Kronos (1957)

A strange, energy-based lifeform possesses some country bumpkin, then breaks into a military base and possesses a scientist. Meanwhile, an object presumed to be a meterorite crashes into the ocean. Later, the supposed meteor emerges as a massive machine of alien origin sent to absorb Earth's artificially produced power. After leaving a path of destruction through Mexico, the being sets sights on Los Angeles...

For better or for worse, this movie is the embodiement of all 50's American sci-fi. If you want to have a thorough examination of this period of cinematic history, you really don't need to look much further than Kronos. It's all there: the hackneyed but in-your-face dialogue; the mind-numbing pseudo-scientific jargon (remember, this is before the "Star Trek" franchise made pseudo-scientific jargon a certified art form); none-too-subtle allegories to the Cold War and the U.S.S.R; the manly, heroic scientist; and the perky (and yet submissive) female sidekick.

But without a doubt the best part of Kronos is that you get to see atomic bombs thrown around like firecrackers...a lot. Even before the monster Kronos gets on the ground the U.S military, even while under the perception that Kronos is a meteor, sends what appears to be a barrage of nuclear missles at it. This says a lot for how naive the 50s mentality was generally toward nuclear arms. As the government kept chucking nukes at poor Kronos, and our hero of the moment Dr. Leslie Gaskill comes up with an incredibly convulted way of finally destroying the damn monster (I couldn't tell you exactly what it had to do with, to be honest, except it resulted in even more stock footage of nuclear tests), I couldn't help but get the impression that, you know, maybe more people were being killed by the attempts to stop Kronos than by Kronos himself. After all, a lot of people seemed to be getting away just fine during Kronos' urban rampages, while there's an awful lot of stock footage of atomic bomb explosions. Now, does our protagonists mention these losses, as they run around frantically to stop Kronos? Of course not! Not even when it seems to anyone paying attention that Dr. Gaskill's "solution" to the Kronos problem probably just destroyed most, if not all, of Los Angeles. Oops.

The movie itself feels quite drawn out at some points. The protagonists seem to be up in that helicopter forever, and it becomes obvious fairly quickly that both the alien-body-possessor subplot and the introduction of supercomputer S.U.S.I.E are just padding. However, that doesn't mean the film isn't without good, solid scenes...the beginning with the introduction of the body-snatching (reference intended) alien entity, and a few of the scenes with S.U.S.I.E, and the heroes' exploration of Kronos itself are all quite well-done in terms of visuals and atmosphere.

Well, that's all well and good, but how's Kronos itself? To be honest, its kind of hard to get worked up about a monster that looks like something constructed by an eight-grader using cardboard boxes or a modern art piece gone mad. Well, it could have been worse, as anyone who's seen The Giant Claw can attest. In fact, fans of 50's sci-fi could do worse than Kronos itself, although only people at least somewhat familiar with the conventions of the genre and what to expect from them should tread here.

"Do you want to marry me?"

"Can you cook?"

-Vera and Dr. Gaskill, and of course this question wasn't met with a punch to the face.

Scenes To See:

-Kronos stomping his marry way

-Hmm...if I didn't know better, I'd say those helicopter blades were a ceiling fan.

-Honey, I just nuked Los Angeles...
Cast Connections:

Speaking of The Giant Claw, Jeff Morrow (Dr. Gaskill) also played Mitch McAfee in that (made in the same year as this, of course)....hm, he also played Gregory in The Legacy, a movie I'm reviewing this same week.