CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954)
Tagline: Clawing Monster From A Lost Age strikes from the Amazon's forbidden depths!
The plot for this classic freakin masterpiece is pretty straight up. Some dudes find a weird claw fossil in the Amazon (no not the Amazon that everyone hates) the other Amazon. The leader of that dig Dr. Carl Maia goes and gets some money to explore the area further. That money comes from Mark Williams (played by Richard Denning) and he’s pretty much just a jerk, almost all the way till the end of this damn thing. Part of the expedition is Kay Lawrence (played by Julie Adams). She is the smartest person in this whole movie, but she’s also a woman in the 50’s so that means she’s about to be taken by the creature because that is what pre-historic gill fish-men do. He’s also gonna break all your crap if you don’t watch out, like a cat when you piss it off. What will happen on this exploration of the unknown…how many screams of terror will be blasted into your ears? How far will David Reed (played by Richard Carlson) go to save the woman he loves but hasn’t married yet? Well, you are going to have to watch this thing and find out if you haven’t.
First off, let me say out of all the movies Universal did, none of the creatures or monsters they came up with back in the glory days of retro horror were better designed than THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. I mean this suit conceived by Milicent Patrick is a work of art for the ages. Some of the stuff coming out to this day, practical effects-wise, doesn’t even come close.
This movie is also loaded with extremely solid acting out of everyone from start to finish. Julie Adams is freakin brilliant as both a strong, fearless, and smart woman but also as a level-headed voice of reason. She does end up needing to be saved, I guess, but she might have been able to handle things on her own. You can tell Julie Adams had a blast during filming. She also did all of her own stunts. This film is also loaded with a TON of underwater scenes just adding to how brilliant it is. The actor/professional diver in the suit (Ricou Browning) was required to hold his breath up to 4 minutes for certain scenes.
One thing I can say about this story-wise is that it does take a while to get going. The good news however is that once it does it moves along at a pretty good pace and feels very balanced overall. It's got a beauty and the beast feel to it from a certain viewpoint. We also see a LOT of the actual creature because the entire movie happens during the daytime. I haven’t seen this movie since I was a kid until last night. I wasn’t disappointed.
For me, this movie is just the crown jewel of old-school monster movie-making. I do wish I had been able to see it in its original 3D glory. In spite of a slow start, it’s an easy 7 out of 7 for me.
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