Movie Review: The Magnetic Monster (1953)

Synopsis: When objects around town become suddenly and inexplicably magnetized, Dr. Jeffrey Stewart and Dr. Dan Forbes of the Office of Scientific Investigation are called in to find out why. They discover a dying scientist carrying an unusual radioactive isotope that was part of an experiment. Stewart and his team take possession of the isotope, learn it is alive, growing and will eventually be so large, it could potentially throw Earth out of orbit.

Who's in it? The movie stars Richard Carlson, King Donovan, Jean Byron, Harry Ellerbe and Michael Fox.

Review: It's been a while since I had time to watch an early morning movie, so I made sure to correct that today and eventually selected The Magnetic Monster. The movie was not what I was expecting it to be based on its title and unfortunately wasn't one of my favorites.

I am always going to give movies points for uniqueness and in this case, the film did offer something somewhat unique by not having the "monster" be some scientist or random person who was mutated by radiation, as is the case with so many other similar films. Instead, it was a "monster" that had the ability to cause much more destruction and even the end of humanity simply by existing.

That said, about halfway through the film, I was sort of wishing it did have a more traditional 1950s monster because the movie proved to be kind of dull. It's mostly just a bunch of smart people having conversations about the isotope, what it had the potential to do and trying to come up with a way to get rid of it. Meanwhile, the more exciting things, such as a building imploding, were kept offscreen.

The film was so slow paced, Dr. Stewart (Carlson) had plenty of time to have multiple conversations with his pregnant wife (Byron) about how she wasn't gaining enough weight, how he could help her gain more weight and the pros and cons about buying a house. I probably wouldn't have minded this all that much had it added some additional suspense to the plot, such as raising concerns about how the potential exposure to radiation could harm their unborn baby, but the movie never crosses that line.

I did think the movie did an OK job with the ending by building just enough suspense to make me wonder if the plan would work and, if it did, would it come at the expense of Stewart's life. It did, however, make me wish the rest of the film would have tried to do more of the same.

Final Opinion: It's not the worst science fiction/monster film I've seen but because of the lack of overall action, wasn't one I thought was particularly memorable either.

My Grade: C

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Here are some reviews of other movies from 1953:

Movie Review: Captain Scarface (1953)

Movie Review: Vicki (1953)

Movie Review: Loose in London (1953)

Movie Review: 99 River Street (1953)