Creature From the Black Lagoon

 

                                

                           

                                              (Image courteousy of Universal Studios)

 

Introduction

Today we’re going to take a break from Harryhousen and Toho. One of the most unique of Universal Studio’s monster films, Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) is something of a cross-over of genres. Unlike past films, like Dracula, or The Wolf Man, this movie’s antagonist is a creation of pure Science Fiction. No gothic or religious undertones are to be found here. Similar however to the other films, Creature helped set off a firestorm of remakes and copycat films looking to cash in on its success. See Horror At Party Beach, as well as many other low-budget films, featuring half-man, half-fish monsters.

     Movie Plot

     The film starts with scientists discovering a fossilized claw near the Amazon. They hypothesize that the fossil provides evidence of a “missing link” between land and sea life. Dr. Carl Maia (Antonio Moreno), the man who found it, approaches David Reed, a former student of his, and Dr. Mark Williams (Richard Denning) to help find the rest of the fossil. The rest of the crew consists of Kay Lawrence (Julie Adams), Dr. Edwin Thompson (Whit Bissell), and Lucas, whose the ship’s captain (Nestor Paiva). There’s no long-winded preparation or buildup for the adventure here. The group pretty much gets to the Amazon about fifteen or twenty minutes in. Prior to reaching the camp, the creature makes its appearance, attacking and killing Dr. Maia’s assistants. The team speculates that a wild cat committed the attack. After looking in the place where the claw was found, they decide to look upstream for any fossils that may have washed away. This leads them away from the river, and towards what Lucas calls the “Black Lagoon”. After reaching the area, Reed and Williams dive to the bottom of the lagoon, looking for more remains. Meanwhile, the Creature makes its full, unhindered appearance, as it observes the team. Its attention particularly is drawn to Kay Lawrence, as she goes swimming. All three make it back to the boat, but eventually the Gill Man (As it’s called now) sneaks on board as well. After killing another of Maia’s crew, the survivors plan to capture the creature. Using toxic powder, they subdue it temporarily. However, the monster breaks out of the cage, and injures Thompson. Williams wants to continue the pursuit, but Williams and the rest of the crew decide against it, and set out to leave the lagoon. However, the team discovers that the creature has the entrance blocked with branches and logs. Both Williams and Reed work to remove the obstacle, when the Gill Man attacks the former of the two. After a struggle, Williams is killed, and Reed is forced to flee back to the boat. After recovering Williams, Reed sets out a plan to finish the Gill Man using the powder again. This time, the substance would be put in the guns, to stun it. The plan succeeds partially, although not before the weakened creature captures Kay, dragging her underwater. Reed dives after them, only to find an underwater crevice that leads to a cavern. There he finds Kay and the monster. After a brief struggle, the rest of the team show up, and shoot the Gill Man repeatedly, eventually killing it.

                                                              Overview
This movie stands out pretty strong for a 50’s sci-fi movie, earning an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes, and has garnered praise for the special effects and overall atmosphere. For me, the movie’s location in a lonely lagoon really holds it up strongly. All throughout the movie you hear animal howls in the jungle, and get an eyeful of wildlife. In this regard, the original really stands out from the sequel, where most of it takes place at an aquarium in Florida. Not the best atmosphere for a horror film. Thankfully, the characters don’t spend too much time feeding audiences scientific jargon. They give you the basics about evolution and all that early on. After that, the plot moves back into action/adventure mode. Also, despite some goofy promotional posters of the Gill Man, he’s actually pretty well done for this movie. To simulate the look of a fish out of water, the creature constantly gapes its mouth open while on land. The director also instructed the actor in the suit not to use any breathing equipment while shooting the underwater scenes, so that no bubbles could be seen coming out of the suit. By the way, this was additionally scrapped in the next film. Audiences aren’t given a full look at the Gill Man until at least thirty or forty minutes in, but do get glimpses here and there of his webbed claws, which helps build tension. Many mainstream moviegoers today would be prone to laugh off the special effects and story as silly, given the movie was released at a time of cheap 50’s films. But if given a chance, it really does stand strong amongst the rest, as Universal did an excellent job here. It’s a big move away from the Harryhousen films, but still a classic. It’s also one of my favorite of the Universal films. At least this movie is an actual original, and not a remake. (Yes the 1930’s Dracula and Frankenstein movies were all remakes)

A nine out of ten!!!

 

                             1954 Trailer of Creature From the Black Lagoon