I caught this early today on Turner Classics as "The Cosmic Monsters" and hung around for the next feature, "Queen of Outer Space". On a relative basis, the Zsa Zsa flick is better, but seriously, that's not saying a whole lot. However this one has all the great and goofy pseudo-science I love to hear in sci-fi and horror flicks of the era, like Dr. Laird's (Alec Mango) method of altering the molecular structure of metals and alloys by experimenting with magnetic fields. The spin-off here is that his experiments create a hole in the ionosphere, thereby allowing dangerous cosmic rays to penetrate Earth's atmosphere and mutate living things. Guess what - they look just like giant size close-ups of crickets, frogs, and assorted insects! They even threw a lizard into one scene that actually looked fairly normal size, not at all like the creature in 1959's "The Giant Gila Monster".
As predictable as the whole thing was, the film suffered somewhat from abrupt scene changes that distracted from the flow of the story. Like the creepy old guy in the woods who popped up every now and then. I guess the picture was setting us up for his eventual exposure to the cosmic rays, but then why didn't they affect any other humans? Just wondering.
The picture offers a character similar to that of Michael Rennie's Klaatu from 1951's "The Day the Earth Stood Still", that of Smith (Martin Benson) who carries a warning from outer space to the inhabitants of Earth who are unknowingly posing a threat to the universe by virtue of Laird's experiments. The comparison ends pretty much right there however, with Smith allowed to signal his outer space fleet to wipe out the professor's scientific gizmo along with his cabin. I guess these aliens weren't bothered by things like a Prime Directive. It really didn't bother me either.
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