Despite stock footage of planes that did not match from scene to scene and shots of Eskimoes from a 1933 film, the film does give us a huge flying Praying Mantis that looks pretty convincing, especially in the skies over Washington DC.
William Hopper is far away from his Hard Boiled Paul Drake persona and takes up the mantle of a learned scientist, which he does well. But all eyes are on Alix Talton, the "Long Legged Model".
This woman sidekick is not attracted to Hopper like she would be, but to the military hero instead.
Which is a lot different than the woman chasing detective Drake would play in Perry Mason, who was often borrowing 50 bucks from Perry so he could take the defendant to dinner.
One thing we do not hafta worry about is CGI: that was a REAL full sized Mantis in the closing scenes. I applaud this film for the amount of sheer effort in making this creature- and giving it life! Other monster movies of the 50's would involve filming regular sized insects and composing a full sized human next to it. Or, like 20 million miles to earth, a considerable amount of stop motion animation!
But they also had to move the mantis head and jaws... and real Ichor was dripping from its mouth.
Compare the final scene of this film to the "Tanker Beetle" scene from Starship Troopers...
This film could use a remake. Too bad William Hopper can't be part of it. He left us, way too young.
William Hopper is far away from his Hard Boiled Paul Drake persona and takes up the mantle of a learned scientist, which he does well. But all eyes are on Alix Talton, the "Long Legged Model".
This woman sidekick is not attracted to Hopper like she would be, but to the military hero instead.
Which is a lot different than the woman chasing detective Drake would play in Perry Mason, who was often borrowing 50 bucks from Perry so he could take the defendant to dinner.
One thing we do not hafta worry about is CGI: that was a REAL full sized Mantis in the closing scenes. I applaud this film for the amount of sheer effort in making this creature- and giving it life! Other monster movies of the 50's would involve filming regular sized insects and composing a full sized human next to it. Or, like 20 million miles to earth, a considerable amount of stop motion animation!
But they also had to move the mantis head and jaws... and real Ichor was dripping from its mouth.
Compare the final scene of this film to the "Tanker Beetle" scene from Starship Troopers...
This film could use a remake. Too bad William Hopper can't be part of it. He left us, way too young.