The Monster That Challenged the World is a 1957 American sci-fi monster movie about prehistoric mollusk creatures that terrorise the Californian coastline.
The movie was directed by Arnold Laven from a screenplay by Pat Fielder, based on a story by David Duncan (Fantastic Voyage; The Time Machine).
The Gramercy Pictures production stars Tim Holt, Audrey Dalton, Mimi Gibson, Hans Conried, Harlan Warde, Max Showalter and Gordon Jones.
Plot [contains spoilers]:
In the Salton Sea in California, an underwater earthquake causes a crevice to open, releasing prehistoric giant molluscs. A rescue training parachute jump is conducted, but the patrol boat sent to pick up the jumper finds only a floating parachute. One sailor dives in but also disappears. The other sailor screams in terror as something rises from the water.
When the patrol boat does not answer radio calls, Lt. Cmdr. John “Twill” Twillinger takes a rescue party out on a second patrol boat to investigate. They find the deserted patrol boat covered in a strange slime; the jumper’s body then floats to the surface, now blackened and drained of bodily fluids. Twill takes a sample of the slime to the base lab for analysis, where he teams up with recently widowed Gail MacKenzie and Dr Jess Rogers.
A young couple disappear after going for a swim. U.S. Navy divers investigate and discover a giant egg and the body of one of the victims on the ocean floor. The divers are attacked by a giant mollusc (which looks like a giant caterpillar), which kills one of the divers. The mollusc attacks the boat, but Twill stabs it in the eye with a grappling hook. The egg is taken to the U.S. Navy lab for study and kept under temperature control to prevent it from hatching.
The molluscs escape into an irrigation canal system, attacking livestock, a lock keeper, a trysting couple, and others. Navy divers locate a group of molluscs in the canal system, and use explosives to destroy them.
In the meantime, Gail is at the lab with her young daughter, Sandy. Worried about the laboratory rabbits being cold in the laboratory’s lowered temperature, Sandy surreptitiously turns up the thermostat. Twill calls the laboratory and gets no answer. He arrives and finds that the hatched mollusc has Gail and Sandy cornered in a closet, where they ran to escape from the monster. He fights it with laboratory chemicals, a CO2 fire extinguisher and a live steam line until other Navy personnel arrive and shoot the mollusc.
Cast and characters:
Tim Holt as Lt. Cmdr. John “Twill” Twillinger
Audrey Dalton as Gail MacKenzie
Mimi Gibson as Sandy MacKenzie
Hans Conried as Dr Jess Rogers
Harlan Warde as Lt. Robert “Clem” Clemens
Max Showalter as Dr Tad Johns
Gordon Jones as Sheriff Josh Peters
Marjorie Stapp as Connie Blake
Dennis McCarthy as George Blake
Barbara Darrow as Jody Simms
Robert Benevides as Seaman Morty Beatty
Charles Herbert as boy with Morty’s cap
Jody McCrea as Seaman Fred Johnson
Wallace Earl as Sally [credited as Eileen Harvey]
Milton Parsons as Lewis Clark Dobbs, map expert
Ralph Moody (actor) as Murdered Canal Watchman
Byron Kane as Coroner
Sara Selby as Mrs Simms, Jody’s Mother
Production:
Duncan’s original work was titled The Jagged Edge, before the screenplay was renamed The Kraken.
Filming took place in sixteen days on a budget of $200,000. A majority of the underwater scenes in the production were shot at Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles. Other primary filming locations included the Salton Sea, as well as Brawley and Barstow, California. The close-ups were later filmed in a tank filled with water and plastic seaweed.
Budget:
$254,000 (estimated)
Tech specs:
1h 24m (84 min)
Black and white
Aspect ratio: 1.85: 1
Trailer:
Free online on YouTube:
Colour version:
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