It Conquered the World

"IT conquered the world," said Beverly Garland when she first time saw the prop of the monster on the set and then kicked it over. Yep, that's how ridiculous the monster looked, and the mysterious "It" doesn't look any good on screen either.

'It Conquered the World' is typical Corman's cheese fest at its finest, and great example how great of an actors Beverly Garland, Lee Van Cleef and Peter Graves actually were - they had to be in the top of their game to play through that pile of cheese with such a serious faces without looking ridiculous. The film has nice interesting premise - a disillusioned and naive scientist Tom Anderson (Van Cleef) helps an alien from Venus arrive to Earth and gain control. Chaos brakes loose when brains of some authoritative figures are taken over by hostile alien and rest of the people are taken 'under protective custody'. Scientist's wife (Beverly Garland) and his best friend (Peter Graves) are trying to talk sense into the mad scientist, while 'It' slowly gains more control over humans, until the fiend (who looks more like ice cream cone) is taken out heroic actions in real Corman's style. The film nicely plays with some interesting ideas, but never getting them properly developed or getting any full use out of them. Well - it is a Roger Corman movie, what else one can expect from his style of rushed production. The film is still highly entertaining, and Beverly Garland's powerful performance (did I really just said something like that about Corman's movie) has a lot to do with that. Peter Graves' Dr. Nelson's final overblown monologue about human nature over the montage of dead bodies dramatically over serious but somewhat eerie ending to this campy monster film.

Another fun exploitation flick, but with little bit substance (not well developed script, but rather on idea bases) under the covers of (extremely) cheap special effects and cheesy dialogues. In that department, 'It Conquered the World' surpasses most of modern big budgeted, glossy science-fiction extravaganzas with polished special effects.

Sci-fi about a creature from Venus coming to Earth. A scientist (Lee van Cleef) gets in touch with it through some machine. He believes the creature wants to bring peace and helps guide it to Earth. Naturally the creature wants to possess and conquer...

Infamous Roger Corman movie which has one of the silliest aliens ever filmed. It's also pretty stupid, dull in spots and laughable. But the acting is actually good (Peter Graves and Beverly Garland especially) and I DO find the alien at the end just...unbelievable. Also it does have two instances of over the top violence (for its time)--a man is set on fire and the thing gets its eye poked out (this is cut from some non-cable prints).

Not good but 100 times better than its remake "Zontar the Thing from Venus". And Garland and Graves ARE good. I give it a 5.

It conquered the world is one of my favorite sci fi movies of the 50,s.OK,so the monster is a little ridiculous looking but that just adds to the fun.Beverly Garland is terrific as lee van cleefs aggravated wife and she gives some great screams in her moment of terror.It,s eerie to see people you once trusted turn against you,not of their own volition of course.This movie has good murder scenes,people getting shot down and a great strangling scene,not to mention the monsters way of finishing off his victims.Try to catch this film.It,s corny but habit forming.

I have always found Lee Van Cleef to seem to be a very limited actor. Of course, that is because of the roles he found himself having to play. There was not much he had to do in the spaghetti westerns except stand around and look blankly sinister. Then some years ago I found a copy of this film. I remember seeing it in the 1950s but had forgotten the cast. I remember thinking the film silly back then. Now as I have ripened into maturity ("A full grown nut" as Ralph Kramden said to Ed Norton)- or maybe I have just gotten ripe- I find I really enjoy this film. A good monster film is never about the monster. The film is about the people dealing with each other and the monster in that order. It Conquered The World fits that rule. The special effects simply do not exist. The alien is totally absurd in its appearance. However, I can ignore all that because of the acting and the plot involving the characters. I found Lee Van Cleef especially effective in this role and I enjoy watching him bring his character to life. He is struggling with his decision to assist an alien from Venus come to Earth to save us all from our jejune frivolities which inhibit human progress. He wants things to be better for people and thinks he has found a way through this alien being. He has his doubts and Lee is well able to act this conflict of doubt to our great satisfaction. Peter Graves is an actor you can count on to give a good performance even when he is not inspired. Dittos for the rest of the cast. In short, if you can ignore the cheap sets, absurd special effects, uninspired means of corner cutting due to lack of budget, and just enjoy the acting- a weakness for the lesser of the 1950s genre helps, too- I would recommend this film with the stated qualifications.

OK, it's got one of the goofiest monsters ever constructed, a toothy rubber cone that no one could possibly take seriously. Never mind that. This is a nifty little piece of Body-Snatchers style Cold War paranoia about free will and the fear of ideological slavery, with Lee Van Cleef wound *really* tight as the Brilliant Scientist On The Edge, a never-better performance by Peter Graves as his Heroic and Visionary Colleague, and Beverly Garland at her all-time coolest - 50's sweater and all - as the rifle-toting wife who storms into Zontar's cave to settle the hash of the beastie who stole her man. This is *good* stuff!