrelated news, a nearby farm has found several animals slaughtered. A strange substance is discovered on the rocket nose cone but it defies analysis. A creature breaks into the Naval blood bank and a nurse is attacked. Shiny specs are found on the nurse and the slaughtered cattle. That night the creature attacks a man and steals his truck.  

Francesca, Dan’s girlfriend, is in medical research and has the results of the tests which show comet dust. A Mexican official (none other than Doctor Who’s first and best incarnation of the Master, Roger Delgado) arrives to complain about the fallen rocket and to seek recompense. The strange substance coating the rocket is guessed to be a protective layer to guard it from the rigours of space. But the coating actually applied itself in space. Why? They can only suppose that the coating has been applied to the pilot, too. That means the killer is Dan, and for some reason he needs blood to survive. 

An erratically driven car is stopped by the police, but the driver is the Dan creature, twisted and coated in a rock-like substance. Although he is shot at, he kills them both and moves on… to the Naval medical research centre, where Chuck and Francesca are theorising about Dan’s plight. The creature smashes into the room but goes straight past them. It appears to have difficulty breathing. The scientist who talked him down the first time gives instructions to lead it into the high altitude chamber. The controls can’t be operated, so Chuck goes in there, too. The altitude allows Dan to breathe more easily, and to think and talk rather than acting on instinct. The only way to help him would be to raise the atmosphere, but that would kill Chuck. So Dan says a few words to Francesca via the intercom and then dies so that Chuck can live.
 

The costume and make-up over the face and spacesuit is pretty good, showing one bulbous eye in the great tradition of monster B-Movies. You have to ask why Dan died even though the pressure had been upped, when he seemed quite happy stumbling around killing people at a normal ground level atmospheric pressure. 

As with atomic-related stories from this era, this one chooses the Unknown as the enemy – in this case, space itself. Hinting at the premise that tweaking the beard of the Unknown can open a veritable can of worms (to mix metaphors). 

(original review Ty Power 2019)  

A mapping expedition of Antarctica is arranged by navy officials. It is also to explore an ice-free warm water area in the region, filmed by an earlier expedition. Margaret Hathaway from the Oceanic Press is to accompany them. Amidst plenty of stock footage, a helicopter from the ship takes off and flies a recce over the ice-thick land. They spot and start to fly over the warm region, but receive warning from the ship of an approaching storm. The pilot finds a break in the storm and heads back. They enter an icy mist with very little visibility, and are clipped by something huge flying past. It affects the altitude control and they start to go down. They also lose communication with the ship. The temperature rises very quickly (it is only when this is mentioned that the four of them begin to feel warm and loosen their clothing). Far below what should be sea level they make an uneasy landing.
 

The humidity is oppressive. The chopper is damaged, so they take some supplies and find a place to sleep. But they are awoken by a loud shrieking noise. With no evidence except an unusual tree it is speculated about the region being from the Mesozoic period. A plane flies overhead looking for them, but the distance is too great and their helicopter’s battery power is low. They find water but there is a dead animal nearby. As they move away they are confronted with two giant lizards fighting each other. The victor splashes into the water, quickly disappearing. They realise why when a tyrannosaurus rex appears. Although it looks okay, the shape is all wrong, and it walks like it’s wearing fishing waders! They climb into the helicopter and throttle it up, hoping to scare the creature with the noise, but it’s only when one of the rotor blades slices into its skin that it backs away.
 

They hear a strange horn sound and speculate that whatever is making the noise is scaring the T-Rex away. Their supplies have been rifled through by what can only have been humanoids – except none existed in this age. When they are separated by the arrival of another giant lizard, Maggie is captured and carried off by a humanoid. Using the emergency dingy from the helicopter, they follow the trail of another boat and confront a man called Dr Carl Hunter, who has survived here for ten years. He offers to show them the wreckage of the crash that stranded him. It’s a possible way out if they replace the broken part on their own helicopter. The condition is that they leave the woman. They refuse and go in search of the wreck themselves. Maggie is caught by a tentacled plant, but is freed by Hunter who vanishes again.
 

To help the others – as their supplies are almost depleted – she takes the boat with the idea of giving herself up. However, a creature rises from the depths and only a shell blown like a horn distracts it. Hunter attempts to fend it off with fire and eventually it leaves. There is another confrontation, but their pilot is prevented from killing Hunter. Hunter relents and gives them a map to the wreck. They find the part they need and return to the chopper. Hunter helps Maggie get back. The helicopter takes off just as the T-Rex returns. Maggie is winched back inside, but the water monster appears and attacks Hunter, knocking him unconscious. They winch him up and ascend, where they are intercepted and rescued, but not before ditching into the sea when they run out of fuel.
 

The stars of this show are, of course, the dinosaurs. On the whole, they are realised pretty well on a very low budget. The sets are also very good, and much use is made of a relatively small area. As in many of these 1950s B-Movies, there is an immediate love interest. It normally involves the guy with the most authority and happens with very little reason or getting to know each other. This is no different, although his colleague is initially jealous. Overall, this is better than average entertainment. Watch out for the odd-looking T-Rex. 

(original review Ty Power 2019) 

Clark Kent and Lois Lane, reporter for The Daily Planet newspaper in Metropolis, arrive in the little town of Silsby for a story on the deepest oil well, only to find it has been shut down after reaching a depth of more than six miles. They are told the reason is classified. Rather than a wasted journey, Clark believes there might be something interesting going on. He and Lois return from their hotel to the site to look around, and discover the night watchman dead. While Lois is phoning for help she sees two humanoid but mole-like creatures looking through the window at her. When help arrives there is nothing to be seen.
 

The others leave but Clark remains with the man in charge of the drilling to wait for the coroner. He tells Clark about samples which were brought to the surface; they glowed with radium and contained living microscopic lifeforms. The man speculates that there could be other creatures down there which have come to the surface – and that is what Lois saw. They receive a phone call saying the pathologist turned over his car after seeing the two creatures on the road.
 

As a lynch mob from the town is about to leave, a scream is heard. The mole men have climbed through a window of a house and a little girl is attempting to talk to them. The ball they have been rolling back and forth begins to glow with radium where they have handled it. Clark makes the change to Superman and reaches the house before the mob. The little girl is alright, and the mole men have moved on. Superman attempts to tell the mob what they are doing is wrong. One of them attempts to attack him, without success. Superman bends his rifle in half, but the mob set off again. The mole men are trapped on top of the dam. Superman tells the mob not to shoot them; that they are radioactive. If they fall into the water it will become contaminated. The leader of the mob shoots Superman but the bullet simply bounces off.
 

However, while Superman is distracted one of the men shoots one of the creatures and it falls from the dam. Superman flies up and catches the mole man before it hits the water. The other mole man escapes but is hounded by men and dogs. It is finally cornered in a hut. The men place brush underneath and set it aflame. It escapes by lifting a floorboard and dropping underneath. It makes its way back to the drilling site and descends through the same hatch it emerged from. Where is Superman in all this time?
 

The sheriff makes the mistake of telling Benson (the mob leader) that Superman took the wounded mole man to hospital. Clark persuades a doctor to remove the bullet but, as Clark leaves the hospital with Lois, the mob arrives. Clark disappears, and Superman confronts the mob, removing their guns from them. More mole men emerge from the hatch with a weapon. Superman brings out their companion from the hospital. Benson appears and tries to shoot them, but the mole men turn the weapon on him. Superman steps in front of the weapon’s beam, thereby saving the man’s life. Superman carries the sick mole man and helps them return to the hatch at the drill site. As they leave, the mole men use the weapon to destroy the drill rig so that no one can ever reach them again.
 

The mole men wear hairy suits with the zip-up back showing. They have boiled egg heads with Spock eyebrows and a bit of side hair. They walk bent-over and often in single file (like moles in a tunnel underground). Although far from convincing, they do provide the viewer plenty of hilarity at their expense. There are a number of unexplained coincidences, where the plot takes over realism (such as it is in these movies). Clark Kent is a much more convincing character than Superman. If you look at any of the series, George Reeves looks fine as Kent but resembles a slightly podgy old man as the superhero. In this, Kent gives so many hints about his identity you would have to be brain dead not to realise.

(original review Ty Power 2019) 

Dr Warren Chapin is performing a post mortem. He explains to Oli, a relative of the deceased that part of the vertebrae is cracked and separated, which he has seen before in victims of severe terror. The relative runs a cinema. Chapin, the pathologist, returns with him to meet the man’s wife. She is a deaf mute with an obsession for hygiene. When Chapin cuts his hand on a broken saucer the woman is struck with intense fear and passes out.

Chapin carries on his own experiments on ‘the Tingler’ – a tangible effect of fear with David Morris, his assistant and love interest to his wife’s younger sister. Chapin’s wife is selfish, nasty and a cheater. When she returns from one such liaison, Chapin offers her an ultimatum to change her ways or ‘commit suicide’ when he changes the scene to make it look like she took her own life. She is terrified at the point he shoots her with a blank. While she is out cold he takes some x-rays of her spine. It is all an experiment. The x-rays reveal a substance or organism along the spine, which appears to be very strong and causes the spine to go rigid.

Chapin speculates with David about how to combat it, and suggests screaming might incapacitate or remove it, which is why the mute woman went into shock and fell unconscious. They need to find someone who can withstand the terror and pain without screaming; that might produce a specimen they can remove. Chapin wants to experience the sensation of the tingler, but nothing scares him. So he administers a solution which induces nightmares. He begins to experience fear but at the height of terror he can’t resist screaming. He realises the ideal candidate is the deaf mute woman, so he visits her under the pretence of calming her so she can sleep. He injects her with the same solution and leaves. She experiences some haunted house-like phenomena and a ghoul appears to stalk her. She runs to another room, only for similar events to happen – including a hairy hand appearing from the closet to throw an axe at her. The fear is becoming palpable.

In the bathroom red blood is pouring from the sink tap (remember, this film is in black and white, so the appearance of red blood is very striking). The bath now is full of red blood, and a hand slowly emerges from beneath the surface. The woman’s husband brings her to Chapin’s lab, after he finds her on the floor, but Chapin declares her dead. In shadow puppet style behind a screen, Warren Chapin pulls a living tingler from her back. After it tries to attack him, he secures it in a box. His wife steals the nightmare-inducing solution and puts it in a drink for him. When he passes out she opens the box and leaves the tingler to attack him. As its pincers attempt to strangle him, his wife’s sister arrives home and screams, rendering it motionless.

It is secured in the box again. However, it seems nothing will kill it, so Chapin has the idea of returning it to the dead woman’s body in the hope it will reduce to microscopic size (it’s original state before the fear set in). But Oli killed his wife himself by frightening her to death. The tingler breaks free from the box and disappears into the theatre below through a broken floorboard. As the patrons watch a silent movie the tingler moves down the aisle. A woman screams and it moves on to the projection booth, and the cinema blacks out to the announcement: ‘Scream. Scream for your lives!’ The tingler is secured again and returned to the woman’s body. After Chapin leaves, Oli experiences his own fear when his dead wife’s body rises and comes for him – probably brought on by his fear of going to the electric chair for her murder.
 

Science Fiction master storyteller, Robert Heinlein wrote a book called The Puppet Masters. This featured the parasitic creature attaching itself to the spinal column and thereby controlling that person to integrate into positions of power. This was probably best realised in the original 1960s version of The Outer Limits, as The Invisibles. The Tingler’s shape and general purpose is a variation on this theme, except that the creature is already there. Other films and TV shows have also touched on this idea. The Tingler itself is well-realised, except the remastering has further revealed the strings. The jerky movement of the strings does, however, produce an otherworldly feel.
 

Vincent Price is excellent, as he is in almost every horror film in which he appears. This is a William Castle film, who had a tradition of trying to increase the suspense by introducing his films and virtually telling the audience to be scared before the film had started. Castle even had selected cinemas with vibrating seats and a Tingler moving down the aisle, to match the scene on the screen. 

(original review Ty Power 2018) 

Three men are mountain climbing in Trollenberg. One is higher than the other two and shouts down that there is a thick mist and he can’t see a thing. Then he suddenly calls down that someone or something is moving towards him. This is followed by a hideous scream. The body falls past them. The two men grab the rope and begin to haul the inert body back up. One of them sees the man’s face, causing him to let go of the rope in shock and terror. The rope rubs on the rock and frays to breaking point. The body is lost.

In a train carriage is a man travelling alone, and there are two women who are sisters. One seems excitable and at times a little frail. When the guard announces the next stop to be Trollenberg the man, Alan Brooks, says he is getting off. The excitable sister, Anne Pilgrim, claims they have to get of here, too. Even though they are supposed to be travelling straight through to Geneva. She tells her sister, Sarah, they can stay at the Europa Hotel, though she has never heard of or been to the place before. In the car from the station she suddenly asks the driver if there has been an accident with climbers on the mountain. Brooks looks at her strangely. She seems to instinctively know a lot about the place.

Brooks goes to meet his friend the professor at the Observatory, who is studying cosmic rays. The professor tells him there is a cloud over one region of the mountain, and that it never moves. What’s more, it’s radioactive. It turns out a similar phenomenon occurred at the Andes. As there was no evidence it was to blame for people going missing, Brooks was practically accused of making up the whole thing.

The two sisters perform a mind reading act for the entertainment of a handful of people at the hotel. When the object described is a snow globe with a mountain and a hut inside, Anne turns trance-like and describes two climbers in the hut. One of them is compelled to go outside, and when the other wakes there is no sign of him. Brooks telephones the cabin and tells the second man to stay inside. A report from the Observatory states that the radioactive cloud has moved down the mountain to the hut. Brooks phones again to warn the climber but hears the man scream in terror. The cloud moves back to where it had been.

Brooks and a rescue party of locals climb the mountain to the hut, which is locked from the inside. Forcing the door, they find the second climber’s body; the head has been torn off. The Professor tries to instruct the Pilgrim sisters to leave Trollenberg. He tells Sarah that Anne has a telepathy and can pick up other people’s thoughts, but that there is a more powerful and manipulative mind out there which could prove dangerous to Anne. But Anne sneaks away from the place she has been taken to for safety. The rescue party find the missing man’s rucksack. The first man to it finds a severed head inside. The head of the man in the hut. The missing man shows up and attacks him with an ice axe. Another man arriving on the scene also gets attacked.

The aggressor turns up at the hotel looking dazed and uncoordinated. As soon as he sees Anne – who has been brought back down from the Observatory – he tries to attack her with a knife. Brooks gives him a good old bunch of fives. When the man later tries for Anne again he is shot dead. It seems that whatever is on the Trollenberg is afraid of the mental abilities of Anne.

The cloud moves down towards the town. Everyone is evacuated to the Observatory, but they barely make it to the top after the cloud freezes the cable mechanism. Three other clouds converge with the first at the Observatory. Inside each cloud is a gigantic alien eye with far-reaching tentacles. Brooks and others use fire bombs in bottles to throw at the creatures. The weapon against them is heat. As a fire bombing raid is arranged with the air force, the creatures attack through the wall of the Observatory. However, the attack by the air force is successful and the creatures burn.
 

This is another solid home-grown science fiction horror from the 1950s, but with Forrest Tucker in the lead role. Ironically, he’s quite convincing even though Brooks seems to spend most of his time leaning and smoking. Laurence Payne plays Truscott, and there’s an early role for Warren Mitchell as Crevett. In America this film was released under the name The Crawling Eye, which rather gives the game away from the start. The screenplay is by Hammer Films stalwart Jimmy (‘Do you want it Tuesday, or do you want it good?’) Sangster. The plot thread of Anne’s mental abilities isn’t really played through. I would have expected the character to be utilised in the last ditch battle with the creatures, but instead she is just used as an excuse for the creatures to attack and is otherwise forgotten. It doesn’t matter though. This is a very enjoyable film which deserves its cult status. 

(original review Ty Power 2018) 

In Guavos, Mexico, a man has lost his truck load of groceries. The young driver is in shock and cannot speak. A policeman takes the man to where the boy was found. There are tracks in the mud but no vehicle – it’s as though it has just disappeared (but we know better, don’t we readers?). In Los Angeles Joyce Manning sees a Mexican news item and contacts the man with the missing truck. She learns of the boy in shock and travels to Mexico and a bedside vigil. She, the policeman and a plutonium expert interested in the case, find a giant footprint and surmise that the Colossal Man, Glen Manning, has survived his fall from the dam and is heading for the mountains.

Joyce (his sister) and an army attempt to find more evidence before the big guns are brought in. They find a collection of wrecked food trucks which Manning has taken sustenance from, and get a glimpse of the giant which is 60 feet tall and has half of his face deformed. It is decided to bake large loaves of bread packed with enough sedatives to render him unconscious, and then drive a vehicle loaded with the bread towards the mountain. The bait is taken. Manning’s unconscious form is loaded aboard an aircraft. No US department feels equipped to deal with the ‘monster’ so he is temporarily secured in a hanger at the airport.

At this point we get a flashback from the first film – The Amazing Colossal Man – which not only brings the audience up to speed, but informs us that Mannering is now remembering his past. His rage breaks him free. All airforce jets are instructed to take off for safety, and Mannering is shot with tranquillisers again. His bindings are reinforced. The next step is to check the state of the giant’s mind via association tests. If his memory is stimulated he can be helped. But even with Joyce’s help he just gets frustrated and enraged. The plan is to ship him to a small island to live alone, but his instinct is to escape. ‘The Colossal Man is loose in Los Angeles.’

He is seen in Griffith Park, and the army’s mobile units are moved in. Spotlights are focused on the area; he is finally pinpointed. Manning doesn’t do much for the whole film apart from issue an ‘Arrggg!!’ now and again, but at this point he picks up a coach full of kids. Joyce drives into the restricted area to plead with her brother to put down the coach and try to think. He speaks his first word in this film: ‘Joyce.’ Then he wanders away to purposefully electrocute himself on the pylons. The Colossal Man is dead.
 

A nice touch is to have the picture change from black and white to colour at the point he is electrocuted amidst a cloud of sparks. Nevertheless, this is a simple rehash of The Amazing Colossal Man. During this period sequels were rare. It was not without reason. There was not enough money to do anything significantly different with the story. So it was seen as a way to make two films whilst reducing the overall cost. I watched this immediately after The Amazing Colossal Man, and so found the sequel a case of diminishing returns. 

(original review Ty Power 2018) 

An army platoon is carrying out radiation detection exercises when they encounter a powerful source. The ground opens up and something unseen escapes. A scientist from a nearby atomic research facility travels to the site to find that an extraordinarily deep fissure has opened in the ground. Two local boys creeping about in the woods at night encounter a frightening presence. One of them suffers first degree burns and ends up in hospital. The scientist goes to the area where the boys were. He finds a hidden dwelling and, inside, an empty radiation container stolen from his own laboratory. The unexplainable fact is there’s not a trace of radiation on or in the pot, and that’s impossible.

Something gets into the radiation lab of the hospital where the boy has just died. Again, uranium is taken, but a doctor sees something terrifying before all of the flesh melts from his face. From a protected room a nurse witnesses the event, but is so traumatised it is considered she will never talk or be the same again. At the site of the fissure two soldiers are killed by the menace. Two scientists and the Atomic Commission investigator consider what they are dealing with. The scientist theorises about an intelligence formed in the Earth’s crust when compressed gases helped form the world.

A volunteer is lowered by winch into the fissure, and sees not only the body of a burnt soldier but something from a nightmare. The volunteer is quickly brought back up and put into a car with the scientist. The military officer orders explosives detonated at the fissure, with instructions above to concrete it over (!). The menace breaks through easily, melting four people in a car nearby. The scientist maps its previous attacks and realises it is making for the Atomic Centre. They try to transport out the cobalt but their adversary is already there. The primal attacker is a huge mass of mud and slime moving quickly to the laboratories. The defenders know it will return to the fissure, so they arrange to quickly evacuate its path of people – who are shepherded to the church in true horror fashion.

There’s no help from the outside, as the radiation of the primordial ooze turns all communication to static. They come to realise if they don’t stop the thing at the fissure it will make for the experimental nuclear station (why didn’t it go there first?). The scientist tests a new process of passing irradiated material through a field which neutralises it. It’s successful but causes an explosion. They have no choice but to try it on the fast-moving mud. A full-scale version of the trial is set-up at the fissure, with the cobalt as the lure. The fissure begins to glow as the mud emerges. The neutralising fields are turned on, producing a high-pitch noise and an explosion. It worked. The sentient energy mud creature is no more.
 

On screen thanks are given to the War Office in the production of the film. It’s a British venture set in Scotland, wherein most of the characters speak with educated middle class accents. This is to all intents and purposes a Quatermass-like story. The science is solid but exaggerated, aside from the science fiction element of the sentient mud (you’ve got to have a monster, after all).

This is a Hammer Films production; subsequently, Hammer would almost exclusively stick to horror once they had huge commercial and critical success with The Curse of Frankenstein, The Horror of Dracula and The Mummy. It’s nice to see Michael Ripper, who was in more Hammer films than any other actor – including Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Of course, many of them were small roles: policeman, innkeeper, villager, etc. Here he plays the army sergeant. While we’re playing ‘Spot the Actor’ the surviving boy is played by Fraser Hines, who would pop up ten years later as Jamie McCrimmon alongside Patrick Troughton in Doctor Who.
 

The latter part of the film has a similar structure to The Monolith Monsters; essentially, a town standing in the way of a seemingly unstoppable horror. In a way, what has been done here is what was more recently achieved in the aforementioned Doctor Who. Robert Holmes’ shop window dummies coming to life, and Stephen Moffat’s Weeping Angels – statues which move when you are not looking at them – are both examples of making the mundane frightening. This is no different, with a primordial ooze (mud) moving with a purpose, pretty much filling the same role. A very solid if not outstanding piece. 

(original review Ty Power 2018)