Memorable, crazy movie

Better Late Then Never

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

It's probably being picky, but it wouldn't have been too much trouble for the film makers to find out that the closest Earth and Venus ever get depending on where they are in their respective orbits, is about twenty six million miles. Oh well, I guess they rounded down to come up with the title.I always get a kick out of these 1950's era sci-fi and monster flicks, doing the best they could with whatever the story writers came up with. I had to laugh when Colonel Calder (William Hopper) warned the others on the monster chase that the creature only got ferocious when provoked, at which point he poked him with a stick and beat him with a shovel. I wonder how he thought that was going to work out. And while I'm reading here that the beast was called an Ymir, I never heard it referred to by that name, nor did I see it come up in captioning as I watched the picture. If anyone could help on that score I'd appreciate it.As for the creature itself, it was a pretty cool Harryhausen creation, with that neat appearing handlebar mustache that really topped off the look. The battle against the elephant went a full three out of five falls if you were counting, by which time the Venusian beast was fully realized due to Earth's atmosphere. I'm not quite sure how Calder determined that the creature was susceptible to electric shock; it could have been a good guess but when they specified it took just the right eighteen hundred volts to keep it tranquilized, I knew they had to be making this all up on the fly.But you know what - none of the silly science stuff matters if you go for this grade B stuff from the Fifties. In a way, the picture seemed to be an ode of sorts to a couple other classic favorites of mine from the gorilla genre. When the Ymir broke the giant metal clamp pinning him to the lab table it reminded me of Mighty Joe Young, and the creature's death summoned up the way King Kong died in the original. If I ever get tired of this stuff, just throw one of those electrified nets over and haul me off.

Some movies stand the test of time, this one does not. I'm not sure it ever did.The monster was good as far as 50s FX go. Yea Ray. But the opening spacecraft crash - really? So cliché as it floats nose down (I suppose that's where the heavy engines are?) way too high in the water, and then sinks like a rock once the rescuers disembark. It never gets better. The portrayal of the Italians as basically stupid is insulting. Air Force Colonel Robert Calder's (William Hopper) initial interactions with Marisa Leonardo (Joan Taylor) were probably intended to make him look like a forceful military man. Instead he comes off as an arrogant bully. The alien is treated completely without compassion. Grim.Spoiler alert! Bob and Marisa's relationship eventually warms. The "monster" dies. Who would have suspected?Here's the way any outline of this flick should actually read: American astronauts return to Earth with a kidnapped alien from Venus. The alien, struggling to understand its situation and gain its freedom, is brutalized and then killed while the Earthers lament their bad luck at having suffered any losses.

(63%) As far as 1950's monster movies go that deliver plenty of mayhem, carnage, and fun then this is one of the very best of the lot. Absent are long drawn out dry scenes usually found in these movies slowing everything down that aren't really needed, and instead in its place the pacing is quite swift with the monster actually being present on screen for a good degree of screen time. The plot is simple stuff centred around an Italian boy selling off an alien egg found washed up on the beach, and the resulting ever growing lizard monster on the loose causing havoc wraps up the plot. All fans of monster movies need to give this a look for the sheer entertainment value.

An American spacecraft that had made it to Venus crashes into the sea off the coast of Sicily. Two survivors are collected, one of them Colonel Robert Calder (William Hopper). Also rescued is a cylindrical container containing a tiny Venusian monster. Exposed to the Earths' atmosphere, the monster continuously grows. When it goes on the inevitable rampage, Calder and others would like to recapture it alive, so that they may learn what keeps the creature alive in the poisonous Venusian atmosphere.Superior Ray Harryhausen technical effects are the true stars of this nicely paced sci-fi thriller from director Nathan Juran. The script, by Robert Creighton Williams and Christopher Knopf (based on a story by Charlotte Knight) is absorbing, and the monster itself (not named in the film, but known as the Ymir to its fans) has quite a bit of personality. Juran gets efficient performances out of Hopper, Joan Taylor as his love interest, and Frank Puglia, John Zaremba, Thomas Browne Henry, Tito Vuolo, Jan Arvan, Arthur Space, and Bart Braverman. Hopper behaves like a real jerk to Taylor at first, but once he's able to calm down, finds himself quite taken with her. Fortunately, Juran never spends too much time with the romantic subplot.Also, the director knows how to maintain a real sense of urgency and excitement for the smashing climax. Eventually, the Ymir makes it to the Roman Colosseum, which adds to the fun. The Ymirs' struggles with a dog, a man, and an elephant are extremely well executed. The stock music is all well selected, and Irving Lippman and Carlo Ventimiglia contribute some very sharp cinematography.All in all, this is solid entertainment and one of the best "monster on the loose" tales ever told.Eight out of 10.