Written by Harry Essex And Arthur Ross And Maurice Zimm
Directed by Jack Arnold
Captain Lucas: "I can tell you something about this place. The boys around here call it "The Black Lagoon" - a paradise. Only they say nobody has ever come back to prove it."
So far I've been looking at the more familiar of Universal Monsters creatures that I hadn't thought about the depths below. Yup, it was time to take a trip to the Amazon for a more subterranean threat.
Let's meet the Gill-Man (Ricou Browning/Ben Chapman). What exactly was he? Something left over from another time? A link between land and sea animals? Yup, it seemed to be the latter. Nevertheless his presence caused quite a stir.
Cue to an exploration team mostly made up of men such as Dr. Carl Maia (Antonio Moreno) and his two assistants, Luis (Rod Redwing) and Tomas (Perry Lopez). Add in Dr David Reed (Richard Carlson), Dr Mark Williams (Richard Denning) and David's girlfriend, Kay Lawrence (Julie Adams). Now you've got an expedition team.
It's a very male heavy movie, including Captain Lucas (Nestor Paiva) while Kay's role was being the unwilling attraction piece. The Gill-Man took more than an interest in her during their interactions, even to the point of bringing her to an underwater cave.
Kay's role in this whole film was mostly a thankless part as aside from being the only woman in the movie, there's not much for her to do. The men when they weren't fighting among themselves seemed more intent on capturing or killing the Gill-Man himself, somewhat succeeding in the latter eventually.
As for the Gill-Man himself, he's portrayed as more tragic than anything else. At the end of the day, it was that expedition team that disturbed him and for the most, he was just minding his own business. Being obsessed with Kay probably didn't help. The underwater scenes looked really good as well.
- There are two sequels - Revenge Of The Creature (1955) and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956). A remake hasn't happened though many attempts have been made.
- There's a colourised version of this movie in existence but it's better watching this in black and white.
- Ricou Browning played Gill-Man in water while Ben Chapman played the role on land.
- Chronology: Set in the Amazon rainforest. The Gill-Man seems to be left over from the Devonian period.
Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954) did make for a more science fiction focused film. The human characters are generally fine but it's the Gill-Man who held the interest. A great design brought to life.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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