Year:  1958
Rating: 6.0

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A.K.A Cosmic Monsters

This very talkie but low key (till the final spool) B British sci-fi film combines bits of a typical mad scientist film with The Day the Earth Stood Still and a myriad of giant bug films (Them, The Deadly Mantis, Tarantula) that may explain why I hated insects growing up (and still do) and showed them so much cruelty. The production imports one recognizable name in American actor Forrest Tucker who was doing penance in Brit horror films (The Crawling Eye and The Abominable Snowman). Tucker is surprisingly not the American brash bombastic character one expects from Americans in these films. He must have caught the English flu and plays way down. One other crazy fellow in the film was enough.


Tucker is working for a genius scientist named Laird (Alec Mango) who is experimenting with magnetic force and fields and what not. They turn a lot of dials and worry about the machinery not holding up to the pressure they are putting on it. Lots of debate takes place. Often over drinks. Then they hear word that a French lady scientist is coming to assist them - egads - a lady scientist - what will they think of next - a lady Prime Minister? Then she shows up with her adorable French accent (oddly dubbed by an English actress faking a French accent for a French actress - Gaby Andre) with serious horn-rimmed glasses and a lovely figure and all is forgiven as the men scramble to mix atoms with her.


Unknown to them these experiments are destroying the atmosphere and so Mr. Smith (Martin Benson) travels a long long ways to warn them. Suddenly on a dime the film goes from cerebral to enjoyable exploitation as giant bugs (and one lizard) evolve in the time it takes to warm up a pot of coffee and it gets fun. Cheesy special effects just add to the pleasure of the film.