<Tr> <Th> Language </Th> <Td> English </Td> </Tr> <P> Beginning of the End is a 1957 independently made American black - and - white science fiction giant insects film, produced and directed by Bert I. Gordon . It stars Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, and Morris Ankrum . The film's storyline concerns an agricultural scientist (Graves) who has successfully grown gigantic vegetables using radiation . Unfortunately, the vegetables are eaten by locusts (the swarming phase of short - horned grasshoppers), which quickly grow to a gigantic size and attack the nearby city of Chicago . Beginning of the End is generally known for its "atrocious" special effects and is considered to be one of the most poorly written and acted science fiction films of the 1950s . </P> <P> The film opens with newspaper photojournalist Audrey Aimes (Castle) accidentally stumbling upon a small town (Ludlow, Illinois) which has been inexplicably destroyed . All 150 people in the town are missing, and the evidence indicates they are dead . Incredibly, the local fields are also barren, as if a swarm of locusts had eaten all the crops . Aimes suspects that the military is covering something up, and travels to a nearby United States Department of Agriculture experimental farm to learn what creature might have caused the agricultural destruction . She meets Dr. Ed Wainwright (Graves), who is experimenting with radiation as a means of growing gigantic fruits and vegetables to end world hunger . Dr. Wainwright reports that there have been a number of mysterious incidents nearby, and that locusts have eaten all the radioactive wheat stored in a nearby grain silo . </P> <P> Gigantic mutant locusts rampage over the countryside . Dr. Wainwright and Ms. Aimes begin to track down the source of the mysterious occurrences, and quickly discover that the locusts which ate the grain have grown to the size of a city bus . The monsters have eaten all the crops in the area, and now are seeking human beings as a means of sustenance . It is also clear that they are headed for the city of Chicago . Wainwright and Aimes meet with General Hanson (Ankrum), Colonel Sturgeon (Henry), and Captain Barton (Seay) to strategize a solution . Machine gun and artillery fire seem ineffective against the creatures, and there are far too many to effectively deal with all at once . The United States Army and Illinois National Guard are called upon to help protect the city . But the monsters quickly invade Chicago, and begin to feast on human flesh as well as several buildings . </P>

What has happened to the town of ludlow illinois as the film begins
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