The Magnetic Monster (1953)

Director:

Curt Siodmak

Writers:

Curt Siodmak (writer)
Ivan Tors (writer)

Release Date:

18 February 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

the thing that came alive [Australian Theatrical]

Plot:

Working for O.S.I., the Office of Scientific Investigation, A-Man agent Jeffrey Stewart and his partner...

Plot Keywords:

Office Of Scientific Investigation | Radiation Sickness | Jet Plane | Experiment Gone Wrong | Stock Footage

Cast

Richard Carlson	...	Dr. Jeffrey Stewart
King Donovan	...	Dr. Dan Forbes
Jean Byron	...	Connie Stewart
Harry Ellerbe	...	Dr. Allard
Leo Britt	...	Dr. Benton
Leonard Mudie	...	Howard Denker
Byron Foulger	...	Mr. Simon
Michael Fox	...	Dr. Serny
John Zaremba	...	Chief Watson
Lee Phelps	...	City Engineer
Watson Downs	...	Mayor
Roy Engel	...	General Behan (as Roy Engle)
Frank Gerstle	...	Colonel Willis
John Vosper	...	Captain Dyer
John Dodsworth	...	Dr. Carthwright

Runtime:

76 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #16232)

Company:

Ivan Tors Productions

Trivia:

Uses stock footage of the underground magneto-dynamo from the German science fiction thriller Gold (1934).

Goofs:

Continuity: When loading the "serranium" on board a jet fighter, a T-33 is shown. However, when flying the "serranium" to Nova Scotia an F-86 is shown with its drop tanks attached. Yet the narration indicates that they were dropped.

Quotes:

Howard Denker: It's hungry! It has to be fed constantly - or it will reach out its magnetic arm and grab at anything within its reach and kill it. It's monstrous, Stewart, monstrous. It grows bigger and bigger!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Svengoolie: The Magnetic Monster (#1.15)" (1995)

One of my favorite minor Science Fiction films from the fifties!

Two agents from the Office of Scientific Investigation are sent to investigate high levels of radiation and magnetism centered above a hardware store. They discover that a scientist, who has since fled with the element, has invented a new highly dangerous radioactive element that is able to "grow". If the element is not found and destroyed or contained, it could continue to grow until it sends the Earth off its orbit. The OSI men must locate the element and then find a way to destroy before its to late.

THE MAGNETIC MONSTER is one of the best low budget films from the 1950's. The story is intelligent and the science at least seems authentic. Ivan Tors deserves praise for trying to make a serious, realistic science fiction film. This is probably his best. His other science fiction films and T.V. series "Science Fiction Theater" also aimed for this kind of realism, but they were often to talky and slow moving. This film moves at the right pace and builds up to an excellent climax.

A few stray facts: Most of the special effects at the end were taken from the 1935 German science fiction film GOLD. This explains the outdated overcoat and fedora that Carlson wears at the the climax, to match the one worn by the German actor in the older film. Also Ivan Tors is said to have aped this films structure from the "Dragnet" TV series. The fictitious government agency The Office of Scientific Investigation turned up in Tors GOG (1954) and some episodes of "Science Fiction Theater."