Sunday Afternoon Matinee: The Magnetic Monster

This is a classic B-movie starring Richard Carlson. Quick, which actor is Richard Carlson; which is Kevin McCarthy, and which is Hugh Marlowe?

Yes, back in the days when all B-movie actors appeared to be related. The Magnetic Monster was a prophetic movie in that it dramatized what will happen one day when the Large Hadron Collider at CERN finally creates a black hole.

The scenes of the underground magneto-dynamo "Delta-tron" are stock footage taken from the German science fiction thriller Gold (1934). Some trivia from Wikipedia:

The German film GOLD was banned in the USA due to the belief that it depicted a functional nuclear reactor … and the Nazis had it. It was feared that this would convince Americans that it was impossible to oppose Hitler due to the Third Reich's clear scientific advantage over us. This was clearly forgotten since most of the footage of the "nuclear reactor" was incorporated into MAGNETIC MONSTER and it was released without any problem.

YouTube movie below the fold in five parts. And remember, if it weren't for B-movies, there would be no A-movies. Think about it.

Edited: I removed the other four YouTube players since you can access parts two through five in the YouTube player above--and because of potential slow-loading problems here at the HQ. The player displays a link at the end of each part.

posted by rdbrewer at 05:16 PM

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