Our heroes in this yarn work for the O.S.I. That's the Office of Scientific Investigation. And their latest case is pretty staggering: looking into the incident of magnetized items in a hardware store, they discover something unexpected upstairs. It's a laboratory, in which a mad scientist, Dr. Denker (Leonard Mudie), had developed a radioactive element. Of course, now this element is unstable and could cause problems for many Americans if guys like Jeffrey Stewart (Richard Carlson) and his associate Dan Forbes (King Donovan) don't do something about it.
"The Magnetic Monster" won't be to everyones' taste. This is due to depending more on talk than action for its impact, and relatively little spectacle. (Even a key explosion is only mentioned rather than shown.) It IS pretty intelligent, offering a scenario (concocted by producer Ivan Tors and director Curt Siodmak) with an unusual and interesting "monster". The screenplay does offer convincing dialogue centered around science fact more than fantastical science fiction. Siodmak directs in a matter of fact, no nonsense style that helps to sell the realism of the story. There are some scenes of domestic bliss with Stewart and his pregnant wife Connie (Jean Byron) that do interrupt the flow of things, but there aren't an excessive amount of them. The big action climax actually consists of stock footage lifted from a 1930s German sci-fi feature titled "Gold".
There's a fair amount of recognizable actors in this earnest and rock solid cast. Good work by Carlson and Donovan is supplemented by fine performances by people like Harry Ellerbe, Leo Britt, Byron Foulger, Roy Engel, Frank Gerstle, William 'Billy' Benedict, Kathleen Freeman, and Strother Martin.
Fairly enjoyable overall. Tors' O.S.I. trilogy also consists of "Riders to the Star" and "Gog".
Six out of 10.
"The Magnetic Monster" won't be to everyones' taste. This is due to depending more on talk than action for its impact, and relatively little spectacle. (Even a key explosion is only mentioned rather than shown.) It IS pretty intelligent, offering a scenario (concocted by producer Ivan Tors and director Curt Siodmak) with an unusual and interesting "monster". The screenplay does offer convincing dialogue centered around science fact more than fantastical science fiction. Siodmak directs in a matter of fact, no nonsense style that helps to sell the realism of the story. There are some scenes of domestic bliss with Stewart and his pregnant wife Connie (Jean Byron) that do interrupt the flow of things, but there aren't an excessive amount of them. The big action climax actually consists of stock footage lifted from a 1930s German sci-fi feature titled "Gold".
There's a fair amount of recognizable actors in this earnest and rock solid cast. Good work by Carlson and Donovan is supplemented by fine performances by people like Harry Ellerbe, Leo Britt, Byron Foulger, Roy Engel, Frank Gerstle, William 'Billy' Benedict, Kathleen Freeman, and Strother Martin.
Fairly enjoyable overall. Tors' O.S.I. trilogy also consists of "Riders to the Star" and "Gog".
Six out of 10.