311 - IT CONQUERED THE WORLD
(release; 7/15/1956; NR; 71m)

a.k.a. IT CONQUERED THE EARTH (working)

Shown with Short: 311S-Snow Thrills

co-billed with 808-THE SHE-CREATURE

Ad: "Every Man Its Prisoner...
Every Woman Its Slave!"

Plot: Alien-carrot-pickle befriends scientist and uses bat-thingies to take over humans' free will.

Exec: Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson
(both/*309-The Amazing Colossal Man;
313-Earth Vs. the Spider; 315-Teenage Caveman; 317-Viking Women;
319-War of the Colossal Beast; 701-Night of the Blood Beast;
806-The Undead; 807-Terror from the Year 5000;
808-The She-Creature; 809-I Was A Teenage Werewolf;
912-The Screaming Skull; H01-The Day the World Ended)
Prod/Dir: Roger Corman*
Scr: Lou Rusoff (808/H01; Beach Party)
Scr: Charles Griffith (806; 511-Gunslinger)
Cin: Frederick West (511/808; 503-Swamp Diamonds)
Ed: Charles Gross (511; Attack of the Crab Monsters)
SFX: Paul Blaisdell (props/309/313; sfx/315/808/H01)
M/U: Larry Butterworth (The Big Combo)
PMgr: Lou Place (815-Agent for H.A.R.M.; dir/307-Daddy-O; actor/503; asst dir/806)
Prop Master: Karl Brainard (H01/315/701/806/808)
Sound: Jay Ashworth (Incubus)
Sound: Paul Mitchell
Score: Ronald Stein (511/806/808/H01;
418-Attack of the Eye Creatures; 509-The Girl in Lovers Lane)

Dr. Paul Nelson / Peter Graves*
Claire Anderson / Beverly Garland*
Dr. Tom Anderson / Lee Van Cleef*
Joan Nelson / Sally Fraser*
General Paddock / Russ Bender (*309/319; Dragstrip Girl)
Private Manuel Ortiz / Jonathan Haze (315/317*/503/511/H01)
Sergeant Neill / Dick Miller*
Sheriff N.J. Shalet / Taggart Carey (Navy Vs. the Night Monsters)
Roy / Paul Harbor (Plunder Road)
Ellen Peters / Karyne Kadler
(415-The Beatniks; Francis Joins the WACs)
Pete Shelton / Charles B. Griffith (also scr)
Sec. Platt / Marshall Bradford (315; I Was A Teenage Frankenstein)
Geroge Haskell / Tom Jackson (Attack of the 50 Foot Woman)
General Tomlinson / David McMahon
(804-The Deadly Mantis; The Creature Walks Among Us)
Venusian / Paul Blaisdell* (806/808/H01; Not of This Earth)

Trivia: A rare color photograph of the VENUSIAN IT CREATURE shows its true color...lobster red! It was nicknamed Big Beulah by its creator, PAUL BLAISDELL, and Denny Dimwit by the screenwriters. Other names given by the cast and crew were the Tee-Pee Terror, the Cucumber Critter, and the Carrot Monster. During filming, BEVERLY GARLAND told herself that it wasn't finished...that they were still working on it...that it would get better. But of course, it never did. Chocolate syrup served as the Venusian's blood at the dramatic end of the movie. Always ready to reuse props, Corman used the bat-thingies again the following year in 806-THE UNDEAD.

Once again, the exterior shots were done at Bronson Canyon, which was also used for exterior shots in the filming of 107-ROBOT MONSTER; 210-KING DINOSAUR; 315-TEENAGE CAVEMAN; 317-VIKING WOMEN; 319-WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST; 404-TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE; and 701-NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST. This movie was remade for television by director Larry Buchanan (*418-ATTACK OF THE THE EYE CREATURES) as Zontar, The Thing from Venus.

Born in 1926 and a former engineering student who briefly attended Oxford University, ROGER CORMAN directed over 70 films, mostly for American International studios headed by Sam Arkoff. Six of Corman's films have been MSTed: 311-IT CONQUERED THE WORLD; 315-TEENAGE CAVEMAN; 317-VIKING WOMEN; 503-SWAMP DIAMONDS; 511-GUNSLINGER; and 806-THE UNDEAD. Another of his films was used in MST3K The Home Game, H01-THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED. He produced most of the films he directed. Some of his other gems are: Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957); Bloody Mama (1970); Creature from the Haunted Sea (1960); Little Shop of Horrors (1960); Sorority Girl (1957); War of the Satellites (1957); Not of This Earth (1957) again with Beverly Garland; She-Gods of the Shark Reef (1958); Wasp Woman (1959); Creature from the Haunted Sea (1960); and several good Poe-themed films starring Vincent Price. Corman also produced: 406-ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES; 618-HIGH SCHOOL BIG SHOT; and 701-NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST. Having a great knack for seeing fresh and cheap talent, Corman gave many Hollywood big names their first start, such as Jack Nicholson, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron and Ron Howard's directorial debut. More about Corman can be found in his autobiography, "How I Made A Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost A Dime."

Born in Minneapolis in 1925, Peter Aurness studied drama at the University of Minnesota. Changing his name to PETER GRAVES upon his arrival in Hollywood, he played Paul Nelson in this movie, starred as the well-meaning-but-culpable scientist Ed Wainwright in 517-BEGINNING OF THE END; was Paul Whitley in K13-SST DEATH FLIGHT; portrayed Jeff in 811-PARTS: THE CLONUS HORROR; and provided the uncredited narration in 418-ATTACK OF THE THE EYE CREATURES. Graves, the brother of the equally tall and talented James Arness (star of TV's Gunsmoke), is best known for the role of Jim Phelps in TV's Mission: Impossible and as the host of A&E's Biography. His filmography includes some other bad films, such as 1954's Killers From Space and and 1957's Poor White Trash, as well as several well-regarded films, including 1953's Stalag 17 and the Airplane! movies. His filmography also includes: 1952-Encore; Maytime in Mayfair; 1953-Beneath the 12 Mile Reef; 1955-Court Martial of Billy Mitchell; Let's Make Up; Night of the Hunter; 1957-Casey Jones and the Fury; 1958-Legend of the Sea Wolf; 1968-Sergeant Ryker; 1969-The Magic Christian; 1970-The Adventurers; 1971-The President's Plane is Missing; 1974-Where Have All the People Gone; 1978-Cruise Missile; 1979-The Rebels; 1980-Survival Run; 1983-The Guns and the Fury; The Winds of War (TV miniseries); and 1987-Number One with a Bullet.

Born Beverly Fessenden in 1926, beautiful, smart and feisty BEVERLY GARLAND who plays beautiful, smart and feisty Claire Anderson here, was in two other MSTed Corman flicks: she was the vivacious Vera in 503-SWAMP DIAMONDS and the wiley Sheriff Rose Hood in 511-GUNSLINGER. This talented actress was limited to appearing mostly in Grade-B or lower films, supposedly because she had dared to do television (which was looked down upon in the 1950's) and was considered not good enough for A-pictures. She later became best known for her TV roles in My Three Sons, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, and currently on Superman--The Adventures of Lois and Clark. You may have seen her as a guest star on the 1994 MST Turkey Day bumpers. Her other films include: 1949-D.O.A.; 1950-A Life of Her Own; 1953-Neanderthal Man; Problem Girls; 1954-Killer Leopard; The Miami Story; 1955-Desperate Hours; New Orleans Uncensored; Curucu, Beast of the Amazon; 1957-Not of this Earth; The Joker Is Wild; Chicago Confidential; 1958-Saga of Hemp Brown; 1959-Gunfight at Sandoval; Alligator People; 1963-Twice Told Tales; 1968-Pretty Poison (with Rock Hudson); 1969-The Mad Room; 1972-The Voyage of the Yes; Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole; 1974-Where the Red Fern Grows; Airport 1975; 1979-Roller Boogie; 1980-It's My Turn; 1992-World's Oldest Living Bridesmaid; and 1994-Haunted Symphony. Beverly's former husband, RICHARD GARLAND, was also a Corman player, appearing in Attack of the Crab Monsters; and 806-THE UNDEAD.

His looks having landed him mostly villain roles, steely-eyed LEE VAN CLEEF (1925-1989), who plays alien-sympathizer Tom Anderson here, also stars as occidental ninja John McAllister in both 322-MASTER NINJA I and 324-MASTER NINJA 2. Prominent among his many films are director Sergio Leone's famous "spaghetti" westerns: For A Few Dollars More; and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. You can also catch him in Escape From New York; and The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms.

SALLY FRASER, who played Graves' lovely and doomed wife Joan Nelson in this movie, also appears as Glen's determined sister Joyce in 319-WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST and as Helen Kingman in 313-EARTH VS. THE SPIDER. She appeared with Ed Kemmer (who played her husband in 313) again in The Giant From The Unknown.

Born in 1928, RICHARD "DICK" MILLER first got steady employment in Hollywood by appearing in many early films directed by Roger Corman, whom he met through his friend Jonathan Haze. He's been in over 50 TV series including Soap, The Untouchables, Dragnet, Wagon Train, Mannix, General Hospital, Fame, and the mini-series V. Among his 80 film credits: 1954's Apache Woman with Lloyd Bridges; 1956's 311-IT CONQUERED THE WORLD; 511-GUNSLINGER; 1957's War of the Satellites; 806-THE UNDEAD; Not of This Earth; 1959's A Bucket of Blood; 1960's Little Shop of Horrors; The Terror with Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson; 1965's Hush, Hush...Sweet Charlotte; 1977's New York, New York; Gremlins; 1981's The Howling; 1989's Gremlins 2; and 1993's Matinee (with John Goodman).

Last Updated: 6/21/1999