Tonight's movie was a "stone" classic - literally! It was called "The Monolith Monsters" (1957), the story of a bunch of Giant Rocks who are threatening to take over the Earth.
Wait! Whataya mean, "how can rocks be a 'who' ? Shouldn't they be a 'what' "?
No they shouldn't, and I'm calling them a "who" because they seem to be pretty intelligent. Also, as is often the case in these sci-fi movies, the Monsters are pissed about something (though nobody knows what) and are gonna destroy everything in their path because of it. So they must know what they're doing, they apparently have a plan and therefore they qualify as a "who" in my book.
Grant Williams stars as "Dave", a geologist working for the Department of the Interior. He is stationed way out in the Mojave desert in a small town that resembles the Universal Backlot. One morning, he arrives for work to discover that his partner "Ben" has died standing up. The office is completely trashed. It looks like it's been exploded, and there are these shiny black rocks everywhere that almost resemble a growth, like a fungus. Ben - the dead man - falls over face forward when Dave places a hand on his back. Ben has worse than rigor mortis - he has turned to stone.
Dave's girlfriend Lola Albright, who we have seen recently in a couple of "Tales From Tomorrow" episodes, is a schoolteacher who is taking her young pupils on a field trip deep into the desert to teach them about the flora and fauna. She only has a few students, enough to fill her station wagon. They are all girls and appear to be about seven years old. One girl, Ginny, is very bright and is asking all the questions, mostly about lizards and snakes, but when they come across a field of shiny black rocks, Ginny's attention is fixed. She asks Mrs. Albright if she can take one home with her, and......
we already know it's gonna be a disaster, because we saw, at the beginning of the movie, how Ben the deceased geologist took a sample back to the office when he was out in the desert, scouting the same location. It didn't work out too good for Ben, so we are to be excused for being a little timorous when Ginny takes home a similar piece of rock.
The local scientist - and there is always one in every desert town, as we saw recently in "Tarantula" - has determined that the rocks found in the Geology Office are composed entirely of silica, but a mishmash of every different type of silica from every known mineral and life form. I did not know this, but even humans have silicon in their bodies, in trace amounts. And that's what the rocks are after : the existing silicon in whatever or whomever they come in contact with.
This is why geologist Ben was turned to stone at the beginning of the film. The rocks sucked all the silicon out of him. Now they are trying to do the same to little Ginny, who has taken a rock home with her. It has already turned her parents to stone and wrecked her house. There is silica in wood, too. These rocks are hungry! Little Ginny is now in danger of turning to stone and indeed her hands are already there. She is taken to a hospital in Lucerne Valley and placed in an Iron Lung in an attempt to save her life.
One of the great things about 1950s sci-fi movies is that you get to see things like an Iron Lung in action, or an old mining operation in the desert that probably isn't there anymore. You get to see how different life was 60 to 70 years ago, and how different things looked.
Eventually, every town official is aware of the advancing rocks. The Sheriff orders an evacuation. The townspeople are notified by paperboys because the rocks have obliterated all electronic communications. The phone lines and radio antennae are all down.
Then comes a breakthrough. The scientist discovers what it is that is causing the rocks to multiply. They have come from an ancient meteorite that hit the Earth several billion years ago, and what they have reacted to is water.
It is simple water that causes them to grow and multiply. Apparently wherever they came from was pretty dried out, and now they can't get enough water. Man I know what that's like on a hot Summer day! Nestea in the two liter bottle is pretty doggone refreshing too. :):) (glug glug glug).....
Well anyhow, the Desert Scientist works round the clock to find an antidote to stop the Giant Rocks from growing. They are already near the town border and have reached the size of skyscrapers!
This is no joke, folks. Other townspeople are now in danger of turning to stone.
Will an antidote be found in time, and will the governor give his okay to blow the dam at the end of the movie? You know it's gotta be a last-ditch attempt if they are considering blowing up the dam.
But it just might work, because the scientist, who has been working in his lab the entire time, has discovered a possible chemical antidote, one so deceptively simple that it was staring him in the face all along.
Oh sure! Now he discovers it, after the Monolith Monsters have wrecked most of the town!
Well look folks, you can't have everything, and after all - the rocks came from a freakin' meteorite.
Meteorites were a big deal in 1950s sci-fi. They came from Outer Space, which was huge. Nowdays we just call it "Space", but back then it was "Outer Space", which was way more weird and scary.
So in the movie, it is discovered that the rocks come from a meteorite, and now there is an antidote to stop them.
But will it work? Or will the dam be blown up for nothing?
Man, I hope it works and I know you do too.
There is a ton of science in "The Monolith Monsters", and great black and white photography of the desert and mining locations. This is another gem from the Ultimate Sci-Fi Collection, a set that you need to own if you are a fan.
I give the movie Two Huge Thumbs Up. I am gonna order the Ultimate Sci-Fi Collection Part Two, just so we have more of these masterpieces for the rest of the Summer.
See you in the morning. Tons of love in the night. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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