Earth vs Soup Ep 302 - The Man Who Turned To Stone (1957)

April 9, 2026·1 hr 6 min·6 clips

The screenwriter of this 1957 film was blacklisted and credited under a fake name.

A 1957 movie surprises them. Aaron Polyak and Darlene talk about The Man Who Turned to Stone as a movie they actually liked, which feels a little funny given the title. The blacklist detail adds something too. Bernard Gordon is named as the screenwriter, though Raymond T. Marcus gets the credit, and that production wrinkle gives the conversation a bit more bite. Then the plot turns cruel. After movie night, the girls come back to the dormitory and find Anna hanging, with the movie showing only her feet. That image stops both hosts. They keep coming back to the year because the scene feels harsher than the setup promised. The reaction scene earns real attention. Even the uncredited matrons sound believably rattled, talking about Mrs. Ford, Aunt Murdoch, the doctor, and the coroner instead of calmly taking charge. Nobody gets to look especially heroic. The hosts pick up on the odd institutional logic, where outside help is mentioned but somehow feels out of reach. Tracy does not accept the story. She tells Carol that Anna had a baby outside, a waiting husband, less than a year left, and no clear reason to harm herself. They correct the memory out loud, sorting through who went to the infirmary, who is talking to Carol, and how the movie plants suspicion without making the scene neat. That is where the episode has its fun: two people rebuilding the movie beat by beat until the machinery shows. The praise stays grounded. The film works because the minor performances, procedural confusion, and dormitory dread hold together. The title sells it short.

As heard by us

A relaxed take on a 1957 sci fi film, with lively talk and just enough bite.

Earth vs. Soup treats The Man Who Turned to Stone from 1957 as something worth taking seriously, and the hosts make that case without losing the easy, amused tone.

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Why you'd press play

Press play for a lively take on a 1957 sci-fi movie that surprised them.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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