It Conquered the World is an independently made 1956 American science fiction film produced and directed by Roger Corman, and starring Peter Graves, Lee Van Cleef, Beverly Garland, and Sally Fraser.

Shot in black-and-white, It Conquered the World was released theatrically by American International Pictures (AIP) as a double feature with The She-Creature.

[2][3][4] It Conquered the World concerns an alien creature from the planet Venus that secretly wants to take control of the Earth.

The Venusian disrupts all electric power on Earth, including motor vehicles, leaving Dr. Nelson to resort to riding a bicycle.

After avoiding a flying bat-like creature which carries the mind control device, Dr. Nelson returns home to find his wife, Joan, newly assimilated.

Nelson finally persuades the paranoid Anderson that he has made a horrible mistake in blindly trusting the Venusian's motives, allying himself with a creature bent on world domination.

[8] The design of the creature was Paul Blaisdell's idea, and he thought that coming from a big planet, It would have evolved to deal with heavy gravity and would therefore be low to the ground.

and claimed she kicked It over (unlikely, since Blaisdell said in an interview that it took three men to turn the prop onto its side for the film's death scene finale).

"But Roger decided it would be more effective if the creature would make a defiant appearance outside its hiding place and be destroyed by a charge of bayonet-armed soldiers.

[2] A good portion of Beulah disintegrated due to the shoddy care taken to store it, and whatever was left of it was destroyed in the fire-scene finale of AIP's 1958 film How to Make a Monster.

"[2] Variety said "this flying saucer pic is a definite cut above normal, and should help pull its weight at b.o., despite modest budget...

It must be admitted that the packed house of moppets at the show caught loved the gore, and continually shrieked avid appreciation.

The Lou Rusoff screenplay poses some remarkably adult questions amidst the derring-do.. Corman does a generally good job of mingling the necessary backgroundsetting with fast-paced dialog... Only a few patches of abstract discussion, fail to hold audience attention.... Corman would have been wiser to merely suggest the creature, rather than construct the awesome-looking and mechanically clumsy, rubberized horror.

[15] Film historian and critic Leonard Maltin called It Conquered the World "... well acted and interesting but awkwardly plotted".

[17] The Chicago Reader gave the film a generally positive review, saying, "Amazingly, this 1953 [sic] picture isn't half bad".

[22] In 2001, Susan Hart, the widow of AIP co-founder James H. Nicholson, sued A&E Networks for copyright infringement after the channel used footage from the film in a documentary about Peter Graves.

[23] In 1966, It Conquered the World was remade in 16mm color by self-proclaimed "schlockmeister" Larry Buchanan after he secured the rights from distributor AIP.