The Magnetic Monster (1953)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

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)

Unique monster, unknown classic

"The Magnetic Monster" was a superior sci-fi B movie of the 1950's. Rarely seen these days, it hasn't gotten the appreciation it deserves as an unusual sci-fi classic.

Two scientist-detectives from the Government "Office of Scientific Investigation (O.S.I.)" are sent to investigate some bizarre events, like some guy found dead of radiation poisoning in an apartment building where metal objects have become magnetized. They eventually discover the cause: somewhere there's a new, accidentally created radioactive isotope with the unique property to "grow" by assimilating surrounding energy into itself. As it grows geometrically, its magnetic field and radioactivity increase too, potentially threatening the very existence of Earth itself. Our heroes race to find and destroy the thing somehow.

For its time, the plot tried hard to be realistic, with realistic-sounding science and a semi-documentary style reminiscent of detective movies. Even a deliberate bit of comic relief as the detectives are initially stymied by false leads. ("Some guy phoned to complain that the battery in his hearing aid burned out and he wants us to look into the matter." "Oh, fine!")

With the new crimes of computer hacker attacks and bioterrorist attacks, the notion of detectives with scientific training is no longer science fiction. When the Government started investigating the deaths of people from anthrax in October 2001, I thought O.S.I. had finally come to pass.