Even though this is a low-budget programmer, it does offer some interesting non-animated monsters. As in "Them", the monsters are full-sized, mobile mock-ups. The story describes them as prehistoric sea slugs, but they look more like caterpillars, complete with huge insect eyes, pincher-mandibles, and a double row of caterpillar-like legs.
Navy frogmen encounter the creatures on the floor of California's Salton Sea after an earthquake releases several trapped eggs which hatch in the warm water. The monsters migrate inland via waterways and underground springs, and the Navy must stop them before they overrun the planet.
Tim Holt is the stalwart Naval officer who spearheads the investigation into th mysterious deaths of several fluid-drained victims. Mr. Holt was well-known in the 1940s as the star of a series of low-budget but highly enjoyable Westerns. Typically his character was intelligent and good-natured, working undercover to solve a crime that had been committed.
Audrey Dalton is the pretty widow he romances. Hans Conried ("The Twonky") is the scientist who studies a batch of unhatched eggs in a temperature-controlled tank of water. A laboratory mishap causes one of the eggs to hatch, and the creature corners Dalton and her daughter in the lab.
The main problem with "The Monster that Challenged the World" is that the plot moves like the creatures -- at a snail's pace. Director Arnold Laven created a bland monster movie, sadly lacking in traditional elements such as theremin music, skeptical sheriffs, and Morris Ankrum as an army general.
Navy frogmen encounter the creatures on the floor of California's Salton Sea after an earthquake releases several trapped eggs which hatch in the warm water. The monsters migrate inland via waterways and underground springs, and the Navy must stop them before they overrun the planet.
Tim Holt is the stalwart Naval officer who spearheads the investigation into th mysterious deaths of several fluid-drained victims. Mr. Holt was well-known in the 1940s as the star of a series of low-budget but highly enjoyable Westerns. Typically his character was intelligent and good-natured, working undercover to solve a crime that had been committed.
Audrey Dalton is the pretty widow he romances. Hans Conried ("The Twonky") is the scientist who studies a batch of unhatched eggs in a temperature-controlled tank of water. A laboratory mishap causes one of the eggs to hatch, and the creature corners Dalton and her daughter in the lab.
The main problem with "The Monster that Challenged the World" is that the plot moves like the creatures -- at a snail's pace. Director Arnold Laven created a bland monster movie, sadly lacking in traditional elements such as theremin music, skeptical sheriffs, and Morris Ankrum as an army general.