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The plot of The Navy Vs. The Night Monsters is better than its title would lead one to suspect -- it's also better than the actual movie, a fault that has to lie at the feet of director Michael A. Hoey and the producers. The movie is actually based on a very good novel by Murray Leinster (aka Will Jenkins) called Monster From The Earth's End, and the script clearly tried to incorporate most of the better elements of that book -- what it lacked was subtlety, and class. Whenever a dramatic scene comes up involving a character, the content and dialogue are so obvious that they wouldn't have passed muster in a first meeting of Screenwriting 101; and the makers couldn't resist the twin opportunities to be both cute and grisly, which leads one to believe that this whole shoot was, at some level, just a lark for most of those involved. Only Anthony Eisley, savoring a rare big-screen leading role, and veterans Walter Sande and Biff Elliot, seem to be running on all dramatic cylinders; Bobby Van tries hard but never nails his role or what it's supposed to be (perhaps because the writers didn't, either); and Pamela Mason kind of walks through her role with the same blithely cheerful attitude that she brought her appearances on The Merv Griffin Show, out of character. Still, there is a good idea at the core of this movie, and perhaps someday someone will try to do a proper, serious remake -- the fact that it's any good at all is actually high-praise, as the movie reportedly had several behind-the-scenes problems centered on the director's chair and who would fill it. And hey, it was photographed by Stanley Cortez (The Magnificent Ambersons), and on that basis alone it's worth a look, if also an unintended smirk and chuckle.