The Magnetic Monster (1953) is an intelligent & well-paced film that contains plausible-sounding science and which builds up to an excellent climax.
The films allows us to consider at what point does science cross over into areas where some people believe it should not and cannot cross.
In the area of science, there is a certain unease of the times being reflected in the film. After all, it was scientific research that produced an element that even in the initial stages resulted in the production of radiation that was "strong enough to kill us or wipe out a few city blocks." Whether done independently or not, science had created something new that "turned out to be unstable," that was "monstrous" and capable of "reaching out with invisible fingers" to kill!
The unease of the times is further highlighted by the fact that the element created by Dr. Denker appears to be as Forbes exclaims, "a live thing!" Instead of the usual monsters from space, the ocean depths or from under the ice, we have an impersonal, apparently indestructible and unseen monster.
The films allows us to consider at what point does science cross over into areas where some people believe it should not and cannot cross.
In the area of science, there is a certain unease of the times being reflected in the film. After all, it was scientific research that produced an element that even in the initial stages resulted in the production of radiation that was "strong enough to kill us or wipe out a few city blocks." Whether done independently or not, science had created something new that "turned out to be unstable," that was "monstrous" and capable of "reaching out with invisible fingers" to kill!
The unease of the times is further highlighted by the fact that the element created by Dr. Denker appears to be as Forbes exclaims, "a live thing!" Instead of the usual monsters from space, the ocean depths or from under the ice, we have an impersonal, apparently indestructible and unseen monster.