Monster from Green Hell (1957)

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

Director:

Kenneth G. Crane

Writers:

Louis Vittes (screenplay), Endre Bohem (screenplay)

Stars:

Jim Davis, Robert Griffin, Joel Fluellen

Cast

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

Storyline

The U.S. government is conducting experiements on the effects of exposure to space radiation by sending animals briefly into orbit. Following a malfunction, one of the rockets stays in space longer than planned, and is lost from the scientists' radar screens. Later, Dr. Brady, one of the rocket scientists, reads a news report about strange occurances in Central Africa. Theorizing that it may be the irradiated test wasp wreaking havoc in the jungle, he organizes an expedistion to investigate.

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Plot Keywords:

rocket | radiation | scientist | wasp | africa | 

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Taglines:

The mammoth monster that terrified the Earth! Too awesome to describe! Too terrifying to escape! Too powerful to stop!

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1957 (UK)

Also Known As:

Il pianeta dove l'inferno è verde

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gross-Krasne Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

71 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Even though the film was originally released in black and white, the 1997 VHS release of the film has a scene shot in Technicolor.

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Goofs

In the closeup of the newspaper article headlines Central Africa in Turmoil, it is clearly visible that the upper half of the newspaper has been pasted over the lower portion. The thumb on the left hand side of the screen is at the dividing point between the pasted portions.

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Connections

Featured in Cinemassacre's Monster Madness: Robot Monster (2010)

User Reviews

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!