Monster of the Day #348

I haven’t seen this one, either, if it’s what I think it is. I’ve heard good things about it, though. Plus, I generally like Dante’s work.

Man, that head prop is dynamite!

I love this movie, such a great homage to William Castle.

Ken, Mant! has already been Monster of the Day. But I’ll not complain if I get another chance to see this beauty! And now that my laserdisc is working again……..

“Young man, you’ve suffered some of the worst of what our, mighty little friend the atom has to offer. It can power a city, or level it!”

I wanted so much for there to be an actual Mant! movie. I used to dream about making it myself. I did write a short-story inspired by it, called “Humantis!,” but it never saw print.

“Electricity, plus atomic energy, the worst possible combination! Now he’ll grow, at an acelerated, or speeded up, rate!”

It’s those Universal stock cues that make it work. They tie everything together perfectly. They also add enough punch to some scenes that they rise above the satrical nature of the affair. The complete conference scene, for example, where Robert Corthwaithe offers a speech about how the A-bomb has changed the world. It works.

“Unless man learns to live in peace with his universe-”

“This is the real world, Doctor! Not test tubes and atomic diagrams and periodic tables! And everytime we have to take on the real world there’s always some egghead telling us ‘oh, yes, I invented it, but I never wanted it used!’ While our enemies, are having a field day! Gobbling up countries. Like this, ant, can gobble up sugar!”

“But that’s just it, don’t you see? You take this, shoe salesman, and make him the enemy. That’s what this atom bomb does! It takes all the shoe salesmen, the dirtfarmers, housewives, all over the world, and turns them all into somebody’s enemy. When all they wanted, was to go home, to a little house, at night, and sleep in peace. Well, I suppose that’s a thing of the past now, isn’t it? Once we so cleverly let that atomic genie out of its bottle. There’s no putting it back, gentlemen. Every country can get that bomb now. Countries whose leaders are desperate, or crazy, or making holy war. It’s a different world now, from the one we knew only a few short years ago.”