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Creature from the Black Lagoon is a 1954 black-and-white science fiction film directed by Jack Arnold, and starring Richard Carlson, Julia Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno, and Whit Bissell. First release was March 5, 1954, in the United States. It was filmed and originally released in 3-D for polarized 3D-glasses (and subsequently reissued in the inferior anaglyph format), and marketed as an A-film. It is considered a classic of the 1950s, and generated two sequels, Revenge of the Creature (1955) and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956).
The "Gill Man" was played by Ben Chapman when on land and Ricou Browning in underwater scenes.
Synopsis
A paleontology expedition along the Amazon River discovers the fabled Black Lagoon and its prehistoric menace, a fish-human hybrid. The scientists capture the creature after it kills their native guides, but it escapes. It then returns to kidnap the female research assistant (Adams) and carries her away to its lair where the others try to rescue her.
Remake
In the 1980s, director John Carpenter considered doing a remake, and a script was written by John Landis and Nigel Kneale, but the film ultimately went unproduced. However, a remake from Universal Pictures is now scheduled for a 2007 release.
Trivia
- Creature From The Black Lagoon was later made into a pinball game, designed by John Trudeau (AKA "Dr. Flash"), and released in 1992 by Midway (under the Bally brand name). This game has a 1950s drive-in / retro theme. It also features such 50s classic songs like Rock Around the Clock and Summertime Blues. The game would go on to sell 7,841 units.
- The film has been immortalized in paleontology circles. When Jenny Clack of the University of Cambridge discovered a fossil amphibian in what was once a fetid swamp, she named it Eucritta melanolimnetes, which is Greek for "the creature from the black lagoon."
- see: Clack (1998) Nature 394: 66-69; and Clack (2001) Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 92, 75-95.
- The Black Lagoon is referenced in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic book series in the New Traveller's Almanac.
- One of the underwater alien creatures in the Terror from the Deep game shares great resemblance with the "Gill Man", apparently based on it as a tribute
- In the Family Guy episode, "I Never Met the Dead Man", the Griffin family catches a creature strongly resembling the "Gill Man", while fishing.
External links
- Creature From the Black Lagoon at the All Movie Guide
- Script review for Creature from the Black Lagoon remake at Dread Central
- An interview with Ben Chapman, who portrayed the Creature from Chaos Control Digizine
- Photographs from the State Library & Archives of Florida
1954 films | 3-D films | Cult science fiction films | Midway Games | Pinball games | Films directed by Jack Arnold
"Creature from the Black Lagoon"