Revenge of the Creature (1955)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Jack Arnold

Writers:

William Alland (story)
Martin Berkeley (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 July 1955 (Finland)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Weird Monster Escapes! Terror Seizes City! ...a woman's beauty the lure for his dangerous desires!

Plot:

The Creature from the Black Lagoon is back! This time he's captured by scientists and transported to an aquarium in south Florida...

Plot Keywords:

Barracuda | Underwater | 3 Dimensional | Alien | Beautiful Woman

Cast

John Agar	...	Prof. Clete Ferguson
Lori Nelson	...	Helen Dobson
John Bromfield	...	Joe Hayes
Nestor Paiva	...	CAptain Lucas
Grandon Rhodes	...	Jackson Foster
Dave Willock	...	Lou Gibson
Robert Williams	...	George Johnson (as Robert B. Williams)
Charles Cane	...	Police Captain (as Charles R. Cane)

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #17220) | USA:Unrated (video rating) | West Germany:16 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Trivia:

Director Jack Arnold liked to use the sides of the movie screen as the arches in a proscenium-style theater with unexpected intrusions coming in from the sidelines. This technique can be seen here when 'John Agar (I)' goes out into the darkened area around the motel to look for Lori Nelson's missing dog. A hand suddenly reaches out from the right side of the screen to touch him, giving him (and the audience) a start, but it's not the dreaded Gill Man. It's simply Lori Nelson.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In the scene where the Creature attacks a pair of college students, it picks one of them up and tosses him into a nearby palm tree. The line attached to the stunt double is clearly visible as he hurtles through the air.

Quotes:

Lab Technician: I've lost my white mouse.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Back to the Black Lagoon: A Creature Chronicle (2000) (V)

Creature Two of Three!

Director Jack Arnold and company took great care in this one to make the 3-D effects look more natural. While there are no chairs or spears thrown at the camera, there are still plenty of thrilling moments when the creature advances into view and even a couple of false frights, as when a threatening shadow turns out to be no more dangerous than Lori Nelson's hand.

Admittedly the screenplay has its weak links. Depending largely on unlikely co-incidences, the storyline pays scant regard to consistency or logic, while the dialogue is not only trite and banal but seems to go out of its way to provide a persistent assault on the viewer's intelligence by explaining what we can actually see for ourselves. No-one can walk to the bathroom in this film without someone providing a running commentary. Worse, the characters prove little more than pasteboard figures which indifferent actors like Agar and Nelson struggle to bring to life. Miss Nelson is further handicapped by the large amount of make-up she was forced to wear for the 3-D cameras. True, the effect seemed not only attractive but perfectly natural when the original film was projected through a 3-D filter and then viewed through polaroid glasses. She still looks great when framed through a Marineland window, but in bright sunlight the effect now looks ridiculous.

Of course, the Creature himself seems far less menacing (and far more obviously a stuntman in an ill-fitting rubber suit) when exposed to the glare of flat, over-bright 2-D scrutiny.

Nonetheless, the skill of Jack Arnold's direction, particularly in his efforts to disguise obvious 3-D tricks and use depth to produce shock in a seemingly more realistic way, gives the movie sufficient interest and vigor to overcome all script and histrionic short-comings.

Production values benefit from location filming and it's good to see Scotty Welbourne handling all the photographic chores on this one, both underwater and main unit. Of course, in 2-D the picture looks over-lit as it was lensed with 3-D's 20% light reduction firmly in mind.