Plot Details: This opinion reveals everything about the movie's plot.

In the 1960's, kids were at the mercy of television programmers who would show their favorite movies at strange times. Each week, when the TV paper would be delivered, I (along with millions of others, I'm sure) would scout the movie listings for titles we knew would be winners. One of them I always looked for was 'Beginning of the End.' And now it has been released on DVD. I can program it myself, any time!

This AB-PT release enjoyed great popularity when it was first released in June, 1957. AB-PT was a short-lived merger of American Broadcasting and Paramount Theatres. Only 'Beginning of the End' and 'The Unearthly' ever came of it.

This movie has lost none of its charm on DVD. Although available in an MST3K version, this at last is the one we remember! Bert Ira Gordon produced several sci-fi flicks. This is one of the first, and one of the most enjoyable. There is a gallery of the lobby cards and a great graphic that accompanies the main menu. Watch the shadow...and then...and then...Grasshoppers!!!!

What makes this latest release from Image Entertainment so perfect is the crispness of its transfer. In all the times I had seen the film on television over the years, I had never noticed that Peggie Castle (as newspaper woman Audrey Aimes) had flowered appliques around the hem of her first dress. Not important, you say? Perhaps not, but that's how perfect this DVD picture is.

The second great thing about this DVD is the commentary by historian and author Bruce Kimmel (The First Nudie Musical) who is joined by Gordon's daughter Susan, and his ex-wife Flora Ryan. Ryan was the assistant special effects technician on this movie as she was on most of the films that followed. Her commentary is invaluable in understanding how 'Beginning of the End' was conceived and produced.

Kimmel saw the film on its first release in a huge theater in Los Angeles, and ran up the aisle when the giant grasshoppers showed up on the screen (much as the title character in his novel BENJAMIN KRITZER does). Susan Gordon describes life with several thousand Texas grasshoppers in the garage and her film debut the next year in her parents' film 'Attack of the Puppet People.' Albert Glasser who scored AOPP also wrote the music for 'Beginning of the End.'

Ludlow, Illinois, has been devastated. Audrey is sent by her newspaper to get the story. Driving her plush 1957 Chrysler with push-button transmission and car telephone that can connect her to New York City within seconds, Audrey is turned back at a roadblock. The military men are obviously not aware that this is THE Audrey Aimes who covered the Korean War and wrote a best selling book about her experience.

Anyway, Audrey eventually teams up with Dr. Ed Wainwright (Peter Graves) and his deaf assistant Frank Johnson (Thann Wyenn). The trio discover giant radio-active grasshoppers, and are reduced to a duet when Frank meets his grisly silent end at the mandibles of one said grasshopper!

Eventually the military gets involved. Creative editing of stock shots, and some effective second unit work done in Chicago, set up the city on the lake for an attack of the giant grasshoppers!

The insects are of course eventually defeated. They meet their ends (although there weren't many grasshoppers left by the end of shooting declares Ryan)in Lake Michigan, or a basin of water...or something.

If you are a fan of this movie, or this type of movie, this DVD is a wise investment for you. Peggie Castle and Peter Graves make as handsome a couple as you will ever see in movies, even today. And as Kimmel points out, the costuming is terrific. The commentary raises this one way above average.

And hopefully this will not be the beginning of the end of Image's BIG releases!

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups