L'Étrange Créature du lac noir

My Take: A classic for its day.

Jack Arnold's CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON is, most likely, FRANKENSTEIN and Dracula's little cousin. A little-known relative of the more famous monster movie classics, CREATURE is nonetheless a nice trip down memory lane. Plot concerns a rouge swamp beast (Ricou Browning and Ben Chapman sweating it out in the decent monster suit) who falls for (what else?) a beauty on board a research ship, while the men find good fortune in capturing the beast and saving the gal (whose only real requirement is to scream her heart out). Those who remember stepping into the drive-way while the weird eerie music played on the opening black-and-white titles brings a sudden memory of being a wee bit scared if that rubber monster you now find cheesy so much nowadays. Still, despite stiff acting and cheesy effects gimmicks, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON is a nice trip back to the good ol' days of monster pictures. Originally released in a 3-D.

Rating: ***1/2 out of 5.

I've noticed that some of the reviewers that hated this actually love to watch it. Over and over. I have to separate the different levels of like and dislike with a film like this. Cheesy? That's a word that popped up several times, Yes it was cheesy, but lovable. Silly story line? yes. Less than stellar acting? Yes. Simplistic? Yes. Fun to watch? Yes. Like one reviewer said, "They don't make em like this any more". I'm glad they don't. It was an era in film making that has passed and I appreciate films like this because they exemplified a time when we weren't very sophisticated. I'm happy to have grown up in a time like that, and that's why I watch movies like this one. Sophistication isn't all it's cracked up to be.

"Creature from the Black Lagoon" is the quintessential 1950s monster movie. It's got a bathing beauty in the form of Julie Adams, whose character has a seemingly never-ending supply of impractical swimwear for a trek into the heart of the Amazon. Richard Carlson and Richard Denning give us some good old-fashioned 50s beefcake and spend most of the film running around with their shirts off. And, like the best monster movies from this time period, it can be taken straight or interpreted as being full of all sorts of sexual and gender subtext. You know, the men always comparing the size of their harpoons, the woman being pretty much useless and only there to be saved, the creature representing some kind of forbidden sexual fantasy.

This is a sexy movie, too. Everyone's always wet, there are all these scenes of Julie Adams and the creature swimming together in the water with him almost but never quite stroking her body, the men seem as anxious to hop in the sack with each other as either does the girl. It's a lot of fun, but leave your 2019 sensibility at the door in order to fully enjoy.

And as others have said, the creature itself looks amazing. Whenever there's a close up of its face, it really looks like it has fish eyes and gills and never looks like a man in a fish costume. The whole movie looks really good, actually, probably because there was some serious talent behind the camera, which surprised me for such a low-budget movie. William Snyder handled the cinematography, Ted Kent the editing, and Hilyard Brown and Bernard Herzbrun the art direction, all of them men who had been nominated for or won Oscars in the past for other things.

Of all the monster movies I've seen, this is easily one of the best.

Grade: A-

Out of Universal Pictures, Creature from the Black Lagoon is directed by Jack Arnold, and stars Richard Carlson, Julia Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno, and Whit Bissell. The eponymous creature was played by Ben Chapman on land and Ricou Browning for the underwater scenes. The cinematography is by William E. Snyder and the score is composed by a trio of men, Henry Mancini, Hans J. Salter & Herman Stein. The story sees a scientific expedition at the top end of the Amazon encounter a Devonian Period amphibious creature. As the creature starts to defend its turf by attacking members of the expedition, in fighting begins to take a hold as the men argue about the best course of action to take. Should it be killed, or should it be captured for scientific research? Either way they need to act fast as the creature has taken a fancy to Kay, the sole female member of the expedition group.

One of the better creature features that surfaced in the 1950s, Creature from the Black Lagoon was one of the film's made as part of the 3D craze that filtered out of Hollywood in 53 & 54. However, unlike many of those film's that were made in the format over those two years, this one has rightly managed to break away from its gimmicky beginnings to become regarded as a genre classic. There are many reasons why it is still well regarded and taken in appreciatively by newcomers.

The story of course is nothing new, the old "beauty & the beast" theme can be traced back to the daddy himself, "King Kong". But much like Kong, Arnold's movie thrives within the endearing story by getting the audience to sympathise with the titular creature. He is after all only defending his territory, he was happy wallowing down in the depths, remaining undiscovered for many a moon. That he is fascinated by the considerable beauty of Kay Lawrence (Adams sexy and gorgeous), is no crime either. The amount of sympathy garnered for "Gill-Man" is helped enormously by the illogical actions of the humans; who in turn go diving and swimming where legend has it men get eaten! This coupled with their bickering about pro science or trophy hunting makes it easy to side with the amphibious one.

It also helps that the film is pretty brisk and only runs for 80 minutes, there's no sags or pointless filler. Too many similar film's of its ilk labour until the monster shows up and all hell then breaks loose. But under Arnold's (It Came From Outer Space/The Incredible Shrinking Man) astute direction, atmosphere and unease is built up by ominous talk and sightings of the Black Lagoon-and only initial glimpses of the creature's scaly webbed claw; accompanied by the attention grabbing theme music. And when the creature finally reveals itself it doesn't disappoint for its an impressive creation. A half-man/half-fish creature covered in scales, resplendent with gills and with cold, dark featureless eyes. It also has great characteristics with a distinctive swimming style in the water, and a lumbering Frankenstein thing going on when on the land. A definitive monster that would be merchandised for ever after.

There's also technical accomplishments away from the creature itself, notably with the memorable underwater photography by Snyder, who uses a portable camera to flow with the swimming sequences, while his shadow and light work down in the depths is memorably mood enhancing. The three tiered score is also one of the best to feature in a "B" movie schlocker, three different composers, three different emotional strands; nice. Then there's of course the definitive sequence, the sexy underwater flirting as "Gill-Man" swims below the shapely form of Kay, beguiled by her, it's love at first sight. He's not the only one beguiled, we all are, as was Steven Spileberg, who would homage the more dramatic part of the sequence in his opening for Jaws 21 years later. Whilst last but not least it should be mentioned that there are little asides to ecological issues in the piece, something Arnold was want to do. Two sequels would follow, Arnold would return for "Revenge Of The Creature" in 1955 and then the John Sherwood directed "The Creature Walks Among Us" would round off the trilogy in 1956.

It's the original that still holds up today. 8/10

Unlike other sci-fi flicks from the 1950s, "Creature From The Black Lagoon" is not a film to laugh at. It's better made. Just by the title we know there's a monster lurking about. Yet, for the film's first 24 minutes we don't actually see it, only one of its claws. And that holding back of the monster's appearance fosters suspense and mystery. In addition, the film's B&W cinematography is good, for its time, with lots of credible underwater shots. And while the dialogue does contain lots of exposition, the film at least tries to educate viewers.

There's nothing complex about the story. A scientific crew heads for the Amazon to do an archaeological dig, after a large fossil is found. The crew ends up at the Black Lagoon, a place of serenity, with its still waters, surrounded by palm trees and the sounds of monkeys and exotic birds. Through much of the film the peaceful setting together with soothing background music actually makes for a rather relaxing movie. Even when we see the monster, it seems lonely and hardly threatening as it glides gracefully through its watery home.

I suspect that the film's popularity when it was first released relates to the creature's distinctive appearance, with those moving gills and those bulging dark eyes. And of course, back in those days, the film was made for 3-D viewing, a novelty then that made the monster seem more real. Today, the film has an ever-so-slight environmental theme, given that at least one of the scientists prefers that the monster not be harmed, and given that humans obviously are encroaching into its habitat.

Because so much of the plot takes place underwater and therefore lacks dialogue, and given a runtime of only about 78 minutes, there really isn't that much to this movie. But what there is of it is interesting for its historical significance as a precursor to later sci-fi films, and for a monster that's not only photogenic but also alone and arguably lonely in a world that has passed it by, after eons of time.