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Although it was never known for strict authenticity, the elegant 1953 production of Titanic holds just as much fascination as A Night to Remember and James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster. Its original screenplay deservedly won an Oscar® for its brilliant, dramatically involving creation of fictional characters--primarily a strained couple on the verge of divorce (Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck)--whose lives are forever altered on that fateful morning of April 15, 1912. Director Jean Negulesco focuses on this human drama, lending a personal touch to the luxury liner's fatal collision with an iceberg; if the scale-model disaster (complete with motorized miniature lifeboat rowers) looks quaint by modern special-effects standards, it still captures the emotional impact of Titanic's ultimate fate. While Titanic's sinking is inaccurately depicted (here the ship is damaged on the port side, and sinks in one piece), the Webb/Stanwyck relationship is handled with sophistication, style, and well-earned redemption. As would happen with Cameron's Titanic 44 years later, fiction proved a perfect vehicle for tragic factual history. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (27)

Best of the Titanic movies!
I don't remember when I saw this the first time,But I much prefer it to its highly hyped 1997 successor. I rented the video the other night and still sniffled at the end. I would imagine most viewers don't know that it won an Oscar.(For best screenplay,I think.) My mother was just thrilled with the very young Robert Wagner. Does anyone know what happened to Audrey Dalton??? One of the best "minor" characters had to be Richard Basehart as the defrocked priest. and wasn't that Edmund Purdom(uncredited) as "Mr Lightoller? Barabara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb were excellent too. Characters much more clearly drawn than in the 1997 version. Class distinction is not as hokey as Jack and Rose. Was Thelma Ritter supposed to be "Molly Brown"? I think the effect of the film in black and white works very well(NO COLORIZATION PLEASE!)

OSCAR should have been aboard THIS ship......
One of my all-time 10 favorite movies (along with ALL ABOUT EVE, GONE WITH THE WIND, AUNTIE MAME, Jane Wyman's THE BLUE VEIL, Garland's A STAR IS BORN, CABARET, Lana Turner's career highlight in MADAME X, 1939's THE WOMEN, and 1953's SO BIG) THIS is the only version of TITANIC anyone should want to keep in their collection of classics. This is the one that should have been an Academy Award champion.....and it is a sin that Clifton Webb and Barbara Stanwyck not only didn't win 1953 Oscars, but were not even nominated. Ditto the wonderful performance of the greatest supporting actress in movie history, Thelma Ritter, as the indomitable Unsinkable Molly Brown. I will never forget the hysteria in Barbara Stanwyck's voice as she screamed "Norman! Norman!" when she realized her young son had slipped out of their life-boat to remain with his dad as the ship sank.....nor the tears in Clifton Webb's eyes when he told the boy what pride he felt for him as the end drew near. Please, don't anyone tell me there was an ounce of reality in the blockbuster, phony '97 version.....This simple black & white movie told the REAL story of the very rich and the very poor suddenly equalized in the face of disaster. And I dare you not to smile as millionaire John Jacob Astor reassures his young, pregnant, second wife with the immortal words "My dear, God himself could not sink THIS ship"......and I defy you not to cry when old Mrs. Strauss refuses to board a life-boat, saying "I've been with Mr. Strauss for more than fifty years....I don't intend to leave him now." This is a classic. This is THE classic. And these people, brilliantly portrayed by brilliant actors, become the ones who were really aboard the TITANIC in 1912.

Literary License Keeps Movie Afloat
We know the ship is going to sink, and we can read the committee reports, history books, and other sources to find out the details of what happened in 1912. This movie presents an innovative plot line that keeps our attention. Importantly, the film also preserves the essential truth of the Titanic disaster: 1,500 people died needlessly on account of arrogance and overconfidence.

THe Best Titanic Film Ever
Aside from the great acting, the special effects, music and staging are supurb. It is much more believable than the most famous Titanic movie and will be remembered long after any others. Buy it and Enjoy

Titanic with heart
I remember crying over this film as a kid, and sitting absolutely unmoved during James Cameron's feelingless epic. True, "A Night To Remember" is more accurate, but if you're one of those people who want to count the windows on the promenade deck, buy a documentary. Unlike some reviewers who can't possibly understand the character's actions during the sinking, it is about dignity and courage, something missing from other depictions of the story. The cast are flawless, and the story of a shallow family's realization of meaning brought about through tragedy is age-old and timeless. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Terence Rattigan's pair ofone-act plays are deftly woven together into this intelligent, handsome drama, a kindof somber Grand Hotel of lonely and repressed lives at a British seaside hotel inthe dreary off-season. David Niven and Wendy Hiller earned well-deserved Oscars fortheir subdued turns, as a blustery old warhorse hiding a guilty secret and the efficienthotel proprietress, respectively. Burt Lancaster is the alcoholic American whose secretaffair with Hiller is complicated when his former wife (Rita Hayworth) breezes in andreopens old emotional wounds, and Deborah Kerr is a mousy woman whose secret lovefor Niven is shattered by scandal. Director Daniel Mann (Marty) remains true tothe good manners and quiet desperation that keeps these sad souls isolated at separatetables. He gracefully floats between the two dramas and patiently allows his repressedcharacters to open up and reveal their true feelings in their own quiet fashion. --SeanAxmaker ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Top Billing for the Entire Cast!
When Separate Tables was released, the agents of Deborah Kerr and Rita Hayworth fought for top billing in the opening credits. It's easy to understand after viewing this powerful film. Separate Tables is a great study in human nature and relationships among people who are far from faultless.

Burt Lancaster displays both intense anger and hopeless longing as his former wife Rita Hayworth comes back into his life. David Niven (who won an Oscar for this role) is superb as the military man with a past. Watch Niven as he is confronted with the truth about himself and how he interacts with his friends and those who once were his friends. The strength of the film is in its casting. In the hands of lesser actors, the film would turn into a very sappy melodrama. I am anxious to view the film again just to catch all the subtle facial expressions that these wonderful actors use to make their characters even more believable. A great ensemble, a great film.

out of the madding crowd
These separate tables and that discreet hotel I think are the equivalent to the abbeys of the Middle Age in Europe. In effect, not all people are strong enough to affront usual, daily life, with his defying , and some found by then a quiet way of life professing religion, believers or not, escaping of wars, abuses of the noblesse, etc. The lodgers of this film aren't religious, but excepting the writer played by Burt Lancaster the mundane personage of Rita Hayworth and the proprietary of the hotel, all others are people with a weak ego, unable for common life and some practically touching the tragedy, as the pathetic retired major who truly never fought, living of pure fantasy played by David Niven who has to find sex in dark cinema halls, and the poor girl represented by Deborah Kerr, annulated by her malignant castrating mother.
This movie moves me as I think people as these are more common than Herculean, steel heroes as usual, and at last, in his way, they are heroes also.

Top Billing for the Entire Cast!
When Separate Tables was released, the agents of Deborah Kerr and Rita Hayworth fought for top billing in the opening credits. It's easy to understand after viewing this powerful film. Separate Tables is a great study in human nature and relationships among people who are far from faultless.

Burt Lancaster displays both intense anger and hopeless longing as his former wife Rita Hayworth comes back into his life. David Niven (who won an Oscar for this role) is superb as the military man with a past. Watch Niven as he is confronted with the truth about himself and how he interacts with his friends and those who once were his friends. The strength of the film is in its casting. In the hands of lesser actors, the film would turn into a very sappy melodrama. I am anxious to view the film again just to catch all the subtle facial expressions that these wonderful actors use to make their characters even more believable. A great ensemble, a great film.

One of the outstanding movies based on play
Delbert Mann's "Separate Tables" is a beautiful movie based on a stellar cast of David Niven, Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancastar, Rita Hayworth, and Wendy Hiller. It is set on the seaside, "Beauregard Hotel" in England and shows the lives of different people in the hotel. David Niven plays a retired army man who lives a fictitious life of a person who has fought glamorous wars in the desert, while he has a double life of a person who has a scandalous time at a local theatre. Deborah Kerr plays the life of a shy and simple girl who is tortured by her mother, Gladys Cooper, and not given any freedom and constantly reminded of her position and the class distinctions. Burt Lancaster plays the life of a writer, John Malcolm, who wishes to forget his past in drink. His ex-wife, Rita Hayworth comes to check on him as she is getting old and does not wish to be alone. She feels that John is the only person whom she can turn to.

The screenplay in the movie is wonderful as are the roles of quite a few people in the movie. These include David Niven, Deborah Kerr, Wendy Hiller, and Burt Lancaster. The music, though low key is appropriate for the movie. The story shows the ebbing of the class distinctions of Britain. Though the Major commits the errors, only one person is dead against it and the others are either ambivalent or are neutral about it. Gladys Cooper tries to badger others to get the major evicted from the hotel due to his bad behavior. Though some of them agree to her, the way they relent in the end is unusual.

The romance between Mrs Shankland and John Malcolm is well portrayed without overdoing anything. I felt that Deborah Kerr's role was wonderful in this. It showed the breadth of her acting style, where she shows how she feels when her trust in the Major is betrayed and the innocence in the child-woman quality of her. Wendy Hiller is beautiful in her low key role of the proprietress of the hotel and how she handles all the people and the issues in the hotel. David Niven's role is fantastic, he shows his transformation from the confident army major to the frightened culprit about to be caught to the person admitting his fault to Deborrah Kerr superbly.

The direction of the movie is very thoughtful without melodrama. Though the movie almost 50 years old, it still maintains its grace and style, which shows its timelessness. The end of the movie is subtle and lovely.

Don't Miss This One!
A great film with perfect casting. The sound track was beautiful and particularly wonderful when Rita Hayworth is introduced to the viewer. The story is unique and has such a good message: The hateful mother is a warning to those who never see the plank in their own eye but see the splinter in their neighbor's. It was good to see that the majority of the characters were able to forgive the sins and bad choices the main character had made in his life. A truly fine film. ... Read more

Amazon.com

William Castle's tribute to the gothic horrors of the 1930s is a ghoulish spin on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by way of Eyes Without a Face. The mysterious Baron Sardonicus (Guy Rolfe) lives in a lonely Central European castle, hiding his face behind a mask and his sadism behind aristocratic manners. Neither remains hidden for long as he pressures a London doctor (Ronald Lewis) into working miracles on his hideously disfigured face. Oskar Homolka steals the film as the Baron's loyal, long-suffering servant Krull, who wields surgical knives and slimy leeches in his reign of torture. Castle, less a stylist than a showman, has little feeling for mood but knows how to stage a shock and spring a gimmick, and this film features a doozy: the audience-participation "Punishment Poll," hosted by Castle himself in a clever (if improbable) break before the film's satisfyingly devious finale. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (16)

MR. SARDONICUS HAS MAKE-UP THAT STILL IS UNSURPASSED!!!
WHEN I FIRST SAY MR. SARDONICUS WHEN IT WAS RELEASED IN THEATERS, I WAS AMAZED AT THE MAKE-UP EFFECTS USED TO CREATE MR. SARDONICUS. AFTER MANY YEARS OF WATCHING HORROR AND SCI-FI, I STILL FEEL THAT MR. SARDONICUS RATES AS ONE OF THE BEST OF ALL TIMES. FOR A MOVIE MADE AT THAT TIME, THE ACTING AND STORY LINE WAS UNIQUE AND AS ALWAYS A WILLIAM CASTLE PRODUCTION OF QUALITY. AS ONE WHO HAS BOUGHT OVER 200 DVD's FROM AMAZON.COM, I AM ALLOWED TO RELIVE THE 50's, 60'S, AND 70'S OF HORROR THAT WOULD NOT OTHERWISE BE SO AVAILABLE. THANKS!!!

Mr. Sardonicus: eternal victim of THE PUNISHMENT POLL?
I organized a screening of this film for a college audience several years ago... everyone left with permanent smiles on their faces, due to the hilarious melodrama and sadistic nature of this early '60s chestnut.

Mr. Sardonicus is filthy rich, but has paid a price for his wealth with a mysterious facial disfigurement. He resorts to obscuring his (presumably) hideous, ugly mug behind a creepy mask, and residing in a lofty castle in the middle of nowhere. Believing his disfigurement is somehow reversible, he tests the limits of human endurance by torturing everyone in his immediate vicinity in order to contrive a remedy for his tragic condition. His wife, who remains in the loveless marriage out of fear of her crazed husband, enlists the assistance of an old friend: a physician who has made some remarkable breakthroughs with patients suffering from paralysis. One comes to discover, over the course of a new battery of treatments, how Sardonicus acquired his horrible disfigurement - and why exactly he's become such a flamboyant misanthrope.

This film was another staging opportunity for director William Castle's penchant for gimmickry... this time around, Castle concocted THE PUNISHMENT POLL. Moviegoers were issued small glow-in-the-dark cards, featuring a fist with thumb outstretched. In the tradition of the Roman arenas, where the audience decided whether a vanquished gladiator should live or die, Castle supposedly let the attendees of the film decide the fate of Mr. Sardoncius. Should one pick MERCY (thumb up) or NO MERCY (thumb down) after witnessing the trials of this ruthless rogue? Allegedly, the movie theater manager would tabulate the votes (in the dark, no less - hence, the G-I-T-D cards) and screen the ending of the film the majority of the audience voted for. Castle maintained that it was almost always the ending where Sardonicus received NO MERCY, and thus this was the conclusion that most people have seen.

Castle claimed in his autobiography that they did, in fact, film the alternate ending where Sardonicus received MERCY, so that movie theaters could have it on hand in the unlikely event that the audience was in a forgiving mood. Other sources claim this is clearly not true, and that Castle only stated this alternate ending existed so as to give his gimmick the appearance of being authentically credible. Among many points of the latter argument: Castle's appearance towards the conclusion of the film resoundingly encourages the audience to vote for NO MERCY (paraphrasing: 'Did you see the horrible things he did to that girl?', etc.). I'm hoping this DVD release will the record straight, once and for all. Who knows - maybe this alternate ending really has been sitting in a film vault for forty years, after previously being 'rarely screened' ...?

I am also curious to see if Columbia / Tri-Star will be including a reproduction copy of an original PUNISHMENT POLL card, ala the reproduction of the Ghost Viewer that was included in the DVD release of 13 GHOSTS. If so, this would be the icing on the cake of an undoubtedly great release - which, incidentally, has never been commercially available in the United States in any format until now.

If you like this Castle film, check out: HOMICIDAL, STRAIT-JACKET, and the original 13 GHOSTS... all newly released on DVD.

Scary
This is a very scary movie because of his face and his father's face!! so LOOK OUT!!

The infamous William Castle "Punishment Poll" horror flick
With a film from producer-director William Castle the question is never what is the plot of the film but rather what gimmick has the master of horror schlock come up with this time around. For his 1961 release "Mr. Sardonicus" the gimmick was the "Punishment Poll," which supposedly gave the audience the choice of how the film should end. Of course this is not going to be as much fun as the tingling seat, special viewing glasses for ghost-vision, or even the insurance policy to cover you in the event the film scared you to death, but you have to admit that even with DVDs there are limits to what can be done. The irony is that with the DVD format you really could choose between alternative endings-if only Castle had filmed one in the first place.

Sir Robert Cargrave (Ronald Lewis) is a noted neurosurgeon who is summoned from England by her former lover Maude (Audrey Dalton) to a castle in Gorslava where she lives with her husband Baron Sardonicus (Guy Rolfe). The baron always wears a mask when he comes out of his room and eventually he tells Sir Robert the story of a lottery ticket and a ghoulish visit to a graveyard at midnight. Sardonicus wants Sir Robert to use his skills to cure his affliction, even if it means using new and untested methods to gain success, so that Maude, who was married off by her father to the baron, might finally love her husband. When Sir Robert balks at the idea, Sardonicus reveals an alternative plan for making the baroness more sympathetic to his condition.

"Mr. Sardonicus" has every single one of the traditional elements of a gothic horror story. Our hero, a man of science, travels to a remote location in eastern Europe, where he meets the terrified local townsfolk, before heading on to an ancient castle on a hill surrounded by mist, where he is met by the deformed assistant to the mysterious baron, whose beautiful wife is held hostage to her husband's dangerous whims. But the film creates a nice gothic atmosphere (until the end) and the production values do not cheapen the experience but compare quite favorably to the Universal monster movies of the 40s and 50s. Cargrave is a bland hero and the effectiveness of the film rests on the character of the baron, who cuts a compelling figure as he speaks from behind his mask. More than anyone else, it is Rolfe who prevents the films from descending to the level of camp, although Oscar Homolka as the baron's disfigured but loyal servant Krull, turns in a solid performance along those same lines as well.

Rather surprisingly, not only the story of how Sardonicus came to be this way but our look at the man behind the mask comes rather early in the film, at which point this horror film starts to turn into a medical problem-solving effort. Then we get to Castle's gimmick and the whole thing collapses. The "Punishment Poll" consisted of getting a rather large card when you entered the theater that could be raised to signify "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" when Castle appeared on the screen to conduct the poll. Supposedly the majority vote would apply, but Castle knew full well what his blood thirsty audience would want to see at the end of the film, so an alternative ending was never even filmed. Besides, Castle made it clear what sort of person would wimp out and give mercy to the title character. The only problem is that the little boy in the back row could have come up with a more painful punishment for Sardonicus than this rather low-keyed ending. Equally important, Castle's jovial appearance completely derails the film's momentum and dispels the gothic atmosphere.

"Mr. Sardonicus" is an interesting little footnote to the history of horror films and if you have never seen a William Castle film then sooner or later you should check one of them out. There is a short documentary on this DVD about "Taking the Punishment Poll" that provides some insights into the film and the cast from film historians (the key one being that Castle's films are more about fun than fright). "Mr. Sardonicus" is one of several William Castle productions that Columbia is putting out on DVD, including "Homicidal," "13 Ghosts," and "Strait-Jacket," a couple of which have trailers on this DVD.

Major letdown
I am sorry, but this movie struck me as being incredibly boring! There are absolutely no surpises nor horrors in stock. If you want gothic atmosphere, surely there are a dozen better movies at hand here somewhere. The picture/sound quality of this DVD was very good, but this alone didn't save this bundle of misery. ... Read more

Amazon.com

A highlight among 1950s creature-features, The Monster That Challenged the World is a near-classic B movie that never goes out of style. When an earthquake reveals a nest of giant, prehistoric sea mollusks at the bottom of California's Salton Sea, the local body count skyrockets. Navy lietenant Twillinger (Tim Holt) takes command, assisting the obligatory scientist (Hans Conreid) while wooing the June Cleaver wanna-be (Barbara Darrow) who inevitably tangles with the monster--a flailing caterpillar-like beastie with snapping mandibles and a voracious appetite. With a moment of vintage gross-out ("Get the eye! Get the eye!"), well-handled suspense, and the requisite balance of tepid romance and sci-fi jargon, this is a prime companion to any film in the atomic-monster lineup. The aging Holt made only two more movies after this (following a thriving career in Westerns), but he gives Monster his best shot and comes up a winner. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (29)

Despite the title, one of the better Fifties monster movies
There are a lot of really bad Science Fiction b-movies from the Fifties that are remembered, which is a shame when there is a pretty decent monster movie like "The Monster That Challenged the World" that is being forgotten, even if the title is pretty [silly]. This film starts out in what we would now consider to be a rather traditional fashion as an earthquake unleashes the titular creature in the Salton Sea. When a Navy parachutist go missing the investigation by Commander John Twillinger (Tim Holt) finds a boat with a dead sailor, the shriveled body of the parachutist, and a bunch of slime. There are more strange disappearances, but unlike the standard monster movie where the hero bumbles around while the danger grows, Twillinger finds the monster (some sort of prehistoric mollusk is what they keep saying, but it does not really look like a giant monster snail to me) and its cache of eggs and destroys them. Well, he gets almost all of the eggs, which is why the movie continues at this point.

Monster movies usually hinge on the monster but in this one I think you need to pay more attention to the main trio of actors and their characters. As Twillinger actor Tim Holt ("The Treasure of the Sierra Madre") turns in a fine performance in what turned out to be his final major film role (I probably should have said final leading film role). "Twil" is too old and too overweight to be the traditional hero, but that is what gives the human half of the film its sense of realism (per se). Character actor Hans Conried plays Dr. Rogers, the requisite scientist in such tales, and the only one who has a clue as to what might be going on with the monstrous mollusks. But Rogers is having a hard time catching up with the situation and keeps finding that he has not thought of everything. The screenplay was written by Pat Fielder, a woman, which might explain why the female lead, Gail MacKenzie (Audrey Dalton), the secretary for Dr. Rogers, is not a traditional monster movie heroine either; no fainting for this brave single mother (ironically, it is the military guys who do the screaming at the start of the film).

The monster is well above average for this decade of movie making and while this is clearly a low budget effort director Arnold Laven does not take a lot of short cuts. In fact, there is one sequence that anticipates the opening sequence of "Jaws," and Laven's efforts do not suffer than much in the comparison. Unfortunately, the first appearance of the monster is actually one of the lesser moments in the film. Still, on balance, "The Monster That Challenged the World" is ahead of the curve for Fifties monster films; I actually like it more than "The Creature From the Black Lagoon," which has a better looking monster to be sure, but a fairly pedestrian script and less than stellar acting.

IT'S ALL TRUE?
With little fanfare, MGM has quietly transferred a handful of great B films to DVD that they not too arbitrarily categorize as "Midnight Movies." The nice looking digital prints are in their original theatrical format and appear as if they were taken from original material. The discs come with no substantial extras but care has been lavished on the box art, often reflecting the lurid lobby cards and posters of their initial release. Even acknowledging the B category, these are for the most part well-crafted and, almost adequately acted.

"THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD" Get this -- there's an earthquake in our Palm Springs area Desert Empire that unleashes killer crustaceans under the Salton Sea. It's hard not to think this is some kind of low budget cinematic prophesy based on the massive Landers quake of 91. At least I was willing to suspend my own disbelief at the premise and enjoy the wonderful, dilapidated Salton Sea resort locations. Tim Holt and Audrey Dalton star along with the deliciously sardonic Hans Conreid.

And now we know what is causing the massive Salton Sea pollution. Mary Bono please take note before the creatures mutate and rise again.

Classic 1950's Creature Feature With Good Story And Effects
Despite it's grandiose title which screams out "B movie for the drive in circuit!", "The Monster That Challenged the World", is a good piece of 1950's science fiction, offering capable performances, an interesting, if not totally original storyline and an interesting "creature on the loose", in a giant mollusk that proceeds to drain all the blood from its victims in its quest for nourishment. The creature when it is eventually seen in its entirety is quite horrific and far more sophisticated than the usual rubber suit or tentacled fur balls employed in alot of Sci Fi films of this period. All of this is presented in a pleasing and (for this genre) largely non sensational manner and benefits greatly from some very effective locations filmed in and around Florida's famed Salton Sea.

"The Monster That Challenged the World", starts off with an explanation of the curious history of the Salton Sea and introduces us to the scientific base where most of the action develops from when it is rocked by a tremor which in itself is not serious but which with time is revealed to have created a "hiccup" with some of the "dormant", forms of life in the sea. All seems well until some of the military performing routine parachute jumps into the sea strike trouble with two men completely disappearing and the third being literally scared to death by some horrific vision. Put in charge of the investigation into what happened to the men Lt. John Twillinger (Tim Holt), finds one of the bodies rising to the surface which has been strangely drained of all of its blood. Meanwhile swimmers in the local area also begin to disappear and it becomes obvious that something is lurking in the sea that is unlike anything encountered before. Equally mystifying is that at each of the sights where a death has occured is found a strange sticky substance which when examined by the base scientist Dr. Jess Rogers (Hans Conried), is revealed to come from a prehistoric form of sea Mollusk that supposedly had been extinct for millions of years. During a further expedition out into the sea the divers discover strange egg sacs of a size never seen before and then encounter the creature in broad daylight as it attacks them in their boat. It appears that the prehistoric sea mollusk had lain dormant for millions of years below the sea and was shacken out by the tremor. Affected by elements of radioactivity present in the sea the mollusk had grown to a huge size with a decidely hostile manner. Beaten off by the men the gravity of the situation is revealed in that these creatures multiple rapidly and have a consuming appetite for other creatures blood. One of the egg sacs is taken back to the lab where it is kept at a neutral temperature to stop it from hatching so that it can be studied. In the lab Lt. Twillinger makes the acquaintance of lab assistant Gail Mackenzie (Audrey Dalton), a young widow with a child and they begin a romance. Closing off the sea's beaches patrols are set up of all the loch's leading from the sea. When one of the loch watchmen is killed in the same way as the divers, being drained of his blood, emergency measures are taken. The team manages to find the main nesting place of the creatures and divers proceed to blow them all up. It seems like the threat has now been removed however at the base Gail's young daughter has played with the temperature control on the observation tank and the creature hatches trapping both Gail and her daughter in a storage room. Not able to reach her on the telephone and sensing something is wrong Lt. Twillinger races back to the base and is confronted by the creature just as it is breaking down the door where Gail is trapped. The military then move in and destroy the creature with fire. The conclusion sees John and Gail happily reunited outside the burning base building.

For this kind of film the screenplay surprisingly presents the material in a fairly intelligent and well thought out manner. The creature of the title doesn't exactly threaten the whole world however its general look and the explanation of how it has got to the size it is is dealt with in an interesting manner. Performances are generally good for this type of effort. Tim Holt had had a long busy career appearing in many Hollywood "A" efforts prior to this film and indeed "The Monster That Challenged the World", was almost his final film performance. He looks decidely unfit in the unlikely role of the male romantic lead however he combines well with Audrey Dalton to make a fairly believable couple. The direction by Arnold Laven, is capable without being spectacular for science fiction. He keeps the action moving along and the old technique of not revealing the monster until the story is well set up is a standard one in 1950's sci fi which works well here. His direction of Audrey Dalton is probably the best part here as he doesn't reduce her character to the standard screaming damsel in distress as is normal. Gail is a resourceful and intelligent woman and when she is put into a crisis situation at the films conclusion proves herself to be level headed and capable of good judgement when faced with the sea mollusk on the rampage.

Certainly not top grade science fiction "The Monster That Challenged the World", however makes great viewing if like me, you are a fan of the "creature features", of the 1950's. I think its most appealing feature apart from the terrific monster is the fact that it has an almost at times low key, non sensational approach to the material. The earnest performances by Tim Holt, Audrey Dalton and Hans Conreid in particular give this film a certain credibility that is missing in some of its "B" cousins from the same period in Hollywood. Enjoy a nasty blood sucking creature awakened from its slumber after millions of years in United Artists "The Monster That Challenged the World".

Instant Terror...Just Add Water
I really wanted to give this movie four stars, but a few things got in the way, which I will go into later. The Monster That Challenged the World (1957), wow, that's a mouthful, is actually a smidge better than lots of other films of this type produced around the mid to late 50's.

The film stars Tim Holt as Lt. Cmdr. John 'Twill' Twillinger. I best remember Holt from the Humphrey Bogart classic Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) but he's been in a ton of other films including My Darling Clementine (1946) and Swiss Family Robinson (1940) to name a couple. The movie also stars Audrey Dalton as Gail MacKenzie and Hans Conried as Dr. Jess Rogers. If you don't recognize Conried's face, you may recognize his voice, as he did voices for various cartoon shows like Woody Woodpecker, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Tom & Jerry, Dudley Do-Right, and narration on the Dr. Suess classic, Horton Hears a Who! (1970).

The film opens on the Salton Sea, a lake that occupies a desert basin in southern California. A military base, located near the body of water, regularly performs parachute testing, with the jumpers landing in the sea. After a recent tremor, a routine pickup from the waters turns into a horrific nightmare, with three men dead, two drained of all their fluids, and one scared to death. An investigation turns up more questions than it answers.

A diving expedition reveals a new cavern has opened at the bottom of the lakebed, and some curious egg-like sacs are present. The expedition also reveals a large, monstrous creature with large, sharp pinchers that proceeds to gobble on one of the divers. The men on the boat come into contact with the beast, poking it in the eye with a big stick. Dr. Rogers puts forth the theory, based on the evidence collected, that these are prehistoric mollusks that had been dormant for many years, and have been revived due to the tremor and traces of radioactive materials in the waters due to atomic testing. (At least the creatures size wasn't solely attributed to atomic 'embiggening' as was common with films of this type at the time)

Anyway, thus begins the chase to hunt down all the creatures, as there are more than one, and with the distinct possibility that these creatures may navigate their way into a series of channel locks and end up in open waters causes the military to hasten their efforts to track down the human fluid draining monsters. The fear is that due to the size and appetite of the creatures, and their capacity and efficiency for reproduction, they would deplete the oceans rather quickly and move onto land for human sustenance.

As I said before, I enjoyed the film, but there were a few flaws. One being when Dr. Rogers, keeping one of the eggs in a temperature controlled tank in a fairly unsecured and unguarded area tells everyone that the egg won't hatch as long as the easily accessible temperature dial isn't changed from its' setting. Well guess what? Someone fiddles with it, and the egg hatches. I mean, given how much Dr. Rogers went out of his way to tell us how important it was that this dial remain where it was, one couldn't help but wonder not if but when it was going to be changed, as such a clunky piece of exposition rarely is for naught in films like this. Also, I thought Tim Holt's portrayal of his character made him look like a real brown noser jerk. I'm sure it was written that way, and a softer side was shown at times, but it was still off putting and really didn't endear the character to me much.

I will say the creatures looked really spectacular, especially the scene where the egg hatches in the laboratory and the monster terrorizes a couple of people. Imagine a giant, slobbery, snail-like monster, voracious for your fluids and you get the picture. The shells the creatures used for homes also looked very good and realistic. The creatures did have a good amount of screen time, allowing for the viewer to get a good look at them, which wasn't always the case in movies like this, especially cheaper ones, limiting the screen time due to costs.

The print used here was okay, but did show a number of signs of wear and tear, with speckling and a few scenes with vertical lines on the print. Also, the film has been modified to full screen format, which I try to avoid, if possible. Given the quality of the film and lack of any special features (I would have loved a featurette on the creatures), I would be hard pressed to give this the 3½ to 4 stars it deserves. All in all, a really good movie with a sub par release, and one that reinforces the necessity to obey the 'no swimming' signs when posted as you never know if the reasoning is because of high E Coli counts or prehistoric mollusks intent on draining your precious bodily fluids through your neck. You've been warned.

Cookieman108

Above-average giant bug film
The Monster that Challenged the World (1957), directed by Arnold Laven and starring Tim Holt and Audrey Dalton, is an above-average grade-B film about giant, mutated mollusks from the bottom of the Salton Sea. The action takes place in the vicinity of a naval base, commanded by Tim Holt, with Dalton his obligatory love interest. The creatures, mutated as a result of radioactivity from atomic testing and freed after millions of years thanks to earthquake activity, drain the body fluids out of their victims. Yuk. Above-average special effects, interesting story, and convincing acting combine to make this film one of the best of its type. Highly recommended to fans of the genre. ... Read more