Franchises: Creature from the Black Lagoon. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

While we've been focusing almost exclusively on Gothic horror this month, as it's the sub-genre most associated with Universal, we'd be remiss not to make a brief stop during the sci-fi/horror craze of the 50's and discuss the Creature from the Black Lagoon, a.k.a. the Gill-Man. He may not originate from folklore (supposedly, anyway) or classic literature, but he is, for sure, one of the classic Universal monsters, being just as, if not more, iconic as Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the Wolf Man, and the others. Plus, he's one of my favorite movie monsters of all time, as well as my mom's favorite monster, period, so I'm sure as hell not going to bypass him. As a little kid who was fascinated with monsters, I remember being particularly intrigued by the Creature (I'm going to go back and forth between calling him that and the Gill-Man). My earliest memories of him come from two sources. The first comes from those little animatronic models of the classic monsters you could buy as Halloween decorations, which would move and make sounds. Even though I couldn't have been more than four or five at the time, I can still remember going into Wal-Mart and looking at the models of the Creature, thinking he was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen. The other, as you've probably already guessed, came from the Crestwood House monster book about him. Though the Monteagle library eventually lost their copy, I can remember looking through that book as a child and being amazed by the pictures of the Creature in action. Needless to say, I was just dying to see the actual movie, but like so many of these movies I learned and read about at a young age, I didn't actually see it until many years later; in this case, when I was twelve and got it on video for Christmas when it was re-released as part of the Classic Monster Collection. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint, whatsoever. I remember being absolutely enthralled and even finding some parts of it genuinely suspenseful, and seeing the Creature in motion after years of only seeing him as a static image was the best thing about it. To this day, Creature from the Black Lagoon is one of my absolute favorite Universal monster movies, as well as 50's sci-fi movies in general, as I've probably watched it close to fifty times.

While on a geology expedition in the Amazon, Dr. Carl Maia finds the fossilized hand of an ancient, amphibious creature in a Devonian-era limestone deposit. He heads back to his institute in Brazil to organize an expedition to find the rest of the fossil, unaware that he and his two assistants, Tomas and Luis, are being watched by a living throwback to the species. In Brazil, Maia reunites with Dr. David Reed, a noted ichthyologist and former student of his, as well as David's girlfriend and colleague, Kay Lawrence. After showing the fossil to the two of them, as well as their employer, Mark Williams, and another colleague, Dr. Thompson, they decide accompany Maia back to the site. That night, the living creature emerges from the river, wanders into Tomas and Luis' camp, and after they attack out of fear, brutally kills them both. The expedition hires a tramp steamer called the Rita, captained by a man named Lucas, to head back upriver, but when they arrive at the campsite, they find Tomas and Luis' mangled bodies. Regardless, they go on with the excavation, only to turn up nothing after eight days of digging. David theorizes that the rest of the limestone deposit containing the fossil fell into the river and was washed down and into the lagoon that the tributary empties into. Despite the slim chances of finding the rest of the fossil, they decide to go for it and head downriver, to the mysterious Black Lagoon. David and Mark use scuba-gear to collect rock samples from the lagoon's bottom so Maia can see if they match the deposit where the fossil was found, after which Kay decides to go for a solo swim. Unbeknownst to her, she catches the eye of the ever watchful Gill-Man, who swims along with her. Though she climbs back aboard the Rita without knowing he was down there, the scientists realize what they're up against when he gets snagged in the fishing net and leaves one of his claws behind. While David wants to get photographic proof of the creature's existence, Mark, who's always been more interested in profit and publicity, opts to either capture or kill him with his speargun. However, the Gill-Man proves to be far more formidable, intelligent, and dangerous an opponent than they realize. And now that he has his sights set on the beautiful Kay, he's not about to let them escape.

William Alland

Though Creature from the Black Lagoon is the most well-known film by the legendary director Jack Arnold, its inception was by producer William Alland, who produced many of the sci-fi/horror films Universal made in the 50's. Starting out as an actor, Alland had been part of the Mercury Theater with Orson Welles and had played a role in Citizen Kane. During the film's production in 1941, Alland attended a dinner party, where one of the guests was Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, who'd go on to work with directors like John Ford, John Huston, and Luis Bunuel. Figueroa told a story about a fish-like humanoid creature that supposedly lived in the Amazon and, every year, would come to a village and make off with a young maiden. The story stuck with Alland over the years and, when he was later working at Universal as a producer, he decided to turn the story into a treatment which he admitted was an aquatic twist on the traditional King Kong story of Beauty and the Beast. The treatment was then turned over to screenwriter Maurice Zimm, then passed on to Leo Lieberman and Arthur Ross to be worked into a first draft screenplay. Alland and Jack Arnold went on to do It Came from Outer Space in the meantime, the screenwriter of which, Harry Essex, Alland later turned to get the Creature script into filmable shape. Though they shared credit onscreen, Essex would later insist that he wrote basically the entire screenplay, much to Ross' consternation. As for the title, Alland's initial treatment was dubbed The Sea Monster, then became simply Black Lagoon during the writing phase and stayed that way throughout production; it was only in November of 1953, near the end of shooting, that it got the title we all know. However, Alland never cared for the final title, as he thought it sounded cheesy.

Jack Arnold was one of, if not the, absolute best directors of 1950's sci-fi, especially in the U.S. At the time of Creature from the Black Lagoon, he didn't have many films under his belt, having done some short documentaries after the end of World War II, as well as a feature documentary called With These Hands, which had been nominated for an Oscar, but he'd already made three films for Universal. Significantly, in addition to having already shown his prowess for science fiction, a genre he'd always loved, with It Came from Outer Space, Arnold had already done two movies in 3-D, the other being the 1953 film noir, The Glass Web. So, when it was decided to shoot Creature in 3-D as well, he was more than up to the task, even if the underwater sequences provided to be a whole new challenge. Regardless, what really makes Creature work, as well as just about all of Arnold's science fiction films, is that he takes the subject matter completely seriously, giving it an air of authenticity lacking in most monster flicks of the time. It's also widely believed he intentionally injected it with a very subtle social commentary that, as we'll get into, was years ahead of its time in terms of environmentalism, alluding to just how intelligent and perceptive a man he was.

While the film's human cast is made up of the typical scientists and intellectuals you often get in these types of movies, and many are played by familiar faces of 50's sci-fi, they've always felt more real to me, despite the instances of stuffy, melodramatic, and even ludicrous dialogue. For instance, the film's lead, Dr. David Reed (Richard Carlson), is certainly an intellectual, making a speech early on about how studying marine life and the way it evolved to live on land will help humans figure out how to, one day, adapt to living on other planets. But, at the same time, he bucks the trend of the scientific experts in these movies often being played by elderly men, as he's a fit, fairly good-looking man in his early 40's, often going down into the depths with scuba-gear to collect specimens he needs. The movie even makes note of this, with Dr. Maia commenting when they first meet, "David, you still don't look like an ichthyologist," and Kay adding, "The geologist's point of view. He expected a lump of an old professor with a beard." Among the expedition team, David is the most idealistic, as money means less to him than knowledge. This is one of two things that often put him at odds with his financial and publicity-minded boss, Mark Williams, the other being Kay. When they first learn of the Gill-Man's existence, David feels it's more important to get photographic proof and, failing that, capture him, whereas Mark is willing to either capture or kill him and bring his body back. This comes to a head when, after they've managed to contain the Gill-Man, David stops Mark from beating him to death, and later puts his foot down when Mark insists they can now leave. David says they need to continue their research of the lagoon itself, forced to exclaim, "Mark, we're not going anywhere until we've finished our work!" 

But despite his enthusiasm and dedication to science, David is pragmatic enough to know when it's not worth putting more people in danger. After the Gill-Man escapes, badly wounding Dr. Thompson in the process, and it's clear they're not going to be able to recapture him without risking more deaths, he decides to abandon the expedition altogether. (This leads to a rather funny line, for me. When Mark exclaims they're leaving without getting what they came for, David says, "We didn't come here to fight with monsters! We're not

equipped for it. We came here to find fossils!" So, he thinks there are people out where who are equipped to fight with monsters? He even adds, "Later, later, we can come back with a properly equipped expedition," which sounds like that is exactly what he means.) And despite initially not wanting to harm the Gill-Man, when he traps them in the lagoon, David decides he has no choice but to get them out any way he can, arming himself with one of the spearguns while trying to attach the

Rita's wench to the tree that's in the way. Later, he opts to keep the Gill-Man at bay using a native fishing drug called rotenone to repel him whenever he attacks. But then, the Gill-Man abducts Kay and takes her back to his lair, forcing David to dive down after them. He's nearly killed by the Creature during a fight for Kay, but when Dr. Maia and Lucas intervene and shoot him repeatedly, David, finally, tells them to stop and just let him go, after which the Creature sinks down into the lagoon.

Unlike David, his boss, Dr. Mark Williams (Richard Denning), is more interested in publicity and money. Though a scientist himself, and having a point about it taking money to run a large institute like theirs, Mark truly seems preoccupied with the monetary gain major scientific discoveries will bring him and him alone, which is a major source of friction between him and David. Moreover, David, at one point, mentions that Mark has taken credit for some important findings, suggesting he stole it from David himself (which is very ironic, as I'll elaborate on later), causing even more tension. During the trip down the Amazon, Mark complains about the Rita, which he sees as a rundown barge, clearly preferring a prettier, fancier boat to carry his expedition. And after they fail to find the rest of Dr. Maia's fossil in the limestone deposit, he's just about to give up, thinking about how people will only say they've failed, but is more than willing to go into the mysterious and potentially dangerous Black Lagoon when there's a possibility the rest of the fossil may be there. Most significantly, when they encounter the Gill-Man, Mark is more for either capturing him or harpooning and bringing back the body, rather than just settling for a photograph. David accuses him of being more like a hunter than a scientist, prompting Mark to pull rank on him, sternly saying, "We many not be back home, David, but you're still working for me." And sure enough, when they chase the Gill-Man through the lagoon, Mark shoots him with a harpoon unprovoked, much to David's anger, and is likely a factor in the Gill-Man killing him near the end of the movie.

There's also tension between David and Mark because of Kay. Eventually, we learn that Kay knew Mark long before David, as he helped her through her training and gave her a job. Obviously, he grew feelings for her, which haven't diminished even though she's moved onto David, as he clearly hates seeing them together. At one point, when they're first heading to the Black Lagoon, he sees the two of them kissing near the back of the boat, as he comes up from the hold carrying his speargun. Lucas asks him about the gun and, while

giving them both stern looks, Mark tells him, "Oh, yes. It's a very positive weapon, the speargun, Lucas. And easy to use. All you do is aim it and squeeze." Lucas then asks what he's going to shoot at and Mark answers, "Make any difference?" then demonstrates the gun, firing a spear into the side of the mast. Later, after their first diving exploration of the lagoon, David brings Kay an underwater plant from the bottom as a present, which Mark clearly resents, given the way he looks at them. He even rubs it in David's face when he sees Kay

helping him off with his scuba-gear, telling him, "Come on, David. You can play 'house' later." Things truly boil over between them when, after the Gill-Man escapes capture and maims Dr. Thompson, Mark is determined to stay until they capture him again. He even tries to bully Lucas into doing what he says, prompting Lucas to pull a knife on him. Then, they find that the Gill-Man has blocked the entrance to the lagoon and Mark sees it as one last opportunity to capture him, rather than

an obstacle they need to overcome. When David prepares to attach the Rita's wench to the tree, the two of them come to blows over Mark intending to act as bait for the Creature so he can, again, try to capture him. Ultimately, despite getting punched in the jaw, Mark joins David in the water but his ambition ultimately gets him killed when he and the Creature battle underwater.

The beautiful Julia Adams plays Kay Lawrence, a scientist herself, as well as David's girlfriend and the object of the Creature's obsession. It's not to hard to see why the Creature becomes enamored with her, as she's drop-dead gorgeous, especially in her unforgettable white bathing suit. Character-wise, though, she's a little on the bland side. It's clear she knows more than her fair share about ichthyology in her early scenes but, when they head down the Amazon and later reach the Black Lagoon, she's mainly a bystander, spending most of her time trying to keep the peace between David and Mark, and seeming conflicted about her feelings for Mark, in spite of her clear love for David. According to Mallory O'Meara in her book, The Lady from the Black Lagoon, final screenwriter Harry Essex was the reason Kay is as much of an actual character as she is, as Arthur Ross opted not to put in much, if any, of the Beauty and the Beast element William Alland wanted. To drive her point further, O'Meara shows an excerpt from an interview with Ross in Tom Weaver's book, The Creature Chronicles: Exploring the Black Lagoon Trilogy (God, I wish I knew about that book sooner, because I really want to read it now) and Ross comes off as very misogynistic. One thing I can definitely say about Kay is that, when she goes swimming in the Black Lagoon, she's much braver than I would ever be. Like Weaver says in his audio commentary, she may not know about the Gill-Man but Lucas did mention earlier that there are nine-foot long, killer catfish in the water!

That's as good a time as any to talk about Kay's relationship with her aquatic admirer. Much like how Ann Darrow felt about King Kong in the original 1933 film, it's definitely a one-sided infatuation, as Kay is mostly horrified and repulsed by the Creature. There is one moment where she seems to have some sympathy for him, though. When they capture him, Kay seems concerned about whether or not the Creature will live after having passed out from the rotenone. Mark, noting how the Creature killed one of Lucas' men, says,

"He could've killed you just as easily," to which Kay says, "But he didn't." But it doesn't go any farther than that. Every time she has an encounter with the Creature, she does the typical spiel of screaming and running to David for comfort. I don't fault Adams for that, as that's just how women were often portrayed in horror and monster flicks at the time, but it does get grating after a while. Even worse, in the time-worn tradition of women falling whenever the monster is after them, 

Kay does one that has to be among the most pathetic. When the Creature first tries to abduct her on the land, she immediately falls when she tries to run out from behind a palm tree, not even managing to take a step. Both when I first saw the movie, even though I was twelve, and now, I facepalm hard at that.

Other than being the catalyst for the film's plot, Dr. Carl Maia (Antonio Moreno), the scientist who finds the fossil, doesn't have much of a role at the beginning of the expedition or when they get to the Black Lagoon and encounter the Creature. Other than studying rock samples that David brings him, he's little more than a bystander, although he does take a shot at the Creature here and there and, along with Lucas, saves David and Kay from him during the climax. Also, like David, Maia doesn't let his enthusiasm for science overrule his judgment about how dangerous things are getting, telling Mark when he refuses to leave, "You're driving yourself too hard, and the rest of us along with you." 

Dr. Edwin Thompson (Whit Bissell) also has little to do here other than help Maia with his examinations, as well as act as the voice of reason every now and again. Despite the Gill-Man being caught in the boat's net and David and Mark insisting they chased him through the lagoon, Thompson is initially skeptical of his existence, although he quickly changes his tune. His best scene, though, is when he's guarding the Creature after he's been captured and Kay comes up on deck to talk. He tries to help her sort out what's going on between David and Mark, telling her, "But once you admit the simple fact that you're in love, which you have, then it becomes a good idea to be the scientist about it." Kay says it's not that simple, mentioning how she owes a lot to Mark, but Thompson tells her, "He needed you just as much as you needed him... You've more than repaid him, many times over. Why, a good part of his present position at the institute is due to your valuable research." This whole time, unbeknownst to them, the Creature has regained consciousness and soon bursts out of the holding tank. Thompson tries to drive him away with a lantern but he's brutally maimed before the Creature escapes back into the lagoon. For the rest of the film, Thompson's face is bandaged up and he's bedridden below deck. There's a great and rather scary moment, especially from his perspective, near the end of the movie, where the Creature sticks his hand through a porthole near Thompson's cot and he, unable to speak because of the bandages, has to frantically grunt to get everyone's attention. Fortunately, David drives the Creature away before he can do any harm but, can you imagine how horrifying that would be if you were in Thompson's position?

My personal favorite character is Lucas (Nestor Paiva), the captain of the Rita. He's a bit crusty but, overall, he's a jolly man who knows just how dangerous a river the Amazon can be and, while he doesn't understand the scientists' way of going about things (Maia tries to explain to him why he needs some rocks from the bottom of the lagoon but Lucas clearly doesn't get it), he goes along with it since he's being paid. Significantly, he's the one who tells them of the Black Lagoon, adding, "A paradise. Only, they say, nobody has ever come back to prove it." And after David and Mark's initial pursuit of the Gill-Man, Lucas, as David develops his photograph, relates to them a legend about a fish-man he heard from an old native a long time ago. But he also admits that the native was considered crazy by everyone around her (given that this was likely a reference to how William Alland first got the idea for the film, you have to wonder if Gabriel Figueroa ever saw this movie and how he reacted to this scene in particular). Lucas proves to be quite invaluable to the expedition, as it's his idea to put the rotenone in the water to help them capture the Creature, and he attempts to defend them with his shotgun every chance he gets, with both him and Maia saving David and Kay at the end of the film. But my favorite moment with Lucas comes when David decides they need to leave the lagoon. Though Lucas is willing to do so, Mark attempts to force him to listen to him, but Lucas says, "But you are wrong, Mr. Williams. On the water, the capitan makes the decisions." When Mark refuses to back down, Lucas pulls out a small knife, puts it Mark's chin, and says, "You wish to say something, mister? Eh?"

Though there's nothing to say about Tomas and Luis, Maia's two assistants who become the Gill-Man's first victims, I want to briefly touch on Lucas' two men, Zee (Bernie Gozier) and Chico (Henry Escalante), who are also killed by the Creature. Specifically, I want to mention Escalante, whose character is grabbed by the Gill-Man on the Rita's deck and taken down into the water. Tom Weaver says in his audio commentary that, when he contacted Escalante for an interview way back when, he actually claimed to have been the one who played the Gill-Man! What's more, Weaver said he was quite detailed and pretty convincing about it.

Though Creature from the Black Lagoon is among the most famous of the 3-D movies released during its heyday in the 50's, most, myself included, have never been able to see it that way. Yeah, there's a 3-D version on Blu-Ray but it's almost impossible to get those to work unless you mess with your TV settings, which I'm not about to do for one movie (even though I have it on Blu-Ray as part of the Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection, that set didn't come with a pair of

glasses, so that defeats the purpose, anyway). Still, I wish I could see it in 3-D, perhaps in a theatrical revival, because it must be awesome, especially during the underwater sequences. But fortunately, the movie is wonderful even without the gimmick. Not only are the story and characters engaging enough, but the film is very well shot by Jack Arnold and his two cinematographers: William E. Snyder for the main unit at Universal Studios, and Scotty Welbourne for the underwater sequences.

There were also discussions early on about shooting the movie in color but, while that would've been cool, especially since the Gill-Man costume was painted a mossy green color that you can see in some photographs, even in black and white, it looks gorgeous. As it's set in the tropics, they manage to give off the feeling of it being hot and humid, with the daytime scenes looking very bright (they actual shot in the fall, so it wasn't actually as hot as you might think), accentuated by the bright clothing of the actors. By contrast, the

nighttime scenes have a murky, inkt quality to them, and while there are moments that are obviously day-for-night, they actually add to that feel all the more, in my opinion (I think I've said it before that day-for-night looks better in black and white, anyway).

The underwater photography is especially spectacular and had to have been truly groundbreaking for its time, with how clear and fluid it is. Again, I can only imagine how this looks in 3-D, and in the theater. Some modern day viewers feel that the underwater sequences go on a bit too long and that it's hard to tell who's who, but I disagree. For one, while the sequences can be lengthy, they're punctuated by some really nice and memorable music to keep from becoming boring.

And the filmmakers made sure to differentiate David and Mark by having David wear two scuba-tanks, while Mark only uses one, and Mark often wields his speargun. Finally, for my money, the underwater action scenes are very exciting and thrilling, especially the battle between Mark and the Creature that gets him killed, and the climax, when David has to continually repel the Creature while he tries to clear the entrance to the lagoon. In those sequences, the cinematography, choreography, and especially the music come together almost perfectly.

In constructing the movie, the filmmakers had a tricky task of making it seem as though material shot on different sides of the country were taking place in one location. The main unit, which was actually directed by Jack Arnold, involving the actual actors on the Rita, the set of the Creature's lair, and the surface and surrounding area of the Black Lagoon, was done mostly at Universal Studios, with Park Lake on the backlot substituting for the lagoon. Other miscellaneous scenes were

shot elsewhere in California, with Portuguese Point and Palos Verde standing in for Morajo Bay, where Dr. Maia meets with David and Kay (in the wide shots; the close-ups with the actors were done with rear-projection backgrounds), Sierra Canyon being the spot where Dr. Maia's camp is set up, and Hermosa Beach Aquarium, with one of its tanks full of fish, acting as the institute in the scene where the rest of the cast is introduced. But, for the most part, much of the topside action was done at

Universal, with rear-projection used to make it look as though the Rita is traveling up the Amazon, and stock footage cutaways to the surrounding swamps and rainforests. At the same time, the second unit responsible for the underwater scenes, with James C. Havens as director (though, there are photos of Arnold on location) and swimming doubles for the main actors, as well as Ricou Browning as the swimming Gill-Man, shot almost entirely at Wakulla Springs, near Tallahassee, Florida (I'm not sure but David's introduction,

where you see him scuba-diving in Morajo Bay, may have been filmed in Wakulla as well). You also see a wide, establishing shot of the place when the characters first enter the Black Lagoon. And yet, despite this miles-long disconnect, due to the expert editing in the final movie, there is no doubt in your mind that this is all one mysterious place, miles and miles from civilization.

Aside from the upper deck and interiors of the Rita, the most noteworthy actual set is the Creature's lair, a large cave that, while nothing special in terms of its details, is a perfect home for him, as it's just as primordial as he is. It has an entrance that leads out onto the shoreline, and another one that can be reached by diving in one spot of the lagoon, swimming under an outcropping, and then coming up through a spot where the water breaks surface in a chamber. A narrow corridor leads from that

chamber to another one filled with mist, with a pool of water in the center and a rock at the head of it, where the Creature places Kay after abducting her near the end of the movie. Just beyond that is another corridor that leads to the beach entrance. The whole set is designed and shot really well, leaving no doubt that, just like with the matching of the location and studio footage, this is a real cave.

As I've said in other reviews, tropical settings have always appealed to me personally, and that's certainly true here. In addition to the Black Lagoon itself, I just like the idea of the characters being on this expedition deep into the Amazon jungle, with no other humans in sight. Again, you can feel the heat and humidity just by looking at the movie, making it a great one to watch in summer (it's about the only well-known Universal horror movie I can say that about). And the many cutaway shots

of the surrounding jungles and wetlands and the animals really make you feel like you're deep in the Amazon, as do all of the animal noises on the soundtrack (even if many of them are of animals that don't live in South America). Speaking of which, that leads me into an aspect of this film that I don't hear talked about: the ambience. For one, the place is almost never quiet. Even when nobody's talking, you can hear birds chirping, monkeys hooting and howling, frogs croaking, and

so on, and the sounds they hear during the nighttime scenes are downright eerie. Eerie is also the perfect way to describe the Black Lagoon itself. On the one hand, it's a strikingly beautiful place, both above and below the water, having never been touched by mankind whatsoever (the same was true of Wakulla Springs, as its owner at the time, Ed Ball, had kept it completely preserved). You'd think, given its name, the water would be dark and murky, like Loch Ness, but as you can see in the underwater sequences, it's actually quite clear. But,

at the same time, even without the presence of the Gill-Man, there is a spooky atmosphere about the place. It's so primordial and ancient that there's a feeling these people are out of place and don't belong here; knowing that there is a bizarre, man-like creature in the water just makes it even spookier. The best example of this comes when David and Mark are out in a rowboat, saturating the water with the rotenone, when they hear a loud splash. Everyone, including those back on the Rita, gets tense, and David and Mark scan the shoreline, but see nothing and hear nothing but the sounds of the jungle. You never find out if that splash was the Gill-Man, but it doesn't matter, as it's creepy, regardless.

That scene also gets at the heart of what the Gill-Man, like all good monsters, represents: fear of the unknown. As they tensely wait for whatever made that splash to appear, Mark and David have a conversation that sums it up: "They won't believe it back home, none of them. I wouldn't have believed it myself... sitting out here, waiting for some monster to appear..." "Why won't they believe, Mark?" "Because we deal with known quantities, with knowledge we've accumulated up to now."

"We've just begun to learn about the water and its secrets, just as we've only touched on outer space. We don't entirely rule out the possibility that there might be some form of life on another planet. Then why not some entirely different form of life in a world we already know is inhabited by millions of living creatures?" That last part segues into how this film, as Jack Arnold himself once said, and as Jaws would decades later, plays on the fear of the water and what may be lurking just below the surface, whether you're swimming in either the

ocean or a freshwater lake. Face it, whether or not you believe in sea monsters, when you're out there in deep water, in the back of your mind, you do wonder if something could be stalking or just watching you from the depths. The scenes where the Gill-Man hides and watches David and Mark during their first exploration of the lagoon, and the famous scene where he swims along with the unsuspecting Kay, bring home this notion.

The Creature himself is a very unique movie monster, not just in his classic design but in that he's a natural product of evolution. There's nothing supernatural about him like Dracula, the Wolf Man, or the Mummy, he's not a scientific experiment go awry like the Frankenstein monster, he's not from outer space, and he's not an atomic mutant like Godzilla, the giant ants in Them!, or most of the popular movie monsters from that period; he simply is, no matter how strange or monstrous he may look. In that regard, he's actually similar to the monster who most inspired him, King Kong. Not only are both prehistoric throwbacks living in a "lost world" all their own, but they're intrigued by and attracted to beautiful human women, and also clearly long to be loved back in return. Another way the Creature is similar to Kong, as well as the Frankenstein monster, is that he's not malevolent by nature, and only kills after he himself is attacked. Even though one of the first things he does is wander into Dr. Maia's camp and kill Tomas and Luis, I always figured that, despite the threatening music, he's simply curious at first and only attacks after Luis throws an oil-lantern at him. The same thing happens when the expedition first comes to the campsite and later to the lagoon. Though the Creature reaches out of the water for Kay's foot as she stands by the river, I, again, think it's just curiosity on his part. Also, when David and Mark are scuba-diving and exploring the lagoon for the first time, the Creature simply hides and watches them. It's only after Mark shoots him with the speargun that he begins attacking the expedition, as he now undoubtedly sees humans as a threat. Case in point, the first thing he does after this painful encounter is board the Rita and attack the first person he sees, which is Chico, whom he drags down into the water. He's simply defending himself and doesn't like all these strangers intruding in his home. It's only in his growing obsession with Kay and his trapping them in the lagoon that he truly becomes the antagonist, as he's now given them no choice but to fight, including David, who was willing to just get out and leave him be.

Though he'd already had his eye on Kay when he reached for her leg at Dr. Maia's camp, the moment that solidifies the Creature's infatuation with her is the iconic underwater ballet between them, where he swims parallel to her as she goes across the surface. Many have discussed the very obvious sexual connotations of this sequence: the position of the two of them for much of it, with him backstroking while she's parallel to him while swimming normally, the way she dives under the

water and rotates in a fairly suggestive pose as he watches from the reeds, and the fact that, as Vincent di Fate says in the Back to the Black Lagoon documentary, in those shots where she's back-lit, you could believe that she's actually naked. Normally, I would say this is people trying to look too deep into something, but besides these undertones being pretty obvious, Jack Arnold himself confirmed it. It culminates in the Creature being so taken with Kay that, as she's wading up

there, he's compelled to swim up to her and reach for her, lightly clawing at her feet and accidentally brushing his hand against her. He then also follows her back to the Rita, leading to his getting ensnared in their fishing net and unintentionally making his presence known to them. From then on out, he is positively obsessed with Kay, to the point where he attempts to climb up onto the side of the boat to get at her, only to be frightened off by a lantern, and later attempt to make off with her when he comes across her outside the entrance to his lair, only to

pass out from the rotenone. When he finally does manage to get his claws on Kay, he dives down into the lagoon with her and takes her to his lair via the underwater entrance. Amazingly, she doesn't drown from this, and when David later finds her, the Creature has placed her on that rock in front of the pool in the steamy chamber. While he could've simply done so to lure David, whom he knew had followed him, into a trap, it's a very striking image and quite suggestive in and of itself.

As great of a character as he really is, what immediately draws you to the Creature is his look. I know that as a little kid, I was just amazed by everything about him: his scaly skin, his webbed hands and feet with claws, fish-like face and eyes, fins going down his back, gills on the sides of his head, and so on. In other words, he's the quintessential "fish-man," and a number of similar monsters, both in film and animation, owe him a great debt. Also, he simply was, and still is, as cool

as they come, just as awesome as any of the monsters created through the makeup skills of Lon Chaney and Jack Pierce, and one of the best man-in-suit monsters ever. This final design was actually a variation on an initial version that was more streamlined, with a less scaly body and a more eel-like head. According to Julia Adams in the documentary, Back to the Black Lagoon: A Creature Chronicle, the head of the studio at the time wanted the design to resemble the Oscar

statue. And, in The Lady from the Black Lagoon, O'Meara states that William Alland, to his dying day, said he actually preferred that initial design! In any case, what's doubly amazing about the Creature suit is that, not only did it look good but that Ricou Browning, who played him in all the underwater scenes, and would do so for the two sequels, was able to actually swim in it. It was far from easy, as Browning described swimming in that cumbersome suit as like doing so in an overcoat, and he was also doing it with nothing

covering his eyes, as neither a face-mask nor goggles worked well in the suit's head. On top of that, he didn't have an air tank, as Jack Arnold didn't want to see air bubbles coming from the Creature's head. Thus he had to hold his breath, which he could for four or five minutes at a time. And yet, despite all these obstacles, Browning's swimming portrayal of the Creature is flawless and very graceful.

For all the topside Creature action shot at Universal, Ben Chapman took over the role. On land, the Creature isn't as graceful but, according to Chapman in Back to the Black Lagoon, that was the point, given his aquatic nature. Chapman goes on to say that Arnold told him to "glide" rather than walk, which you can really see in the close-ups of the Creature's feet when he attacks Chico on the Rita's deck. Like Browning, Chapman had some difficulty in playing the part, not just because

the suit overheated easily, prompting him to spend as much time in Park Lake as possible, but he also couldn't sit down in it and was virtually blind while wearing the mask, which caused him to accidentally bonk Julia Adams' head against an artificial rock while he was carrying her in his arms through the lair set. Speaking of the head, there are some close-ups of the Creature's face where you can see his gills moving, which was done through a special head that had bladders in the sides that moved through compressed air. And there were

slight differences between the two suits because Chapman was a much bigger man than Browning, and his head was rounder, while Browning's was more oval. Like Bob Burns says in the documentary, since you never see them together, you'd never really notice (save for maybe the detail that the swimming suit has no eyes), so, again, the illusion works perfectly. And the Creature has some distinct vocalizations, from some very ferocious snarls and roars, to a sound that's akin to a very deep frog croak.

Remember when I said it was ironic that, in the movie, David bluntly accuses Mark of stealing credit from him? That's because the story of the Creature's creation is also one of stolen credit and unsung heroes. For decades, Bud Westmore, who took over as head of Universal's makeup department from Jack Pierce, was credited with the design, but when I watched Back to the Black Lagoon, and especially when I listened to Tom Weaver's commentary, I found out he not only did very little but often tried to take credit for others' work. There are many photos of him "at work" on the sculptures, which he never actually did (Jack Kevan supervised the creation of the bodysuit, while Chris Mueller sculpted the head), and I've also heard that he's often not even holding the right tool for what he's supposed to be doing. Moreover, he always made sure to be around whenever press came by the studio, and would often conveniently give his artists the afternoon off so they wouldn't interfere in his glory-chasing. 

But it was when I read The Lady from the Black Lagoon that I learned that, besides being an attention whore, Westmore was an insecure, spiteful, and downright nasty guy, with a fragile ego, who bullied his staff and was hated by basically all of the artists who worked for him. The most deplorable thing he did, at least when it came to Creature from the Black Lagoon, was undermine and then destroy the career of the person who actually created the design of the Gill-Man as we know him today. That was Milicent Patrick, a very lovely woman who'd actually worked as an animator at Disney in the early 40's, working on movies like Fantasia and Dumbo. She was the one who expounded on the initial, streamlined design of the Gill-Man and made him the scaly, more fish-like monster we know and love (I can remember seeing photos of her in the creature shop in the back of that Crestwood House book). And because she was so beautiful and photogenic, Universal sent her on a tour to promote the movie in the months leading up to its release. However, when

Westmore learned that this tour was being touted as, "The Beauty Who Created the Beast," his jealousy boiled over and he demanded it be changed to, "The Beauty Who Lives With the Beast." And even then, because of all the attention Patrick was getting, and despite instructions that she was to credit him with creating the design and the studio sending a chaperone to make sure she did, Westmore's jealousy and resentment only increased (the ironic thing is that he'd badmouthed the design to the press early on but changed his tune when he realized what a monumental film this was going to be). To that end, he made sure that Patrick no longer had a job at Universal at the end of the tour, and she never worked behind the scenes in Hollywood ever again. If you want to learn more about this, I highly suggest reading The Lady from the Black Lagoon, as author Mallory O'Meara really went above and beyond and did an amazing amount of research to learn everything there was to know about Patrick's life and career. She also goes deep into the awful sexual politics of the time that let all this crap happen.

Though he mostly made movies for entertainment, Jack Arnold was also a very bright man who often injected social commentary into his films. Sometimes it was done overtly, like the violence that comes from man's fear of the unknown in It Came from Outer Space (though, that may have been retained from Ray Bradbury's initial treatment) and the consequences of rampant science in Tarantula, and other times, it was downright philosophical, like in The Incredible

Shrinking Man. As far as Creature from the Black Lagoon is concerned, many feel that Arnold injected some very subtle hints of environmentalism which show he may have been well ahead of his time. When the expedition party begins spreading the rotenone throughout the lagoon in order to catch the Creature, there's a moment where Kay finishes a cigarette and flicks it into the water. The camera then pans down from the cigarette floating on the surface to the Creature

looking up at the surface. Now, as film historian Paul M. Jensen suggests in Back to the Black Lagoon, it's more than likely meant to convey that he's watching Kay, as it cuts from him looking back to her standing on the deck. But it could also suggest that he's seeing what they're doing to his home, punctuated by the very next shot, where you see the effect of the rotenone, as there's a lot of dead fish floating on the surface. And then, because there's no sign of the Creature, they decide to make it so that the rotenone will sink down

further, and thus, David and Mark saturate the lagoon once again. While it's done matter-of-factly and doesn't beat you over the head with it, the film is still showing you that this once pristine, untouched lagoon is now being affected by these intruders, who also begin harassing and trying to capture the Gill-Man, making him violently defensive against humans in general. While that's mainly Mark and his thirst for publicity, the sequels would double down on this, making even the intended sympathetic characters kind of hard to root for.

Effects-wise, the design of the Gill-Man himself, of course, is the major one, as are all the instances of rear-projection, but there are a few others worth mentioning, notably during the opening, depicting the creation of the Earth and the beginning of life in the sea. We see a series of explosions for the former (at least one of which I'm sure is recycled from the spaceship crashing at the beginning of It Came from Outer Space), followed by an image of the planet "newly born," where it's totally blank,

with no continents or ocean. However, when the Gill-Man is set on fire by Dr. Thompson when he breaks out of his holding tank, it looks like a badly diffused overlay, especially when it cuts to an actual fire stunt when the Gill-Man jumps back into the water. And finally, here's an effect that feels like a blast from the past: when David enters the Gill-Man's lair to save Kay near the end of the movie, a bat flies at him. It's only onscreen for a few seconds, and you can briefly see the wire in high-definition, but it might actually be the best fake bat I've seen in a Universal horror film; too bad it's not in a Dracula movie.

The film's opening comes with a narration, as many 50's sci-fi flicks did, about the creation of the Earth, and what's interesting is that it starts out with the first lines of the Bible, "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the Earth. And the Earth was without form and void," then segues into modern theories on the creation of the planet and evolution. "The heat rises, meets the atmosphere, the clouds form, and rain pours down upon the hardening surface for countless centuries. The restless seas rise, find boundaries, are contained.

Now, in their warm depths, the miracle of life begins. In infinite variety, living things appear, and change, and reach the land, leaving a record of their coming, of their struggle to survive, and of their eventual end." Throughout this narration, we see the turbulent surface of the ocean and then see a beach (Will Rogers State Beach, in Pacific Palisades), with a trail of footprints leading from the ocean, obviously meant to be those of the Gill-Man's ancestor. (I would have liked to have seen

what that particular creature looked like since, judging from the footprints, it was hopping like a frog.) The narrator goes on, "The record of life is written on the land, where, 15 million years later, in the upper reaches of the Amazon, man is still trying to read it." With that, the film transitions to the present day, and Dr. Maia's camp, where the fossilized hand of the Gill-Man's ancestor is discovered. After taking a photograph of the hand, Maia removes it from the limestone deposit and

heads off to the institute at Morajo Bay. While he prepares to leave, telling Tomas and Luis that they are to remain at camp until he returns, and puts Luis in charge, we get our first glimpse of the Gill-Man himself, as his webbed hand rises from the water nearby and softly touches the ground, scraping across the dirt when he pulls back in.

The movie continues teasing us with only hints of the Gill-Man's full appearance for the whole first act, including when he emerges from the river and approaches the campsite that night. After another shot of his hand coming out of the water, we get a POV as he approaches Tomas and Luis' tent, then see his hand and arm come through the its opening, as well as hear his croaking. Horrified at the sight of him, Luis grabs a lantern and throws it at the Gill-Man. He lets out a pained and enraged roar, then grabs Luis by the face, and it cuts back

outside the tent, as we see Luis get flung across his coat. Tomas grabs a knife but the Gill-Man grabs his wrist and then his face, and again, the violence is obscured by editing, as we only see the tent shaking from outside, while we hear Tomas screaming and the Gill-Man roaring. Later, when Maia returns with the expedition, we only get a glimpse of Tomas and Luis' mangled bodies within the remains of the tent. As soon as they arrive, the team finds their bodies, with Maia believing it was

the work of a ferocious jungle animal; Lucas suggests it was a jaguar. However, David told Kay to stay by the boat, and as she stands at the water's edge, the Gill-Man reaches out for her. He almost gets her foot, but Mark calls to her and when she walks out of reach, he withdraws, having missed his chance. He then swims up the river.

The first time we actually see the Gill-Man is when the expedition enters the Black Lagoon and David and Mark go scuba-diving to collect rock samples from its bottom. After a long while of them exploring and getting the samples, the Gill-Man swims up from under a shelf when Mark swims over it. The two men then head back to the Rita, but the Gill-Man is shown to be watching them from some reeds when David goes and gets an underwater plant for Kay. Not long after that, when they've climbed back onboard, and just about

everybody is down below, helping Maia study the samples, Kay decides to go for a solo swim in the lagoon. That leads into the famous pas de deux between her and the Gill-Man (you can tell Steven Spielberg took a lot of inspiration from this when he made Jaws, as the backlit shots of Kay swimming on the surface are virtually identical to those of Chrissie at the beginning of that movie), ending in his almost revealing his presence when he brushes his hand against her feet. He quickly

swims and hides when she dives back under the water, watching her as she returns to the surface. When she does, on the deck of the Rita, Lucas sees her. He yells that she's too far out from the boat but, as she's backstroking with her ears under the water, she doesn't hear him. Lucas quickly tells his men, Zee and Chico, to start the engine and pull up the anchor, respectively, while Kay dives back under. The Gill-Man continues watching her, while the others see what she's up to, David yelling for her to come back. She swims towards the Rita, with Lucas moving it to meet her, unaware that the Gill-Man is following her. Even her reaching the boat and climbing up the rope-ladder on its side doesn't deter him.

As Kay climbs onboard, the Rita suddenly lists to its side, pulled by some serious power. They realize something's snagged in the fishing net, as it's submerged and the line is being pulled back and forth. Lucas and his boys struggle to pull up the net with the wench, but the more they do, the more pressure it puts on the pole connected to the net, until it begins to crack. David yells for Lucas to slack off on the wench, but the boat's loud creaking and the sound of the wench make it impossible for him to hear. David grabs an axe and is about to cut

the line, when it slackens up. The net is raised and they then see that there's a huge hole torn in it. Though Dr. Thompson suggests the net may have been snagged on a big, underwater rock rather than something alive, Mark finds a broken off claw in the net that dispels that idea. Looking at it, Maia confirms that David's theory about some of the limestone deposit housing the fossil being swept down into the lagoon was correct. Kay then takes the claw herself and looks at it, likely remembering the sensation she felt around her feet while she was swimming.

Now knowing that they're facing a living descendant of the fossilized creature, David and Mark head back down into the water, the former with an underwater camera rig, while Mark has his speargun. It takes a couple of minutes of them exploring the depths but, eventually, the Gill-Man does emerge in front of them. However, he quickly speeds away and hides among some thick reeds, as they pass over him. He then swims up and heads in the opposite direction, but Mark spots him and he and David turn around to continue the chase.

Despite the Gill-Man's fast swimming, they quickly close in on him, with Mark firing his speargun and hitting the Gill-Man in the back. He swims away from them in a panic, attempting to remove the spear, then heads down and disappears beneath a rocky outcropping. Having lost sight of him, David and Mark decide to head back to the Rita, the former intent on developing his film. But when he does, he's disappointed to see nothing but some seaweed, some bubbles, and a blur. As Mark becomes frustrated with this, a shot through a

porthole shows the Gill-Man wandering about on deck. He makes his way over to Chico, who's tying a line, and grabs him just as he turns and screams. Hearing the commotion up above, followed by a splash, everyone runs to the deck. There, they find Zee, crying hysterically for Chico. He's so hysterical that Lucas has to slap him in the face to bring him to his senses, and when he does, he tells them, "Chico is gone. My brother was dragged down into the water by a demon." Everyone looks around for any sign, and when they do, Dr. Maia calls them over to one spot, where they find the Gill-Man's wet footprints.

After thoroughly saturating the lagoon with the rotenone, the team waits on the Rita for the Gill-Man's appearance, even after nightfall. Following a long pan across the boat's deck, as they all wait pensively, he emerges from the water near the bow and attempts to climb aboard using a line near Kay. But when he sees the lantern there, he growls and recoils at the sight of it, making Kay and David realize he's there. He falls back into the water, alerting everyone else. Seeing him moving

underwater towards the shore, Lucas points his rifle but David stops him. David switches on the spotlight and points it at the Gill-Man as he stands up in the shallows. He growls and roars at the blinding light, swiping at it, and then turns and falls beneath the surface. David and Mark swim out to the spot to try to find him and, after David pinpoints where exactly the Gill-Man went under, Mark puts on his goggles and dives down. He tells David to wait for him but David, after standing

around for a few seconds, follows after him. He swims down, under the rocky outcropping, and finds his way into the Gill-Man's lair. Emerging in the chamber where the water meets air, he climbs onto the shore and meets Mark, who points him to the Gill-Man's trail (as often happens in horror movies, Mark surprises David by putting his hand on his shoulder and then tells him to calm down, despite it being an expected reaction, given the situation). Up ahead, the Gill-Man wanders out of his lair's beach entrance and spots Kay and Zee

sitting on the shore, where a rowboat is moored. He approaches Kay, who spots him and warns Zee. Zee rushes at him with a blade but the Gill-Man grabs him, forcing him to drop the blade, and grabs his throat, strangling him. David and Mark hear Zee screaming from outside and rush to the cave's entrance. Finishing off Zee, the Gill-Man turns to Kay, scooping her up in his arms and attempting to make off with her. But just as David and Mark arrive, he succumbs to the rotenone and collapses to the ground. Kay runs to David, while Mark grabs Zee's discarded rifle and attempts to beat the Gill-Man to death. David stops him, and when Dr. Thompson and Maia arrive, they throw a net over the unconscious Creature. Thompson examines Zee but finds he's dead.

By the next scene, they have the Gill-Man in a holding tank aboard the Rita. Despite Mark's insistence that they can now leave, David puts his foot down and says they need to finish their research first. As he and the others go to study the Gill-Man's lair, Dr. Thompson stays behind to keep an eye on him, while Kay attempts to get some sleep down below. After lighting his pipe, Thompson, convinced that the Gill-Man is still unconscious from the drug, sits back in a chair near

the holding tank. But just as he does, the Creature awakens and sticks his head out of the water, right below the tank's wooden hatch. Thompson is startled awake by a loud sound, but it turns out to just be Kay coming on deck for some air. She and Thompson begin talking about what's happened between David and Mark, unaware that the Gill-Man, now fully awake and aware of where he is, is trying to figure out how to free himself. He lightly pushes on the underside of the hatch, then puts his arms up through the openings between the tied

chutes, grabs onto them, sticks his head up through them, and pushes. It doesn't take long for him to break out and jump onto the deck. He smacks away a light hanging from the canopy and grabs Thompson's chair and throws it to the side. Thompson grabs a lantern and tries to repel him with it, but while the Gill-Man does walk back, swiping at it, he suddenly lunges forward and grabs Thompson's head. Thompson screams in pain as his face is mangled but has enough strength to throw his lantern, setting the Gill-Man aflame. He quickly dives back into the water, while Kay runs to Thompson's aid, as he lies on the deck, moaning and yelling, his obscured face clearly covered in blood.

With Thompson now down below, his face bandaged up, David decides they need to get out before someone else gets hurt or killed. Despite Mark's objections, they ultimately opt to leave... until they come across the debris blocking the way in. Lucas just barely manages to keep the Rita from slamming into it, and they quickly figure out it's the Gill-Man's doing. Lucas goes to check for any damage, while Maia goes aft and keeps watch. Just a few seconds later, they hear a loud splash,

followed by Maia shooting his rifle, as the Gill-Man swims away. David then gets the idea to use the Rita's wench to move the debris, and he himself attaches it. After getting it as firm as possible, he climbs back aboard the boat and tells Lucas to take it away. Although this, like before, puts pressure on the wench and the pole attached to the pulley, the debris does start to budge. But, down below in the water, the Gill-Man swims towards the debris and sees the cable. Knowing it's not good, he grabs hold of it and pulls on it, yanking it loose. The

cable then comes up, detached from debris, and David decides they'll just have to try again. He opts to do so using the aqualung and heads down below to get suited up. Mark, seeing another opportunity to capture the Gill-Man, goes down below as well, telling David he's going to help him. Knowing what Mark really wants, David rebuffs him, only for Mark to punch him in the jaw, up against the cot where Thompson is lying. Once he gets over the shock, David rushes Mark, slamming him against the wall, then turns him around and

clips him in the jaw (definitely a cheer-worthy moment). He slowly collapses to the floor, holding his jaw, while David grabs his tanks and flippers and heads back up on deck. There, Maia gives him one of the spearguns and he climbs down into the water.

David swims underneath the large tree that makes up most of the blockage and attempts to get the cable tied around it. The Gill-Man watches from nearby and then swims toward him, as he's completely oblivious to the danger. Suddenly, Mark appears, wielding the other speargun, and fires a harpoon right past David and at the Gill-Man. When David turns, Mark points at the Gill-Man and goes to reload his speargun, while David brandishes his own. Mark chases after the Gill-

Man, through a thick patch of reeds, and fires again, this time getting him in the side. He swims ahead, stopping to pull the harpoon out, when he sees Mark, who's lost sight of him. Removing the harpoon, the Gill-Man swims up at Mark, then grabs his right leg and pulls him back down. David sees what's happening from nearby and rushes to help, as Mark and the Gill-Man struggle with each other along the floor of the lagoon, kicking up a big cloud of silt as they do. David arrives and Mark

tries to swim away, but the Gill-Man grabs him again and the two of them tumble through the water. He rips the respirator out of Mark's mouth and viciously mauls him, as the two head down below an outcropping. David fires his speargun and, though he misses, it does make the Gill-Man decide to retreat. David gives chase and fires another spear, but the Gill-Man disappears within the thick reeds and seaweed along the top of the outcropping. David then looks and sees Mark's lifeless body floating up to the surface. His back

and scuba-tank break the surface up there and Kay, seeing this and realizing what's happened, lets out a horrified scream. Maia and Lucas come running, as David reaches the surface, goes to Mark's body, and pulls him back to the boat.

Later, David comes up with the idea of repelling the Gill-Man by spraying him with rotenone from one of the air bottles. He, Maia, and Kay go down below to mix up the drug, leaving Lucas on deck to stand guard. Still bandaged up in his cot, Dr. Thompson watches them, when the Gill-Man sticks his hand through a porthole in the wall next to him. Panicking but unable to speak, Thompson grunts as loud as he can, and Kay and David quickly hear him, the latter turning and screaming at the sight of

the hand. David quickly smacks the hand away and out of the porthole, closing it, as Lucas can be heard shooting up above, followed by a splash. Lucas rushes down, saying he missed, while the others quickly finish mixing up the drug and pour it down into the air-bottle. After that, David's back in his scuba-gear and climbs down into the water. Testing the makeshift spray-gun and seeing that it works, he puts his goggles on and dives beneath the surface.

He heads back to the tree and, again, attempts to hook the wench's cable around it. Almost immediately, the Gill-Man sees him and approaches him from behind. However, David turns and sees him as well, and swims to meet him. When the Gill-Man is almost to him, David sprays him with the rotenone, managing to repel him instantly; up on the deck, Kay, Maia, and Lucas see the white cloud reach the surface. The Gill-Man comes back around for another attack but, again,

David blasts him, repelling him. David quickly goes back to the tree and works to get the cable hooked up, when the still undeterred Gill-Man comes around for another go. He almost catches David off-guard when he comes around the side of the tree and swims at him from his right but, yet again, he gets blasted and swims away. This time, David is able to hook up the wench and he quickly surfaces and climbs back aboard the ship. Kay and Maia help him remove his scuba-gear, while Lucas,

hearing he got the cable hooked up, goes for the wench. This time, they're able to easily move away the debris, but as they work, the Gill-Man climbs up along the side of the boat. Though clearly groggy from the rotenone, he manages to get up onto the ship's deck. Having cleared the lagoon's entrance, David goes down to unfasten the cable. Everybody, including Kay, is watching him so intently that they don't realize the Gill-Man is aboard until he approaches Kay from behind and is almost on top of her. She turns and sees him just as

he goes for her, grabs her, and jumps off the bow and into the water with her. Lucas points his rifle but David quickly climbs back up and tells him not to shoot, as he might hit Kay. The Gill-Man swims down into the depths with her, heading for his lair's underwater entrance. As he surfaces and heads into the open air area, carrying Kay in his arms, David quickly puts his scuba-gear on, telling Lucas to get to the beach entrance. It doesn't take long for David to find his way back into the lair through the lagoon and, when he surfaces, he yells for Kay.

Hearing him from farther in, the Gill-Man growls and continues on while carrying Kay. David follows their trail and, after ducking to avoid a bat, heads into the steamy chamber with the pool of water in its center.

He finds Kay on the rock at the head of the pool and runs to her, rousing her from unconsciousness. But no sooner do they embrace than the Gill-Man emerges from the pool and approaches them. He roars ferociously, then grabs David's speargun and smashes it against the rocks. Backing away, David throws a stone, only for it to bounce off his chest, then pulls out his knife and stabs the Gill-Man in the shoulder when he reaches him. Though the Gill-Man snarls, he sounds more angry than hurt,

and grabs David and lifts him up. Before he can throw him, he's shot by Maia and Lucas, who've entered from the beach. He puts David down and recoils from several more shots. With David and Kay caught between them, Lucas and Maia fire on the Gill-Man some more, until David tells them to let him go. Badly wounded, he staggers past them and out of the cave. They follow him as he heads back to the water, and though Maia prepares to shoot him again, David lowers his rifle, gently saying, "No." The Gill-Man disappears beneath the

water and manages to swim just a little distance, though his injuries don't allow him to get far. He stops moving, goes over the edge of the one rocky outcropping, and the last shot of the movie is of him sinking to the bottom of the Black Lagoon, apparently dead.

While there is library music heard here, much of the score is original, with various pieces by Henry Mancini, Hans J. Salter, and Herman Stein. As I've mentioned in other reviews, I actually heard and was familiar with this music long before I saw the actual movie, as a lot of it, including the Creature's motif, was used in Universal's American version of King Kong vs. Godzilla. Said motif, played on very loud trumpets, is definitely the most memorable part of the score, and one you're not likely to forget, seeing as you almost can't get a glimpse of the Creature without being blasted by that music. According to David Schecter in Back to the Black Lagoon, that theme is played around 130 times in a movie that's only 79 minutes long, and I wouldn't doubt it either. In fact, that could be my only real problem with the film. As cool and effective as that theme is, because it's played so often, it quickly loses its impact and becomes redundant. I mean, I'm a huge James Bond fan, and I love his theme, but I would get sick of hearing it if I heard it every single time he was onscreen (and some of those early movies almost fall into that trap). But there's a whole lot more to the score. For instance, the main title theme is very striking and menacing, playing a slightly lighter version of the Creature theme, while also managing to end on an eerie note. That was Stein's work, as was the main Creature theme and the music for many of the underwater sequences, which swings back and forth from sounding a bit mysterious and eerie, to also coming off as wondrous. For the swimming scene between Kay and the Gill-Man, he came up with an effectively ominous theme played mostly on strings that manages to be creepy, but with a hint of eroticism to it. Mancini did mostly "light" music, such as a sweet sort of love motif for David and Kay, which you hear during the journey to the Black Lagoon and when he finds her in the Creature's lair. And Hans J. Salter, as you can probably guess by now, did a lot of the horror and suspense music that plays when David has to repeatedly fight off the Creature while trying to attach the wench to the tree and for much of the climactic fight with him. Altogether, they created about forty minutes' worth of music, with a further nine taken from previous tracks. Though not all of it was from past horror films, you do hear an unmistakable theme from The Wolf Man when David surfaces in the lair near the end.

Creature from the Black Lagoon is truly a classic of both 1950's monster movies and Universal Horror in general. While many may argue that The Incredible Shrinking Man is Jack Arnold's best film (and it probably is), this is undoubtedly his most famous and my personal favorite, for sure. It has everything you'd want in a movie of this type: likable characters played by a number of familiar genre faces, amazing underwater photography, a nice marriage of studio and location work, an effective ambience to the title location, an unforgettable, well-designed, and well-executed monster in the Creature himself, a possible hint at an environmentalist attitude that's quite progressive for the times, an unforgettable, if somewhat overbearing, music score, and a number of exciting and thrilling scenes and setpieces. Many nowadays may roll their eyes and think of this film as little more than just another dumb monster flick, but I, along with so many other lovers of this genre, know it's so much more and adore it. If you've never seen it, you owe it to yourself to right that wrong, even if you can't see it in its 3-D format.