Kronos
Directed by Kurt Neumann
Written by Lawrence L. Goldman; story by Irving Block
USA/1957
Regal Films
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Dr. Hubbell Eliot: We have half of the equation; we can turn matter into energy. But up there, they have the second half; they can turn energy into matter.[/box]
This B sci-fi film is kind of a mixed bag.
A truck driver is humming along to “Something’s Gotta Give” on his radio as he tootles down a desert road. Suddenly he sees a small beam of light before him. There is a blinding flash and the trucker is instantly zombified. His handler sends him to a laboratory where he blitzes a guard. There is a second flash and the handler takes over Hubbell Ellis, the lab’s head scientist.
Ellis now has a mysterious gleam in his eye. An asteroid looks ready to collide with earth. Ellis counsels using nuclear weapons to destroy it. This proves ineffective and the “asteroid”, really a spacecraft, lands in the Gulf of Mexico. It morphs into a gigantic robot and starts heading for a nuclear power plant. In the meantime, Ellis is put in an insane asylum. During his rare lucid moments, the frightening truth begins to emerge.
The film features stylish title credits, a great score, and an intriguing premise about energy conservation. After a very promising opening, it kind of resolves into a standard creature feature plot, with attendant romance and wisecracks, and lacks thrills.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxwxL6xDT3s
Trailer
