You can think of our recent run as the Corman Retrospective, akin to the film fests of yore at the good ol' CSUN Cinematheque. I don't know how Professor Tim would feel about Roger Corman, but if he devoted a semester to his movies, I think he'd be sure to include "It Conquered The World"(1956), the tale of an Alien from Venus who attempts to take over humanity with the help of Lee Van Cleef.
Van Cleef stars as "Dr. Tom Anderson", a physicist vehemently opposed to the American Space Agency's satellite program. I'll jump in to comment that Corman sure has a bee in his bonnet about this subject, having milked it in several of the movies we've seen. In this case, Dr. Anderson feels that the United States, by continually sending up satellites, is intruding upon the sovereignty of the other planets in the solar system, particularly Venus.
Anderson's colleague Dr. Paul Nelson (Peter Graves) can't understand why he's so worked up. "What do you mean by sovereignty? Are you suggesting there are other people out there"? Anderson invites Nelson to his home and shows him a radio assembly hidden behind a wall. "Watch this", he advises.
Van Cleef adjusts some dials, picks up a microphone and proceeds to make contact with someone he calls "The Benefactor". While Graves listens, he gives The Benefactor instructions as to where the latest satellite can be located, in orbit above Venus. The plan calls for The Benefactor to stow away aboard the satellite so that when it is brought back to Earth, he will land with it. Van Cleef is assisting him because he believes humanity needs help. "In this century alone", he tells Graves, "we've fought two World Wars. Now we're testing the H-Bomb. It's only a matter of time before we destroy ourselves. That's why we need The Benefactor. He is one of the last of his kind, a race of super-intelligent beings who have evolved past emotion. He is incapable of anger, his mind runs on pure reason. We need him to show us a way out of warfare".
Graves us thunderstruck. "You mean you're guiding him here"?
"Yes! I can no longer sit by and watch our leaders drive us to the brink of extinction"!
Graves keeps his mouth shut for the time being, but he's clearly worried about his old friend. The feeling is seconded by Van Cleef's wife (Beverly Garland), who thinks he's losing his mind. "Darling, you've been talking to that thing all day. Don't you think you should take a break, maybe eat some dinner"?
"He's not a Thing! He's coming to help us"!
Van Cleef is getting paranoid by now, so he rats everyone out to The Benefactor, giving him the names and addresses of Graves, the two Generals in charge of the satellite program and also his wife. When The Benefactor boards the satellite to return to Earth, he brings with him a supply of mind-control devices, to use on these subversives. After crash landing in Bronson Canyon, he releases the devices, which are carried to their targets by Weird Venusian Bats. Soon, all resistance to the plan has vanished as The Benefactor takes over the minds of the authorities. The Generals call for martial law in the town of Beechwood, where the satellite base is located (actually the Beechwood Drive neighborhood of Hollywood). Peter Graves manages to kill the bat carrying his mind-control device, so he's still thinking for himself, but so far he can't persuade anyone to help him. The martial law order is then upgraded to a full evacuation of Beechwood, so now Graves' only hope is to try and convince Van Cleef that The Benefactor is not a friend. "Can't you see, he's been using your nature against you, your sense of trust"!
Van Cleef is at first not convinced. He continues to stand at the radio "directing traffic" for his buddy, and I have to mention that these scenes are one of the best things about this movie : the sight of Lee Van Cleef of all people, who usually plays taciturn tough guys, standing there at a table full of radio equipment, microphone in hand, giving instructions and carrying on a one-sided conversation with a Space Alien, is a sight to behold. We aren't used to seeing Van Cleef emote, but he does so here, demonstrating not only his acting ability but his true belief in The Benefactor and their plan to save mankind. He spends much of his screen time in these radio conferences, and is later crushed to realise how naive he's been. The Benefactor is just another User after all.
Beverly Garland has suspected this from the get-go. She's been worried about her husband and now she's gonna do something about it. Like Graves, she's been able to avoid being injected with a mind-control device. She overhears Van Cleef discussing The Benefactor's location, then grabs a shotgun and drives out to Bronson Canyon. This causes Lee to finally snap out of it. He and Peter Graves haul ass out to the caves in hopes of saving Beverly, and this is where we finally get to meet The Benefactor.
As in "Day The World Ended", Corman has saved his monster for the last few minutes of the film. In this case I can see why, because it is without doubt The Cheesiest Space Monster we've seen so far. It looks like an oversized traffic cone with big eyes and lots of teeth. It has no discernible feet and yet it gets around with no problem. Following the movie, I read on IMDB that Frank Zappa so loved this creature that he dedicated the song "Cheepnis" to it on the "Roxy and Elsewhere" album. I agree with Frank, so on the one hand, it is certainly the worst Rubber Suited Monster of all time, but it's also super cool because it's so bad. So in that way, it's very effective! The Benefactor must be seen to be believed, but the real draw for "It Conquered The World" are the radio scenes with Lee Van Cleef. They uplift an ordinary "body snatchers" type plot to a level of near-absurdity, while maintaining the ultra serious tenor of Cormanesque Realism, where you never for a second let on that this isn't possible or even probable! In Corman's world, these things are not only going to happen, they already are. That's why you don't wait around for a Cone-shaped Alien to take over the Earth, you buy yourself a radio setup and help him do it for God's sake!
The standard-issue plot aside, this is another great one from Roger Corman. It's not quite a classic like "Bucket of Blood" or last night's "The Undead", but it still merits Two Big Thumbs Up, just on weirdness alone. Charles B. Griffith didn't write it this time, but he does have a small role as a rocket scientist, which seems appropriate, lol.
I have to admit, even with egg on my face for once calling him a hack, that Roger Corman is now becoming one of my favorite directors, at least for these early films and his 1960s horror output, some of which we watched last Halloween. I'll still avoid all of his "Death Race 2000" and Hell's Angels movies, and the black comedies and most of his efforts as a producer, but with the low budget monster flicks, he's the King as far as I'm concerned. Thanks, Roger! /////
Elizabeth, I'm glad to see you're recording with the PRS. Don't worry about being "metal" or otherwise, just be Yourself and the music will come. That' a nice line you're playing there, btw. Keep up the good work and post more when possible! :):)
Here I go on my walk, see you at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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