The Monster that Challenged the World (1957)

A minor earthquake shakes California’s Salton Sea and adjacent Navy base. Shortly thereafter some sailors go strangely missing. I wonder if some prehistoric mollusks were released by the earthquake and affected by radiation. It’s a reasonable hypothesis.

The Salton Sea is a pretty interesting place. An inland saltwater sea was created by accident, became a tourist attraction, then dried up. At the time of this film it was a tourist hot spot and apparently had a naval base.

Anyhow, the navy investigates, discovers the creatures (note, many of them), and fights them with their latest weapons: sticks. And fire extinguishers. Whatever’s handy. The story is essentially an aquatic version of Them! (1954), in that a population of somewhat larger than man-sized creatures, created by radiation, must be destroyed by the military authority, before they escape to (ahem) challenge the world. And if you swap 1950’s radiation with general scientific hubris, some of the Jurassic Park films fit this mold pretty well.

Leading the fight is Commander Twillinger, played by Tim Holt. Old friends will remember him from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). He was in a bunch of films, mostly westerns, before walking away from Hollywood. He returned after five years for this film then two more spread out over the next fourteen, before retiring for good. Two years after that, bone cancer would take his life. He was 54. So it goes.

The Monster that Challenged the World is unoriginal, low budget, silly nonsense. But despite that, it works. The monsters looked pretty good, and many background characters were fully flushed out. Specifically, some quirky scientists and especially map guy Lewis Clark Dobbs. The script gave them something to do and the actors did it. Not saying I am eager for a rewatch, but it deserves every bit of AMRU 3. But, dude, the ax was right there!