Kronos

Kronos is a giant, blocky robot that is sent to Earth to siphon our energy. Nothing can stand in the behemoth's way, and apparently nothing can stop- it. Well, that is until earnest scientist Jeff Morrow of This Island Earth fame gets to working on its destruction. The film would be laughable, except for the fact that the giant robot is actually pretty impressive. Specia; effects are not bad for their time, and the cast plays it perfectly straight eve when the dialog is a bit off the wall. B-movie veteran Morris Ankrum and George O'Hanlon of Jetsons fame costar, along with the curvy Barbara Lawrence, whom we would see a lot more of on TV in subsequent years. Worth a look.

"Kronos" is about a robot emissary (which Earth scientists name Kronos), sent by aliens to Earth. It lands on the coast of Mexico and goes on a rampage. The aliens have exhausted energy supplies on their own planet (which it is correctly noted may well happen here before too long), and so they sent Kronos to Earth to suck up energy from our remaining energy resources. Unknowingly, Earth counterattacks with weapons like an H-bomb, but Kronos greedily absorbs all that energy and just gets stronger and hungrier for more.

At this point, you just have to put aside the immediate obvious objection that there is far more energy in any star in the galaxy than in all the power plants on Earth, and the aliens should have just harvested energy from them.

If you can forget all that, what is left is an enjoyable typical 1950's B-movie, with what I consider to be some decent special effects for the time (except for the obvious cartoon animations of Kronos' march). Jeff Morrow, one of the better B-movie actors, delivers a decent performance as a scientist. Despite its low budget, the movie tries hard to be an early techno-thriller, replete with what was state-of-the-art technology for its time--B-47 jet bombers, missiles with nuclear warheads, computers, etc. And that also makes it a cut above the usual sci-fi B-movie of the 1950's.

Yep, it's black & white and low budget but the film has great ideas and is executed incredibly well for the small amount of money they had to work with. The score by Bert Shefter and Paul Sawtell is probably the best the duo ever wrote. In fact, the title theme was so good it was re-worked for IT, THE TERROR FROM OUTER SPACE. Some people have said they think that cartoon animation was used for walking shots of KRONOS. I think it is stop-motion model animation, especially since Gene Warren is one of those credited for special effects and stop-motion was his specialty. Regardless of how it was achieved, KRONOS is about as much fun as they get. The special effects, while dated-looking now were as good as anything else you would see at the time it was released. I love this film which fortunately, has been preserved on an excellent widescreen DVD. The film has an enduring quality about it and never ceases to entertain me no matter how many times I see it. If you just like to have a plain old good time watching a movie, then I highly recommend KRONOS.

Speaking of an energy crisis— if that energy-sucking alien from outer space had had its way, we'd have been using hand-crank generators back in 1957. Good thing Jeff Morrow (Dr. Gaskell) was around in those days. His strong-jaw cleverness defeated a lot of alien plots— The Creature Walks Among Us (1956), The Giant Claw (1957). Here, he figures out how to zap the zapper, after it stomps all over the Southwest sucking up energy. And he does it in a way that makes all the nonsense seem believable. Should be a place in sci-fi heaven for actor stalwarts like him. Ditto, the great Morris Ankrum (Dr. Stern). No alien epic of the 50's would be complete without his general-president-doctor-professor, or a thousand other expert authority roles. Okay, my hormones require also mentioning Barbara Lawrence who really looks good in a swim suit, even if she hasn't much to do except distract Morrow and a few thousand boozy guys like me at those long ago drive-in's.

Actually, this is a pretty good enemies-from-outer-space flick. Special effects are mostly convincing even if the monster resembles a Lego Land creation, while the smoking-debris final frame looks like a gum wrapper in an ashtray. Director Neumann had an interesting, if erratic, career, piloting such sci-fi classics as Rocketship X-M (1950) and The Fly (1958) and such turkeys as Mohawk (1956) and Son of Ali Baba (1952). I guess he needed something imaginative like science fiction. Anyway, the movie's smoothly done with a few chills and a lot of good 50's fun.

Scientist John Emory (`Rocketship X-M' ) is possessed by an alien intelligence which foces him to provide information for invaders who are en route to Earth in a huge spacecraft. Astronomer Jeff Morrow (`This Island Earth') spots the approaching ship through his telescope, but he thinks it's an asteroid on a collision course with Earth (never mind the fact that the image we see through the telescope is obviously a saucer-shaped object that zigs and zags insanely).

The spacecraft splashes down off the coast of Mexico, and the next morning `Kronos' is standing on the beach -- a giant, rectangular robot with four piston-like legs. Kronos begins it's destructive march across the country, draining power from everything it encounters (including an atom bomb which the Air Force drops on it. Impressive scene). Morris Ankrum makes a welcome appearance as a psychiatrist (insteand of a general, for a change).

The plot has an interesting basic concept, but the script is plagued by scientific inaccuracies and unintentionally funny scenes. Jeff Morrow and fellow scientist George O'Hanlon (the voice of George Jetson) make casual comments about `minor shifts' in the orbit of the approaching asteroid -- even though what they (and the audience) see in their telescope is a wildly zig-zagging spaceship. Morris Ankrum is electrocuted when John Emory throws him against a protective fence that surrounds a high-voltage transformer ( Wait a second -- Ankrum is electrocuted by a PROTECTIVE FENCE?).

Despite the embarassing goof-ups, `Kronos' is loaded with special effects by FX wizards Jack Rabin, Irving Block, and Louis DeWitt, who are also billed as associate producers.