Simply Perfect

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Best movie of this year hands down!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

When I was a kid I thought this was a great movie! I was impressed by how it was more a straight sci-fi story than a monster movie at all. I liked the way it showed how exponential progression takes you from interesting lab effect to massive destruction with surprising speed. And I loved the energy of the climactic scene in the power plant.Well, through the magic of Youtube I just today saw it again after a space of 40 years at least. And the wonder wasn't there. On the science side ... what a jumble. I mean, science fiction pretty much automatically involves made-up stuff. But it ought not to involve throwing existing science into a blender. In MM, terms like "atom", "molecule", "electron", "monopole", and "nucleus" are interchangeable. Magnetism and radioactivity are confused throughout. At one point we are given to understand that nuclear fission can be induced by an electric current. And it's never clear to me why the dangerous aspects of the substance are so variable and unpredictable. Why is it ever possible to transport it, for example.On the plot side, scientists act very strangely. At one point an apparently British scientist puts a safety regulation ahead of the survival of the planet. The "A-men" of the Office of Scientific Investigation apparently have Lensman-level powers; at one point one of them orders all planes in the country grounded "on my authority." And then the action is interrupted here and there with discussions of whether Dr. Stewart's wife has gained enough weight in her pregnancy and whether they can get a house. I confess I had forgotten that whole subplot.On the other hand you may like it if you are willing to put up with these flaws for the sake of a scene with cool sound effects and electric arcs...

This is very good 1950's science fiction. At the center is Curt Siodmak, a pretty good writer who involves us in a tale where the use of a particle accelerator causes magnetism to go crazy. It results in implosions that could eventually end all life on earth. It's up to Richard Carlson and King Donovan, staples in the movie genre of the time, to come up with a solution. This is post atom bomb time and we are treated to a lot of moralizing about life and its preciousness. This could have gotten out of hand but is reined in pretty well. I thought the science was reasonable and the acting quite good. Stereotyping was kept to a minimum and allowed the principles to do their thing. Very good scene in an appliance store at the beginning.

The Magnetic Monster was another movie I'd been after for years and recently obtained a copy on E-bay.Nuclear scientists and physicists (The A-Men) are called in when all the metal appliances in an electrical store suddenly become magnetic. They discover this is being caused by a scientist who has invented a new element. But this new element absorbs energy, expanding every 11-12 hours and the A-Men have to find a solution of stopping it before it is too late...This is different to a lot of 1950's sci-fies, no giant monsters or aliens.The cast includes sci-fi regular Richard Carlson (It Came From Outer Space, Creature From the Black Lagoon), King Donovan (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) and Jean Byron (Invisible Invaders).I quite enjoyed watching The Magnetic Monster, recommended.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

Most science fiction from the 1950s are very artistic, well directed, and entertaining.This one flails a bit more, but it does so in an effort to be low key. They don't look to use a big budget for effects, but still manage to show their story reasonably well.The story is the problem here, however. It never really is clear just what the scientists are talking about. They seem to want to make some very deep philosophical point, but that is where the flailing comes in. Each time they begin to try to explain what the microscopic magnetic atomic monster is doing, they digress into a confusing ideology that no one understands.The idea of the microscopic monster, the unseen force left to the imagination, works well enough. The characters do, too. It just fails on the story level enough to make merely a mediocre film, not nearly as good as most monster films from the fifties.