Movies - It Conquered the World

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	Movies - It Conquered the World

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.

Director: Roger Corman
Written by: Lou Rusoff

Starring:

Peter Graves
(Dr. Paul Nelson)
Lee van Cleef (Dr. Tom Anderson)
Beverly Garland
(Claire Anderson)
Sally Frasier (Joan Nelson)

Plot synopsis

Lee van Cleef, later star of many "spaghetti Western" movies, plays Dr. Tom Anderson, an embittered scientist who 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. To the naïve Dr. Anderson, however, it 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 and his wife. The alien's first action -- similar to The Day the Earth Stood Still -- is to suppress all electric power on Earth (or at least in southern California), 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. The film closes with a pontifical speech by Nelson, emphasizing the need for humanity to find its own way in the universe.

Trivia

The film closes with Dr. Nelson speaking philosophically about the grisly fate of his late friend, his rather lengthy solioquy beginning with "He learned, almost too late, that Man is a feeling creature, and as such, the greatest in the universe…". In an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, which featured the film, this monologue was repeated four times before and during the end credits as a point of humor.

This film is the inspiration for Frank Zappa's song "Cheepnis". At the beginning of the song he mentions both the film and the "inverted ice cream cone" monster.

The French, two man electronic music group M83 (band) samples dialogue from the film in their song "Facing That," from their self-titled 2001 debut album; most notably a conversation between Dr. Tom Anderson and the alien where the alien is speaking to Anderson (audible pauses denoed by ellipses):

"This is Anderson, acknowledge... Where are you? ... Yes, yes, it's true I am your only friend, no one else even knows you exist ... but they will, it'll be the greatest day in the history of mankind..." his wife: "Come to bed Tom."

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for It Conquered the World ]

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