It Conquered the World

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.

Go easy on this movie.......hell, it's the only time that Lee VanCleef gets to have a wife who actually likes him (at least for a little while). And it's Beverly Garland!!!.... at her sexiest, with her pointed padded Maidenform bra. What a babe! This is such a fun movie and a good one of its type......the black and white, 50's, paranoiac, cheesy monster "B" flick. There were so many of this type film being made during the 1950's and there are some that are a lot worse than this one. Sure, the monster is a hoot but it worked for the audiences at the time. The stories were always the same......an outerspace entity (a carrot,cucumber, crawling eye, etc) comes to take over the earth, even though there is only one of them (wouldn't it take a long time to overpower the entire world population?). Additionally, they always use a scientist as their champion who is so obtuse that he doesn't realize what their game plan is and who always get killed in the end. So it's predictable, cheap, and overacted........so what! It's a lot of fun and there is a subculture of us out there who love this movie and all the others of the genre. The next time it shows up on TV, give it a look.....you won't regret it!

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!

A well meaning scientist guides an alien monster to Earth from Venus, so that he can rid mankind of feelings and emotions -- but only death and sorrow results.

Yes, this is a terrible movie by any real standards. Once you see the monster (or cucumber, or whatever it is) that allegedly "conquers the world", you will instantly know this is not a film to be taken seriously.

But, of course, that is sort of the point. Roger Corman built his reputation on cheesy science fiction fun. He knew it was not terrifying, but that was not the goal -- grab some popcorn and a Dr Pepper, and just have fun!

A lot of people slam Roger Corman and try and act like every movie he made was worthless schlock, but while he definitely did make a few stinkers in his long career, the truth is that he was involved with more good than bad movies, either as a director or a producer. In fact, some of the movies he directed were better than just "good" e.g. 'The Trip' and 'Bloody Mama'. His early reputation mainly rests on his quickie monster movies, and 'It Conquered The World' is one of the most entertaining. So okay, it a low budget movie (and I mean LOW), it's very naive and the special effects are poor. The Venusian monster and the flying bat things will probably inspire fits of giggles in most people, but despite all that the movie has lots of energy and it hooks you straight in. It's also helped enormously by having an above average cast. The two leads are Peter Graves and Lee Van Cleef. Graves later became immortal on TV as Mr. Phelps in 'Mission: Impossible', and Van Cleef became a Western icon via his work in movies such as 'The Good, The Bad And The Ugly' and 'Death Rides A Horse'. Van Cleef gives an intense performance as a scientist obsessed with communication with aliens. Graves is his more level headed colleague. When Van Cleef intercepts messages from an extraterrestrial that only he can hear, his wife (Beverly Garland) and Graves think he is cracking up. He co-operates with the alien, helping it to try and take over the world. Garland is best known to most people for her later work on TV (e.g.'My Three Sons'), but boy is she sexy here! Hubba! Hubba! Being a Corman movie we shouldn't be surprised to see Dick Miller in the supporting cast. He plays a soldier, as does Jonathan Haze (Seymour in 'Little Shop Of Horrors) 'It Conquered The World' isn't up to the standards of such 1950s SF classics as 'The Incredible Shrinking Man' or 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers', but it's lots of fun, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys b-grade movies from this period.