The Magnetic Monster (1953)

Items in a store become magnetized and behave strangely. So, the shop owner does what any reasonable person would. He calls the department of power and light to speak with the chief engineer. When the engineer hears that appliances were magnetized, he wastes no time and contacts the Office of Scientific Investigation. A-Man Jeffrey Stewart (Richard Carlson) is on the case. Magnetism, it would seem, is the same as nuclear radiation.

Never before have I watched a film with more technobabble narration and exposition. Characters literally stop walking up stairs to spout this stuff. The intent was to make a film with a scientifically viable premise. Atomic energy was a serious and significant concern in post-war America, and this is a story about an experiment gone wrong. And rather than anthropomorphize the experiment as a giant insect or whatever, they anthropomorphize the element itself. It “feeds” and “murders”, and must be “killed”.

Every eleven hours the element reacts, grows larger and stronger, and more people die. Were it to continue growing it would spin the earth off its access. It’s the size of a raisin, but, you know, eventually … Much of the story follows the horror conventions of the day. They figure things out, test hypotheses, make a plan of action, then heroically carry it out. The difference is that despite the actor’s behavior, there is no conventional movie monster. Just a dangerous radioactive sample.

The low budget Magnetic Monster earns points for trying something different. It has a unique feel compared to the usual fare, and the lady in the shop jumping out of the way of a magnetized lawnmower is unintentionally hilarious. But in the end, it is a fairly unremarkable movie. AMRU 3.

“In nuclear research, there is no place for lone wolves.”