Monster That Challenged the World (1957)

Cast:

Tim "I was in the Treasure of Sierra Madre" Holt is Lt. Cmdr. John 'Twill' Twillinger
Audrey Dalton is Gail MacKenzie
Hans "Voice of Thorin from the animated Hobbit" Conried is Dr. Jess Rogers
Harlan Warde is Lt. Robert 'Clem' Clemens
Max Showalter is Dr. Tad Johns

Very Short Plot:

An underwater earthquake in the Sargasso sea yields up the eggs of a long-extinct sea monster. Once hatched, the monster's offspring (which resemble huge snails) sustain themselves by sucking the life forces of various unlucky human land dwellers. Even worse, these horrendous creatures procreate at an incredible rate, laying 3000 eggs per sitting.

Plot:

At a naval base at the Salton Sea in California, an earthquake is centered under the sea. The Navy continued with a parachute test and to retrieve the jumper. The 2 crewmen can’t find Lieutenant Hollister. Something gets the guy in the boat.

Later, Commander Twillenger, a naval investigator, goes to check on the pickup crew and finds the abandoned boat. The goopy Hollister’s body surfaces. Twillinger takes a sample of the goop to Dr. Rogers. Gail, Dr. Roger’s secretary, starts casting eyes at Twillinger.

At the morgue, the bodies were drained of all their blood and water. The other man died of fright. What could scare a healthy man to death? Twillinger decides it would be best to quarantine the beaches until figure out what is going on.

Dr. Rogers learns the goop is radioactive.

Ma Sims is mad that her daughter, Jody, wants to go out with Mort. She heads out with Mort. The couple decides to go swimming and is gotten by the things.

Ma Sims calls the Navy and blames the man for running off with her daughter. Twillinger is on the case and finds some kids with a sailor’s cap. Twillinger is led to Mort and Judy’s clothes and finds some more goop that at least isn’t Ben Stiller’s hair gel.

Divers drag the sea. Twillinger and Dr. Rogers are on the boat. The divers find a cave with a large radioactive sac. They cut it free and take it to the surface. The divers find Judy’s body when a Monster gets one of the divers. Rogers realizes the sac is an egg sac.

To your left, you'll notice a giant slug.

After getting back to shore, Gail is starting to get warm to Twillinger.

Dr. Rogers wants to use depth charges in the area to destroy the monster eggs. He gives a brief of the eggs. The monsters are related water mollusk with soft skin and hard shells. Let the stock footage of snails ensue. They are born hungry. The monster must be kept from getting into the canals to escape out into the world.

Twillinger asks Gail on a date.

Why, yes, I am a saucy tease... She shoots him down at first. Later, Gail calls him back up and changes her mind.

The beach patrol finds a goop covered man near a canal. They realize there must be an underwater river and must find the new hive of the monsters. Twillinger starts looking for old maps.

Twillinger has the canals guarded at each lock and wait for the monsters get spotted.

While Gail is on the phone, her daughter, Sandy, looks at the rabbits. She tampers with the temperature controls on the egg sac. Sandy sneaks back and isn’t caught.

Canal guard, the monster gets away. Twillinger heads out again.

Dobbs, a local historian, finds the maps to locate the underwater river.

Let the stock lock closing ensue.

Dobbs shows Twillinger the map.

Helicopter, Dr. Rogers and Twillinger search for the nest. The men ready the depth charges.

At the lab, the embryos are starting to grow.

The divers find the eggs and plant the charges. They race to escape the explosive blast radius. Big Bada Boom according to Leeloo.

Twillinger tries to call Gail. No answer, He decides to drive Dr. Rogers to the lab.

Sandy checks on the rabbits but are gone. There’s a monster in the lab. Gail and Sandy lock themselves in the closet.

Twillinger and Dr. Rogers are still on the road.

The monster was trying to break into the closet.

Twillinger finally gets to the lab and tries to lure the Monster away from the closet. Fire extinguisher fu.

Call the Orkin Man!!! We've got a Condition Fuschia!!! Gail and Sandy get away. Twillinger starts to toss the random beakers of liquid before settling on CO₂ technique.

The navy arrives to open fire on the monster. Awww, Twillinger, Gail, and Sandy are together………Though the question mark at the "End" scares us into thinking of the possibility of a sequel.

What I say:

The 1950s monster movie. Has there ever been any genre that has been so used up so thoroughly? We've seen movies like Creature From the Haunted Sea with the undiscovered monster, Killer Shrews created by scientist delving into realms of knowledge best left untampered, or their more famous cousin, the giant insect movies like Beginning of the End or Them.

The monser roams around eats a few people and disappears for a while. If the plot sounds familiar, the basic idea was used in 95% of the Sci-Fi channel original movies for the past 10 years. Another thing, this movie reminds me a lot off the Fluke episode of the X-Files. Killer monster in the water, trapped through a series of locks. Of course, there's also the "ending or is it?" vibe.

A 1950s monster movie where the creature was killed with a fire extinguisher? That seems so familiar...Like it was done in another movie. Hollywood wouldn't have stolen from another movie so directly. The Blob came out in 1958, a year after this movie so no rants how Blob was ripped off.

Tim Holt gives a sort of Glenn Ford vibe. That definitely isn't a bad thing. Tim Holt starred in a number of low budget Westerns. However, he is probably better known for starring in the Treasure of the Sierra Madre with Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston.

For once, in the 1950s, scientist wasn't responsible. I know that is almost impossible to believe with so many times, the scientists are tampering in fields best left unknown that lead only to madness and death ala Dr. Frankenstein. Hans Conried gives a kind of weaselly Jonathan Harris Dr. Smith of Lost in Space vibe for Dr. Rogers without the craven cowardness.

What does every monster movie need? If you guessed a precocious spoiled bratty little girl that endagers everyone by her doing whatever is necessary for her to get her way, you'd be close to right. If you guess, she cries after endangering the world because this Monster Challenged the World, you'd be 3rd degree ninjapprentice. However, normally, it is a little boy named Tommy...We call this eqality by making girls as annoying as boys in 1950s movies. The devil child girl, raised the temperature which caused the egg to hatch.

Quotable Dialogue
"Sure is an eager beaver."
Science fact and science fiction are 2 different things."
"I'd rather not...conjecture."
From the instant they're born, they're hungry.
Morals of the Story
Naval officers must smoke pipes.
"Morty is a real tough name."
All coroners must eat sandwiches around corpses.
10:15 PM is too late fora first date.
Guys who claim monsters that don't exist, will always get eaten.
Giant prehistoric slugs have radioactive blood.