The Monolith Monsters (1957)

Rocks from a meteor which grow when in contact with water threaten a sleepy Southwestern desert community.

Director:

John Sherwood

Writers:

Norman Jolley (screenplay), Robert M. Fresco (screenplay)

Stars:

Grant Williams, Lola Albright, Les Tremayne

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Grant Williams	...	Dave Miller
Lola Albright	...	Cathy Barrett
Les Tremayne	...	Martin Cochrane
Trevor Bardette	...	Prof. Arthur Flanders
Phil Harvey	...	Ben Gilbert
William Flaherty	...	Police Chief Dan Corey
Harry Jackson	...	Dr. Steve Hendricks
Richard H. Cutting	...	Dr. E.J. Reynolds (as Richard Cutting)
Linda Scheley	...	Ginny Simpson
Dean Cromer	...	Highway Patrolman
Steve Darrell	...	Joe Higgins

Storyline

A strange black meteor crashes near the town of San Angelo and litters the countryside with fragments. When a storm exposes these fragments to water, they grow into skyscraper-sized monoliths which then topple and shatter into thousands of pieces that grow into monoliths themselves and repeat the process. Any humans in the way are crushed or turned into human statues. The citizens of San Angelo desperately try to save themselves and the world from the spreading doom.

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Plot Keywords:

turned to stone | saline | salt | printing press | scream | 

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Taglines:

THIS WAS THE DAY THE MONOLITH MONSTERS ATTACKED THE EARTH! (original print ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

The car that Dave Miller is driving is a 1956 DeSoto Fireflite convertible.

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Goofs

It is noted that, while the monoliths can turn victims to stone, no one who touches the rock in the aftermath is affected. This could simply be that the monoliths don't become active unless they're hit with fresh water. After they absorb the water, they "turn off" and become inert again. Any people touching them (as shown numerous times throughout the movie) when they are inert would be safe. The first victim's rock was hit by rain, thus making it active when he presumably touched it. The little girl dropped hers in a bucket of water. Unfortunately, the absorption process is never really described (how much contact needed, how long does it take, etc.), so viewers are left to fill in the gaps.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: From time immemorial the Earth has been bombarded by objects from outer space, bits and pieces of the universe piercing our atmosphere in an invasion that never ends. Meteors, the shooting stars on which so many earthly wishes have been born - of the thousands that plummet toward us, the greater part are destroyed in a fiery flash as they strike the layers of air that encircle us. Only a small percentage survives. Most of these fall into the water which covers two-thirds of our ...
[...]

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Connections

Featured in Starfilm (2017)

User Reviews

Interesting, yet could have been more

"Monolith Monsters" was unique in that it took a different approach to 1950's sci-fi. There were no alien monsters. Atomic radiation didn't spawn them. You couldn't just blast them with guns. There weren't any miracle chemicals or devices needed, just good old-fashioned common sense.

In a nutshell, a meteor crashes into the desert outside a small Arizona town, leaving a huge crater as well as thousands of small, but smooth shiny black rocks. When these rocks come in contact with water, they absorb the silica content and begin to grow until the silica source is gone. When they grow tall enough, gravity makes them unstable and they fall, only to have the shattered pieces grow yet again. In this way, they spread forward in a seemingly unstoppable wave of destruction. By the way, they absorb any kind of silica, including the small quantities the human body uses to make skin flexible so fingers and joints can bend and so organs like the heart and lungs expand and contract. Thus, when humans handle a wet rock, they literally are turned to stone.

Despite the unique plot, you come away from the movie feeling somewhat disappointed. Director John Sherwood had only two directing credits to his resume. Most of his career was spent as an assistant director up until his death in 1959, two years after "Monolith Monsters" came out.

The cast is credible though not used to anything close to their abilities. Grant Williams, so brilliant in "The Incredible Shrinking Man," plays hero Dave Miller somewhat distractedly. His love interest, Cathy Barrett, is played by Lola Albright ("Peyton Place"). She's so syrupy and sweet it's absolutely nauseating. Her portrayal was typical of female characters in '50s sci-fi and horror, but she was way over the top in this role.

Les Tremayne, a well-known veteran of radio, theater and screen in such films as "War of the Worlds" is totally wasted. If he had simply left the set one day into filming and had never returned, his role could have simply been written out with no production delays or problems whatsoever. He mostly stands around in the Arizona heat in a white suit, listening to the other characters emote. Other veterans like Richard Cutting ("Attack of the Crab Monsters"), Phil Harvey ("The Deadly Mantis") and Steve Darrell ("Tarantula") are likewise wasted.

Much of the actors' dialog is stilted and unnecessary, like the actors were getting paid by the word. Also, their interaction is way too pat. Everyone comes off like they live in Pleasantville instead of Our Town.

The holes in the plot are glaring. For instance, when Williams and a professor, played by Trevor Bardette, go out to find the meteor crater, they locate it and see the hillside and plains surrounding it covered in the small monolith fragments. Later, during a driving rain storm, they pair drive out to the crater and watch giant monoliths growing out of the mouth of the crater. Somehow, the director Sherwood forgot about the fragments and the area around the crater should have been thick with thousands of growing monoliths.

Also, you get the feeling the movie ended too soon, although that's typical of sci-fi films of the 50s and 60s. Most never made it to 90 minutes in length. So, here, you get to see the monoliths destroy a farm and you see a few townsfolk affected by the monoliths, but that's it. To me, it seemed to lessen the potential thrill factor. Also, a lack of common sense does in the film. I won't give away the ending, but a mean of stopping the rocks is found, but the actors intimate that if it fails in one instance that the rocks will never be stopped and will destroy the earth. Common sense says that since the monoliths are in the middle of the desert and the solution is so common that there is plenty of time to stop the monolith monsters.

Still, the movie is interesting enough for a late Saturday night. The movie was adapted from a story called "Monolith" that was co-written by Robert Fresco and Jack Arnold. Interestingly enough, Arnold directed Williams in "The Incredible Shrinking Man." Arnold had a lengthy director's resume, including directing and producing some 30 TV series (!), including "Wonder Woman" and "The Bionic Woman." One wonders if Arnold should have directed "Monolith Monsters."

You can tell the film was from Universal Studios, even if you miss the opening credits. The town of San Angelo doubled as Desert Rock in "Tarantula" and was also used in "It Came From Outer Space," another Jack Arnold classic. The music, done by an uncredited Henry Mancini, can be heard in many other Universal monster movies. Steve Darrell, Phil Harvey and Richard Cutting were stock actors for Universal.

On a side note, look real close at the scene where extras are working feverishly at the dam. The man waiting for word from Williams so he can trigger the main weapon against the monoliths is an uncredited Troy Donahue. Universal did the same thing in 1955 with an uncredited Clint Eastwood in "Tarantula." It took years for people to pick up on the cameos.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 December 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

Monolith

Filming Locations:

Morris Dam, Azusa, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1