User Reviews

A scientific expedition led by a Doctor (Richard Carlson ) accompanied by his girlfriend ( gorgeous Julia Adams in a mesmerizing swimsuit) along with a motley group (Richard Denning ,Nestor Paiva, Armando Moreno, Whit Bissell) goes to remote Amazon in search of a missing link but they are forced to fight for their lives. In spite of the reluctant help of the locals they encounter a rare being , a deadly pre-historic Gill-Man who attack them . They come face to face with an amphibious and vicious fish-man.

Unforgettable monster vintage of the 50s that originated several imitations , copies and rip-offs . Magnificent picture with sure sense of eerie atmosphere; it's first in a trilogy and features good acting and bone-fide screams provided by the creepy appearance of the creature that actually is a man in a gill suit incarnated by Ricou Browning . Some reviewers say this exciting film can be seen as precursor of 'Jaws'. Wonderful and lush underwater photography by James Havens . Rousing and vibrant musical score by Joseph Gershenson . This motion picture , originally in 3-D , is stunning and compellingly realized by Jack Arnold. It's followed by two sequels ¨Revenge of the creature¨ also directed by Jack Arnold with John Agar , Lori Nelson and repeating Nestor Paiva , in which the Gill-Man is caged and transported into a Florida aquarium and ¨The creature walks among us¨ by John Sherwood with Jeff Morrow and Rex Reason in which the monster again is trapped and submitted to plastic surgery in hopes of humanizing him. Rating : Better than average , worthwhile watching . The film will appeal to classic cinema fans and terror aficionados .

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

While nowhere near as intelligent, thought-provoking and well made as Anderson's brilliant "Incredible Shrinking Man", this is still smarter and more complex than your average monster movie, especially of its era.

This creature is neither tragic hero, nor unstoppable villain. He's just a living being, a prehistoric half-man, half fish, behaving as his evolution has conditioned him, attacking invaders to his Amazonian paradise, attracted to the female human.

The film is full of mind numbing exposition, mediocre acting, low production values and heavy handed staking out of its ethical positions; the humanistic scientist that wants to study and understand the creature versus the base desires of the expedition's financier who wants to kill the thing and bring it back to the world as a trophy.

But there are sequence of power and even poetry, as the creature swims silently beneath the team's female scientist (and eye candy). There are moments her that Spielberg would echo in "Jaws" years later, but here the threat is more eerie and complex than terrifying. And watching the creature pathetically gasp for breath like a fish out of water is a sad and strong image (actually, a lot of the creature's movements, especially under water, are surprisingly convincing as something other than a man in a latex suit).

While not, for me, the classic some see it as, it's still a solid cut above the dumb Saturday afternoon entertainment that has lead to our forgetting most of its cinematic cousins, but keeping this creature alive.

Today, "The Creature From the Black Lagoon" is considered a classic. The film itself has become a cliche for the "man-in-a-rubber-suit" monster movie, and the "gillman" is now included in the pantheon of classic movie monsters -along with Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman.

I was a teenager when I first saw this Sci-Fi/Horror gem on television in 1965--the film was already ten years old by then--and I loved it. Surprisingly--even after a decade of watching technically sophisticated, state-of-the-art, unbelievably realistic prosthetic, animatronic, and computer-generated movie monsters--today's teenagers still love the old "rubber" prototype of all swamp monsters -"The Creature From the Black Lagoon". This is especially true of teenage boys. Why? Perhaps every adolescent male can relate to the film's star: the Creature is horny, inarticulate, moody, misunderstood, not pleasant to look at, and is unbelievably awkward with girls -the ultimate teenage "geek". We all remember this classic scene in the movie: the film's beautiful heroine (Julie Adams) decides to take a dip, unaware that the Creature is swimming below her. The image is archetypal : the powerful "masculine", and the overtly seductive "feminine", beautifully juxtaposed in a stylized sexual union. Then, from the murky bottom of his lagoon, the Creature leeringly watches Adams as she performs an erotic underwater ballet, and he knows that, for the moment, he can only look, not touch. (Is the "scaly one" shy and insecure? Or does he simply have a Catholic upbringing?) Indeed, much of the film's imagery lends itself to Freudian interpretation.

OK, so it's not exactly "Beauty and the Beast" -the Creature's passion is purely primal and elemental. But still, the fact that he restrains himself, satisfying his carnal curiosity with a simple caressing of Julie's ankles, and then retreats back to the gloomy bottom of his underwater sanctum to secretly watch her react in bewilderment, suggests he may be more human than he appears. But, alas, as any good Freudian will tell you, repression often leads to disfunction. And later in the film, in a brief, but beautifully filmed underwater scene, the Creature savagely drags the tantalizing "Playboy centerfold" down into the Freudian depths to his subterranean grotto -perhaps to hide her under his bed...where his mom can't find her. (I apologize for the metaphor. It's getting stale, I know.)

"The Creature From the Black Lagoon" was directed by Jack Arnold ("The Incredible Shrinking Man"), who (from 1952 to 1960) directed a series of fantasy/horror films for Universal Studios, including "Revenge of the Creature" -this film's sequel. Arnold would certainly object to us reading too much symbolism in his gillman, but the Creature may not have achieved such enduring status in monster-mythology if not for the fears and anxieties of the movie-going audience of the '50s. Arnold's dramatic use of the Creature succeeds, of course, by exploiting the human fear of the unseen threat lurking below -a very primal, deeply embedded in the human subconscious, and one that's been ruthlessly exploited by filmmakers in countless horror films. But Arnold's beast may also represent a more intellectualized fear. In the 1950s (and beyond), the threat of nuclear annihilation was very real, and like the creature in Shelly's "Frankenstein", Arnold's lagoon creature represents an elemental force of nature that, once discovered and awakened by science (even well-intentioned science), cannot be controlled -perhaps like the newly tapped, but untamed, power of the atom. Or (and this may sound like apostasy in one of John's pretentious, sophistical, over-intellectualized movie reviews, in which I've constantly and digressively wandered into the Freudian morass) perhaps the Creature is not a mataphor for teenage angst, forbidden knowledge, or cold-war anxiety. Perhaps the Creature is nothing more than a guy in a scary rubber suit chasing a pretty girl around a movie soundstage. But where's the fun in that?

"The Creature From the Black Lagoon" is still fun to watch. Actors Richard Carlson (the sophmoric, but noble-minded paleozoologist) and Richard Denning (the ambitious financier) play off each other well. And Julie Adams is simply gorgeous in her custom-made swimsuit. Also, the beautiful (albeit black & white) underwater photography by James C. Haven is appropriately surreal: as the men begin their search and descend into the black depths of the lagoon, they intermittently twirl and hover amidst penetrating shafts of sunlight from above; and as the camera pans the peaceful bottom-landscape of the lagoon, the gillman suddenly springs from clouds of disturbed sediment, thrashing through curtains of shimmering air bubbles and drifting weeds, determined and unstoppable in his persuit of the human intruders. But one of the best things about the movie is the music. Some of the themes--written by Henry Mancini and Herman Stein--are quite beautiful; for example, as the expedition slowly makes its way up the dark Amazon, an ensemble of gentle woodwinds can be heard -a soft, subliminal prelude that lets us know we are entering another world, a primeval world. And who can forget the Creature's signature theme--the brassy, bombastic, three-note progression of DA DA DAAAAA!--whenever "Creech" appeared on the screen?

Of course, the best thing in the film is...the Creature. Jack Arnold suggested that the design of the gillman suit be based on the graceful form of the Motion Picture Academy's "Oscar" statuette. (Really!) The suit was designed and brilliantly crafted by make-up artist Bud Westmore, and there were two versions -one suit for filming on land, and another for filming underwater. On land, the gillman was played by Ben Chapman. Olympic swimmer Ricou Browning wore the gillman suit in the underwater scenes. The "dry suit" that Chapman wore was beautifully colored with iridescent greens and blues, and mottled with many other marine hues. The "wet suit" worn by Browning was a bright yellow -the marine hues chosen for the "dry suit" photographed too dark when filming underwater.

Yeah, I really love this movie. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's just one geek relating to another. You see, in the final reel, neither of us got the girl.

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 really appreciate an intelligent script and this movie was no disappointment. Sure, it wasn't perfect and it wasn't scary at all (I write this some 50 years from when it was originally released), but it was pretty decent quality.

The story revolves around a scientific expedition looking for the rest of a hand-skeleton that was found next to a South American waterway. Their hunt leads them to the paradise-like 'Black Lagoon' area - and trouble with an unexpected creature encounter.

No doubt the movie was impressive when it came out, but for the viewer many decades later, it's a little dated. From the "God created the heaven and the earth ..." opener to the verbal comments which equate adult women to children, it shows it's age. Also, when the lead actress swims in the water, it's a little funny to see her swimming / depiction in 'water ballet' form - kind of representative of an idyllic 50's female icon.

What really elevates this movie is the dialog and acting. Both are well done and believable. They give the movie a very serious tone and an air of intensity. I'm sure when it originally came out, this helped create a strong atmosphere ripe for fear and horror.

For the modern viewer, this film is pleasant viewing - a decent way to spend 79 minutes in classic 50's monster-movie mode.

(There are Spoilers) Finding embedded in a rock, along the Amazon River in Brazil, what looks like a over-sized catchers mitt Prof. Carl Maia, Antono Morero, feels that he made the rock-hard discovery or the century: the remains of an aquatic human-like creature, dating back to the Devonian Era. This discovery can be the the very first link to what turned out to become the human race.

Getting an expiation together and going into the uncharted, and undiscovered, Amazon Basin Prof.Maia together with a crew of scientists lead by Dr. Mark Williams, Richard Dennings,get to his campsite. There they find that his two Indian guides were butchered by some strange monster from the deep. It turns out that this creature has been living in the lagoon for millions of years without any contact with the outside world. Now that his domain had been invaded and disturbed he's out for blood and won't stop until all those who trespassed into his kingdom, the Black Lagoon, are eliminated.

The "Gillman" at first is a bit confused of what's happening and just goes out in the water to observe what the humans are doing. When it becomes obvious that their out to get him,dead or alive, and bring him back to civilization, as the scientific find of the century, he goes bananas and sets out to attack and kill everyone on board the science ship Rtia. The Gillman has just one weakness, he gets distracted by the beautiful assistant of Dr. Williams Kay (Julie Adams)whom the Gillman, or creature, wants to keep alive all for himself as a playmate as well as a mate.

Even though Dr.Williams wants to go as far as killing the creature the sensitive second-in-command of the expiation Dr. David Reed, Richard Carlson, is dead set against it. Dr. Reed wants to leave the creature alone and just bring back photographic proof that he exists. This causes great friction between the two explorers.

The creature meanwhile barricades the Rita into the Black Lagoon by blocking the exit route ,with logs and tree branches. Setting up the movie's finale conflict between man and beast or creature. The creature goes on the attack killing a number of Rita crewmen and almost rips Dr. Thompson's (Whit Bissell), another member of the expiation, face off Later the creature is put to sleep with the underwater knock-out drug Rotenone that Dr. Reed sprays in his face in a tense and deadly underwater encounter.

Put in an underwater cage, on the Rita, the creature easily breaks out, after the effects of the drug wears off. Goes back into attack mode the creature has it out in an underwater battle royal with both Dr. Reed and Dr. Williams who he ends up killing. By dragging him down to the bottom of the lagoon and cutting off his air supply.

The creature finally gets what he's been after all along, Julie, by boarding the Rita and snatching her up, while everyone else on board is looking the other way. In the end the effects of the Rotenone and a number of spear-gun wounds have taken the wind out of "The Gillman", or creature. After taking Julie to his secret hideout or "pad", an underground cave, the creature just about had it staggering along the shore, like a drunk, and plopping into the river with David and the crew of the Rita letting him get away.

Eye-popping underwater photography makes the movie "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" one of the best horror films released in the 1950's. The Gillman does return in two more sequels, " Revenge of the Creature" in 1955 and "The Creature Walks Among Us" in 1956, until he was finally put out to pasture, or sea, by the Universal Pictures Studios.

"Creature from the Black Lagoon" is a movie I saw on a Saturday afternoon TV show called "Monster Movies". I loved it from the start. I now own the DVD collection and I find all the movies entertaining. The first of the series was, of course, "Creature from the Black Lagoon". Richard Carlson, Whit Bissell, Richard Denning, Nestor Paiva and Julia Adams are awesome in their roles. A fossil is discovered of a prehistoric "gill-man" by a Dr. Maia. He enlists his scientist friend(Carlson) and the research team he works for that is headed by Denning. They travel up a river that ends into an area known as "The Black Lagoon". Looking for more fossils, they discover the "Gill-Man" is alive! The Creature is captured and then escapes but is shot and severely wounded at the end. He sinks toward the bottom of the lagoon but don't worry; he made it back for two more sequels. The team of Jack Arnold(director), William Alland(producer) and Joseph Gershenson(music director, with help from young composer Henry Mancini) help make this film unique. The photography and locales are beautiful. The acting is superb and there is enough action and suspense to keep you at the edge of you seat. This is required viewing for 1950s sci-fi/horror movie fans.

Man, that suit is really something. I had the pleasure of seeing this on 3D Bluray and it looked fantastic. Del Toro said something about it being a perfect blend of form, design and shots which really makes sense because when the Creature is swimming around and soaking wet he looks truly real - - like an actual honest-to-God fish man, dead eyes and gawping mouth and the whole works.

The plot on the other hand basically devolves into a serious of cat and mouse scenes. There's some hints of sci-fi with its evolutionary origins, but that's all the brain really gets out of this one.

The swimming scene with Julia Adams and the Creature is pure balletic grace.

One of few truly great "creature" films, THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON is a surprisingly effective horror film concerning a scientific expedition up the Amazon to investigate an unusual fossil find--but instead of fossils the crew members encounter an underwater creature of considerable intelligence that is bent on their destruction.

The script is a bit dated by modern standards, but the cast (particularly Julie Adams) is effective, and the creature is easily one of Universal Studio's most memorable creations. And seen today in standard black and white, the film is quite enjoyable. But it doesn't hold a candle to the original 3-D format, which I was fortunate to see not once but twice during the 1970s and 1980s. Simply stated, BLACK LAGOON's cinematography was probably the best of all 3-D movies to date. As with most 3-D films, there is plenty of "coming at you" cinematography, and many viewers will be able to pick out such moments when seeing the film in standard black and white--but in addition to these, the film used 3-D in a remarkably subtle way; virtually every scene in the film is designed for 3-D, and the effect is exceptionally memorable in the underwater sequences.

I remain disappointed that the 3-D version of BLACK LAGOON--not to mention such other 3-D films as HOUSE OF WAX, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, and DIAL "M" FOR MURDER--has never been released in 3-D format on video or disk; instead, we must make do with such bottom-budget 3-D flicks as THE MASK, CAT WOMEN ON THE MOON, and the like. Admittedly, the impact of the format is lessened by the small screen and demands some careful color adjusting, and the effect requires the use of 3-D glasses--but it is a shame that we must settle for ghosts of the originals when we could easily have the originals instead. In 3-D format, BLACK LAGOON would easily be a ten-star film.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

As many times as this movie has been copied, filmmakers still can't seem to get it right. Considering that this film is considered a trend-setter, it's amazing how many rules this film BREAKS by today's standards. It breaks the notion that full shots of the creature and lots of blood and violence are needed to create a scare. In this film, all you need is a shot of the creature's hand and that piercing three-note musical motive played by brass instruments, and let the imagination fill in the blanks. It shatters the notion that monsters MUST be computer-generated--a guy in a suit CAN be scary. And it proves that black-and-white photography can be just as rich as color photography. The underwater sequences especially are both beautiful (almost surreal) and eerie at the same time.

And then there is the Gill Man himself. It's as if the writers took the best qualities of his predecessors and combined them into the last and best (IMHO) of the Universal monsters. Like The Mummy, he has lived long after he technically should have died; like Frankenstein's monster, he appears to be savage, yet shows intelligence and appreciates beauty; like Dracula, he is seductive. Just check out the scene where he swims with Julie Adams (unbeknownst to her, of course). I believe this is why he has achieved the status of a genuine icon, and deservedly so. Here's hoping he swims the waters for a long time.

In South America, ecologist Antonio Moreno (as Carl Maia) leads an expedition; he is startled to find a webbed, but human-like, hand protruding from a rock. Mr. Moreno snaps the fossil from the rock, and brings it to ichthyologist Richard Carlson (as David Reed), for examination. Mr. Carlson is intrigued by the hand, and wants to find more of the Creature's remains. Carlson is also enamored with bushy-eyed beauty Julie Adams (as Kay Lawrence); but, so is Carlson's wealthy colleague Richard Denning (as Mark Williams). The group decide to boat the Amazon, and find the Creature…

Created by Milicent Patrick (with Jack Kevan and Chris Mueller), the "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (or "Gill-Man") made a big splash at the box office. Much of the time, the film displays a rushed, "low-budget" quality; and, it was made for viewing in "3-D" glasses. Still, the movie entertains. The "Creature" is conceptually quite interesting; and, he has a great "look". More importantly, the title character has personality. Mainly, this is due to his obvious attraction to Ms. Adams' character. Perhaps, he was the last of his type, and was responding to the mating urge?

The underwater photography, by William Snyder, is superior. It's nice to see Moreno, a former "silent film" star, among the supporting players. Future "Flipper" producer Ricou Browning performs swimmingly alongside Adams. Mr. Browning was the underwater "Creature", and Ben Chapman served as the surface "Gill-Man". Only Browning returned, for the two sequels: "Revenge of the Creature" and "The Creature Walks Among Us". Watch out!

******* Creature from the Black Lagoon (3/5/54) Jack Arnold ~ Richard Carlson, Julie Adams, Antonio Moreno, Richard Denning

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.

I'm not usually one to believe a studio's publicity material, but on this occasion I'm firmly in Universal's corner. Creature from the Black Lagoon is a thrilling movie in 3-D. An enormous amount of time is spent underwater because this was the first time the murky depths had been enhanced by 3-D. Without 3-D, it's just another boring parade of swimmers swimming: the creature swimming, Polly Burson and Ginger Stanley swimming, Richard Carlson and Richard Denning swimming. If that sounds uninteresting (and it is—we never even get a good look at either Polly Burson or Ginger Stanley, because both, for obvious reasons, are always filmed in long shots), Creature from the Black Lagoon is bound to disappoint unless Universal decides to dust off those 3-D specs. Even the Creature himself seems far less menacing when viewed flat—thanks not only to the lifelike depth of 3-D but the fact that the film was designed to pass through two filters to reduce the brightness of the image. Only the climactic scenes in the caves (designed specifically for 3-D but still fairly effective flat) and two or three shots when the Creature stalks Julie Adams still come across with any punch. Mind you, Miss Adams is a lovely, lovely girl and she also proves dazzlingly effective in any dimension.

Available on DVD through Universal. Quality rating: a reluctant ten out of ten. Why reluctant? Well, the image does break up once, but it's not an important sequence. My main complaint is that—for 2-D viewing—the image is too bright. What I would have done (and I'm surprised this didn't occur to the Universal boys) was to print it in sepia. "Oh, horrors!" I can hear fanatics exclaiming. "The original presentations were in black-and-white, not sepia!" Wrong, boys! The film itself was processed in black-and-white sure, but the effect, when viewed through the polaroid glasses (and the projection filter) was that it was actually in sepia—and the movie was photographed by both Bill Snyder and Scotty Welbourne with this effect firmly in mind.

After finding a claw-like hand, scientists make a return trip to a lagoon off of the Amazon to search for relics. The major discovery is a 'gill' man with an eye for the female form. Julie Adams is most certainly an eye opener. Very interesting underwater and location shots. Run of the mill acting from Richard Carlson, Richard Denning and Whit Bissell. This was scarier seen through the eyes of a very young boy on the third row; but still holds your attention. Is this a classic or what?

A group of scientists heads up an Amazonian river in search of the fossilized remains of an unknown link between man and aquatic life. But the team of researchers gets more than they bargained for when they encounter a living example of their prehistoric Gill-Man. After a member of their party is killed, the group decides it best to leave the Black Lagoon. But the creature has become enamored with Kay (Julie Addams), the only female on the expedition, and blocks the scientist's retreat. Will they escape the Creature from the Black Lagoon?

As I think back to the late 60s, Creature from the Black Lagoon is one of the very first movies I can remember seeing. Its appeal to me was immediate and long lasting. The scenes of the creature's hand reaching up on the shore of the lagoon sent chills down my spine. And the four note musical introduction to the first images of the creature very nearly knocked me off the couch. Even at a young age, I knew it was a man in a costume, but that didn't matter. The creature design was awesome - it was frightening and fascinating all at once. The underwater photography was breathtaking. The shots of the creature swimming just under Julie Addams were the stuff of nightmares. Creepy! The underwater fight scenes, the spear-gun, Nestor Paiva, and the hidden grotto - I couldn't get enough of it. To my 5 or 6 year-old mind, Creature from the Black Lagoon was the perfect movie.

I'm not 5 anymore, but my opinion hasn't changed much. The cool thing is that I still get a charge out of that hand coming out of the water, I still jump a little when the creature music blares at his first appearance, and I still love the shots of the creature swimming under Julie Addams. I don't think I'll ever get tired of any of it.

The dialogue is cheesy, overly-wordy and too heavy on exposition. Richard Denning has an obnoxious character and manages to be just as annoying. And the 3D effects lack sharpness and look rushed and somewhat dated too(look to the Vincent Price version of House of Wax to see how 3D in a horror film could be done well). Despite these flaws, and these are all personal feelings not objective, it is genuinely scary and a lot of fun and regarding monster movies of the 50s-60s it is one of the better ones. The underwater sequences are beautifully shot and very memorable, and the sets and locations have a great deal of atmosphere as well as looking quite exotic. The monster is essentially a man in a suit, you don't care here actually because unlike other monster movies of the era the suit looks great and the monster actually has a personality, managing to be menacing and poignant. The music score fits perfectly, the bombastic monster theme is creepy and not too predictable while at other times the orchestration is nicely understated. The story is simple(and perhaps somewhat by-the-numbers), not too simplistic but easy to follow, but doesn't ever feel ponderous, is suspenseful, has enough in the story and its action to keep entertaining and has a real sense of fun- and legitimate fun rather than guilty pleasure fun- to it. The most memorable and most genuinely scary was the scene with Julia Adams swimming alone with the monster lurking underneath watching her, it is frightening to a kid and adult as it plays on anybody's fear of venturing into the sea and to what is underneath lurking. Steven Spielberg's Jaws also explored this and to even greater and creepier effect. Creature from the Black Lagoon is smoothly directed and has some good characters. The acting has much criticised, but personally it didn't come across as that bad apart from Denning, Julia Adams is the most noteworthy but Richard Carlson is also a competent and likable lead. In conclusion, flawed but fun, has a great monster and has moments that do unsettle, which makes its reputation as a monster movie classic justified. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I was thrilled by this movie as a kid, and still love it today. For a small budget Science Fiction/Horror movie of the fifties, this is a great show. It's well paced, well acted, has great music to accompany the action, and Bud Westmore's Gill Man is a marvel to enjoy. Originally this was a 3-D movie, and thankfully, it looks so much better in regular flat screen. I never really did catch the 3-D craze.

This is a terrific adventure of Man out of his element fighting a Monster in his element. The Gill Man is a thinking being, but, still a monster, who remembers the injuries done him by man and seeks retribution. If the scientists had left him alone, he'd have left them alone. They were the invaders.

And, thank goodness that they didn't have a scene of the kidnapped Julia making friends with the now "peaceful" Gill Man (to show his human side), only to have the heroes show up and kill him. She was taken as "bait" to lure the humans into the Gill Man's lair.

It spawned two sequels (yes, there were sequels even back then), and both are good in their own right, they just didn't achieve what the original did all the way around. Enjoy.

A fossil expedition is traveling down the Amazon. They search for fossils in a small lagoon. Unknown to them there is a prehistoric creature (that they call the "Gill Man") still alive in the waters. It gets a look at the one female member Kay (Julia Adams) and falls in love. They try to leave, but it won't allow them....

The story is overly familiar but this is the one that started off the 1950s monster cycle. Let's get the debits out of the way: the acting is just OK (Richard Carlson and Richard Denning are bad; Adams is just called upon to look beautiful--which she does); there are really stupid things in the script (they bring along a spear gun on a fossil expedition? Adams takes a swim in the AMAZON????); the movie was shot in 3-D...and it shows (countless scenes of the spear gun pointing at the audience).

The good things: beautiful atmosphere; great music score; incredible underwater photography and an impressive creature. Also it is short (79 minutes) and really kicks into high gear during the end.

This is now considered the best 1950s monster film--but I can't agree. I did see it in 3-D in the early 1980s and I remember being very impressed then. So, maybe with the 3-D it works better. Still, worth catching. I'm giving it a 7.

"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-

Creature from the Black Lagoon is a fairly straight-forward horror film, but even sixty-five years later, it still works.

The movie plays on the fear of the unknown creature. Deep in the Amazon Rainforest, there might be some kind of ancient, half-fish-half-man horror that sets out to kill all humans who come into its territory. Maybe it even wants to steal away the women to continue living. That's a scary thought, in and of itself.

When you add that to the movie's best quality, the score, it makes for some truly chilling, truly tense scenes. The whole film is well done, especially for 1954. The set design is fully believable, and the acting is solid all around. Julie Adams specifically does a great job. Even gill-man's costume was relatively well done, especially for the time.