The Deadly Mantis (1957) Movie Script
1
(dramatic music)
(volcano erupting)
[Narrator] For every action,
there is an equal and opposite reaction.
(ice shelf rumbling)
(dramatic music)
Radar.
Designed to defend us against attack.
Radar stations on
mountaintops, in deserts,
deep in untracked forests.
In a thousand secret and isolated places.
Over both oceans, there are
radar equipped picket planes.
In both oceans, manmade radar islands
to guard our flanks.
There are the inshore pickets
and several hundred miles beyond them
are the offshore pickets.
Another radar fence
stretches across the long,
unfortified border between
the United States and Canada.
The Pine Tree Radar Fence.
And beyond that, still another network
of electronic eyes.
The Mid-Canada Radar Fence.
Even farther north in the very shadow
of the North Pole, this fence,
the distant early warning
system known as the Dew Line,
ready to transmit the first warning signal
of a sneak attack across
the polar regions.
To build the Dew Line, an armada
of ships was assembled in the largest
and most secretly planned operation
since the Normandy invasion.
Grinding through
treacherous polar ice fields
in a desperate gamble
against time and weather
to land a mountain of supplies,
machines, tractors, and men upon the ice.
First things first.
Level landing strips
for heavy cargo planes.
Then shelters for the men, for the planes,
and for operations.
And while some hands are
busy laying long pipelines
to transport fuel, others
build tanks to store it.
The work continues day and night
around the clock, seven days a week.
At long last, the ships are gone.
The summer is gone but
the job is finished.
Red Eagle One, sentinel of the arctic,
nerve center of the Dew
Line is operational.
[Male] Colonel Parkman
arriving, dispatch jeep.
[Soldier] Colonel Parkman.
Glad to have you with us.
[Narrator] Across the
roof of the continent,
still father north, an
outpost of the Dew Line.
(upbeat music)
Hey Mike.
Hey Mike, get a look at this.
[Mike] I don't see anything.
Hey, wait a minute.
Listen.
(buzzing)
It's almost on top of us!
(glass shattering)
(engine roaring)
[Kane] This is Kane, Picket
7327, calling Red Eagle One.
Come in, Red Eagle One.
This is Kane, Picket 7327,
calling Red Eagle One.
Come in, Red Eagle One.
Hello, Picket 7327, ready,
go when I read you, over.
[Kane] Put the old man on
the horn, will you, Pete?
Roger.
I've got Lieutenant Kane, sir.
Colonel Parkman, Walter.
What's up?
[Kane] We're over Weather Four, sir.
The building's been damaged.
Looks like the roof's caved in.
If there's anyone inside,
they could be hurt or worse.
I tried to contact them but
there was no answer, over.
We'll get right on it.
Over and out.
When did Weather Four report in last?
At 0800, sir, right on the button.
See if you can contact them again.
Alright.
Red Eagle One calling Weather Four.
Red Eagle One calling Weather
Four, come in, Weather Four.
No answer, sir.
Keep trying.
Red Eagle One calling Weather Four,
Red Eagle One calling Weather Four.
Come in, Weather Four.
Operations.
Colonel Parkman here.
Get my plane ready.
Oh, and alert Lieutenant Pizar.
Red Eagle One calling Weather Four,
Red Eagle One calling Weather Four.
Come in, Weather Four.
(engine roaring)
(eerie music)
Two men don't just vanish.
These did.
I don't get it.
Everything was under control
when they checked in 0800.
Nothing unusual has
been reported since then.
No storms.
It wasn't a gale that
wrecked this shack.
Besides, they're caved
out as though something
crashed into the roof.
Well, if it was a plane that hit it...
(metal collapsing)
Maybe there's a very ordinary
explanation for what happened.
Maybe the men are on their way
back to the base right now.
On foot?
There would be footprints in the snow.
Did you see any?
Take a look here.
What do you got?
I don't know.
Plane?
No plane ever made that short a run.
Helicopter?
No, a helicopter couldn't
make a furl like that.
I think there is an ordinary explanation
to what happened but I
wouldn't take any bets.
So the only recent contact you had
with the weather shack
was when the helicopter
dropped supplies there five days ago?
Yes sir.
You checked Weather One?
Yes sir.
Weather Four made
contact with them at 0813.
Everything was jake.
I'm picking up something, colonel,
but it doesn't make sense.
I never saw a blip like that before.
It's there, then it's gone.
Hey, there it is again.
What do you make of it?
I'm not taking any chances.
Sound the red alert.
(alarm buzzing)
[Male] Vector 360,
climb to angel's three,
bogey 90 miles.
(engines roaring)
[Pilot] Red Leader to control.
Nothing here.
Give us a new vector.
[Male] Bogey has disappeared.
Return to home plate.
(buzzing)
Charlie.
(metal crunching)
(glass shattering)
[Pilot] Sugar Pine to Red Eagle One.
Come in, Red Eagle One.
Sugar Pine to Red Eagle One.
Come in, Red Eagle One.
Hello Sugar Pine.
This is Red Eagle One, go ahead.
[Pilot] Red Eagle One,
we're over the wreckage
of the C47.
They found it, colonel.
[Colonel Parkman] Get his position.
[Radio Operator] Yes sir.
Alert Lieutenant Pizar.
Yes sir.
(dramatic music)
Colonel!
Looks just like the weather shack.
[Colonel Parkman] Yeah.
Where are they?
Where are the bodies?
Easy.
[Male] Look out!
What in the world?
What is it?
I don't know.
Looks like it had been
broken off of something.
That point's as sharp as a needle.
I give up, you got me.
Well where do we go from here?
We'll have to let
CONAD worry about that.
[Narrator] This is CONAD.
The Continental Air Defense
Command at Colorado Springs.
The focal point of the supersonic shield
that guards the North American continent.
A shield that could mean the difference
between life and death
for millions of Americans.
These are hot phones.
Using them, it takes only 15 seconds
to talk to Alaska.
10 Seconds to alert Newfoundland.
Five seconds to contact (mumbling).
Three seconds to reach
the Pentagon Command Post.
(phone ringing)
General Ford speaking.
Yes.
I see.
Good, I'll take a plane right out.
The Arctic Command has
delivered the package.
(regal music)
Good afternoon, gentlemen.
I'm General Ford.
Oh no, no, please sit down.
Gentlemen, I realize that the air force
hasn't given you much time
in which to make your tests
and that a definitive job may
have been out of the question
of the short time you've had
but the department of defense hopes
that during these two days
of concentrated efforts,
you've come to some conclusion about this.
Professor Gunther, I
believe you're in charge.
All of us are agreed
to except one thing.
This appendage comes
from some living creature
but as to what creature
it was once a part of,
we are completely in the dark.
Our anatomist, Dr. Arnold Burton,
has been unable to identify this object.
Professor Harvey Pierce is certain
from his exploration that the hook
cannot belong to the neurological system.
Well you seem to know
more about what it isn't
than what it is.
That is correct, sir.
Gentlemen, let's be logical.
Now you tell me that this hook
comes from something
that's alive, alright,
but it wasn't part of the cargo
and it wasn't in the
plane when it took off
so it must have come aboard
after the crash, right?
That sounds logical.
Now what was it that came aboard?
It shouldn't be so difficult.
You know the animal life of the arctic.
We have asked ourselves that, general.
You're not suggesting that it comes
from some creature at present unknown?
It's a possibility we
suggest you investigate, sir.
How?
We recommend that you
ask Dr. Nedrick Jackson
of the Museum of Natural
History here in Washington
to look into this.
He is their chief paleontologist
and the country's leading authority
on the (mumbling) carnivory.
You lost me, professor.
He deals with life of
past geological periods
as shown by the fossil
remains of plants and animals.
He has been able to reconstruct
prehistoric creatures
with no more to start with
than a handful of bones.
(upbeat music)
[Nedrick] Hi Marge.
Hi.
What have you got there?
A kid in my junior
science group made it.
Even added an extra vertebra
as though it doesn't have enough already.
Here, you wanna count 'em?
Listen, if I'm ever to
get next month's issue
of the magazine out, we'd
better start working.
I've done a feature.
Life Parades Through The Ages.
Showing the progression
of prehistoric creatures
from the jellyfish to the
dinosaur to primitive man.
[Nedrick] Sounds alright.
And I'm going to include
the pictures we took
on your last field trip.
That's even better.
(phone ringing)
Oh, excuse me.
Jackson talking.
The Pentagon?
Sure, I'll wait.
What do you know, maybe they
wanna call me back into service.
This is Dr. Jackson.
General Ford.
Yes.
Yes.
I see, general.
Of course, sir, I'll be right over.
Everything alright?
Of course.
Well it isn't every day
the Pentagon calls you.
You're very nosy.
Okay, be mysterious.
Well if I tell you,
you'll keep it a secret?
Hope to die.
They found an old bone
up at the North Pole.
The Pentagon wants to
know to whom it belongs.
(mysterious music)
It doesn't look like bone.
More like gristle or cartilage.
A structure as large as this
would have to serve a
very specialized purpose
in order to be cartilaginous.
Have you any idea what it comes from?
Not the slightest.
If it were bone, we could start from that.
What it does tell me, however,
is that it can't be from an animal
because every known species of animal
has a bony skeleton.
Matter of fact, the
reptile structure is bony.
Gentlemen, even birds have bony skeletons.
Looks like we're getting nowhere fast.
On the contrary, we're
making considerable progress.
At least we know what it can't be
which is bound to lead us to what it is.
Well then is there anything that doesn't
have a bony skeleton?
Lots of things.
Worms, snails, insects, shellfish.
Some invertebrates wore their
skeletons on the outside.
Well, it's an outer shell
called an exoskeleton
which is hard and rigid enough
to protect the internal organs.
Insects have thin, flexible places
between their heads and bodies
which allows them freedom of movement.
And they have folds where
the muscles are attached.
It's a possibility.
An insect?
Yeah, that's where the process
of elimination seems to lead us.
Of course, if it is an insect,
it certainly doesn't
tell us what kind it is.
We find that out partly from what we know
but mostly from what we deduce.
Doc, you're beginning to
sound like Sherlock Holmes.
Sort of.
Professor Gunther, the fluid from the end
of the hook, you had it analyzed?
We did what we could in the time we had.
Of course you didn't know exactly
what you were looking for.
Precisely.
Well I'm not too much of an entomologist
but I do seem to remember
that with very few exceptions,
the blood of insects
contains no red corpuscles.
Now that we suspect this hook
may have come from an insect,
would you test the fluid
for me and let me know what you get?
[Gunther] Be glad to.
Thanks.
Well general, that's about it.
Professor Gunther will make his tests
and we'll see what we can dream up.
Do you think we'll get somewhere?
We'll do our best.
(gentle music)
So that's what they
wanted to see you about.
Don't you play games with me, Ned Jackson.
I'm sorry.
There's an old saying that you can't
keep anything from the press
and even if I'm only running a museum mag,
I haven't lost my nose for news.
That is what it's about.
Maybe.
I know it is.
Maybe not.
Why, it's as plain as
the nose on your face.
Look, the Pentagon has
never consulted you before.
The papers say they have
a mystery on their hands.
One and one still make two
so it follows that they must
need information in your field.
Oh Ned, give me a break. You
don't know what it would mean
if I could run a story about something
that took place in this century.
Well I...
They didn't say it was restricted.
[Marge] You see?
Alright, it's like the paper says.
There have been crashes and disappearances
but the real story is what
they found at the last crash.
Well it's about five feet long.
It's model green in color.
Probably broken off a body some place.
What are you talking about?
It's part of something alive.
Something that must be
incredibly, unbelievably huge.
I think it's from an insect.
An insect?
Here.
Doesn't look very fearsome reduced
in size like that, does it?
No.
No it doesn't.
It looks like the spur on the leg
of a grasshopper or a cricket.
Grasshoppers and
crickets aren't meat eaters
and at least five men have disappeared.
If that is part of an insect,
it's from the biggest
creature that ever lived.
Are you sure you're feeling alright?
There were long skid marks in the snow
as if the thing flew in for a landing.
(phone ringing)
Jackson talking.
Oh, hello Professor Gunther.
You have?
I see, sir.
Thank you.
Well, they just finished the blood tests.
There were no red corpuscles.
It's from an insect.
The ant inside this amber is
at least 90 million years old.
Now we've been able to learn from pieces
of amber like this that
certain ancient insect forms
have continued without
variation until today
but others have changed to
meet changing conditions
and certain species have
vanished completely.
I just can't believe that an insect
as large as you suggest ever existed.
Look behind you on the wall, professor.
That prehistoric dragonfly
measures two feet
from wing tip to wing tip and
like the modern dragonfly,
it too was a flesh eater.
Alright, it's big,
but it's only two feet.
Is that the best you can do?
[Nedrick] I never suggested
I was looking for a dragonfly.
Then what are you looking for?
To be honest with you,
I'm not exactly sure.
You're a pathologist, Professor Gunther.
The field of pathology is limited
but the paleontologist
field isn't narrowed
to what we understand.
On the contrary, we
stretch our understanding
to try and take in the universe.
Alright, suppose just
for the sake of argument
that we admit such an insect once existed.
How could it be alive today?
Exactly.
Even the recently discovered
prehistoric Siberian mammoths
were dead.
The natives ate the flesh, used the skin
for clothing, made tools
from the ivory tusks,
but the mammoths were dead.
Are you sure they were dead?
What?
Everyone knows they were.
Everyone says they were.
Suppose the Siberians
hadn't been in such a hurry
to slice 'em up for steaks.
Suppose they were still
alive when found in the ice.
Does your learned young friend
always go on like this?
Alright, professor.
You know as well as I do
that if living organism
is frozen quickly enough,
it is theoretically possible
to stop the living protoplasm
from changing their geometrical patterns
which always happens when death occurs.
Theoretically, yes.
Is it unreasonable then to ask yourself
whether the mammoths
might have remained alive
all those years and it was the Siberians
who killed them before they had a chance
to thaw out and breathe again?
You believe this?
Well I don't disbelieve it
and I'll go along with it til someone
comes up with a better theory.
Look, five men have vanished.
To die is one thing.
To disappear without a trace
suggests complete destruction.
A flesh eating creature.
But there are scores of insects
that live on other insects.
Where do you start?
By thinking of the hook as though it
were infinitely smaller. As
though it were part of an insect
no larger than those we know today.
Like, oh, the grasshopper,
the beetle, or the cricket.
Then ask yourself what flesh eating insect
of normal size has such a hook.
Ned, you're making a lot of assumptions.
Well every paleontologist does.
Look, you start with a jaw
bone, a couple of teeth,
you figure whether they come from a flesh
or a grass eater and you go from there.
A normal insect that is a flesh eater.
I've narrowed the field to one.
The diet consists mostly of small insects
such as leafhoppers, grasshoppers,
caterpillars and others.
A substantial part of the diet
may also include small frogs and lizards.
The female is larger than the male
and invariably destroys her mate
when he's fulfilled his function in life.
Now the hook they found on the plane
may very well be a spur
from one of its forelegs.
If this is it, as large as
the monstrous creature we're
looking for, I doubt whether anything
that ever lived could be as deadly.
It's strong beyond
anything its size suggests.
It walks, leaps, and flies.
Its appetite is insatiable.
You mean this cute little bug?
Yeah, that cute little bug.
In all the kingdom of the living,
there is no more deadly
or voracious creature
than the praying mantis.
(dramatic music)
(dogs howling)
(speaking in foreign language)
(dogs barking)
(roaring)
(screaming)
Anything new on the disasters, general?
Nothing else, gentlemen.
Say, you're Dr. Jackson in the Museum
of Natural History, aren't you?
That's right.
Well what have you been called in for?
Dr. Jackson is an old friend of mine.
That's not answering
his question, general.
You're a paleontologist.
Isn't this out of your line?
[Male] Have you any
theories, Dr. Jackson?
Gentlemen, if you were in my position
and what you had was a theory,
not facts, just a theory,
I'm sure you'd withhold it
to avoid any speculation
that might prove disastrous.
I'm sure you realize this
and that you'll cooperate with us
to avoid panic or hysteria.
I know I can count on all of you.
Well, good luck to you Ned.
Thanks, I'll do my best.
Hi.
Almost ready?
Just let me close this.
I'm told the air force
doesn't like to be kept waiting.
(mumbling)
Here, make yourself useful.
Nice of you to see me off.
I think so.
You know, the arctic's
about the only place
where I haven't worked in.
Are those mine too?
No, doctor, they're mine.
Oh.
Yours?
Well you couldn't go along
without your photographer,
could you?
My what?
Well I phoned General Ford's office
and requested permission for you
to take your photographer along.
I guess he forgot to tell you.
Boy, this is really going to be a story.
You'd do almost anything
for a story, wouldn't you?
Almost.
Well come on.
Colonel, colonel sir.
Dr. Jackson is here from Washington.
He's got a, I mean there's a, we...
Well speak up.
He's with a woman.
A female woman.
I thought they'd stopped making 'em.
Show them in.
Yes sir.
I'm Ned Jackson, colonel.
I'm sure that Washington...
Excuse me, this is Miss Margery Blaine.
Colonel Joe Parkman.
General Ford sent me up.
I'm magazine editor for the
Museum of Natural History.
How do you do?
(whistling)
That'll be all, men.
It looks like you don't
have too many women up here,
colonel.
Hey, well, we have
a little joke up here.
The boys say there's a
girl behind every tree.
Only try and find a tree.
(laughing)
Well when do we see what we came for?
I'll have a plane any time you're ready.
I'm ready.
Fine.
(laughing)
(dramatic music)
These are the skid marks.
At least what's left of them.
We found the same marks
at the weather shack
and the Eskimo village.
Here colonel.
Got it?
Eight and a half feet.
Let's get back to the plane.
(upbeat music)
(chattering)
At ease.
Gentlemen, this is Miss Margery Blaine.
I thought you wouldn't mind too much
if she had a look around
your recreation room.
Oh, she's like a butterfly
gliding across a lily pond.
Yes, corporal?
With your permission,
sir, would it be alright if,
would it be alright if I asked
Miss Blaine to dance, sir?
Corporal, that decision is
entirely up to Miss Blaine.
Yes sir.
Miss Blaine, would you care to,
well, what I mean is, well, I'm not...
Yes corporal, I'd love to.
(dramatic music)
(door clicking)
Oh hi.
Hi.
Hi Ned.
Thought you were going to join us.
I've been busy.
You two run along, have fun.
What are you up to?
I'm trying to figure
out how big this thing is.
(dramatic music)
You know, people used to think
that carnivorous plants were defunct.
Actually, there are about
450 species of them.
Some are almost six feet tall.
I'm convinced that we're
dealing with a mantis
in whose geological world,
the smallest insects
were as large as man and that failing
to find those insects for his food, it's,
well, it's doing the best it can.
If there is such a thing,
why hasn't anybody seen it?
Well those who have are dead.
Well who can be sure? It may
have been locked in a prison
of ice millions of years ago.
What could have released
it after all that time?
Oh, any sort of unusual vibration.
You know how mountain climbers
are afraid of thunder?
Well, it's because the sound vibration
might start an avalanche.
(screaming)
(wood cracking)
(roof crashing)
Hit the alert button!
[Male] Yes sir.
Operations, Colonel Parkman speaking.
Condition red, scramble all
air traffic immediately.
Condition red!
(alarm buzzing)
(roaring)
(gun firing)
(roaring)
(roaring)
(buzzing)
(engines roaring)
Coffee, colonel?
Nine hours and not a whisper.
Which is alright with me.
[Pilot] Red Eagle One,
this is Hunter Four.
[Radio Operator] Hello Hunter Four,
this is Red Eagle One, go ahead.
[Pilot] We have nothing here.
Request permission to
return to base, over.
Request denied.
Continue search procedure.
Over and out.
The only thing to do is
to keep the patrols out
straight around the
clock until we're sure.
And remember, I want a report on anything,
from Mid-Canada or Pine Tree,
anything, you understand?
Yes sir.
(buzzing)
(dramatic music)
(speaking in foreign language)
(yelling)
[Male] Got the Mid-Canada
radar line on the fence, sir.
This is Colonel Parkman.
Colonel.
Group Captain Hawkins here.
This is just a stab in the dark
but you chaps asked us to
report anything unusual and...
Yes?
As I said, it may not mean a thing
but we caught an unidentified
object in our scopes.
Could have been a storm
or a weather balloon.
It was a fade signal that came and went
but it might be that
oversized bug of yours, eh?
What time was it?
[Hawkins] Early.
0400 I should say.
Thanks Hawkins.
Thanks very much.
0400, that's almost six
hours after he left here.
Now it's 1500 miles to
the Mid-Canada Line.
Well, that's no good, he'd have
to be doing better than 200 miles an hour.
Why not, Joe?
We're dealing with an insect.
The deer fly does 600 an hour.
That's almost as fast as a jet.
The Mid-Canada Line is 1500
miles south of here, right?
Right.
And where was that Weather Shack Four?
Right there, straight
on the 80th meridian.
And the C47 crash was here.
[Joe] That's right, due
south of the weather shack.
What are you getting at, Ned?
And the Eskimo village?
[Joe] Right there
between us and the C47.
Hey, wait a minute.
He's been going straight south.
And he'll keep going south
til he reaches the tropics
where he'll find the same kind of climate
and jungle vegetation from
which he came originally.
Now let's see, he'll probably
pass over Labrador, Nova Scotia,
then he'll hit the gulf stream
and I'm sure the warm
air above the gulf stream
will attract him and he'll follow it
all the way down to South America.
I've got CONAD on the hotline, colonel.
They say it's important.
Thanks.
This is Colonel Parkman.
Are you sure?
Thanks.
Pine Tree got it too.
It went through Newfoundland.
Well it looks like we're
on our way to Washington.
Come on, Marge, grab your toothbrush.
(dramatic music)
All over the United States this morning,
some 400,000 members of the
civilian ground observer corps
are gathered to learn more
about this fantastic creature.
This program is being presented
by the Continental Air Defense Command.
Our first speaker is
Major General Mark Ford.
General Ford.
Thank you.
I wanna say at the outset that contrary
to rumor and certain newspaper headlines,
the so-called deadly mantis
is no imaginary scare.
It's a very real and present danger.
With me this morning is Colonel Parkman,
commanding officer of an
advanced radar interceptor base
deep in the arctic circle.
Colonel Parkman.
Thank you, sir.
Ladies and gentlemen, I saw
this creature attack our base.
I visited a weather shack
and I also inspected the wreckage
of the aircraft that this thing destroyed.
Now we have every reason to believe
that the mantis is flying
south along the gulf stream
and we believe that it will be one
of you devoted men and women
with the civilian ground observer corps
who will spot it next time it appears.
I have with me today Dr. Nedrick Jackson,
curator of the department of paleontology
of the Museum of Natural History.
Dr. Jackson has something
important to show you.
Doctor?
Thank you.
This object is a spur
broken off the foreleg
of the mantis when it destroyed the C47.
Now the spur of a normal sized mantis
is so small, it's difficult to measure.
This spur, as you can see,
is nearly five feet long which will
give you some ideas to
the creature's size.
Thank you doctor.
Now you ground observers are well-trained
in the identification of aircraft.
Here, to scale, is the deadly mantis
and here is the C47 which is destroyed.
One other thing.
You spotters should listen
for a loud droning sound
much like that of a
squadron of heavy bombers
flying in formation.
Now the coast guard and the navy
have been alerted and they're standing by
on the eastern seaboard.
If the mantis is sighted, the procedure
will be the same as
though an enemy aircraft
had been spotted.
Take no chances.
Report any unusual flying object.
Thank you.
(eerie music)
(buzzing)
(alarm buzzing)
(engines roaring)
(buzzing)
(missiles firing)
[Pilot] Target is down, target is down.
Cannot confirm kill due to low overcast.
Returning to carrier, out.
(buzzing)
Well, here comes another one.
Granary fire in Minneapolis.
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
There's some power lines
down there in Richmond.
Richmond, Virginia?
[Ned] Yeah.
(mumbling) slide in Fresno.
Fresno, Fresno.
Oh, I'm so tired.
Where is Fresno?
California.
Fresno, California.
Hi.
Hi Marge.
[Ned] Hello.
- Ned.
- Hey, what are you up to?
Well it's kind of a private deal.
We call it Operation Marge
because she dreamed it up.
Oh?
We're charting every unusual
occurrence in the country.
Some may have been caused by the mantis.
It might give us a clue.
Any luck?
Well they're too scattered
to mean anything yet.
You kids know what time
it is? It's after midnight.
Now you're dismissed, both of you.
But general, I haven't...
No buts about it.
You heard what the general said.
You're going straight home, young lady.
And I'm the guy who's taking you.
Night Ned.
[Ned] Goodnight Marge.
(downbeat music)
[Radio Announcer] We
interrupt this program
to bring you a news flash.
A train wreck has been reported north
of Laurel, Maryland on US Highway One.
The engine and five cars were overturned
in what appears to have
been a freak accident.
We will bring you further
details as they come in.
It's only a few miles from here.
We'll have a look.
(alarm blaring)
(chattering)
Sorry colonel, there's
been a train wreck.
You'll have to go back to Warrington Road.
Take the detour to your
left through Laurel.
Is it pretty bad?
Could have been a lot worse.
[Joe] How'd it happen?
Probably couldn't see
the warning in the fog.
Can't tell for sure.
The engineer's still unconscious.
Joe, do you think it might?
No, just an accident.
Come on, let's go.
Thanks.
(dramatic music)
The light just turned green.
It's too dangerous to
drive in fog like this.
Remember what happened
to that train back there.
This is more dangerous.
We'd better get going.
(screeching)
[Driver] Oh, you forgot
your package, lady.
Thank you, driver.
You know, it's good to get home safely
with all the strange things
going on around here.
Oh, there's nothing
to worry about, ma'am.
You just be careful out in that fog.
Thank you.
(dramatic music)
(roaring)
(screaming)
(crashing)
[Radio Announcer] Here
is the very latest report.
An (mumbling) bus was demolished
at the intersection of Morton
Avenue and Arlington Road.
The cause of the accident which occurred
only five minutes ago
is still to be explained
since there was no other vehicle involved.
This accident, in addition
to the train wreck
which was reported a
very short time before,
makes a total of seven
accidents in this area
within the last 24 hours.
(alarms blaring)
(chattering)
Take it easy.
How about a couple of blankets up here?
- What happened?
- Whose got any idea, colonel?
Something must have lifted
the bus and smashed it.
The front end's okay so we know
it didn't run into anything.
You boys might just as well go back.
There aren't any bodies.
Oh say, take care of this
lady for me, will you please?
[Radio Dispatcher]
Attention, all military
and civil defense personnel.
Attention, all police and
fire department personnel.
The mantis has been
sighted over Washington.
I repeat, the mantis has
been sighted over Washington.
Let's go.
Excuse me, pardon me.
[Radio Dispatcher]
This is a general alert.
(dramatic music)
(buzzing)
(crashing)
(roaring)
(engines roaring)
[Pilot] Archer, this
is Beagle One Seven.
Air born with four
chickens heading 035, over.
It's Colonel Parkman, sir.
Eagle One Seven, Archer control.
Continue your present heading.
Bogey at 12 o'clock, 100 miles.
Maintain present air speed,
altitude of 5000, over.
[Joe] Bogey tracking 150.
(buzzing)
I've got Baltimore, general.
Go ahead, Baltimore.
Second plot 340, range 150.
Unidentified object.
Speed, 250.
Altitude 2000, dropping fast.
[Male] Dixie 35 bravo,
range 150, speed 250.
Altitude now 2000, dropping fast.
It's still moving northeast.
You think you'll be able
to drive it out to sea?
I hope so.
Air defense warning red.
Stand by to lock on.
Baltimore, warning red.
Philadelphia, warning red, I repeat, red.
Attention Mitchell Field, warning red.
Pass to all gun sites.
Guns free, fire at any object
not identified as friendly.
I repeat, pass to all gun sites.
Guns free, fire at any object
not identified as friendly.
(buzzing)
(guns firing)
Dixie 35 bravo, 342 range, 110.
Vector 25, vector 352, range 110.
(buzzing)
(guns firing)
Vector 25, vector, contact lost.
[Male] Dixie 35 bravo, contact lost.
What happened?
It dropped below the radar net.
Well does that mean you've lost it?
One of the ground
observers will pick it up.
(dramatic music)
(mumbling), this is 19 hotel.
(mumbling), this is 19 hotel.
Thank you.
[Male] Mitchell track, bravo gone.
0339, at 25, going northeast.
Eagle One Seven, Archer control,
vector one niner zero.
Bogey at 12 o'clock.
Steady on course, 20 miles, over.
That'll put it over
Newark in a few minutes.
(buzzing)
[Joe] Archer, this is Beagle One Seven.
When steady on vector,
bogey will be 12 o'clock.
(engines roaring)
(missiles firing)
(buzzing)
(roaring)
(guns firing)
Archer control, this is Beagle One Seven.
We have splashed mantis.
Give me pigeons to home plate.
(crashing)
(dramatic music)
(chattering)
Hey bud, it said on television
that the flyer who shot him down
is going in the tunnel after him.
Did you see it crawl into the tunnel?
Hey bud, hey, hey bud.
Bud.
Hey.
Hey bud, is it still in the tunnel?
It ain't out here, mac.
Anybody killed?
I only know what I read in the papers.
Hey smart guy, I thought I told you
to stay out of that road block.
Now come on, get back there.
[Male] I'm going home to watch it on TV!
Well go ahead home and watch it on TV!
Alright, don't push!
I can't see anything here!
(chattering)
(laughing)
[Male] That's all the
smoke we need, shut it off.
How much longer do you think it'll take?
Oh, we got about a 90% saturation
of smoke in the tunnel now.
I don't think we can
do any better, general.
We'll be lucky if we
can hold what we've got.
Those wet tarpaulins will
hold the smoke alright.
Just keep pumping.
Everything's under control
on the Jersey side, sir.
[General Ford] What about the smoke?
It's packed in solid.
The tarp's holding it fine.
[General Ford] Did you go inside?
Yes sir, but we didn't get too close.
[General Ford] How far in
do you estimate it to be?
Oh, I'd say about a quarter
of a mile from this end.
That puts the mantis
below the water line.
I don't think we ought
to wait much longer, sir.
What do you think, Ned?
No question in my mind
that he's mortally wounded.
If we can keep him in
that tunnel, he'll die.
Is there anything between
us and the mantis in this end?
17 cars according to
the automatic counters.
Breaks through those tunnel walls,
we'll have a flood on our hands.
What do you say, general?
Go ahead, Joe.
Good luck, Joe.
Alright men.
You've all been told what to do.
Now the purpose of that smoke in there
is to give us cover.
Use it.
Now which of you men are
carrying the chemical mines?
Stay up front with me.
And remember, those
3RG mines are effective
only in a limited area so watch
for my signal before you throw them.
Alright men, check masks.
Let's go.
(crashing)
(eerie music)
(rumbling)
(roaring)
(roaring)
(shrieking)
(shrieking)
(guns firing)
(groaning)
(groaning)
(shrieking)
(guns firing)
(roaring)
(roaring)
(guns firing)
(grunting)
(shrieking)
There's your cover for
next month's magazine, Marge.
Go on, take your picture.
Would you mind telling me
what's so funny, colonel?
Who, me?
Nothing at all.
Can I help you with the camera?
No thanks.
Exactly where did you
crash into him, Joe?
Well just about center
of the right hand side.
If you'll follow me, I'll show you.
(dramatic music)
There, I think you can
see right there, sir.
The base of the neck.
(mumbling)
Look out, Marge!
(screaming)
I thought you said you killed it.
Don't blame Joe.
That was an auto-reflex mechanism.
It's dead alright.
Here, put me down.
I said put me down.
What's the matter?
Don't you like it up here?
I've got pictures to take.
Well that can wait.
This is no place for
romance, Joe Parkman.
What about my pictures?
Let Ned do it.
(gentle music)
(laughing)
(moves into menacing music)
(dramatic music)
(volcano erupting)
[Narrator] For every action,
there is an equal and opposite reaction.
(ice shelf rumbling)
(dramatic music)
Radar.
Designed to defend us against attack.
Radar stations on
mountaintops, in deserts,
deep in untracked forests.
In a thousand secret and isolated places.
Over both oceans, there are
radar equipped picket planes.
In both oceans, manmade radar islands
to guard our flanks.
There are the inshore pickets
and several hundred miles beyond them
are the offshore pickets.
Another radar fence
stretches across the long,
unfortified border between
the United States and Canada.
The Pine Tree Radar Fence.
And beyond that, still another network
of electronic eyes.
The Mid-Canada Radar Fence.
Even farther north in the very shadow
of the North Pole, this fence,
the distant early warning
system known as the Dew Line,
ready to transmit the first warning signal
of a sneak attack across
the polar regions.
To build the Dew Line, an armada
of ships was assembled in the largest
and most secretly planned operation
since the Normandy invasion.
Grinding through
treacherous polar ice fields
in a desperate gamble
against time and weather
to land a mountain of supplies,
machines, tractors, and men upon the ice.
First things first.
Level landing strips
for heavy cargo planes.
Then shelters for the men, for the planes,
and for operations.
And while some hands are
busy laying long pipelines
to transport fuel, others
build tanks to store it.
The work continues day and night
around the clock, seven days a week.
At long last, the ships are gone.
The summer is gone but
the job is finished.
Red Eagle One, sentinel of the arctic,
nerve center of the Dew
Line is operational.
[Male] Colonel Parkman
arriving, dispatch jeep.
[Soldier] Colonel Parkman.
Glad to have you with us.
[Narrator] Across the
roof of the continent,
still father north, an
outpost of the Dew Line.
(upbeat music)
Hey Mike.
Hey Mike, get a look at this.
[Mike] I don't see anything.
Hey, wait a minute.
Listen.
(buzzing)
It's almost on top of us!
(glass shattering)
(engine roaring)
[Kane] This is Kane, Picket
7327, calling Red Eagle One.
Come in, Red Eagle One.
This is Kane, Picket 7327,
calling Red Eagle One.
Come in, Red Eagle One.
Hello, Picket 7327, ready,
go when I read you, over.
[Kane] Put the old man on
the horn, will you, Pete?
Roger.
I've got Lieutenant Kane, sir.
Colonel Parkman, Walter.
What's up?
[Kane] We're over Weather Four, sir.
The building's been damaged.
Looks like the roof's caved in.
If there's anyone inside,
they could be hurt or worse.
I tried to contact them but
there was no answer, over.
We'll get right on it.
Over and out.
When did Weather Four report in last?
At 0800, sir, right on the button.
See if you can contact them again.
Alright.
Red Eagle One calling Weather Four.
Red Eagle One calling Weather
Four, come in, Weather Four.
No answer, sir.
Keep trying.
Red Eagle One calling Weather Four,
Red Eagle One calling Weather Four.
Come in, Weather Four.
Operations.
Colonel Parkman here.
Get my plane ready.
Oh, and alert Lieutenant Pizar.
Red Eagle One calling Weather Four,
Red Eagle One calling Weather Four.
Come in, Weather Four.
(engine roaring)
(eerie music)
Two men don't just vanish.
These did.
I don't get it.
Everything was under control
when they checked in 0800.
Nothing unusual has
been reported since then.
No storms.
It wasn't a gale that
wrecked this shack.
Besides, they're caved
out as though something
crashed into the roof.
Well, if it was a plane that hit it...
(metal collapsing)
Maybe there's a very ordinary
explanation for what happened.
Maybe the men are on their way
back to the base right now.
On foot?
There would be footprints in the snow.
Did you see any?
Take a look here.
What do you got?
I don't know.
Plane?
No plane ever made that short a run.
Helicopter?
No, a helicopter couldn't
make a furl like that.
I think there is an ordinary explanation
to what happened but I
wouldn't take any bets.
So the only recent contact you had
with the weather shack
was when the helicopter
dropped supplies there five days ago?
Yes sir.
You checked Weather One?
Yes sir.
Weather Four made
contact with them at 0813.
Everything was jake.
I'm picking up something, colonel,
but it doesn't make sense.
I never saw a blip like that before.
It's there, then it's gone.
Hey, there it is again.
What do you make of it?
I'm not taking any chances.
Sound the red alert.
(alarm buzzing)
[Male] Vector 360,
climb to angel's three,
bogey 90 miles.
(engines roaring)
[Pilot] Red Leader to control.
Nothing here.
Give us a new vector.
[Male] Bogey has disappeared.
Return to home plate.
(buzzing)
Charlie.
(metal crunching)
(glass shattering)
[Pilot] Sugar Pine to Red Eagle One.
Come in, Red Eagle One.
Sugar Pine to Red Eagle One.
Come in, Red Eagle One.
Hello Sugar Pine.
This is Red Eagle One, go ahead.
[Pilot] Red Eagle One,
we're over the wreckage
of the C47.
They found it, colonel.
[Colonel Parkman] Get his position.
[Radio Operator] Yes sir.
Alert Lieutenant Pizar.
Yes sir.
(dramatic music)
Colonel!
Looks just like the weather shack.
[Colonel Parkman] Yeah.
Where are they?
Where are the bodies?
Easy.
[Male] Look out!
What in the world?
What is it?
I don't know.
Looks like it had been
broken off of something.
That point's as sharp as a needle.
I give up, you got me.
Well where do we go from here?
We'll have to let
CONAD worry about that.
[Narrator] This is CONAD.
The Continental Air Defense
Command at Colorado Springs.
The focal point of the supersonic shield
that guards the North American continent.
A shield that could mean the difference
between life and death
for millions of Americans.
These are hot phones.
Using them, it takes only 15 seconds
to talk to Alaska.
10 Seconds to alert Newfoundland.
Five seconds to contact (mumbling).
Three seconds to reach
the Pentagon Command Post.
(phone ringing)
General Ford speaking.
Yes.
I see.
Good, I'll take a plane right out.
The Arctic Command has
delivered the package.
(regal music)
Good afternoon, gentlemen.
I'm General Ford.
Oh no, no, please sit down.
Gentlemen, I realize that the air force
hasn't given you much time
in which to make your tests
and that a definitive job may
have been out of the question
of the short time you've had
but the department of defense hopes
that during these two days
of concentrated efforts,
you've come to some conclusion about this.
Professor Gunther, I
believe you're in charge.
All of us are agreed
to except one thing.
This appendage comes
from some living creature
but as to what creature
it was once a part of,
we are completely in the dark.
Our anatomist, Dr. Arnold Burton,
has been unable to identify this object.
Professor Harvey Pierce is certain
from his exploration that the hook
cannot belong to the neurological system.
Well you seem to know
more about what it isn't
than what it is.
That is correct, sir.
Gentlemen, let's be logical.
Now you tell me that this hook
comes from something
that's alive, alright,
but it wasn't part of the cargo
and it wasn't in the
plane when it took off
so it must have come aboard
after the crash, right?
That sounds logical.
Now what was it that came aboard?
It shouldn't be so difficult.
You know the animal life of the arctic.
We have asked ourselves that, general.
You're not suggesting that it comes
from some creature at present unknown?
It's a possibility we
suggest you investigate, sir.
How?
We recommend that you
ask Dr. Nedrick Jackson
of the Museum of Natural
History here in Washington
to look into this.
He is their chief paleontologist
and the country's leading authority
on the (mumbling) carnivory.
You lost me, professor.
He deals with life of
past geological periods
as shown by the fossil
remains of plants and animals.
He has been able to reconstruct
prehistoric creatures
with no more to start with
than a handful of bones.
(upbeat music)
[Nedrick] Hi Marge.
Hi.
What have you got there?
A kid in my junior
science group made it.
Even added an extra vertebra
as though it doesn't have enough already.
Here, you wanna count 'em?
Listen, if I'm ever to
get next month's issue
of the magazine out, we'd
better start working.
I've done a feature.
Life Parades Through The Ages.
Showing the progression
of prehistoric creatures
from the jellyfish to the
dinosaur to primitive man.
[Nedrick] Sounds alright.
And I'm going to include
the pictures we took
on your last field trip.
That's even better.
(phone ringing)
Oh, excuse me.
Jackson talking.
The Pentagon?
Sure, I'll wait.
What do you know, maybe they
wanna call me back into service.
This is Dr. Jackson.
General Ford.
Yes.
Yes.
I see, general.
Of course, sir, I'll be right over.
Everything alright?
Of course.
Well it isn't every day
the Pentagon calls you.
You're very nosy.
Okay, be mysterious.
Well if I tell you,
you'll keep it a secret?
Hope to die.
They found an old bone
up at the North Pole.
The Pentagon wants to
know to whom it belongs.
(mysterious music)
It doesn't look like bone.
More like gristle or cartilage.
A structure as large as this
would have to serve a
very specialized purpose
in order to be cartilaginous.
Have you any idea what it comes from?
Not the slightest.
If it were bone, we could start from that.
What it does tell me, however,
is that it can't be from an animal
because every known species of animal
has a bony skeleton.
Matter of fact, the
reptile structure is bony.
Gentlemen, even birds have bony skeletons.
Looks like we're getting nowhere fast.
On the contrary, we're
making considerable progress.
At least we know what it can't be
which is bound to lead us to what it is.
Well then is there anything that doesn't
have a bony skeleton?
Lots of things.
Worms, snails, insects, shellfish.
Some invertebrates wore their
skeletons on the outside.
Well, it's an outer shell
called an exoskeleton
which is hard and rigid enough
to protect the internal organs.
Insects have thin, flexible places
between their heads and bodies
which allows them freedom of movement.
And they have folds where
the muscles are attached.
It's a possibility.
An insect?
Yeah, that's where the process
of elimination seems to lead us.
Of course, if it is an insect,
it certainly doesn't
tell us what kind it is.
We find that out partly from what we know
but mostly from what we deduce.
Doc, you're beginning to
sound like Sherlock Holmes.
Sort of.
Professor Gunther, the fluid from the end
of the hook, you had it analyzed?
We did what we could in the time we had.
Of course you didn't know exactly
what you were looking for.
Precisely.
Well I'm not too much of an entomologist
but I do seem to remember
that with very few exceptions,
the blood of insects
contains no red corpuscles.
Now that we suspect this hook
may have come from an insect,
would you test the fluid
for me and let me know what you get?
[Gunther] Be glad to.
Thanks.
Well general, that's about it.
Professor Gunther will make his tests
and we'll see what we can dream up.
Do you think we'll get somewhere?
We'll do our best.
(gentle music)
So that's what they
wanted to see you about.
Don't you play games with me, Ned Jackson.
I'm sorry.
There's an old saying that you can't
keep anything from the press
and even if I'm only running a museum mag,
I haven't lost my nose for news.
That is what it's about.
Maybe.
I know it is.
Maybe not.
Why, it's as plain as
the nose on your face.
Look, the Pentagon has
never consulted you before.
The papers say they have
a mystery on their hands.
One and one still make two
so it follows that they must
need information in your field.
Oh Ned, give me a break. You
don't know what it would mean
if I could run a story about something
that took place in this century.
Well I...
They didn't say it was restricted.
[Marge] You see?
Alright, it's like the paper says.
There have been crashes and disappearances
but the real story is what
they found at the last crash.
Well it's about five feet long.
It's model green in color.
Probably broken off a body some place.
What are you talking about?
It's part of something alive.
Something that must be
incredibly, unbelievably huge.
I think it's from an insect.
An insect?
Here.
Doesn't look very fearsome reduced
in size like that, does it?
No.
No it doesn't.
It looks like the spur on the leg
of a grasshopper or a cricket.
Grasshoppers and
crickets aren't meat eaters
and at least five men have disappeared.
If that is part of an insect,
it's from the biggest
creature that ever lived.
Are you sure you're feeling alright?
There were long skid marks in the snow
as if the thing flew in for a landing.
(phone ringing)
Jackson talking.
Oh, hello Professor Gunther.
You have?
I see, sir.
Thank you.
Well, they just finished the blood tests.
There were no red corpuscles.
It's from an insect.
The ant inside this amber is
at least 90 million years old.
Now we've been able to learn from pieces
of amber like this that
certain ancient insect forms
have continued without
variation until today
but others have changed to
meet changing conditions
and certain species have
vanished completely.
I just can't believe that an insect
as large as you suggest ever existed.
Look behind you on the wall, professor.
That prehistoric dragonfly
measures two feet
from wing tip to wing tip and
like the modern dragonfly,
it too was a flesh eater.
Alright, it's big,
but it's only two feet.
Is that the best you can do?
[Nedrick] I never suggested
I was looking for a dragonfly.
Then what are you looking for?
To be honest with you,
I'm not exactly sure.
You're a pathologist, Professor Gunther.
The field of pathology is limited
but the paleontologist
field isn't narrowed
to what we understand.
On the contrary, we
stretch our understanding
to try and take in the universe.
Alright, suppose just
for the sake of argument
that we admit such an insect once existed.
How could it be alive today?
Exactly.
Even the recently discovered
prehistoric Siberian mammoths
were dead.
The natives ate the flesh, used the skin
for clothing, made tools
from the ivory tusks,
but the mammoths were dead.
Are you sure they were dead?
What?
Everyone knows they were.
Everyone says they were.
Suppose the Siberians
hadn't been in such a hurry
to slice 'em up for steaks.
Suppose they were still
alive when found in the ice.
Does your learned young friend
always go on like this?
Alright, professor.
You know as well as I do
that if living organism
is frozen quickly enough,
it is theoretically possible
to stop the living protoplasm
from changing their geometrical patterns
which always happens when death occurs.
Theoretically, yes.
Is it unreasonable then to ask yourself
whether the mammoths
might have remained alive
all those years and it was the Siberians
who killed them before they had a chance
to thaw out and breathe again?
You believe this?
Well I don't disbelieve it
and I'll go along with it til someone
comes up with a better theory.
Look, five men have vanished.
To die is one thing.
To disappear without a trace
suggests complete destruction.
A flesh eating creature.
But there are scores of insects
that live on other insects.
Where do you start?
By thinking of the hook as though it
were infinitely smaller. As
though it were part of an insect
no larger than those we know today.
Like, oh, the grasshopper,
the beetle, or the cricket.
Then ask yourself what flesh eating insect
of normal size has such a hook.
Ned, you're making a lot of assumptions.
Well every paleontologist does.
Look, you start with a jaw
bone, a couple of teeth,
you figure whether they come from a flesh
or a grass eater and you go from there.
A normal insect that is a flesh eater.
I've narrowed the field to one.
The diet consists mostly of small insects
such as leafhoppers, grasshoppers,
caterpillars and others.
A substantial part of the diet
may also include small frogs and lizards.
The female is larger than the male
and invariably destroys her mate
when he's fulfilled his function in life.
Now the hook they found on the plane
may very well be a spur
from one of its forelegs.
If this is it, as large as
the monstrous creature we're
looking for, I doubt whether anything
that ever lived could be as deadly.
It's strong beyond
anything its size suggests.
It walks, leaps, and flies.
Its appetite is insatiable.
You mean this cute little bug?
Yeah, that cute little bug.
In all the kingdom of the living,
there is no more deadly
or voracious creature
than the praying mantis.
(dramatic music)
(dogs howling)
(speaking in foreign language)
(dogs barking)
(roaring)
(screaming)
Anything new on the disasters, general?
Nothing else, gentlemen.
Say, you're Dr. Jackson in the Museum
of Natural History, aren't you?
That's right.
Well what have you been called in for?
Dr. Jackson is an old friend of mine.
That's not answering
his question, general.
You're a paleontologist.
Isn't this out of your line?
[Male] Have you any
theories, Dr. Jackson?
Gentlemen, if you were in my position
and what you had was a theory,
not facts, just a theory,
I'm sure you'd withhold it
to avoid any speculation
that might prove disastrous.
I'm sure you realize this
and that you'll cooperate with us
to avoid panic or hysteria.
I know I can count on all of you.
Well, good luck to you Ned.
Thanks, I'll do my best.
Hi.
Almost ready?
Just let me close this.
I'm told the air force
doesn't like to be kept waiting.
(mumbling)
Here, make yourself useful.
Nice of you to see me off.
I think so.
You know, the arctic's
about the only place
where I haven't worked in.
Are those mine too?
No, doctor, they're mine.
Oh.
Yours?
Well you couldn't go along
without your photographer,
could you?
My what?
Well I phoned General Ford's office
and requested permission for you
to take your photographer along.
I guess he forgot to tell you.
Boy, this is really going to be a story.
You'd do almost anything
for a story, wouldn't you?
Almost.
Well come on.
Colonel, colonel sir.
Dr. Jackson is here from Washington.
He's got a, I mean there's a, we...
Well speak up.
He's with a woman.
A female woman.
I thought they'd stopped making 'em.
Show them in.
Yes sir.
I'm Ned Jackson, colonel.
I'm sure that Washington...
Excuse me, this is Miss Margery Blaine.
Colonel Joe Parkman.
General Ford sent me up.
I'm magazine editor for the
Museum of Natural History.
How do you do?
(whistling)
That'll be all, men.
It looks like you don't
have too many women up here,
colonel.
Hey, well, we have
a little joke up here.
The boys say there's a
girl behind every tree.
Only try and find a tree.
(laughing)
Well when do we see what we came for?
I'll have a plane any time you're ready.
I'm ready.
Fine.
(laughing)
(dramatic music)
These are the skid marks.
At least what's left of them.
We found the same marks
at the weather shack
and the Eskimo village.
Here colonel.
Got it?
Eight and a half feet.
Let's get back to the plane.
(upbeat music)
(chattering)
At ease.
Gentlemen, this is Miss Margery Blaine.
I thought you wouldn't mind too much
if she had a look around
your recreation room.
Oh, she's like a butterfly
gliding across a lily pond.
Yes, corporal?
With your permission,
sir, would it be alright if,
would it be alright if I asked
Miss Blaine to dance, sir?
Corporal, that decision is
entirely up to Miss Blaine.
Yes sir.
Miss Blaine, would you care to,
well, what I mean is, well, I'm not...
Yes corporal, I'd love to.
(dramatic music)
(door clicking)
Oh hi.
Hi.
Hi Ned.
Thought you were going to join us.
I've been busy.
You two run along, have fun.
What are you up to?
I'm trying to figure
out how big this thing is.
(dramatic music)
You know, people used to think
that carnivorous plants were defunct.
Actually, there are about
450 species of them.
Some are almost six feet tall.
I'm convinced that we're
dealing with a mantis
in whose geological world,
the smallest insects
were as large as man and that failing
to find those insects for his food, it's,
well, it's doing the best it can.
If there is such a thing,
why hasn't anybody seen it?
Well those who have are dead.
Well who can be sure? It may
have been locked in a prison
of ice millions of years ago.
What could have released
it after all that time?
Oh, any sort of unusual vibration.
You know how mountain climbers
are afraid of thunder?
Well, it's because the sound vibration
might start an avalanche.
(screaming)
(wood cracking)
(roof crashing)
Hit the alert button!
[Male] Yes sir.
Operations, Colonel Parkman speaking.
Condition red, scramble all
air traffic immediately.
Condition red!
(alarm buzzing)
(roaring)
(gun firing)
(roaring)
(roaring)
(buzzing)
(engines roaring)
Coffee, colonel?
Nine hours and not a whisper.
Which is alright with me.
[Pilot] Red Eagle One,
this is Hunter Four.
[Radio Operator] Hello Hunter Four,
this is Red Eagle One, go ahead.
[Pilot] We have nothing here.
Request permission to
return to base, over.
Request denied.
Continue search procedure.
Over and out.
The only thing to do is
to keep the patrols out
straight around the
clock until we're sure.
And remember, I want a report on anything,
from Mid-Canada or Pine Tree,
anything, you understand?
Yes sir.
(buzzing)
(dramatic music)
(speaking in foreign language)
(yelling)
[Male] Got the Mid-Canada
radar line on the fence, sir.
This is Colonel Parkman.
Colonel.
Group Captain Hawkins here.
This is just a stab in the dark
but you chaps asked us to
report anything unusual and...
Yes?
As I said, it may not mean a thing
but we caught an unidentified
object in our scopes.
Could have been a storm
or a weather balloon.
It was a fade signal that came and went
but it might be that
oversized bug of yours, eh?
What time was it?
[Hawkins] Early.
0400 I should say.
Thanks Hawkins.
Thanks very much.
0400, that's almost six
hours after he left here.
Now it's 1500 miles to
the Mid-Canada Line.
Well, that's no good, he'd have
to be doing better than 200 miles an hour.
Why not, Joe?
We're dealing with an insect.
The deer fly does 600 an hour.
That's almost as fast as a jet.
The Mid-Canada Line is 1500
miles south of here, right?
Right.
And where was that Weather Shack Four?
Right there, straight
on the 80th meridian.
And the C47 crash was here.
[Joe] That's right, due
south of the weather shack.
What are you getting at, Ned?
And the Eskimo village?
[Joe] Right there
between us and the C47.
Hey, wait a minute.
He's been going straight south.
And he'll keep going south
til he reaches the tropics
where he'll find the same kind of climate
and jungle vegetation from
which he came originally.
Now let's see, he'll probably
pass over Labrador, Nova Scotia,
then he'll hit the gulf stream
and I'm sure the warm
air above the gulf stream
will attract him and he'll follow it
all the way down to South America.
I've got CONAD on the hotline, colonel.
They say it's important.
Thanks.
This is Colonel Parkman.
Are you sure?
Thanks.
Pine Tree got it too.
It went through Newfoundland.
Well it looks like we're
on our way to Washington.
Come on, Marge, grab your toothbrush.
(dramatic music)
All over the United States this morning,
some 400,000 members of the
civilian ground observer corps
are gathered to learn more
about this fantastic creature.
This program is being presented
by the Continental Air Defense Command.
Our first speaker is
Major General Mark Ford.
General Ford.
Thank you.
I wanna say at the outset that contrary
to rumor and certain newspaper headlines,
the so-called deadly mantis
is no imaginary scare.
It's a very real and present danger.
With me this morning is Colonel Parkman,
commanding officer of an
advanced radar interceptor base
deep in the arctic circle.
Colonel Parkman.
Thank you, sir.
Ladies and gentlemen, I saw
this creature attack our base.
I visited a weather shack
and I also inspected the wreckage
of the aircraft that this thing destroyed.
Now we have every reason to believe
that the mantis is flying
south along the gulf stream
and we believe that it will be one
of you devoted men and women
with the civilian ground observer corps
who will spot it next time it appears.
I have with me today Dr. Nedrick Jackson,
curator of the department of paleontology
of the Museum of Natural History.
Dr. Jackson has something
important to show you.
Doctor?
Thank you.
This object is a spur
broken off the foreleg
of the mantis when it destroyed the C47.
Now the spur of a normal sized mantis
is so small, it's difficult to measure.
This spur, as you can see,
is nearly five feet long which will
give you some ideas to
the creature's size.
Thank you doctor.
Now you ground observers are well-trained
in the identification of aircraft.
Here, to scale, is the deadly mantis
and here is the C47 which is destroyed.
One other thing.
You spotters should listen
for a loud droning sound
much like that of a
squadron of heavy bombers
flying in formation.
Now the coast guard and the navy
have been alerted and they're standing by
on the eastern seaboard.
If the mantis is sighted, the procedure
will be the same as
though an enemy aircraft
had been spotted.
Take no chances.
Report any unusual flying object.
Thank you.
(eerie music)
(buzzing)
(alarm buzzing)
(engines roaring)
(buzzing)
(missiles firing)
[Pilot] Target is down, target is down.
Cannot confirm kill due to low overcast.
Returning to carrier, out.
(buzzing)
Well, here comes another one.
Granary fire in Minneapolis.
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
There's some power lines
down there in Richmond.
Richmond, Virginia?
[Ned] Yeah.
(mumbling) slide in Fresno.
Fresno, Fresno.
Oh, I'm so tired.
Where is Fresno?
California.
Fresno, California.
Hi.
Hi Marge.
[Ned] Hello.
- Ned.
- Hey, what are you up to?
Well it's kind of a private deal.
We call it Operation Marge
because she dreamed it up.
Oh?
We're charting every unusual
occurrence in the country.
Some may have been caused by the mantis.
It might give us a clue.
Any luck?
Well they're too scattered
to mean anything yet.
You kids know what time
it is? It's after midnight.
Now you're dismissed, both of you.
But general, I haven't...
No buts about it.
You heard what the general said.
You're going straight home, young lady.
And I'm the guy who's taking you.
Night Ned.
[Ned] Goodnight Marge.
(downbeat music)
[Radio Announcer] We
interrupt this program
to bring you a news flash.
A train wreck has been reported north
of Laurel, Maryland on US Highway One.
The engine and five cars were overturned
in what appears to have
been a freak accident.
We will bring you further
details as they come in.
It's only a few miles from here.
We'll have a look.
(alarm blaring)
(chattering)
Sorry colonel, there's
been a train wreck.
You'll have to go back to Warrington Road.
Take the detour to your
left through Laurel.
Is it pretty bad?
Could have been a lot worse.
[Joe] How'd it happen?
Probably couldn't see
the warning in the fog.
Can't tell for sure.
The engineer's still unconscious.
Joe, do you think it might?
No, just an accident.
Come on, let's go.
Thanks.
(dramatic music)
The light just turned green.
It's too dangerous to
drive in fog like this.
Remember what happened
to that train back there.
This is more dangerous.
We'd better get going.
(screeching)
[Driver] Oh, you forgot
your package, lady.
Thank you, driver.
You know, it's good to get home safely
with all the strange things
going on around here.
Oh, there's nothing
to worry about, ma'am.
You just be careful out in that fog.
Thank you.
(dramatic music)
(roaring)
(screaming)
(crashing)
[Radio Announcer] Here
is the very latest report.
An (mumbling) bus was demolished
at the intersection of Morton
Avenue and Arlington Road.
The cause of the accident which occurred
only five minutes ago
is still to be explained
since there was no other vehicle involved.
This accident, in addition
to the train wreck
which was reported a
very short time before,
makes a total of seven
accidents in this area
within the last 24 hours.
(alarms blaring)
(chattering)
Take it easy.
How about a couple of blankets up here?
- What happened?
- Whose got any idea, colonel?
Something must have lifted
the bus and smashed it.
The front end's okay so we know
it didn't run into anything.
You boys might just as well go back.
There aren't any bodies.
Oh say, take care of this
lady for me, will you please?
[Radio Dispatcher]
Attention, all military
and civil defense personnel.
Attention, all police and
fire department personnel.
The mantis has been
sighted over Washington.
I repeat, the mantis has
been sighted over Washington.
Let's go.
Excuse me, pardon me.
[Radio Dispatcher]
This is a general alert.
(dramatic music)
(buzzing)
(crashing)
(roaring)
(engines roaring)
[Pilot] Archer, this
is Beagle One Seven.
Air born with four
chickens heading 035, over.
It's Colonel Parkman, sir.
Eagle One Seven, Archer control.
Continue your present heading.
Bogey at 12 o'clock, 100 miles.
Maintain present air speed,
altitude of 5000, over.
[Joe] Bogey tracking 150.
(buzzing)
I've got Baltimore, general.
Go ahead, Baltimore.
Second plot 340, range 150.
Unidentified object.
Speed, 250.
Altitude 2000, dropping fast.
[Male] Dixie 35 bravo,
range 150, speed 250.
Altitude now 2000, dropping fast.
It's still moving northeast.
You think you'll be able
to drive it out to sea?
I hope so.
Air defense warning red.
Stand by to lock on.
Baltimore, warning red.
Philadelphia, warning red, I repeat, red.
Attention Mitchell Field, warning red.
Pass to all gun sites.
Guns free, fire at any object
not identified as friendly.
I repeat, pass to all gun sites.
Guns free, fire at any object
not identified as friendly.
(buzzing)
(guns firing)
Dixie 35 bravo, 342 range, 110.
Vector 25, vector 352, range 110.
(buzzing)
(guns firing)
Vector 25, vector, contact lost.
[Male] Dixie 35 bravo, contact lost.
What happened?
It dropped below the radar net.
Well does that mean you've lost it?
One of the ground
observers will pick it up.
(dramatic music)
(mumbling), this is 19 hotel.
(mumbling), this is 19 hotel.
Thank you.
[Male] Mitchell track, bravo gone.
0339, at 25, going northeast.
Eagle One Seven, Archer control,
vector one niner zero.
Bogey at 12 o'clock.
Steady on course, 20 miles, over.
That'll put it over
Newark in a few minutes.
(buzzing)
[Joe] Archer, this is Beagle One Seven.
When steady on vector,
bogey will be 12 o'clock.
(engines roaring)
(missiles firing)
(buzzing)
(roaring)
(guns firing)
Archer control, this is Beagle One Seven.
We have splashed mantis.
Give me pigeons to home plate.
(crashing)
(dramatic music)
(chattering)
Hey bud, it said on television
that the flyer who shot him down
is going in the tunnel after him.
Did you see it crawl into the tunnel?
Hey bud, hey, hey bud.
Bud.
Hey.
Hey bud, is it still in the tunnel?
It ain't out here, mac.
Anybody killed?
I only know what I read in the papers.
Hey smart guy, I thought I told you
to stay out of that road block.
Now come on, get back there.
[Male] I'm going home to watch it on TV!
Well go ahead home and watch it on TV!
Alright, don't push!
I can't see anything here!
(chattering)
(laughing)
[Male] That's all the
smoke we need, shut it off.
How much longer do you think it'll take?
Oh, we got about a 90% saturation
of smoke in the tunnel now.
I don't think we can
do any better, general.
We'll be lucky if we
can hold what we've got.
Those wet tarpaulins will
hold the smoke alright.
Just keep pumping.
Everything's under control
on the Jersey side, sir.
[General Ford] What about the smoke?
It's packed in solid.
The tarp's holding it fine.
[General Ford] Did you go inside?
Yes sir, but we didn't get too close.
[General Ford] How far in
do you estimate it to be?
Oh, I'd say about a quarter
of a mile from this end.
That puts the mantis
below the water line.
I don't think we ought
to wait much longer, sir.
What do you think, Ned?
No question in my mind
that he's mortally wounded.
If we can keep him in
that tunnel, he'll die.
Is there anything between
us and the mantis in this end?
17 cars according to
the automatic counters.
Breaks through those tunnel walls,
we'll have a flood on our hands.
What do you say, general?
Go ahead, Joe.
Good luck, Joe.
Alright men.
You've all been told what to do.
Now the purpose of that smoke in there
is to give us cover.
Use it.
Now which of you men are
carrying the chemical mines?
Stay up front with me.
And remember, those
3RG mines are effective
only in a limited area so watch
for my signal before you throw them.
Alright men, check masks.
Let's go.
(crashing)
(eerie music)
(rumbling)
(roaring)
(roaring)
(shrieking)
(shrieking)
(guns firing)
(groaning)
(groaning)
(shrieking)
(guns firing)
(roaring)
(roaring)
(guns firing)
(grunting)
(shrieking)
There's your cover for
next month's magazine, Marge.
Go on, take your picture.
Would you mind telling me
what's so funny, colonel?
Who, me?
Nothing at all.
Can I help you with the camera?
No thanks.
Exactly where did you
crash into him, Joe?
Well just about center
of the right hand side.
If you'll follow me, I'll show you.
(dramatic music)
There, I think you can
see right there, sir.
The base of the neck.
(mumbling)
Look out, Marge!
(screaming)
I thought you said you killed it.
Don't blame Joe.
That was an auto-reflex mechanism.
It's dead alright.
Here, put me down.
I said put me down.
What's the matter?
Don't you like it up here?
I've got pictures to take.
Well that can wait.
This is no place for
romance, Joe Parkman.
What about my pictures?
Let Ned do it.
(gentle music)
(laughing)
(moves into menacing music)