Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954)
It’s hard to imagine any film, whatever the genre, which was made ten to twenty years earlier to not appear "dated" by current standards. As I go back and watch the old Universal monster classics like Frankenstein, The Mummy, etc. I’m always amazed by their ability to stand the test of time some fifty to sixty years later. There are scenes in these films that are timeless in the annals of horror, and while typically looked at in a sentimental manner nowadays, they still are able to unnerve a viewer as they did many a year ago. You just have to be a little forgiving and take it all in context.
Having burned out the Universal monster franchises by the 1950’s, and with sci-fi starting to hit big with audiences, Universal came up with probably their last truly great monster, the one and only Gill Man. Spawning two sequels, the Gill Man has etched his way into pop culture since his initial 1954 appearance, and is identifiable by kids today whom have never even seen the original. And that’s sort of a shame, as I think even eight to ten year olds will get just as much of a thrill watching this as kids of yesteryear did.
The story is fairly basic; scientists discover a human/amphibian skeleton deep in the Amazon. Returning with a larger crew the team sets out to find what they hope is a "missing link" between man and fish. Let’s just say that gill men don’t like their turf being invaded, as the crew has several nasty encounters with the monster. Once again, the creature is rather a sympathetic type, you can’t blame the guy for defending his lagoon, you know? Almost every Universal monster has some type of human quality, and it shows up here again. The other human quality is that the monster has an obvious hard on for one of the scientist’s girlfriends, a concept that is never explained...all for the better. The highlight of the film is, of course, the creature. It’s undoubtedly one of the best monster costumes of all time, and the underwater scenes of the creature swimming and stalking the crew are terrific. Best scene award goes to the stalking of the obligatory girl swimming in the lagoon while the creature swims below...very cool. All in all, Creature is fun stuff that would be even better on the big screen in all its original 3-D glory.