In a time before video games, hundreds of cable channels and streaming video on demand the typical pre-teen boy still had some very viable options for entertainment. Undoubtedly today’s youth would look on them with distain considering them primitive but they worked for us. Albeit they were all we had. There were the after school kid’s shows consisting mostly of cartoons ripped off the regular movie showings, comic books and the highlight of the week; the Saturday afternoon matinee at the local movie theater. Even the venue was different than what is currently used to show films. There was only one film showing at a time and nothing resembling the currently popular multiplex. The theaters were grander back then, true ornately decorated temples to the cinematic arts. The art deco décor and plush velvet seats and curtains made going to the movies something special no matter what flick was showing. My pet theory contends that this is a significant factor in why my generation is better equipped to enjoy a ‘B’ flick. For kids today they lack the technical sophistication seen in the popular mega blockbusters. To us it is a trip back in time to when we first came to love movies. MGM has been consistently adding to their manufacture on demand DVDs with little difficult to locate gems such as the one reviewed here, ‘The Magnetic Monster’. This is the quintessential science fiction driven creature feature representative of the fifties afternoon showing. The special effects were minimal and cheaply made but the flicks were pure fun as we sat in the darken theater munching on our snacks, eyes riveted to the screen. The foundation of the movie was along the standard formula of the day. Take one part pseudo science that merely had to sound impressive and stir in equal parts of the current source of paranoia in the general population to generate some incredibly horrific creature bent on death and destruction. Bake on screen for eighty minutes or so and you have the classic creature feature. The most important thing is to nurture your ability to suspend belief and place yourself in the frame of mind to sit back, let go of reality and enjoy the show.

The protagonists in this film is a fictional organization that would pop up on a fairly regular basis; ‘The Office of Scientific Investigation (OSI’. This ‘government’ organization was charted to investigate strange occurrences resulting from the unprecedented proliferation of new technology. The public was weary of the promise of a bright future crafted in by science. It was less than a decade since scientist created the atomic bomb that annihilated two cities in Japan but that also became responsible for the nuclear soviet threat that sought to wipe us all out. One of the standard methods a filmmaker could use to set a sinister atmosphere was anything concerned with investigation atomic energy. This would immediate set the mood of deadly fear and uncontainable destruction. The events that the OSI were investigation this time initially seemed innocuous enough, an appliance store where all the clocks stopped at exactly the same time. The source of the peculiar mystery was discovered in an office directly above the store that was used for scientific research. Besides some equipment something overtly suspicious was found, a corpse. Their standard issue Geiger counter revealed something radioactive had recently been removed from the room. Their investigation quickly leads them to an ill fated flight were the passenger was a scientist, Dr. Denker (Leonard Mudie). The plot thickens with the realization that his painful demise was due to radiation sickness. He had been working on creating a new element he called serranium which he exposed to alpha particle for eight days. Although microscopic in size it adsorbs surrounding energy doubling in mass each day. The OSI agents do a quick calculation that reveals that very soon it will be large enough to disrupt the orbit of the earth. Making matters worse the artificial isotope is infused with a pseudo life and exerts an exceptionally powerful magnetic field. With its field and size increasing exponentially it earth is doomed to spin off its axis. Our only hope of avoiding this oncoming cataclysm is to use an experimental power generator; the deltatron located Nova Scotia, Canada to overfeed the monster killing it.

The bright young OSI investigator, Jeffrey Stewart, is portrayed by a standard player in many fifties Sci-Fi films, Richard Carlson. He fought flying saucers intent of taking our planet and appeared in the groundbreaking original, ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’. Fans of the era will also recognize King Donovan, one of the stars of ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’. The director and co-author of the screenplay, Curt Siodmak, is a name we have all seen in the credits of some of the best the fifties had to offer in this genre including ; Earth vs. the Flying Saucers’, ‘Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man’ and the original script for ‘The Wolf Man’. With an experienced pool of actors and filmmakers movies like this were good old fashion fun to watch. There is no overt bloodshed, no nudity and nothing remotely resembling violence but it was made with family entertainment in mind. The film had the necessary factors that defined the genre. Science created a problem that could destroy the entire planet but our rescue could be accomplished but other scientists working for our government. This subtly offset the fear of nuclear weapons by assuring us that ultimately technology will save us all. Actors like Carlson and Donovan were familiar, trusted faces that further calmed our collective jagged nerves. As kids we were only marginally aware of the grander socio-political message infused in the story. All that mattered is the movie was enjoyable. This aspect of the film as remained solid for all these years.