Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

john_vance-20806 Hey, it's Roger Corman so you know you're in for a good time if not for cinematic genius.All the actors/characters in the movie are great in a campy kind of way. Peter Graves, Lee Van Cleef and Beverly Garland (is she cute or what?) take a limited opportunity and work hard to get the best out of it. As has been noted by other reviewers the lines and monologues are a bit, well, umm...well they're just not very good, but they are entertaining in an unintended way. The peripheral acting support is sub-par working with a sub-par script so it's sometimes hard to watch.The star is supposed to be the monster, but it's appearance makes it a less than compelling threat to the well-being of the planet. The legend is that when Beverly Garland saw the prop for the first time she blurted out "THAT conquered the world?" and promptly kicked it over on its side.Now if you want to have some real fun, see if you can run down the MST3K version. Along with Attack of the Eye Creatures I think it's one of their most inspired productions.

Leofwine_draca An amusing, entertaining and cheesy little B-movie from exploitation king Roger Corman. All factors are present and correct for this typical alien invasion flick, from the violence to the bad special effects to the glamour content. Dispensing with any slow-paced moralising about humans destroying the planet, instead this film concentrates on a plot of alien possession, murder, and then take-over. The cheapness of the movie is clear, but doesn't detract from the inherent fun to be had from the simple premise.This film isn't remotely plausible, but don't let that put you off from watching. Where else can you see flying bat-creatures capable of possessing human beings? What if I were to say these creatures are poorly-animated and unconvincing? On top of that, another major plus is that the killer alien RESEMBLES A GIANT CARROT! That's right, it hides in a warm cave for most of the film's running time, only to emerge as a hulking vegetable with rubbery, crab-like pincers! The alien is only destroyed when a scientist sacrifices himself and shoves a blowtorch into its eye, unleashing a steady flow of strawberry jam from the empty socket! The acting is pretty wooden and non-existent, with one notable exception: a winning performance from Lee Van Cleef, who would later go on to star in numerous westerns. Cleef is exceptional as a multi-dimensional scientist, torn between his human instinct for survival and his willingness to help an alien invader conquer the world! His dilemma and eventual sacrifice is actually quite moving. On top of this, a high percentage of the cast die violently; all the women are sacrificed or murdered, and Corman regular Dick Miller appears as a comic-relief soldier. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is an obvious influence, but this doesn't stop IT CONQUERED THE WORLD throwing in its own ideas as well as a few snatches of fearful paranoia. Not bad at all; apart from the monster that is!

Paul Andrews It Conquered the World starts at NASA mission control where an expensive state of the art satellite is being launched, misguided physicist Dr. Tom Anderson (Lee Van Cleef) warns against such actions but his claims of impending doom are dismissed. Later that night at Tom's home his good friend & satellite designer Dr. Paul Nelson (Peter Graves) is round having dinner when Tom says he has something to show him, taking him to some computer equipment Tom claims he can speak to an alien creature from Venus but Paul is skeptical. Then Paul gets a phone-call to say that something is wrong with his satellite which has disappeared from radar, Tom knows that his Venusian friend has hijacked it & is using it as a ride to Earth where it lands in the Californian mountains. Hiding out in a cave & being helped by Tom the alien monster manages to stop Earth's power supply & bring it to a complete halt as it prepares to conquer the entire world by turning people into mindless zombies...Produced & directed by the prolific king of the cheapies Roger Corman this well remembered sci-fi monster flick from the 50's makes a valiant effort to be a bit deeper than most from the period but wooden dialogue, silly moments (some comedy relief soldiers & the rather sudden & cold blooded shooting of Joan by her husband Paul) & the infamously goofy cucumber alien monster prevent it from being anything other than a fun piece of dated cinematic nostalgia. Clocking in at a fairly brisk 70 odd minutes long It Conquered the World still manages to drag in places with it's exposition heavy script, It Conquered the World is a very talky film & I got the impression every line was meant to have some deep meaning but watching it today the dialogue comes across as really wooden & stiff, silly little speeches that are supposed to have great meaning feel tired & actually slow the film down. From the story about alien invaders that arrive under the pretence of peace & idealogical scientists It Conquered the World played on the fear of war while various popular sci-fi themes of the time are mercilessly copied from the stand alien invasion to the body snatching themes of being taken over, the idea of a world without emotion is at the core of the script as it tries to stress how important free will & free thinking is. Of course when all said & done It Conquered the World is still a silly 50's monster film but I saw a little bit more effort & meaning here than other similar films of the period even if it had no great impact or effect on me. The potential was here for a great little sci-fi film that was never realised because of a low budget, wooden script & a laughable monster.Although titled It Conquered the World a more appropriate title would have been It Conquered an Insignficant Cave as the monster doesn't really do that much & it's unclear quite what it's ultimate plan & goal are. Does it want to control the human race or destroy it? When finally seen at the end the monster does look very silly with it static rubber faced features & it's squat little body with a huge cone shaped grown on top of it's head as it sort of glides & shuffles along the ground. It does have two cool looking crab like claws though. There are also some flying bat like alien monsters that look like they are being flown into shot on fishing rods, the props were then reused in Roger Corman's next film The Undead (1957).Filmed in just five days in California it was released by AIP in 1956 on a double bill with The She-Creature (1956), the cast are pretty poor here although it's odd seeing the late great Lee Van Cleef in this.It Conquered the World is not a bad attempt at a sci-fi film with meaning but does fall way short thanks to a talky script & a goofy monster, however there's enough fun & good intention here to make It Conquered the World an enjoyable way to waste on hour. Was used as the basis for the Mystery Science Theatre 3000: It Conquered the World (1991) television episode while it was also remade by Larry Buchanan as Zontar: The Thing from Venus (1966).

bensonmum2 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!