The Magnetic Monster (1953)

Working for O.S.I., the Office of Scientific Investigation, A-Man agent Jeffrey Stewart and his partner Dan Forbes are sent to a local hardware store where they find a strong magnetic field has magnetized every metal item in the store. Investigating further, they eventually trace the source of the magnetism to an airborn flight carrying scientist Howard Denker, now dying of radiation poisoning, who has carted on board with him a new radioactive element which he has bombarded with alpha particles for 200 hours. The element, dubbed 'serranium' grows geometrically by creating matter out of energy which it absorbs from metallic objects surrounding it. Stewart calculates that if the substance is not destroyed soon that within 24 hours or so it will have grown large enough to throw Earth out of its orbit.

“The Magnetic Monster” — directed by the German-born Curt Siodmak (younger brother of the noir auteur Robert Siodmak), who before coming to America provided the source material for “F.P.1 Doesn’t Respond” — also reflected topical concerns. Like “Gold,” “The Magnetic Monster,” which Curt Siodmak wrote in collaboration with the Hungarian-born producer Ivan Tors, is a Frankenstein story in which “the monster,” in this case the newly discovered “serranium,” emerges from the periodic table of elements.

Also like “Gold,” “The Magnetic Monster” begins with a warning and, despite frequent lapses into pseudoscientific gibberish, tries to explain the post-atomic condition. The heroes of this brave new world, one of whom is notably played by Richard Carlson, are government “A-Men” from the fictional Office of Scientific Investigation. (Mr. Carlson would become a staple of 1950s sci-fi, although “The Magnetic Monster” did not initiate television series that the Tors-Siodmak team evidently hoped to create, even if the Office of Scientific Investigation did figure in two subsequent films produced by Mr. Tors.)

Called upon to investigate a strange instance of rampant magnetism in a hardware store, the A-Men discover a case of radiation poisoning upstairs and, with help from the “electronic brain” M.A.N.I.A.C., conclude that an unseen, “dangerously radioactive element” is at large and growing. Unlike other atomic isotopes, this one — developed by a neighborhood nuclear physicist — absorbs energy, doubling in size every 12 hours.

Apparently, the serranium monster can be destroyed only by force-feeding it even more energy — nearly a billion volts’ worth. This is produced by an underwater laboratory, footage courtesy of “Gold,” which sacrifices itself in the process. Well matched to the rest of the film, the imagery is as effective in Cold War America as it was in Nazi Germany, and, thanks perhaps to this transmutation, “The Magnetic Monster” was taken almost seriously.

Unlike many cheap sci-fi films of the 1950s, “The Magnetic Monster” was reviewed in The Times. The critic found “the trappings of a terrifying new world” and credited the filmmakers with “a bristling and suspenseful entertainment.”