American International Pictures [1956] 71′
country: United States
director: ROGER CORMAN
cast: PETER GRAVES, LEE VAN CLEEF,
cast: BEVERLY GARLAND, SALLY FRASER
Roger Corman is nothing if not prolific – having produced 385 films [just over 7 a year since 1954] and directed a comparatively slim 55, the producer/director/writer and sometimes actor has become a household name. At least he has in those corners where they prefer their cinema hard, fast, and cheap.
IT CONQUERED THE WORLD is a picture from a time when Corman productions were not quite so fast – he would direct only three films in 1956, a number disparagingly trumped by the 9 he was to helm the following year. He was quick in recognizing the market potential of low budget creature features after the success of his meagerly produced MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR and THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED [made for just over $100,000 combined] and, thusly, this 1956 effort was born with all the trademarks of a Corman creature feature intact.
Small, relatively unknown cast – check. Isolated location – check. A vague and exploitative title hinting at events far beyond the scope of the film’s budget – check. And finally, a ridiculous monster to plaster all over the advertising materials and guarantee the youth turnout – double check. Let the fun begin!
Man is finally ready to move into space.
IT CONQUERED THE WORLD begins with the launching of a new test satellite as part of a government project helmed by scientist Paul [Peter Graves] – trying his offensive best [calling those you wish to listen to you "fat-heads" is probably not conducive to gaining their cooperation] to keep the project from moving forward is part-time scientist and full-time crack pot Tom [Lee Van Cleef], who warns of vague dangers posed by our launching various whatsits into space. Those vague dangers become alarmingly real when the satellite is hijacked by an intelligent life-form from Venus who, under the guidance of Tom [who hopes the creature, which he communicates with via a radio in his living room, will usher in a new golden age of science], uses it to land on a secure and appropriately Venus-like location [a cave near a hot spring] on Earth.
The Venusian intelligence – referred to by Tom as the ‘benefactor’ – uses its superiority to override all of the Earth’s mechanical devices, from cars all the way down to water faucets. Paul and his wife Joan [Sally Fraser], as well as Tom’s wife Claire [the recently passed Beverly Garland], all begin to take Tom’s predictions, once a source of idle amusement, considerably more seriously. When local officials – the sheriff, a general, and the entire staff of the satellite control station – become possessed by bat-like control devices unleashed by the benefactor, Tom’s family and friends begin to worry that his Venusian friend is really a menace bent on the conquest of Earth. Meanwhile, Tom continues to bask in his pipe dream of forming the world into his own brand of logically minded scientific wonderland with the assistance of his unseen Venusian benefactor.
But soon the benefactor is asking favors that even Tom has trouble putting through – after two failed attempts to put Paul under alien control, the Venusian [unable to produce new control devices for several days] demands that he be destroyed. Paul, himself, has become none to fond of the alien, it having possessed his wife [whom he shoots after she locks him in their home with one of the mind control bats] as well as many of his friends. In bit of inspired plot twisting, Paul heads to Tom’s home to kill him, where Tom is intent on killing Paul with a rifle – a plan that goes awry when Claire disappears with Tom’s rifle. It doesn’t take long for Tom to realize that his wife, no fan of what her husband has become under the influence of the benefactor, has gone off to put an end to his conquest.
You think you’re going to make a slave of the world? I’ll see you in hell first!
Any hope for the Venusian’s peaceful intentions is crushed when Tom hears his wife being murdered by the beast on his radio set. Finally convinced that Paul is right to want to destroy the thing, he heads out to the cave, where a local military command is making a futile attempt at combating the Venusian. Armed with nothing but a home-made flame thrower, Tom advances. I made it possible for you to come here. I made you welcome to this Earth. You made it a charnel house. He thrusts the flame thrower into the Venusian’s eye, which roasts out of its socket, effectively killing the creature as it returns the favor. Arriving on the scene to find both his friend and the benefactor dead, Paul laments the fate of his friend and of mankind itself – He learned too late for himself that men have to find their own way, to make their own mistakes. There can’t be any gift of perfection from outside ourselves, and when men seek such perfection they find only death . . . fire . . . loss . . . disillusionment . . . the end of everything that’s gone forward.
As far as Corman’s creature features go, IT CONQUERED THE WORLD stands out as one of the most memorable – how many children were scarred, like myself, by the sight of an eye graphically burned from the Venusian’s skull and who can forget the lines delivered by Lee Van Cleef just before. Scenes like these, and of Beverly Garland in the grips of the Venusian’s claws or Sally Fraser presenting her husband with one of the mind-controlling bats, are all fondly remembered parts of low-budget cinema history by this point.
The narrative for the film is classic Corman – a lean and fast paced plot propelled by dialogue more intelligible than the norm and laced with a handful of exploitative scenes guaranteed to drive the kids in the theater mad [not to mention their parents when the came home from the feature, brimming with tales of what they'd seen]. The basic plot is oddly similar to that of the Ray Harryhausen vehicle EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, which was released the same month! The tale of a scientist duped into willing submission by a malevolent alien force reminds of THE MYSTERIANS, which was released the following year in Japan and arrived to US shores in 1959. The Venusian’s ability to stop the world in its tracks is an obvious nod to Robert Wise’s seminal 1951 sci-fi drama, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL.
Derivative as many of the main plot points may be, the production retains a definite sense of originality – a debt owed the competent writing duo of Charles B. Griffith and Lou Rusoff, who turn in an imaginative script full of memorable exchanges [after Joan says that she's had a premonition, Paul glibly replies I've got a stalled car!] and snappy dialogue. Production values are expectedly low – the satellite control center is particularly sparse, with a flickering TV set doubling as a radar – but are more than made up for by the quality of the scripting and performances as well as the fast-paced direction from Corman [Larry Buchanan would remake this film in 1966, dragging out the snappy source material to a languid 80 minutes]. A wise decision was made early on to keep the monster, however visible it was in the ad campaign, largely hidden, revealing it infrequently and only in pieces until the final reel of the film. I imagine that children at the time of the original release, like myself, were on the edge of their seats waiting for the final revelation of the monster – in spite of its ridiculousness, we were not disappointed!
Intended by Blaisdell to be an intelligent and malevolent alien fungus, the Venusian is a truly original design – triangular in shape and sporting an angry, toothy grin and crab-like claws, it’s the kind of absurd creation adored by the ten and under. As previously mentioned, the ad campaign took full advantage of the beastie, with the posters and ad sheets featuring titillating images of it leering threateningly at a lingerie-clad stand in for Beverly Garland. There is nothing so sexually charged in the film itself [the closest to it is the creepy sequence leading up to and following the strangulation of Karen Kadler, who's donning a nighty], but the ad imagery alone was more than enough to get a youngster’s imagination going.
While the scripting hints at greater social significance, IT CONQUERED THE WORLD is pure exploitation through and through – good performances from the lead cast [particularly from Cleef and Garland] put it miles ahead of many of the similar productions of the day and cheap but effective [Check out the remake for an example of cheap but ineffective] monster work adds a level of charm that will definitely appeal to to the monster fan in everyone. At a mere 71 minutes in running time, the feature makes for a perfect distraction and would play wonderfully on a double bill with Corman’s more ridiculous but equally short 1957 effort ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS. Highly recommended!
