‘Planet robber tramples the Earth!’
Kronos is a 1957 sci-fi film about aliens that send a huge robotic accumulator to invade the Earth and absorb all energy it comes in contact with.
The movie was directed and co-produced by by Kurt Neumann from a screenplay by Lawrence L. Goldman based on a story by co-producer Irving Block. It was also produced by Louis DeWitt and Jack Rabin.
Renowned cinematographer also worked on Murder By the Clock; Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Island of Lost Souls; Rocketship X-M; Mesa of Lost Women; She-Devil; The Fly and The Alligator People.
The Regal Films production stars Jeff Morrow, Barbara Lawrence, George O’Hanlon, John Emery and Morris Ankrum.
Plot:
A huge, blinking flying object from space emits a glowing ball of electrical energy, which races toward the Earth. It intercepts a man driving on an isolated road in the American Southwest desert late at night. It takes over the man’s mind, directing him to LabCentral, a U.S. research facility, where a pair of scientists have been tracking the flying object.
The possessed man knocks out a security guard, then proceeds into the main building where the entity leaves the driver and enters the mind of Doctor Hubbell Eliot, the LabCentral chief.
Meanwhile, in a research lab below, astrophysicist Doctor Leslie Gaskell and his computer science associate, Doctor Arnold Culver, have been tracking the flying object. They realize that it is not only headed toward Earth but is moving under intelligent guidance. Attempts to destroy with nuclear missiles fail, and the object dives into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico.
The two scientists, along with Vera Hunter, LabCentral’s staff photographer and Gaskell’s girlfriend, rush to Mexico. Upon their arrival, they at first see nothing, but later that night, they see an enormous glowing dome appear on the ocean horizon.
The next morning, on the beach outside their room, they find that a very tall machine has appeared; its four-legged body has two mobile antennae. They use a helicopter to land atop the machine, glimpsing its complex inner workings before being forced to leave and fly back to LabCentral when the machine begins to move.
The possessed Doctor Eliot telepathically directs the machine. Now named Kronos by one of the scientists, it methodically attacks power plants in Mexico, draining all their energy. In doing so, Kronos grows larger, consuming more power as it moves from one power source to the next. Four Mexican Air Force fighter planes attack, but the ever-growing alien machine easily destroys them and continues on its rampage.
While Kronos is absorbing energy, Eliot is momentarily freed from the influence of the force controlling him. Eliot tells his colleagues that Kronos is an energy accumulator, sent by an alien race that has exhausted its own natural resources to drain all the Earth’s power and then return it to their dying world.
On Eliot’s recommendation, the United States Air Force sends a B-47 bomber to drop a hydrogen bomb on Kronos. Gaskell warns the Air Force general in charge that an atomic explosion will simply supply the alien machine with more energy.
The general attempts to abort the mission, but Kronos, aware of the plan by way of Doctor Eliot’s mind, magnetically draws the jet to crash into it, absorbing the bomb’s nuclear blast. The alien machine, now grown to an immense size, appears unstoppable, harvesting all forms of energy at will.
In another uncontrolled moment, Doctor Eliot locks himself in an hermetically sealed room, trapping himself and the energy force. As Kronos draws near Los Angeles, Gaskell realizes that reversing the machine’s polarity will force it to feed upon itself, until it implodes. Gaskell, Culver, and Vera convince the Air Force to bombard Kronos with nuclear ions, which will cause the polarity to reverse. Kronos is obliterated in the resulting implosion.
Cast and characters:
Jeff Morrow as Doctor Leslie Gaskell
Barbara Lawrence as Vera Hunter
George O’Hanlon as Doctor Arnold Culver
John Emery as Doctor Hubbell Eliot
Morris Ankrum as Doctor Albert Stern
Kenneth Alton as The Pickup Driver
Jose Gonzales-Gonzales as Manuel Ramirez
John Halloran as Lab Central Security Guard
John Parrish as Gen. Perry
Marjorie Stapp as The Nurse
Robert Shayne as Air Force General
Rosa Turich as Senora Ramirez
Don Eitner as USAF Meteorology Sergeant
Ron Kennedy as USAF Control Tower Sergeant
Gordon Mills as a Sergeant
Richard Harrison as a Pilot
Budget:
$160,000 (estimated)
Tech specs:
1h 18m (78 min)
Black and white
Aspect ratio: 2.35: 1
Trailer [1080p]:
Free online on YouTube [1080p Premium HD]:
Free online on YouTube [1080p HD]:
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