Sci-Fi Movie Stumpers from the 50s Quiz

Answer: The Amazing Colossal Man

Colonel Glenn Manning (Glenn Langan) uttered that immortal phrase in a moment of self-pity while on a picnic with his now much-smaller fiancee Carol Forest (Cathy Downs). Manning had become irradiated and severely burned while trying to save the pilot of a plane that crashed at the site of an atomic bomb test. He survived, but also began growing to giant-size. Manning eventually went insane and fell to his death off Hoover Dam.

The phrase was also a bit of a catchphrase on "Mystery Science Theater 3000" after Joel and his bots riffed the 1957 movie.

Answer: Attack of the Crab Monsters

This was a surprisingly good early effort by cheapie director Roger Corman. The Crab Monsters were granted intelligence because of exposure to radiation, and had the ability to absorb other beings' intelligence. Their plans to take over the planet were foiled by the few brave souls who survived the monsters' destructive attacks.

The 1957 film also featured Russell Johnson as handyman Hank Chapman, back when he was known as a solid character actor and not just the Professor from "Gilligan's Island".

Answer: "Trying to please a woman is like swimming the ocean."

All of the choices were quotes from various characters in "Gigantis", which was the first version of "Godzilla's Counterattack" to hit US shores. This sequel to the popular "Gojira" (a.k.a. "Godzilla, King of the Monsters") was nowhere near as good a film, and this poorly-dubbed version suffered even more. Gigantis and the monster Angurus (also known as Angillas) were discovered on a rocky isle and soon made their way to cause destruction in Osaka. Gigantis killed his opponent, and was eventually imprisoned in a valley of ice by the Japanese Military.

Paul Frees, Marvin Miller and George Takei provided many of the characters' voices. The film was renamed "Godzilla Raids Again", a name which appears on most prints of the movie now, though the story still refers to "Gigantis The Fire Monster".

Answer: X The Unknown

The oath was sworn by two young boys, Ian Osborn and Willie Harding, in a dark forest. Willie attempted to fulfill the 'swear' as he called it, but happened upon the radioactive blob that had been terrorizing the countryside. The frightened boy fled and later died of radiation burns.

His death did however end up helping Dr. Adam Royston (Dean Jagger) in his efforts to destroy the creature in this excellently made and written 1957 thriller.

Answer: The Brain Eaters

"The Brain Eaters" was controversial in that it was a completely unauthorized adaptation of Robert Heinlein's book, "The Puppet Masters". The small town was beset by parasites from the Carboniferous Era, which could control any human that they were attached to, and then use them to achieve their aims of conquest.

Unfortunately, this was also one of the rare science fiction films in which nearly all of the protagonists (at least the likeable ones) get killed by the end of the movie. Ed Nelson and his on-screen fiance Joanna Lee both succumbed at the end of the movie, but not before they stopped the "Brain Eaters".

Answer: Labcentral

Dr. Hubbell Elliot (John Emery) was the head of Labcentral and became possessed by the energy creature that had a symbiotic link with the alien robot. His colleague, Dr. Leslie Gaskell (Jeff Murrow), gave the giant mechanism the name of "Kronos", and was instrumental in its destruction.

Answer: Thought Materialization

Dr. Walgate (Kynaston Reeves) was a respected scientist before a stroke befell him. In his experiments, he originally created the Fiends to be receptacles for his detached thoughts (made in the
image of a brain with life and mobility, but without the liimitations of man's body). They later took on minds of their own, and were only stopped after Major Cummings (Marshall Thompson) managed to blow up the power plant from which they had been absorbing energy.

"Fiend Without a Face" featured some truly intriguing monsters, which were somewhat graphic (especially when they were killed) for the time period.

Answer: Operation Experiment

The blandly-named test was designed by Dr. Tom Nesbitt (Paul Christian), who would later play a pivotal role in finding and destroying the radioactive Rhedosaurus.

This 1954 movie was one of the first of the giant-monster-on-the-loose films that the genre became synonomous with in that decade. Like "Gojira" (1954), it too was partially inspired by the re-release of "King Kong" (1933) in the early fifties.

Answer: Bride of the Monster

"Bride of the Monster" (1955) was, arguably, Ed Wood's best science-fiction effort. The movie featured the last speaking performance of Bela Lugosi (Bela grunted and grimaced his way through "The Black Sleep", and Wood later used some silent test footage in the making of "Plan 9 From Outer Space").

The great horror actor portrayed Dr. Orloff, who was obsessed with his strange theories to create a race of atomic supermen to take over the world.

Answer: From Hell It Came

"From Hell It Came" was (and still is) often panned because it basically features an evil tree stalking people. It wasn't that bad of a film, and had some pretty decent performances by Tom Andrews and Tina Carver. Andrews was the one to eventually bring down the creature, by shooting at the knife that was already stuck in the beast's chest (from the execution attempt at the beginning of the film), driving it through its heart.