Themes: Experiments Gone Awry, Race Against Time, Mad Scientists
Main Cast: Peter Graves, Beverly Garland, Lee Van Cleef, Sally Fraser, Charles B. Griffith, Jonathan Haze
Release Year: 1956
Country: US
Run Time: 68 minutes
Plot
Though Roger Corman was still new to sci-fi in 1956, he made up for lost time with the above-average quickie It Conquered the World. Peter Graves heads the cast as Paul Nelson, who suspects that his best friend, eccentric genius Tom Anderson (Lee Van Cleef), is up to no good. Sure enough, Tom has contacted the denizens of the planet Venus, who hope to exploit Tom's weak nature in order to take over the world. Before long, the Venusians have taken over the minds and bodies of virtually all of Tom's friends and loved ones. It is up to Paul and a handful of un-brainwashed earthlings to halt this subversive alien invasion. Scripted by Charles Griffith (of Little Shop of Horrors fame), It Conquered the World is a thinly disguised attack on totalitarianism, from both the Left and Right. Corman regulars Beverly Garland, Dick Miller and Jonathan Haze make brief but significant appearances. The film represented first "monster" creation of Paul Blaisdel, whose Venusian leader looks like a surly carrot. It Conquered the World was remade--badly--as Zontar, the Thing from Venus (1968). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
A pointy-headed Venusian carrot-monster with a bad underbite controls men's minds in this goofy but lovable alien-invasion picture from American International. Lee Van Cleef plays a scientist who warns his superiors not to send a rocket into space. When he starts to obsess on picking up audio signals from Venus, his best friend (Peter Graves) imagines that Van Cleef is losing his marbles, as does his own wife (Beverly Garland). Soon, however, satellites disappear and the alien monster comes to Earth, cutting off all electricity and sending out flying bat-mites to bite several key officials, possessing their minds. The best scene has Graves' possessed wife saying she has a "present," then sending a flying bat-mite his way. There's a strange subplot about a general being ordered to kill the President, as well as some surprisingly good performances by the talented leads. Even Paul Blaisdell's silly monster doesn't take the edge off this entertaining low-budget chiller, which was remade by Larry Buchanan as Zontar, the Thing from Venus. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Russ Bender - Gen. Patrick; Dick Miller - Sgt. Neil; Karen Kadler - Ellen Peters; Paul Blaisdell - The Monster; Marshall Bradford - U.S. Secretary Platt; David McMahon - General Carpenter; Thomas E. Jackson - George Haskell; Taggart Casey - Police Chief Schallert
Credit
Roger Corman - Director, Charles Gross - Editor, James H. Nicholson - Executive Producer, Ronald Stein - Composer (Music Score), Larry Buterworth - Makeup, Frederick E. West - Cinematographer, Lou Place - Production Manager, Roger Corman - Producer, Paul Blaisdell - Special Effects, Charles B. Griffith - Screenwriter, Lou Rusoff - Screenwriter
Dr. Tom Anderson (Van Cleef), an embittered scientist, has picked up the voice of a Venusian alien in his radio transmitter. The alien wants to take over the world with its mind-control devices and thus make a new home for itself, but claims only to be bringing peace to the Earth through the elimination of emotions. Anderson agrees to help the creature in this ploy, even recommending that the creature assimilate his friend Dr. Nelson (Graves) and his wife (Fraser). The alien's first action is to suppress all electric power on Earth, including the ignition systems of motor vehicles, leaving Dr. Nelson resorting to riding around on a bicycle.
After killing a flying bat-like creature which carries the mind-control device, Nelson returns home to see his wife is assimilated and, as she attempts to assimilate him with another bat creature, he kills her. By this point, the only people left that are not mind controlled are Nelson, Anderson, Anderson's wife, and a small group of soldiers camping in the woods. Dr. Nelson finally persuades the paranoid Anderson that he has been wrong about the alien's motives and that he has made a horrible mistake, allying himself with a creature bent on world domination. They hurriedly leave when they discover Tom's wife has picked up a rifle and gone to the alien's cave to try to kill it. The monster succeeds in taking the life of Mrs. Anderson before the two doctors make it to her rescue. Finally seeing his hubris and the loss of everything he holds dear, Dr. Anderson kills the monster, sustaining lethal wounds of his own in the confrontation.
It Conquered the World was remade in 1966 as Zontar, The Thing From Venus, which starred John Agar in the role played by Lee Van Cleef in the original. Because of virtually identical scripts, the two films are often confused with one another.
The French two man electronic music group M83 samples dialogue from the film in their song "Facing That", from their self-titled 2001 debut album.
On the album Roxy and Elsewhere, Frank Zappa performs an on-stage ad-lib about this and other low-budget monster movies before performing the song "Cheepnis".
It Conquered the World was mocked on the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000; subjects for jokes included the poor monster props, occasionally wooden acting, and the overblown closing monologue.
It Conquered the World is the film Elvira was shown hosting on her television series at the beginning of the 1988 film Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.
Surf rock band Man or Astroman? sampled dialogue from the film in their song "Transmissions From Venus."
