Monster from Green Hell (1958)

User Rating:

2.7/10   

Director:

Kenneth G. Crane

Writers:

Endre Bohem (writer)
Louis Vittes (writer)

Release Date:

December 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Atomic mutations with an appetite for flesh!

Plot:

A scientific expedition in Africa investigates wasps that have been exposed to radiation and mutated into giant, killing monsters.

Plot Keywords:

Wasp | Radiation | Africa | Rocket | Scientist

Cast

Jim Davis	...	Dr. Quent Brady
Robert Griffin	...	Dan Morgan (as Robert E. Griffin)
Joel Fluellen	...	Arobi
Barbara Turner	...	Lorna Lorentz
Eduardo Ciannelli	...	Mahri
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Dr. Lorentz

Runtime:

71 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Gross-Krasne Productions

Trivia:

The sequence in which hundreds of African natives attack the safari before being turned back by fire is taken from Stanley and Livingstone (1939). Note that star Jim Davis is costumed very much like Spencer Tracy was in that film.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Svengoolie: Monster from Green Hell" (1998)

Radiation gets the blame again

Ah, the 1950's. If you wanted to make a monster movie all you had to do was insert the word "radiation" into the script and that explained where the monster came from, no further explanation was necessary. Hey, I like this film and I make no apologies for liking it. The stop motion animation for the monsters is pretty good, especially that scene where a giant wasp battles a python. Sadly there is an awful lot of jungle and not enough monster.

Jim Davis is a scientist firing rocket after rocket full of test animals into space to see what happens when they are exposed to radiation (our tax dollars at work!), this will show what future astronauts have to expect. I guess Jim never saw the movie FIRST MAN INTO SPACE or he would already know. Anyway a rocket full of wasps gets lost up there and eventually crashes in a remote African jungle. Let's not even ask why they launched a bunch of insects into space when they want to see what effect radiation has on mammals; just keep repeating "It's only a movie, only a movie, only a movie . . .". Concluding "There'a a lot of difference between 40 seconds of exposure and 40 hours." Jim packs up and heads for Africa.

Meanwhile the wasps have mutated into giants (what? you're surprised?) and are terrorising an area aptly named "green hell". The local doctor (Vladimir Sokoloff) believes the stories of monsters are nothing but superstition but his native pal Arobi (Joel Fluellen) reminds him "Does an elephant run from superstition? Will a bird not light in a tree because of superstition?" Score one for you, Arobi!

Jim and company have to walk 400 miles through the jungle to reach green hell and have to deal with no rain, poison waterholes and hostile natives before they arrive. When they finally do get there it's just them against the monsters and they'd better do something before the big wasps multiply!

This is really a fun movie and I wish the budget had allowed for more of the monsters. The colour tinting at the end was an especially nice surprise.

Now for all you detractors out there, we don't watch a movie called MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL expecting art; we watch it to have fun. That's what "B" movies are for and this one is lots of fun!