Film Review
The first and arguably the best of the 1950s creature features,
Them! is easily one of the most
influential sci-fi movies ever made.
It immediately spawned a raft of similar movies featuring overgrown monstrosities and inspired
subsequent generations of filmmakers.James Cameron's
Aliens
(1986) is a virtual remake
of
Them! and the famous Japanese
Godzilla
films clearly owe much to the film. Among the numerous lower
grade sci-fi rip-offs that attempted to capitalise on the success of
Them! were Robert Gordon's
It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955)
and Jack Arnold's
Tarantula (1955)
(1955).
Them! was an extraordinarily
successful film (it was Warner Brothers' biggest hit that year) and
perhaps one reason for this was that it tapped into two prevailing
concerns in America of the early 1950s - infiltration by Communist
agents and anxieties about the nuclear age.
These two themes
recur to varying degrees in many sci-fi films of this era but usually
in a jokey, B-movie fashion, not in the sober, almost didactic manner
that
Them! offers.
Here, the monsters are the direct result of man's unleashing of a
dangerous and little understood force of nature, radioactivity, and
these same monsters - oversized ants who like crushing people with
their mandibles - are Soviet agents in all but name, the enemy hiding
in the shadows, poised to take over the world if we let them.
What sets
Them! apart from
other contemporary sci-fi offerings is its trenchant realism. The
characters are convincingly drawn (especially the Quatermass-like Dr
Medford, well-played by Edmund Gwenn); the action sequences are staged
and shot with an almost documentary-like authenticity; and there are
even some educational asides, in which we learn some interesting facts
about ants. The only let down is the realisation of the giant
ants, which appear far too cute and static to be remotely frightening,
although when seen in long shot they do send a shiver down the spine.
Warner Brothers had originally intended to make
Them! in colour and in 3D, but
reverted to widescreen black and white after some unpromising test
shots had been made. This was certainly a wise decision - the
noirish monochrome photography is what gives the film its menacing
doom-laden atmosphere, which is particularly effective in the
claustrophobic underground sequences (i.e. in the desert nest and the
Los Angeles sewers). Well-directed by Gordon Douglas (a
consistently underrated filmmaker),
Them!
is a tense and compelling sci-fi / horror drama that has dated far
better than many films of its genre and era. It still manages to
deliver the requisite chills and it provides a cogent warning of what
the future may hold for mankind if we persist in tampering with the
forces of nature. Maybe the film isn't so far fetched...
© James Travers 2009
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Patrolling the Alamogordo Desert in New Mexico, two police officers
come across an abandoned trailer which has been inexplicably
wrecked. Nearby, they find a young girl wandering about in a
state of shock, unable or unwilling to speak. Not far away, a
grocers' store has been smashed up, the mauled body of man lying in the
cellar. Department of Agriculture scientist Dr Harold Medford is
called in to investigate, assisted by his daughter, Pat. Their
initial prognosis is born out: the trailer and the store were attacked
not by men but by twenty-foot long ants, mutations caused by an atom
bomb test in the area some years before. The scientists locate
the ant nest, enabling the military to destroy its oversized insect
occupants with flamethrowers. But, exploring the nest, Pat makes
a horrifying discovery. Two queen ants have flown from the nest
with several male consorts. If these mate and create new
colonies, it is only a matter of weeks before the giant ant population
will reach several thousand. After that, nothing will prevent
them from taking over the world, driving mankind to extinction...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.