Alicia I love this movie so much

Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

kennethfrankel The old scientist professor also played Applegate in the Hardy Boys Mickey Mouse Club series "The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure" or The Tower Treasure as it is sometimes called. "Gold doubloons and pieces of eight handed down to Applegate..." narrated by Tony the Tiger's voice in the opening clip.The fleeing native northern folk are taken from S.O.S. Eisberg (1933) or Iceberg in the American version. This had a rare film starring role appearance by Leni Riefenstahl, who went on to film "Triumph of the Will". That film documented a famous party rally in Nuremberg. She spent the rest of her life trying to regain some control over the film rights after the defeat of Germany in 1945.An aside -- The various DEW lines could end up like ringing the dinner bell for alien races. The carrier wave would be detected really far away, and it would change on a regular 24 hour cycle. So it is real evidence of intelligent life. That is not part of the movie plot.

bkoganbing From that great series of classic prehistoric beasts of the Fifties, The Deadly Mantis is a prehistoric insect the size of about three tractor trailers who gets thawed out of the Arctic ice and begins moving south for warmer climate and food. The Air Force spends a lot of time trying to kill this tough old bug, throwing everything they can at it, save atomic weapons. Given the speeds that this mantis is going which rival and in some cases excel what our latest jet fighters are doing, that would have been impractical.The film focuses on the efforts of three people to bring the mantis down, fighter pilot Craig Stevens, paleontologist William Hopper, and photojournalist Alix Talton. Of course a little romance gets going between Stevens and Talton while Hopper is strictly business.You have to wonder though what ancient prehistoric earth might have been life if indeed insects got that big and were flying around at supersonic speeds. Maybe they're what killed the dinosaur.Other than the special effects to create The Deadly Mantis that were done at a major studio being Universal, the film itself is a no frills affair even with a small romantic interlude. The Deadly Mantis is in keeping with a great tradition of Universal horror classics.

BA_Harrison An over-sized prehistoric preying mantis—trapped for millions of years in ice at the North pole—is released by seismic activity and proceeds to make its way south (to New York, of course), attacking US defence stations and military aircraft along the way. It's up to Col. Joe Parkman (Craig Stevens) to save the day, with a little help from paleontologist Ned Jackson (William Hopper) and his plucky assistant Marge Blaine (Alix Talton).I had the 70s Aurora model kit based on this monster movie when I was a kid; it featured a cityscape diorama in which the mantis stood proudly over several crushed cars; now, 35 years later, I've finally caught up with the movie, and am pleased to say that the model they used for filming was far better than the one I built (try as I might, I would always get in a mess with the cement). But even though the big bug is well realised—a nicely detailed marionette with glowing eyes—the film itself leaves much to be desired: it takes an absolute age to get going, there's an over-reliance on stock footage to pad out the action, and the script is extremely talky.Worse still, despite its terrifying appearance, the mantis proves to be a huge embarrassment to the atomic-era big bug fellowship, a lightweight in the chomping department, failing to chalk up the requisite number of human victims during its long journey south, and equally crap in the stomping department: having flown all the way to New York (suspended on clearly visible wires), the big bug neglects to go on a rampage in the streets like any self-respecting B-movie monster, instead opting to hide in the Manhattan Tunnel where a few well-aimed cans of pesticide soon put paid to his antics. Rather pathetic, eh?

Woodyanders A huge prehistoric praying mantis gets unleashed from an iceberg in the Artic and embarks on the expected destructive spree. Shrewd and helpful paleontologist Dr. Nedrick "Ned" Jackson (a lively and engaging performance by William Hopper) joins forces with the military to find a way to stop the pesky critter. Director Nathan Juran, working from a tight and straightforward script by Martin Berkeley, relates the entertaining story at a steady pace, does a nice job of creating a spooky and mysterious atmosphere in the opening third, maintains a serious tone throughout, and stages the monster attack scenes with real aplomb. This film further benefits from solid acting by an able cast, with especially praiseworthy work by Alix Tilton as perky journalist Marge Blaine, Craig Stevens as the stalwart Col. Joe Parkman, Florenz Ames as the wise Prof. Anton Gunther, and Donald Randolph as the no-nonsense General Mark Ford. The big bug looks pretty gnarly and the climax with the wounded over-sized insect trapped in the Holland Tunnel is both tense and exciting. Ellis W. Carter's sharp cinematography makes neat occasional use of artful fades and dissolves. The robust score by Irving Getz and William Lava does the rousing trick. Best of all, this movie has an earnest quality to it that's impossible to either dislike or resist. A very enjoyable creature feature.