20 Million Miles To Earth / The Monster that Challenged the World

20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH, 1957, Sony Repertory, 82 min. A spaceship returning from Venus crash-lands off of Sicily with two passengers on board – pilot William Hopper (Paul Drake on TV’s “Perry Mason”) and a miniature reptile, who soon grows to monstrous proportions in Earth’s atmosphere. Director Nathan Juran’s first collaboration with F/X wizard Ray Harryhausen.

THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD, 1957, MGM Repertory, 83 min. Dir. Arnold Laven. An earthquake sets killer prehistoric snail monsters free after radioactive material infects a group of underwater eggs. This overlooked entry in the cycle of ’50s paranoia movies stars cowboy actor Tim Holt (co-star of TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE) as a naval intelligence officer who tries to stop the menace.