Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) - film review

A party of geologists is exploring a region of the Amazon when they make a remarkable discovery: the fossilised hand of a creature that appears to be half-fish, half-man.   Excited by this finding, the expedition leader, Dr Maia, persuades his friend, Dr Reed, an expert in marine biology, to help him in his research.  With Mark Williams providing financial backing, a second expedition to the Amazon is launched, with Maia joined by Reed, Reed’s girlfriend Kay and a specialist named Dr Thompson.  On arriving at his camp, Maia is shocked to learn that his team has been attacked and brutally killed.  He conjectures that the fossil he found belongs to a species of creature that is still very much alive, and very hostile...

Whilst it is hard to watch Creature from the Black Lagoon today without cringing at its clunky B-movie dialogue and cardboard cut out characters, it was the biggest monster movie of the 1950s.  It was also one of Universal Pictures’ most successful films, a precursor to other marine-based chillers such as Jaws (1975).   Unlike Universal’s other monster creations, this film’s thrill-maker (the aptly named Gill Man) is entirely original, an amphibian humanoid which is both well-designed and well-realised, setting a high standard for subsequent creature features.  The film was directed by Jack Arnold, who worked on several sci-fi B-movies, including the classic The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).

Creature from the Black Lagoon is particularly memorable for its beautifully shot underwater sequences, notably the one in which the Gill Man and Julie Adams are seen swimming together in a highly poetic and very suggestive representation of the sexual act.  The Gill-Man was played by two actors: Ricou Browning performed the underwater sequences (shot in Wakulla Springs, Florida) whilst Ben Chapman played the creature for the land sequences, shot at Universal’s California studios.   The film was originally shot and released in 3-D, following the success of Universal’s previous 3-D offering, House of Wax (1953).  Its box office success led Universal to make two sequels: Revenge of the Creature (1955) and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956).  An attempt to remake the film in the 1980s (with Nigel Kneale contributing the screenplay) fell through for budgetary reasons.   A remake (directed by Breck Eisner) is currently underway, planned for release in 2011.

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