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The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
April 1957 (USA)
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Tagline:
Almost beyond the imagination . . . A strange adventure into the unknown ! [UK Theatrical] more
Plot:
Whe Scott Carey begins to shrink because of exposure to a combination of radiation and insecticide, medical science is powerless to help him. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Cat
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Insecticide
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Spider
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Cellar
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Giant Spider
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Awards:
1 win
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NewsDesk:
(8 articles)
Richard Kelly's $1m question
(From The Guardian - Film News. 2 December 2009, 2:30 PM, PST)
Francis Lawrence to Adapt Graphic Novel In The Small?
(From FilmJunk. 26 November 2009, 5:48 AM, PST)
(From The Guardian - Film News. 2 December 2009, 2:30 PM, PST)
Francis Lawrence to Adapt Graphic Novel In The Small?
(From FilmJunk. 26 November 2009, 5:48 AM, PST)
User Comments:
To lose everything
more (81 total)
Cast
(Complete credited cast)| Grant Williams | ... | Scott Carey | |
| Randy Stuart | ... | Louise Carey | |
| April Kent | ... | Clarice | |
| Paul Langton | ... | Charlie Carey | |
| Raymond Bailey | ... | Doctor Thomas Silver | |
| William Schallert | ... | Doctor Arthur Bramson | |
| Frank J. Scannell | ... | Barker (as Frank Scannell) | |
| Helene Marshall | ... | Nurse | |
| Diana Darrin | ... | Nurse | |
| Billy Curtis | ... | Midget | |
| rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| Lock Martin | ... | Giant (scenes deleted) | |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
81 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)
Certification:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: When Scott is crossing the hole in the crate by holding onto a rope and walking on the ledge of the paint can, the extra rope that should be hanging in the hole stays horizontal, revealing that the hole is, in fact, not a hole. It is especially visible when he gets to the other side and pulls back the rope towards him.
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Quotes:
Clarice:
Maybe the best way to begin is to start thinking about the future.
Scott Carey: A future? In a world of giants?
Clarice: Hmm. I've lived with them all my life. Oh, Scott, for people like you and me the world can be a wonderful place. The sky is as blue as it is for the giants. The friends are as warm.
Scott Carey: I wish I could believe that.
Clarice: You've got to believe that, don't you?
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Scott Carey: A future? In a world of giants?
Clarice: Hmm. I've lived with them all my life. Oh, Scott, for people like you and me the world can be a wonderful place. The sky is as blue as it is for the giants. The friends are as warm.
Scott Carey: I wish I could believe that.
Clarice: You've got to believe that, don't you?
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Movie Connections:
References Written on the Wind (1956)
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Soundtrack:
The Incredible Shrinking Man Theme
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FAQ
Was the spider in the movie...more
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It is a truism that America in the 1950s was a conformist, cowed kind of country. Social criticism was suspect, potentially un-American. Hollywood had to convey its messages in the guise of sci-fi or historical analogy.
This spare, cheap, black-and-white film, starring unknowns, has the ruthless, unswerving narrative drive of an arrow into a bullseye. No subplots, no diversions: nothing but the examination of what it is like to lose *everything*, to be stripped not only of the material consolations of conformity but the emotional insulation of marriage and friendship.
"Shrinking"-- the MacGuffin of a nuclear cloud means nothing-- is a visual metaphor for exile and disillusionment. The hero becomes an outcast by becoming progressively more freakish until he is invisible, or at any rate irretrievable. Yet every stage of deprivation has its consolations. Once he falls through the floor, he escapes the attentions of the pruriently curious and the need to pay his way by performing for them; and although at first the grille in the cellar is like the barred window of a prison, shrinking further means he can squeeze through and leave the fearsome cat trapped behind.
All this is very American in its qualified optimism, and very characteristic of Richard Matheson's imagination as one of the great popular mythmakers of mid-century. Not for him the easy slither into plastic angst. Scott Carey's reversion to the primitive-- long hair, needle-sword, ragged robes-- mocks his former status but also looks forward to the hippie protagonists who would soon reject social norms and carve out their own psychic territory. Carey's resourcefulness and refusal to be daunted are the qualities of a pioneer.
One incident sums up Matheson's brilliant integration of narrative detail and philosophical meaning. After being diagnosed, Carey and his wife swear they will stay true to each other, come what may. He leans forward to start the car and the wedding ring rolls off his finger. It sounds like a lumberingly "symbolic" moment, something out of Iris Murdoch... only it isn't. His finger has shrunk, and shrinking is what the movie is all about. Accept the premise, and all that flows out of it fits it.
"The Incredible Shrinking Man" is an adventure story and a fable about how little it takes to stay alive, seamlessly sewn together. It is one of the works that put Matheson (and Rod Serling) up with Wells, Verne and Conan Doyle. Literary professors now give the Europeans serious attention. When will the American dream-weavers get their due?