The Deadly Mantis (1957)

User Rating:

3.6/10   

Director:

Nathan Juran

Writers:

William Alland (story)
Martin Berkeley (screenplay)

Release Date:

May 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

This Was the Day That Engulfed the World in Terror!

Plot:

A prehistoric giant praying mantis attacks North America.

Plot Keywords:

Military | Iceberg | Arctic | Paleontologist | Praying Mantis

Cast

Craig Stevens	...	Col. Joe Parkman
William Hopper	...	Dr. Nedrick 'Ned' Jackson
Alix Talton	...	Marge Blaine
Donald Randolph	...	Gen. Mark Ford
Pat Conway	...	Sgt. Pete Allen
Florenz Ames	...	Prof. Anton Gunther
Paul Smith	...	Corporal, Parkman's Clerk
Phil Harvey	...	Lou, Radar Man
Floyd Simmons	...	Army Sergeant
Paul Campbell	...	Lt. Fred Pizar
Helen Jay	...	Mrs. Farley

Also Known As:

The Giant Mantis
The Incredible Praying Mantis

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | USA:Approved

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Trivia:

During the movie, the Air Force sends out a message to members of the Ground Observer Corps asking for help in spotting the mantis. This was a real group that existed at least since World War Two. It was comprised of regular citizens who received basic training in spotting and identifying aircraft, but was discontinued in 1959.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: A sign shows "Andrews AFB, Anacostia D.C.". While Anacostia is a D.C. neighborhood, Andrews AFB is located in Prince Georges County, MD.

Quotes:

[the officers are all staring at Marge]
Dr. Ned Jackson: It looks like you don't have too many women up here, Colonel.
Col. Joe Parkman: Well, we have a little joke up here. The boys say there's a girl behind every tree. Only try and find a tree.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Fly Papers: The Buzz on Hollywood's Scariest Insect (2000) (TV)

Hardware

Well I can tell you this scared the bejeesus out of me when I was kid.

Watching it today, there are three things of note.

The first is the military footage. The virtual budget of this was millions of dollars because of the military supplied footage. It was defense policy to let the Soviets know of our massive three-tiered air defense and there was an office to so publicize. The idea was to convince the Russians that an attack couldn't possibly work, that the thing really existed. That's why the Pentagon subsidized these things. The scripts were therefore friendly to military success at the end, too.

A solid third of this is from the department of defense, no model planes here.

Perry Mason, the detecting lawyer was a literary phenomenon when this was made, the books about him being outsold only by the Bible. And there was a very popular TeeVee show based on him. Perry's own detective was a guy played by the detective here. And his sidekick is a Della Street (the third member of the gang) lookalike. It was like having Indiana Jones appear. The effect is lost today but was quite something in the day.

The third remarkable thing is what scares us. What we fear in our imagination is largely defined by movies. And what movies use to frighten us is tightly constrained by what they can show. In the fifties, that was often disappearing or morphing things, guys in rubber suits and small things made big by trick photography. "Them" was probably the first giant bug movie, but it used real bugs. This is already a second generation, using stop motion.

The footage of Aleutians — borrowed from an older film — is great, really great.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.