An aerobic, sashaying Gill Man

THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Ostensibly a run-of-the-mill creature feature, 1954's "The Creature From the Black Lagoon" is among the best in the genre it inspired. It is loaded with enough thrills, chills and spine-tingling moments to warrant that old phrase - a delightful Saturday afternoon matinee showing. "Black Lagoon" fits the bill and it has an awesome, iconic monster to boot, later known as Gill Man.

An expedition of scientists are given a rare discovery from the Amazon thanks to Dr. Maia (Antonio Moreno) - a prehistoric, fossilized, severed amphibious hand. This naturally leads them to the Amazon, which leads to the ominous Black Lagoon. In this lagoon is an amphibious living creature that kills anyone trying to meddle in its watery paradise, though our crew is unaware what lurks in these waters. Dr. David Reed (Richard Carlson) leads the expedition, determined to study the creature. Kay (Julie Adams) is his fiancee, who comes equipped with a one-piece bathing suit (remember this is a 50's B-movie). Mark Williams (Richard Denning) is the greedy boss who sees dollar signs everywhere - he rather kill the Gill Man with a harpoon.

Shot in 3-D and released as such, "Creature from the Black Lagoon" scored well at the box-office and saved Universal-International Pictures from bankruptcy. "Lagoon" has all the elements in place for a 50's B-horror movie, but what it contains that few of its ilk contain is lucid, almost poetic lyricism in its underwater scenes. Watching the Gill Man swim underwater as it sashays from one end of the lagoon to the other is truly hypnotic. And though there are the cliches of the Gill Man's webbed hand or face appearing out of water accompanied by striking musical chords, it still brings a chill to the spine. What is fascinating is that the Gill Man subtly moves its mouth and its gills - you are scared by it and hope everyone gets out alive. Its resistance to killing Kay makes the monster sympathetic, though I can't figure out why this creature spares her life and carries her around a damp cave. Watching, however, Julie Adams swimming gracefully and aerobically above the surface, from the Creature's point-of-view, is chilling and evokes the thrills that Spielberg no doubt adopted for his own "Jaws" twenty years later. Maybe that is why the Creature can't kill her - it might think she is an amphibian too.

The characters are stock and one-dimensional at best (a silly fistfight might make some groan), and Julie Adams shows some intelligence but you know her existence in this movie is to make the guys swoon. The Gill Man, though, is the real star and it never seems anything less than a prehistoric creature (the studio didn't give credit to the two actors who played the Gill Man - Ricou Browning in underwater shots and Ben Chapman on land - for fear that the public might think it is an actor in a suit, according to the late Ben Chapman who didn't receive credit till 1992). "Creature from the Black Lagoon" is not great art but it is pulpy, juicy, frightfully good pop art. At the end of the film, I guarantee your spine will tingle a little.