It Conquered the World
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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It Conquered the World is a 1956 science fiction film about an alien from Venus trying to take over the world with the help of a disillusioned human scientist. It was directed by Roger Corman, written by Lou Rusoff (with uncredited contributions by Charles B. Griffith), and starred Peter Graves, Lee van Cleef, Beverly Garland, and Sally Fraser.
Plot synopsis
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, 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.
Cast
- Peter Graves .............. Dr. Paul Nelson
- Lee Van Cleef ......... Dr. Tom Anderson
- Beverly Garland ........... Claire Anderson
- Sally Fraser .............. Joan Nelson
- Russ Bender .............. General James Pattick
- Taggart Casey ............. Sheriff N.J. Shallert
- Karen Kadler .............. Dr. Ellen Peters
- Dick Miller.............First Sergeant
- Jonathan Haze ......... Corporal Manuel Ortiz
- Paul Harbor .............. Dr. Floyd Mason
- Charles B. Griffith ........Dr. Pete Shelton
- Tomas E. Jackson ...........George Haskell
Trivia
- 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.
- 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.
