Classic 1950s science fiction movie, released in
1954. Directed by
Gordon Douglas and written by
Russell S. Hughes and
Ted Sherdeman, the
film starred
James Arness,
James Whitmore,
Edmund Gwenn, and
Joan Weldon (with a
cameo appearance by
Fess Parker!).
The
plot revolves around the
discovery that
nuclear tests in the
New Mexico desert have caused
ants to mutate into
giant monsters. Killing one
nest of
giant ants is hard enough, but when two
queens escape the nest, the
hunt for the
killer insects intensifies.
The film's
special effects are a bit
primitive (hey, it was a
low-budget flick--they did the
best they could), but the
acting is
first-rate, the
dialogue is
outstanding, and the
story is
intelligent and genuinely
suspenseful.