Creature from the Black Lagoon has a simple enough premise: Dr. Carl Maia (Antonio Moreno) discovers a fossilized claw that appears humanoid but has webbing and claws. Excited, he manages to get funding from Dr. Mark Williams (Richard Dennings) to expand his expedition to find more of this new discovery. Along for the ride are Dr. Edwin Thompson (Whit Bissell), and colleagues (and lovers) Dr. David Reed and Kay Lawrence (Richard Carlson and Julie Adams). Said expedition then learns that this creature is not entirely extinct, as they encounter one while searching for more remains.
The impact of this movie cannot be overstated. While Universal had a history of successful horror films (Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf Man, the Invisible Man, and the Mummy), by the 50s most of these characters were old hat - having appeared in movies together in various combos, and almost all having interacted with Abbott and Costello also. The Gill Man was an entirely new - and entirely original - creation that was so instantly iconic that you'd be hard-pressed to find any 'fish man' that deviates away from this design.
Of note: though only makeup artist 'Bud' Westmore receives onscreen credit for the creation of the Gill Man, animator Millicent Patrick - one of the first women to be hired by Disney as an animator - also contributed heavily to the design. This is because Westmore very angrily argued against the studio promoting her involvement.
The movie stands out for how consistently the tone plays throughout the film. This could very easily have been something akin to The Brain from Outer Space (not a real film) but director Jack Arnold ably controls this film: Staging the sequences so they are never not interesting (the swimming duet between the Gill Man (Ricou Browning for the underwater sequences) and Kay being a particular highlight), and keeping the film moving in a timely manner (the film feels much shorter than its 79 minutes).
When the Gill Man moves to land (played by Ben Chapman for these sequences), he still feels altogether alien despite his humanoid appearance. Chapman deserves credit for moderating his movements to keep the Creature otherworldly so that the audience can never be fully at ease during his appearances.
The performances across the board are fine to good - much better than one would expect for a B horror movie from the 50s. Julie Adams (credited as Julia Adams for this film and much of her earlier filmography) is justly an icon for her role in this, but best in show likely goes to Richard Dennings as the much more cutthroat Mark, who'd prefer to kill the creature rather than just study it.
Originally released in 3-D and considered one of the best of those from the 50s, I unfortunately only got to experience the 2-D version. And I wonder how much is lost because of that difference. Because, despite all the praise I can heap on this film for what it has accomplished, I am much cooler on it than I expected.
Possibly the music has something to do with it. The Creature's theme - played continuously throughout the film - gets tiresome given how often and how loudly we hear it. Despite the performances being good, none of the characters truly stand out - even Kay is more famous for her abduction by the creature than the character work of Julie Adams. For whatever reason, this movie just didn't 'click' for me despite the skill and craftmanship that went into it.
Would I recommend it? Yes: it certainly deserves its place in horror history, and I think even non-horror fans can enjoy it, though they might struggle a bit with the 50s style of acting. I could even be convinced to give it a rewatch, though I would certainly want it to be 3-D next time.
6 out of 10
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