Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

poe-48833 THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD may indeed move "at a snail's pace," but the payoff- the Giant Slug- is well worth the wait. I've been to "haunted houses" put together by movie industry professionals and very, very few (if ANY) of the Giant Monsters they concocted measure up to this guy. Not only does this guy LOOK like a Monster- imagine waking up to find this thing looming over you-, it's remarkably AGILE for a MECHANICAL Monster (as opposed to a stop-motion Creature that could "move around" more). Those weaned on commercial Television, with its constant, never-ending mood-breaking interruptions, may find the pace unbearably slow, but more PATIENT viewers won't mind the slow going. (For some of us, slower scenes offer us the opportunity to pick up a book and READ a couple of pages before the histrionics resume.)

JoeB131 By the time 1957 rolled around, Hollywood was just plain running out of things that looked scary under a microscope that could be made into a monster if irradiated by Plot-onium. (you see what I did there?) Other people having used Ants, Spiders, Praying Mantises the only thing they really had left to go with were snails. Yup. Snails. But they avoid using the term snails because frankly, who can be afraid of something served at French Restaurants? SO they called them Mollusks instead.So the plot is that radiation has gotten into the Salton Sea, and made these snails into people eating giants. There is one particular scene where a snail kills a diver I remember from creature features back in the 1970's...But mostly, this follows the 1950's formula. Something is mysteriously killing people and the Military and Science have to team up to stop it, because this was back in the day when we still trusted the Military and Science implicitly.The problem is that this movie moves so slowly with the typical stock characters we've seen in other movies who have all the dimension of cardboard.

Paul Andrews The Monster That Challenged the World is set in California i a small inland named Salton Sea where a naval base have been conducting radioactive experiments, a large Earth tremor has recently stuck the area & during a routine pick-up of a parachutist contact is lost with the pick-up boat. Lt. Commander John Twillinger (Tim Holt) leads the search party & finds the boat with a dead man aboard & another dead, shrivelled up man in the water who seems to have had all his bodily fluid sucked out. The investigation to the cause of the death's is underway as naval scientist Dr. Jess Rogers (Hans Conried) leads the enquiry. When a local girl & a soldier from the base mysterious disappear near a lake divers are sent in to have a look at the bottom & are horrified to discover a huge sea mollusk with a taste for human blood, even worse is that it has laid eggs & there's a very real prospect of these giant monsters breeding in their thousands across the world & wiping out humanity...Directed by Arnold Laven this 50's monster film is quite good for it's type & while it has dated it's still a pretty good time waster in a nostalgic sort of way, there are better giant monster films out there but there are far worse too. While it does take itself quite seriously at times the script isn't that bad, a few of the minor character's have slightly more depth than one might expect with a strange store clerk getting a fair bit of dialogue & screen time. As you would expect the science on show here in The Monster that Challenged the World is dubious at best & ludicrous at worst with a lecture on mollusk's complete with footage of Snail's that basically contradicts everything I know about them! Since when were Snail's meat eater's & since when did they live mainly in water? The script also throw's in the standard 50's theme about the danger's of radiation & atomic testing just like all good 50's giant monster films do although after raising the issue it completely drops it by the end. One thing that surprised me a bit was the length of The Monster that Challenged the World, most of these monster films from the 50's only last for about 70 odd minutes but this lasts almost 90 & while the pace isn't great just about enough happens to sustain one's interest. Unfolding in fairly predictable fashion The Monster that Challenged the World has enough going for it to be worth watching if your a fan of these types of films & I can't recall another monster film that features giant sea Snail's either so at least the makers tried something a little different.The Monster that Challenged the World could have been a minor classic had a bit more time & care been put into it's set-pieces which are alright but a little lacklustre. The initial dive to the underwater & the discovery of the monsters could have been milked for more suspense, the divers destroy the remaining creatures & egg's far too easily at the end & even the climax in the lab seems a little half hearted with the monster just sort of rooted to the spot & not trying to do anything other than make it as easy for Twillinger to kill it as possible. The giant sea Snail's look pretty good actually, it's a shame there's not a little bit more movement but at least it's not just some guy in a rubber suit & it's pincers & stubby arms move to try & give it some semblance of life even if it is a little stiff at times. A couple of dead bodies are seen including one all shrivelled up.With a supposed budget of about $254,000 the production values are decent if unremarkable, the special effects are good for the time it was made. The acting isn't anything special, I can't say that I recognised anyone from the cast.The Monster that Challenged the World is a fun 50's black and white giant monster film with a good & fairly original monster but it lacks a certain something, it's definitely worth watching especially if your a giant monster film fan & I enjoyed it for what it is but I can't say much more than that.

Lee Eisenberg "The Monster That Challenged the World" is one of the many 1950s sci-fi flicks about giant monsters attacking everyone. In this case, it's giant mollusks. Naturally, it's a really fun movie, if completely absurd. The substance that the monsters spew appears to be melted marshmallows, and the first time that one of the characters came across the substance, I thought of "Somebody blows their nose and now you want to keep it?" from "Ghostbusters".I noticed that one of the cast members is Hans Conried, better known as the voice of Snidely Whiplash on "Rocky & Bullwinkle" (he also voiced Capt. Hook in Disney's "Peter Pan" and played a wayward pilot on "Gilligan's Island").Anyway, a really cool movie. Must have been fun to make.