Released in 1954, Creature from the Black Lagoon came out at the tail end of horror's Golden Age which mostly takes place during the 1930's and 40's. This may be a contributing factor as to why the Creature or "Gill-man", while usually lumped in with the Universal Classic Monsters, is not more famous. Sure, the Gill-man's look is iconic but not more than the likes of Karloff's Frankenstein or Lugosi's Dracula.
The film starts of with a man named Dr. Carl Maia discovering a unique fossil of an unknown creatures hand. The discovery leads to couple of scientists setting off on an expedition to the Amazon in search of additional fossils. Soon after arriving at the camp, two of Dr. Maia's assistants are found dead. This, for me, highlights one of the films many strengths: The plot moves along at a brisk pace (the runtime is a little less than an hour and a half) and there's very little time wasted. The first creature attack occurs just after the 10 minute mark. Unable to find more fossils, they hypothesize that some of the rocks containing such fossils may have broken off and traveled downstream. Their boat Captain informs them that the nearby river leads to the 'Black Lagoon', and so the group heads in that direction. Shortly after arriving at the lagoon, the lone woman on this expedition, Kay (played by Julie Adams) decides to go for a swim and this leads to my personal favorite part of the film. The scene of Kay swimming along the water's surface with the creature swimming below is a beautiful little piece of filmmaking. After that, the group has a series of encounters with the Gill-man resulting in a few deaths and injuries, and of course ending with the creature being defeated.
Overall, this is a very entertaining film. Sure, the musical score is a bit generic with overly dramatic cues every time the creature appears onscreen and the human characters aren't particularly memorable. However, though dated obviously, I think the creature still looks pretty cool, and the 'Black Lagoon' setting provides great atmosphere and tension.
Not a perfect film, but a solid 4.5 out of 5 and one that I definitely recommend.
Overall, this is a very entertaining film. Sure, the musical score is a bit generic with overly dramatic cues every time the creature appears onscreen and the human characters aren't particularly memorable. However, though dated obviously, I think the creature still looks pretty cool, and the 'Black Lagoon' setting provides great atmosphere and tension.
Not a perfect film, but a solid 4.5 out of 5 and one that I definitely recommend.
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