the monster that challenged the world

[gastropod]

it was on the other night on turner classic movies. I love watching this movie. the monsters are great. I`ve read reviews about how bad this movie supposedly is. one review called the film over-rated. what is undeniable is that the monsters make the movie! it is a shame, however. once upon a time almost 45 years ago now, joles v. levy and arthur gardner managed to bring to the screen one of the cinema`s most imaginately conceived monsters. of course, it goes without saying that the movie suffers from a bad script, bad dialogue and is not paced very well. what a waste! these monstrous fluid-sucking prehistoric mollusks are so well-conceived. whenever the creatures are on screen it is chilling because they look so horrible and frightening. those scenes at least were done effectively. I wish I could find some info about aspects of the film`s production. such as what the monster actually was; a mechanical mock-up or papier-mache and what became of it after the movie was shot. would anybody know?

[Kolos]

I have no idea what happened to that particular monster, but having worked with things like this, generally they tend to fall apart after the heavy use and abuse which takes place during shooting.  If the monsters from a movie *do* survive, it's because extraordinary precautions were taken by someone on the effects crew to protect them, or they were restored after production.  These things are made to look good on film, not in real life. ;)

And hey, Monster that Challenged the World was made what, almost 45 years ago?  That's a lot of years!

Cheers,

Kolos

[Squishy]

...fer sh*ts n'giggles you can build the model kit!

http://www.monstersinmotion.com/bmovie/monchallworld.html

[Flangepart]

I like this flick. The actors are good.  Hans Conrieid is a pro (But i still kept calling him "Uncle Toonose"). And the hero looks genuinly scared in the "Steamed mollusk" scene. Afraid the monster model was going to fall on him, maby? The Midnight Movies dvd is a good deal. Oh, and the creepy "Map jockey" is a hoot too. Gotta love it!

[Gerry]

I agree with you, Flange.  This movie is head and pincers above most of the giant insect movies of the 50s.

Andrew Kidd (occasional poster here at badmovies) wrote up a really nice review of THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD for my site a few months back.  He puts in a lot of interesting details about the background of the film.

http://www.scifilm.org/reviews/monsterchallenge.html

[BoyScoutKevin]

A man of many talents is Mr.  Conried. Not only the roles already mentioned, but also the voice of Thorin in "The Hobbit," The voice of Snidely Whiplash on "Dudley Do-Right." The voice of Mr. Darling/Capt. Hook in "Peter Pan." The host of "Fractured Flickers." A regular on "Stump the Stars." Thimblerig in "Davy Crockett." Dr. Terwilliker in "The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T." The Slave in the Magic Mirror on  "The Walt Disney  Christmas Show." And as Ali Baba in "Siren of Bagdad," he gets away with one of the most nonsensical lines ever uttered in a film. Wanting to distract a guard, he goes up to him, and says: (I am paraphrasing now) "Pardon me. I know they haven't been invented yet, but do you have a match?"  (ROTFL)

[Flangepart]

Love it! Hans was always good. Great comic timeing. Dr. T was a great film, as it refused to be "Normal", useing perspective in most surprising ways. He is missed.