Again back to the Monster Movies of the late fifties , this one saw a spaceship return to earth with an alien that grows in a gigantic creature.

A spacecraft returns from a trip to Venus ( much the same story as The Quatermass Experiment at this stage ) but it crashes into the sea just off the coast of Italy. Local fishermen rescue two of the occupants who are still alive. One of them dies just after and the other is taken to a local hospital.

Then, a small boy finds a canister containing a strange jelly substance and takes it to a visiting circus to see what it is. The owner of the circus takes charge of the jelly and a eventually a strange creature  emerges from it. The following day, the creature has grown into a giant – it escapes and goes on the rampage, eventually ending up in Rome.

The Military are called in to try and capture it, but they are unable to.

In  Rome, the Creature is put in the zoo as a tourist attraction –  it escapes from there, fights and kills an elephant and climbs the Colosseum, we have the exciting climax to the film.

The Film Trailer BELOW :-

I have to admit I was drawn to this because it was set in Sicily, but they really never got far from Rome. It is a significant film for the fact that special effects were done by Ray Harryhausen, who has a cameo role in the film (watch for the man feeding the elephant at the zoo.).

William Hopper, who played Perry Mason’s assistant Paul Drake, will be a familiar face for those who grew up during the 50’s and 60’s. Joan Taylor was also on TV a lot during those years. They both have a  sci-fi history in films like Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, “Men Into Space”, and Conquest of Space.

The  Godzilla-like monster from Venus is the focus of the film as they try to find and capture it. An enjoyable reach into the past with a film that entertains after you have adjusted to the special effects style of the day.