Someone, somewhere at one time came up with the concept of robots that looked like Gog and Magog in this picture, with the barrel shaped bodies and flailing arms that were meant to be scary. The movie "Forbidden Planet" had a larger version in 'Robby the Robot', while the Space Family Robinson dealt with their own menace in the Sixties TV series "Lost in Space". The names Gog and Magog make an appearance in the Bible, so it's interesting that they were used here in an entirely different context.
As a sci-fi story, this one was rather static in terms of action. It's very talky as Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) from the Office of Scientific Investigation is dispatched to a secret underground research facility to investigate some deaths that appear to be more than accidental. He's joined by Joanna Merritt (Constance Dowling), already on the scene from a 'secret security section'. Within the context of the Cold War of the 1950's, a sense of paranoia permeates the film with the existence of an unseen enemy that's killing scientists and sabotaging the facility. I love it when films like this come up with scientific instruments like an oxygenometer and a spectrohelioscope; you don't know what they do but they sound good.
I guess I was lucky to catch this film in color, since most TV prints in the United States are in black and white. Otherwise that big and bold red Coke machine wouldn't have stood out as well as it did. I'm constantly amazed at the amount of product placement Coca-Cola has accomplished throughout the years, so much so that you can almost bet on seeing a Coke logo of some sort in almost any movie you watch. Not that it had anything to do in this story, the sabotaging agent is knocked out of commission by a fighter jet while Sheppard contends with the rogue robots using a flame thrower! I guess things do go better with Coke.
As a sci-fi story, this one was rather static in terms of action. It's very talky as Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) from the Office of Scientific Investigation is dispatched to a secret underground research facility to investigate some deaths that appear to be more than accidental. He's joined by Joanna Merritt (Constance Dowling), already on the scene from a 'secret security section'. Within the context of the Cold War of the 1950's, a sense of paranoia permeates the film with the existence of an unseen enemy that's killing scientists and sabotaging the facility. I love it when films like this come up with scientific instruments like an oxygenometer and a spectrohelioscope; you don't know what they do but they sound good.
I guess I was lucky to catch this film in color, since most TV prints in the United States are in black and white. Otherwise that big and bold red Coke machine wouldn't have stood out as well as it did. I'm constantly amazed at the amount of product placement Coca-Cola has accomplished throughout the years, so much so that you can almost bet on seeing a Coke logo of some sort in almost any movie you watch. Not that it had anything to do in this story, the sabotaging agent is knocked out of commission by a fighter jet while Sheppard contends with the rogue robots using a flame thrower! I guess things do go better with Coke.