The Monster That Challenged the World

I found this film about giant snails on the loose in the Salton sea area slightly better than most programmer monster films of the late 1950's. The giant snails are a believable menace in that they are presented as no more dangerous than any other large aquatic predator such a shark or crocodile. They put a fight but can be killed with several well aimed shots from a pistol or a heavy axe. The real danger as pointed in the film, is that snails are extremely fecund, and if they were to enter the ocean , they could reproduce in enormous numbers thus creating ecological havoc. Anyone who has ever had a fish tank knows once you introduce one tiny snail, in a matter of couple of weeks you have hundreds. One odd aspect everyone seems to comment on is that snails look like caterpillars in snail shells. There is a type of aquatic insect larva that uses a discarded snail shell as armour, much like a hermit crab does. Perhaps someone involved with the film had seen these insect larvae and mistook them for snails.

A small naval base by the Salton Sea is under attack from some ancient mollusks freed by an earthquake through the floor of the sea. The film starts out in typical 50's sci-fi manner, and the first encounter between one of these caterpillar-looking creatures and a couple of sailors is rather good. The creatures leave some gooey stuff, apparently saliva, by each victim. The head of the base, a Twillinger, begins to try and find out what killed his men with the aid of scientist Hans Conried. Tim Holt, the fella that played Curtain in Treasure of the Sierra Madre, plays Twillinger(Twill), a brusque, by the book, no nonsense guy. It wasn't till near the end of the picture I realized it was Holt(having missed opening credits) as he was like a balloon compared to his early western films. Nonetheless Holt effectively takes charge of this "sticky" situation. Hans Conried excels as the scientist. The film is not a great sci-fi film, but it is an exciting one with a good pace, good acting, and decent special effects.

"The Monster That Challenged the World", in spite of its long winded title, is not a bad movie of its kind. The film was one of a series of "giant creature" movies popular in the fifties.

The monster of the title is a giant mollusk/snail type creature (that actually looks more like a caterpillar) that is awakened by an earthquake. It then sets about attacking people and laying eggs. Commander Tim Holt of the U.S. Naval Intelligence Service then sets about to destroy it. Assisting him are scientists Hans Conried (playing it straight for a change) and Casey Adams (aka Max Showalter) and sheriff Gordon Jones. Audrey Dalton is Holt's love interest. Veteran character actor Ralph Moody (a true what's his name?) plays one of the monster's victims.

Director Arthur Laven gives us a believable monster(s) for the 50s and builds the suspense by not showing it until well into the film. Some of the victims look like papier mache but all in all it makes for a pretty good monsters film with high production values on a modest budget.

Holt, who had left films when his excellent "B" western series ended in 1952, came out of retirement for this film, apparently as a favor to director Laven. After this, he made only one more film before forsaking Hollywood for good.

This rates up there as one of the better "giant monsters wreak havoc on mankind" movies that came out of the 1950s. The predators this time are overgrown snails/mollusks/caterpillar-like creatures that awaken from the pits of the Salton Sea after an earthquake shakes things up and charges them full of radiation. These monsters may appear of the dime store variety to those who aren't used to these "big bug" pictures, but actually they're pretty believable for a movie like this. Some of the assets setting this feature apart from its relatives would be the serious treatment of the story, some good acting and characters (it's fun watching Hans Conried as the knowledgeable scientist), and a few impressive pre-JAWS ocean scenes (one of the female victims meets a fateful watery demise, for example). Also adding to the effectiveness are some creepy ravaged corpses, the likes of which weren't usually this prominent back in the day. *** out of ****

Of course The Monster That Challenged the World is slowly paced. With a budget of about twenty dollars there's a lot of filler. But what little budget there is, is well used in creating a great animatronic monster.

The story is basic but well-structured and it works. I can watch this one over and over without wanting to throw things at the screen or yell at the characters for doing stupid things. My intelligence is more seriously insulted by modern horror films and their idiot protagonists than it ever is by The Monster That Challenged the World.

Among low-budget sci-fi flicks of the 1950s, The Monster That Challenged the World ranks near the top!

Jan Strnad (aka J. Knight)