It Conquered the World (1956)

"There is hope, but it has to come from inside, from Man himself.", 29 April 2007

While It Conquered the World can't compare with some of the best sci-fi from the 50s, it's still a fun movie if you can get past the special effects. The plot is straight out of the 1950s Guide to Sci-Fi/Monster Movies. An alien comes to earth with the intention of taking over the place. The alien uses some sort of bat looking things to help him gather "volunteers" to his cause (they hit them in the back of the neck and inject them with some mind-control device). The biggest difference between the plot of It Conquered the World and other similar movies is that one character, Dr. Tom Anderson (Lee Van Cleef), is in communication with the alien and willingly tries to help him. This brings the whole Red Scare subtext found in a lot of these movies to the front as Dr. Anderson's friend and colleague Dr. Paul Nelson (Peter Graves) calls him a traitor. Being called a traitor (i.e. a commie) was about as bad as you could get in the 50s.

One thing that elevates It Conquered the World is the cast. You don't expect (at least I don't expect) to see names like Peter Graves, Lee Van Cleef, Beverly Garland, and Dick Miller in the same low budget Roger Corman film. I can't think of many movies shot on this kind of budget with four names I'm so familiar with. Corman really had a knack for spotting young talent.

The less said about the special effect the better. The monster is not as bad or poorly thought out as something like Ro-Man from Robot Monster, but it comes close to being just as silly. It Conquered the World might have benefited from not showing the monster. I recently watched The Space Children and noted that Jack Arnold was wise to limit his monster's screen time. What I wrote for that film applies here too – "Too often, low-budget sci-fi films from this period look ridiculous because of the desire for elaborate special effects (i.e. monster and aliens) that outstripped the funding it would require."

In the end, while you can certainly find better sci-fi from the 1950s than It Conquered the World, you can just as easily find much worse. This one is about average but worth at least one look if you're into this kind of thing. You might want to check it out just to hear Peter Graves closing speech – "Man is a feeling creature, and because of it the greatest in the universe. He learned too late for himself that men have to find their own way, to make their own mistakes. There can't be any gift of perfection from outside ourselves. When men seek such perfection they find only death, fire, loss, disillusionment and the end of everything that's gone forward. Men have always sought an end to our misery but it can't be given, it has to be achieved. There is hope, but it has to come from inside, from Man himself." It's worth the price of admission if you ask me!

5/10