In this dreadfully tedious and incredibly over-rated film, a handful of giant mollusks somehow manage to emerge from the Salton Sea to terrorize a naval base and the meager civilian population living nearby.
Pudgy Tim Holt, as Cdr. Twillinger, waddles around scowling at everyone if there not doing things "by the book", then spends five minutes crawling on the floor looking for a little girl's ladybug. The little girl's mommy is gorgeous Gail Mackenzie, so we'll let this minor lapse in character consistency go.
What we can't excuse is a film that is terribly paced, by being constantly plagued by lengthy and dull sequences involving meetings and leisurely dinners at a time when the action and suspense should be picking up and driving the film toward a powerful conclusion. There are some fairly good attack sequences involving the mollusks (which really look like giant caterpillars) "absorbing" a few swimmers and divers, but these scenes are always followed by interminable interludes in which Han Conreid, as the chief scientist, explains at GREAT length why they're all in extreme danger.
Then there's that sticky stuff that's always found on or near the bodies. Sometimes it's pasty white, sometimes it looks like bubble-bath, and sometimes it looks like something else again. Whatever. Aside from being a bore, there's never any real sense that the Mollusks are going to amount to a serious threat, AND THEY DON'T!
"It Conquered The World", made a year earlier, and with a similar title, is a far superior film in terms of plot, script, character development and pacing! I suggest you compare for yourself.
Pudgy Tim Holt, as Cdr. Twillinger, waddles around scowling at everyone if there not doing things "by the book", then spends five minutes crawling on the floor looking for a little girl's ladybug. The little girl's mommy is gorgeous Gail Mackenzie, so we'll let this minor lapse in character consistency go.
What we can't excuse is a film that is terribly paced, by being constantly plagued by lengthy and dull sequences involving meetings and leisurely dinners at a time when the action and suspense should be picking up and driving the film toward a powerful conclusion. There are some fairly good attack sequences involving the mollusks (which really look like giant caterpillars) "absorbing" a few swimmers and divers, but these scenes are always followed by interminable interludes in which Han Conreid, as the chief scientist, explains at GREAT length why they're all in extreme danger.
Then there's that sticky stuff that's always found on or near the bodies. Sometimes it's pasty white, sometimes it looks like bubble-bath, and sometimes it looks like something else again. Whatever. Aside from being a bore, there's never any real sense that the Mollusks are going to amount to a serious threat, AND THEY DON'T!
"It Conquered The World", made a year earlier, and with a similar title, is a far superior film in terms of plot, script, character development and pacing! I suggest you compare for yourself.