mark.waltz Deliciously bad, this has a few thoughtful moments where reporter Peggie Castle declares in her cynical manner that you never get used to seeing the aftermath of disaster, and in this film, she gets to see her share of horror too with men bigger than her being eaten by the likes of Jimminy Cricket! There's no wishing upon a star for survival here because these giant grasshoppers/locusts/crickets (whatever you want to call them) have an outrageous appetite and are now flooding the south side of Chicago. But before you break into the Ray Price song or "Bad Bad, LeRoy Brown", check out this ultra campy 1950's B science fiction anti-nuclear power horror film where the ideals of giant strawberries and tomatoes created by nerdy scientist Peter Graves lead to the creation of giant blood thirsty creatures. When first seen, the giant cricket comes upon its unknowing victim and gets the audience's attention, not because it is scary, but because its poor victim is so pathetic and lovable. But as lovable as the victim is, that doesn't make this movie any better as the army of crickets stalk the army of man, not leaving any trace of them, just as they had done with the town first attacked by them that has the over crowded population of 132.While I can see some people putting this on their list of the worst movies ever made, I call this one a guilty pleasure, which up there with the atomic turkey in "The Giant Claw" is one of the silliest looking movie monsters ever. Photos of Chicago buildings (one of which looks like downtown Manhattan's Municipal Building) with the bugs walking on them are so blurry that the so-called special effect is entirely obvious. While I expected to see one of the bugs walk off of the building altogether, there was only a hint of that. There is the repeated shot of the crickets falling off of the building after being shot at, the panic in the streets and parks as public announcements are made of not to panic, interrupted by the loud chirping and sudden arrival of the big pesky bugs. Certainly, the producers and director knew that this would be panned and considered one of the worst movies of the year (or ever), but they knew that they could make a quick bug, oops, I mean buck, and even today, it is deliciously funny even if there was a panic of how nuclear power and other discoveries of the time could have major impacts on things on our planet we take for granted. When this is all said and done, it is an enjoyable guilty pleasure, leading to a clinch for the leading man and lady that prior to that fade-out had not even been hinted at.

Robert J. Maxwell There's a scene near the beginning in which reporter Peggy Castle visits Army headquarters. We watch her drive up to an office building, park the convertible, step out of it, walk up the steps, open the door, and walk through it. Cut.Ordinary, yes, but what makes it interesting is that this is a B movie shot on a small budget and coming towards the end of the Big Bug cycle. A typical B director wouldn't bother shooting the scene. Suppose Peggy Castle tripped getting out of the car? Suppose she showed too much leg? Suppose the door to the building was stuck? They'd have to do a retake and that costs money. No, in a really cheap B movie, Peggy Castle would tell someone that she's going to Army headquarters, there would be a dissolve, and she'd be talking to a general.By a commodius vicus of recirculation, all blockbusting A-budget action movies have reached the same tiptoptoloftical ergonomic peak as the cheap features of yesteryear. Somebody directing a thirty-million-dollar movie today wouldn't shoot that transitional scene either. Not because of budget constraints but because the fourteen-year-old brains in the audience might be bored by it, their attention span being limited to two seconds. They might squirm and fidget and throw JuJuBees at each other, and they might tell their friends the movie was dull. There are shekels involved at both ends of the business -- making and marketing.I now step down off this orator's platform. Please keep the cameras rolling. Somebody give me a hand; I'm suffering from a crippling case of nostalgia. Thank you.The movie itself follows such a familiar path that it's hardly worth detailing. An incident at an agricultural station involving locusts eating some radioactive material leads to the expected results. Giant bugs. Entomologist Peter Graves and his soon-to-be girlfriend, Peggy Castle, who lends an enchanting whistle to her sibilants, discover a horde of mammoth locusts who make loud noises like the giant ants in "Them". Naturally no one believes them. The National Guard slough their stories off with a chuckle. The doubtful general investigates and the locusts attack him and his men. He gets away with his life but it was a close call, I can tell you.These gargantuan grasshoppers are interesting creatures. They're always shown in blown-up rear projection or other trickery because I suppose the budget might have allowed Peggy Castle to park her car but there wasn't room for both the car and even a disembodied locust head of the proper giant size. Peter Graves shows the military a movie of locusts while he describes how terrible they are. I didn't know they could be carnivorous, but I guess I can believe it because I've watched crickets eat flies, and a more disgusting sight you've never seen. I had no idea they could grow to the size of an earth mover though. I guess my high school biology teacher was lying when he taught us about book lungs.Peter Graves, like his brother, James Arness, is likable enough -- tall and handsome. Peggy Castle is alluring but those 1957 hair styles did nobody any favors. I'm not sure Morris Ankrum ever missed a science-fiction movie. You'll recognize him at once. The director must have spent all his energy on that car-parking scene because the rest of the movie lacks any distinction. Oh, except for Graves' entomologist. The credits list him as "Doctor Ed Wainwright. That's apposite enough but everyone calls him "Mister Wainwright", a departure from the norm. Usually PhDs call each other "doctor" in these movies.Does Dr. Wainwright manage to save Chicago from the plague of locusts, or does the Air Force have to bomb the city flat? The answer is they have to use the atomic bomb and destroy Chicago but it doesn't work and they have to go on to bomb New York City, Los Angeles, New Orleans, St. Louis, London, Moscow, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, and East Quoddy, Maine.

Paul Andrews Beginning of the End starts as New York journalist Audrey Aimes (Peggie Castle) is driving to Illinois in Chigago, on her way she notices an army roadblock & discovers the small town of Ludlow is sealed off. No-one goes in, her journalistic instinct's peaked Audrey tries to find out what is going on but find the army unhelpful & vague but is eventually told that the entire town of Ludlow has been reduced to rubble & the one hundred & fifty people who lived there are missing. Audrey suspects that radiation might have something to do with it & one of her contacts tells Audrey that the Department of National Acriculture is conducting experiments using radiation & Audrey decides to investigate, Audrey meets head scientist Dr. Ed Wainwright (Peter Graves) who has managed to grow extra large vegetable's using radiation but the two soon discover that a swarm of Locusts ate the experimental vegetable's & have also grown to a huge size. Now the giant Locust's move across the state destroying everything in their path, Dr. Wainwright tries to think of a way to stop them before they take over the world & wipe out mankind...Produced & directed by Bert I. Gordon who is also credited with the special effects this giant insect film is basically a cheap rip-off of the classic Them! (1954) but substitutes giant killer radiation mutated Ants for giant killer radiation mutated Locust's & it's about as good as it sounds, basically not very. The first thing I would like to ask is what's with the rather cryptic & vague title? It could refer to just about anything, couldn't it? I thought these 50's monster films were supposed to have sensationalistic & lurid titles like Robot Monster (1954), The Thing from Another World (1951), The Monster that Challenged the World (1957) & It! The Terror from Bayond Space (1958). You wouldn't guess from the title Beginning of the End that this film is about giant Locust's & quite frankly you wouldn't know it's about giant Locust's from watching the first thirty odd minutes either as that's how long it takes for one to show up & considering it only goes on for just over 70 minutes that's way too long. The script is very talky with long stretches of boring exposition as the various character's explain how the giant Locust threat is spreading across Illinois, we see very little of the giant Locust's & everything they apparently do is revealed through these scenes of various people talking. For instance we hear that they have destroyed Ludlow & are on the move towards Illinois but we never see it. All of the character's are standard fare, the scientist, the nosey reporter, the authoritative army General & a string of second rate character's who barely get a line of dialogue between them. There are better giant insect films out there, Beginning of the End is one of the poorer examples.On the few occasions that we do actually get to see the giant Locust's all of the effects shots are achieved by using real Locust's & then photographically blowing them up against the actor's to make them appear huge, to be fair the effect isn't to bad considering the age & poverty of the film although I doubt anyone will be convinced by the effects overall. A real cheap affair the sum total of the US military at the end to save the entire world is a small fishing boat & a radio! The idea that the Locust's basically all commit suicide is also hard to take seriously. The ending just feels rushed & cheap, it's like the makers didn't have any money for a big fight or final confrontation. Not scary or particularly creepy Beginning of the End has little going for it.Obviously shot on a low budget Beginning of the End was filmed in Chicago, photographed in black and white the whole production is forgettable & bland. The acting is wooden in a 50's sort of way & the woman is nothing more than window dressing & there to scream every so often.Beginning of the End is a pretty dull film that really shouldn't have been, the low budget didn't help but even at 76 minutes long this drags & is pretty boring. The lack of any significant Locust action also damages what little entertainment value it could have had.

vtcavuoto "Beginning of the End" isn't at the top of the "giant something or other" films of it's time but has a certain charm. This time the giants are grasshoppers who are munching their way through the state of Illinois. The movie has an impressive list of great B-movie actors such as Morris Ankrum, Thomas Henry, Hank Patterson, Peter Graves and Peggy Castle. The grasshoppers ate some radioactive food by accident and started growing. They are drowned at the end by a sort of "Pied Piper" lure. The acting carries the film and the pace moves along nicely. The grasshoppers are a bit corny but still the film is enjoyable. If you're a fan of 1950s Sci-Fi/Horror films,it's one to check out.