Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Hitchcoc This takes place in the Salton Sea in California. There are radioactive slugs in the sea and they begin to feast on the population. They are rubbery things that are created on a low budget. Radioactivity was a constant during this time, especially after the bomb in 1945. I've always had a problem with monster from the sea attacking those on land. There was that giant octopus that went after San Francisco. Its tentacles flopped down on land, but all people really should have done was to walk a few feet away. These things remind one of some sort of insect but they are more like rubber discs. This movie is not up to some of its 1950's peers.

Paul Andrews The Monster That Challenged the World is set in California i a small inland named Salton Sea where a naval base have been conducting radioactive experiments, a large Earth tremor has recently stuck the area & during a routine pick-up of a parachutist contact is lost with the pick-up boat. Lt. Commander John Twillinger (Tim Holt) leads the search party & finds the boat with a dead man aboard & another dead, shrivelled up man in the water who seems to have had all his bodily fluid sucked out. The investigation to the cause of the death's is underway as naval scientist Dr. Jess Rogers (Hans Conried) leads the enquiry. When a local girl & a soldier from the base mysterious disappear near a lake divers are sent in to have a look at the bottom & are horrified to discover a huge sea mollusk with a taste for human blood, even worse is that it has laid eggs & there's a very real prospect of these giant monsters breeding in their thousands across the world & wiping out humanity...Directed by Arnold Laven this 50's monster film is quite good for it's type & while it has dated it's still a pretty good time waster in a nostalgic sort of way, there are better giant monster films out there but there are far worse too. While it does take itself quite seriously at times the script isn't that bad, a few of the minor character's have slightly more depth than one might expect with a strange store clerk getting a fair bit of dialogue & screen time. As you would expect the science on show here in The Monster that Challenged the World is dubious at best & ludicrous at worst with a lecture on mollusk's complete with footage of Snail's that basically contradicts everything I know about them! Since when were Snail's meat eater's & since when did they live mainly in water? The script also throw's in the standard 50's theme about the danger's of radiation & atomic testing just like all good 50's giant monster films do although after raising the issue it completely drops it by the end. One thing that surprised me a bit was the length of The Monster that Challenged the World, most of these monster films from the 50's only last for about 70 odd minutes but this lasts almost 90 & while the pace isn't great just about enough happens to sustain one's interest. Unfolding in fairly predictable fashion The Monster that Challenged the World has enough going for it to be worth watching if your a fan of these types of films & I can't recall another monster film that features giant sea Snail's either so at least the makers tried something a little different.The Monster that Challenged the World could have been a minor classic had a bit more time & care been put into it's set-pieces which are alright but a little lacklustre. The initial dive to the underwater & the discovery of the monsters could have been milked for more suspense, the divers destroy the remaining creatures & egg's far too easily at the end & even the climax in the lab seems a little half hearted with the monster just sort of rooted to the spot & not trying to do anything other than make it as easy for Twillinger to kill it as possible. The giant sea Snail's look pretty good actually, it's a shame there's not a little bit more movement but at least it's not just some guy in a rubber suit & it's pincers & stubby arms move to try & give it some semblance of life even if it is a little stiff at times. A couple of dead bodies are seen including one all shrivelled up.With a supposed budget of about $254,000 the production values are decent if unremarkable, the special effects are good for the time it was made. The acting isn't anything special, I can't say that I recognised anyone from the cast.The Monster that Challenged the World is a fun 50's black and white giant monster film with a good & fairly original monster but it lacks a certain something, it's definitely worth watching especially if your a giant monster film fan & I enjoyed it for what it is but I can't say much more than that.

ebiros2 This is one of the many movies that were made in the '50s featuring "giant" prehistoric creature. Out of the bunch, this is quality made, and is a good movie to watch even today.The acting is good in this movie, and it's not about men standing around and philosophizing over what to do as many of the movies of this type are. There's real story, and monsters appear when you want to see them. Suspense and intrigue is palpable, and just when you think the story is coming to an end, there's the second cliff hanger.This movie was popular back in the '60s as reruns on TV. It was a good watch back then, and it still holds its quality over the years. A very rare case for '50s B sci-fi movie.

Chase_Witherspoon When an earthquake awakens century-old giant mollusks with tusk-like mandibles and an appetite to match the long-hibernation, naval Captain Twill (former cowboy star of the forties Tim Holt) applies his no-nonsense, practical man skills to solve the problem. But not before some of his friends, subordinates and bystanders are inhaled. Single mother (Dalton) woos the affections of the married-to-the-uniform Twill, while her child (prolific child actress Gibson) causes untold grief while unattended in the laboratory. Oops! Did I bump the humidicrib regulator and accidentally breed a parasitic behemoth that could destroy the base? Evidence of why children should never be taken to the workplace, even if for the purpose of procuring cheap labour.What distinguishes this picture, however, from the litany of inferiority that contaminate most of the fifties monster sub-genre is its acting. Holt is uber-professional in his timing, expression, delivery and especially interplay with the less experienced cast around him. Dalton, a former theatre actress, is also robust and there's excellent support in veterans Conried and Jones. The monster mollusks, which look like super-magnified maggots make horrendous shrieking yowls and are mostly concealed from view (the 'what lies beneath' imaginings do the job for the most part). Their inspired creation are among the more memorable movie monsters, not entirely absurd nor without some shock value considering the production scale.Reasonably fast-paced, although the time taken to discover the presence of the monsters is longer that most audiences might expect. The narrative build-up is consistent with the mystery theme most often used in these types of movies, and serves the purpose reasonably well; the early conjecture about the aquatic assailant being a large shark was not an original alibi in terms of plot development, but nevertheless maintains engagement until the true monster is revealed. Certainly one of the key creature-features of its halcyon era and recommended viewing for even the casual admirer.