CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON COLLECTION: Blu-ray (Universal 1954-56) Universal Home Video

The last truly great monster to emerge from Universal’s stable of classic ghouls with an enduring iconography is undeniably, Jack Arnold’s Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). Introduced at a time when Universal’s film output and profits were again ebbing behind the other studios; Universal’s commitment to horror once more elevated its reputation for overall quality. Ironically, horror would prove Universal’s undoing as audiences cooled to the supernatural and production costs required to create such lavish escapism rose throughout the 1950’s; the studio increasingly unable to ‘find itself’ in these changing times and struggling to maintain, as well as cultivate a new identity. Ultimately, experimentation became the order of the day; Universal focusing on westerns and the occasional well-timed comedy and/or musical, precariously teetering between staying in the black and slipping into the proverbial red. In retrospect, Creature from The Black Lagoon signified both a new beginning and, alas, a swan song in that profitable horror movie cycle. In some ways it also helped to inaugurate the age of the atomic monster; ironically so, since the ‘gill man’ was represented, not as the unwitting mutant created by the threat of nuclear winter or some experimental misfire from its radioactive fallout, but rather, referenced as a forgotten ‘missing link’ in the evolutionary chain; something of a prehistoric throwback/hybrid to the likes of a King Kong, the Loch Ness monster and the Sasquatch. The studio’s faith in the ‘creature’ was so solid, that even before the movie’s release Universal was planning its sequel.

Creature from the Black Lagoon remains a seminal scare-fest. Ricou Browning’s superb underwater pantomime as the creature is thoroughly engrossing and primitive in its allure; a strange empathy brewing for this isolated protoplasmic anomaly. Ultimately, the movie’s success rests on a triage of elements; the aforementioned Browning, director, Jack Arnold’s keen-eyed direction and the newfangled gimmick of 3D. Too few movies made in the stereoscopic process have afforded as much time to character development and plot. But Arnold was determined to make a really good horror movie and a 3D picture besides, instead of the other way around. I can recall being terrorized by ‘Creature’ back in the early 1980’s on television; of course, projected flat. Unaware then of its 3D origins, Creature from the Black Lagoon still worked - even on my small screen, edited for content and time constraints, also, interminably interrupted by commercial breaks. Despite TV’s shortcomings, ‘Creature’ managed a minor coup: to entertain and provoke some deeper critical thought. How many horror movies can claim as much?

Better still, Creature from the Black Lagoon seems to possess a soul; Arnold able to arouse a genuine sagacity for the poor ole gill man; astutely pointed out by Marilyn Monroe in Billy Wilder’s The Seven Year Itch (1955). After emerging from the theater with Tom Ewell’s randy husband, Monroe’s ‘girl’ exclaims, “I felt kind ‘a sorry for the creature. All he really wanted was to be loved.”  It’s a snap and, perhaps, simplistic analysis (as only Monroe in her prime could offer up), but it astutely summarizes director, Arnold’s desire to give us a horror icon on par with Boris Karloff’s monster in Frankenstein (1931); the gill man misunderstood and merely protecting his home (the jungle, swamps and lagoon) from these human invaders. The creature’s attraction to Julie Adams is both understandable (who wouldn’t want to chase after that shapely mermaid?) and yet, sadly misguided. After all, she will never come to regard him as anything more than the hideous ‘other’. We must also consider one more aspect about Creature from the Black Lagoon: namely, despite its detailed and deft mixture of plot and characterization, it was considered something of a B-picture – if not for Universal, most definitely when compared and contrasted to the rest of Hollywood’s output. At a time when other studios had become entrenched in productions shot in color – and any number of newly inaugurated widescreen processes – spectacles with a cast of thousands - Universal instead fell back on their time-honored tradition, shooting modestly in B&W and featuring a relatively small ensemble of very solid character actors, with no real stars featured.

Richard Carlson is about the biggest name on the marquee. But even he had come from a second-string main staple of light romantic comedies and Abbott and Costello slapstick adventures. Carlson has a tangible masculine quality; hardly beefcake, but buoyed by an intuitive sincerity. Julie Adams is our token estrogen; the sexy young thing meant for the creature to tread water beneath, paw at, but never truly possess. The real star is ‘the creature’; a silent performance (the creature doesn’t even yowl) by Ricou Browning, effectively emoting from beneath heavy rubber prosthetics. The creature’s body armor, made from a series of rubber appliances fitted together over a wetsuit, was cumbersome to say the least. Nevertheless, Browning manages a delicious performance; his sideways swimming style conjuring an ominously amphibious organism.

The tightly structured screenplay by Harry Essex and Arthur A. Ross begins with a geological expedition up the Amazon, led by Dr. Carl Maia (Antonio Moreno) and funded by Dr. Mark Williams (Richard Denning). Scientist Dr. Edwin Thompson (Whit Bissell), Dr. David Reed (Richard Carlson), an ichthyologist working for an undisclosed marine biology institute, and Reed’s girlfriend, Kay Lawrence (Julia Adams) are also along for the tour. The steamer is captained by a crusty but benign codger, Lucas (Nestor Paiva); everyone arriving at a previously established base camp only to discover all the native inhabitants brutally slaughtered. Lucas speculates a wild animal attack as the probable cause. But actually, the murderous assault has been perpetuated by a piscine amphibious humanoid. The doctors and Kay make journey to the Black Lagoon in search of this rare scientific discovery, unaware they are the ones being pursued by the creature who has developed a strangely sexual fascination with Kay, suggestively shadowing her swim from underneath without her knowledge. The gill man is captured, anesthetized and netted, but escapes after attacking Edwin, who is narrowly spared certain death when Kay charges the creature with a burning lantern.

Lucas suggests they leave the lagoon post haste. However, as he prepares to turn his ship around, everyone realizes the creature has barricaded the waterway with heavy logs in an attempt to keep them on his turf. As the crew clears away this debris, Mark is mauled by the creature who now abducts Kay, dragging her beneath the waves. David, Carl and Lucas follow the creature’s webbed tracks to a boggy lair where he is guarding his trophy female. In short order, they riddle the gill man with bullets and successfully rescue Kay. The creature sinks beneath the murky waters, presumably dead, though not really. Sequel, anyone? And, of course – yes: Jack Arnold’s Revenge of the Creature (1955), much maligned by the critics as a retread, but actually a wonderfully atmospheric and moodily lit masterpiece that, if not particularly revolutionary in its plot, nevertheless manages the good scare – in 3D no less. Under the blander working title, Return of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Arnold reunited with Rico Browning; the Gill man captured and carted off to Florida’s Marineland. Predictably, though no less frightening, he escapes and embarks upon a murderous rampage. Actually, all he really wants is to get back home. Who can blame him? These humans are a nutty bunch.

Revenge of the Creature is notable for an early appearance by Clint Eastwood as Jennings, a lab technician experimenting with serums on white mice. As before, the real star of this pic is the creature; Rico Browning’s mask and rubber wet suit slightly modified to provide him with better visibility and mobility. Martin Berkeley’s screenplay picks up pretty much where the previous film left off; the Gill-Man, riddled with bullets, captured and carted off to Florida’s Ocean Harbor Oceanarium to be studied by animal psychologist, Professor Clete Ferguson (John Agar) and ichthyology student, Helen Dobson (Lori Nelson). Helen and Clete fall in love, much to the chagrin of Joe Hayes (John Bromfield), the Gill-man’s keeper. Alas, Clete is going to have some competition – but not from Joe. The Gill-man has taken a shine to Helen too. As rivalries go, this one develops unforeseen complications. The Gill-Man refuses to play ball with Clete’s efforts to communicate with him. After feigning physical depletion, the creature breaks loose from his restraints, murders Joe and escapes the aquarium, inciting panic among the fleeing spectators. On route to the beach, the Gill-Man overturns a few cars and narrowly averts harming several children. He slinks back into the water, leaving Clete and the local authorities baffled.

Unable to rid himself of the thought of Helen the Gill-man perversely stalks her. A wonderfully lit and thoroughly spooky near confrontation, while Helen showers in preparation for her date with Clete, leads into the movie’s penultimate showdown. Having tailed Helen and Clete to a fashionable seaside restaurant, the creature shamelessly invades during happy hour. In the ensuing panic, Clete is momentarily distracted and Helen, fainting away, is taken prisoner by the Gill-Man who retreats into the waves once more. Sometime later, two young men out for a joyride spot what appears to be a lifeless body on the beach. Approaching, they find Helen unconscious, but otherwise unharmed. Alas, the creature is nearby and easily dispatching with their rescue attempt. However, before he can escape into the water, Clete arrives with the local police. A confrontation ensues, the officers shooting the creature as he submerses, abandoning Helen once and for all. Despite the lackluster critical reaction to the picture, Revenge of the Creature was a huge hit with audiences, practically guaranteeing more sequels in the creative hopper. It could have gone on forever, except that director, John Sherwood’s The Creature Walks Among Us (1956) proved so wild a departure it all but alienated the base legion of fans.

Arthur A. Ross’ screenplay begins in familiar territory, with a team of scientists led by the deranged and cold-hearted Dr. William Barton (Jeff Morrow) aboard the plush yacht, Vagabondia III. Barton is hellbent on recapturing the creature, now suspected of having made the Everglades his home. Alas, Ross’ treatment spends far too much time developing Barton’s character – or lack thereof; his mental instability, insane jealousy and apparent abuse of wife, Marcia (Leigh Snowden). The ship’s guide, Jed Grant (Gregg Palmer) is flirtatious with Marcia leading Barton into a festering paranoia about a possible affair. Marcia accompanies Jed and Dr. Tom Morgan (Rex Reason) on their search for the Gill-man. Plying the plot with the proverbial ‘damsel in distress’ cliché, Marcia suffers from ‘raptures of the deep’ and, in her fragile euphoria, removes all her scuba gear underwater, necessitating a gallant rescue by Jed and Tom. Naturally, the Gill-Man has been observing all of this from afar, and, having transferred his own fascination with the fairer sex to Marcia, now gets a little too close for comfort. In the ensuing struggle, the Gill-Man is set afire and badly burned, leading to a surgical transplant performed by Barton, Tom and two other colleagues, Dr. Borg (Maurice Manson) and Dr. Johnson (James Rawley) in a desperate attempt to spare the creature from death.

The operation is a success…well, sort of. Only now, doctors denote the creature has begun to shed his gills and breath air, just like a human being. Impressed with his recovery, the doctors also take notice the Gill-Man’s charred wounds are healing with recuperative human skin to replace the amphibious outer layer. Encouraged to assimilate the creature into human society, the Gill-Man is nevertheless despondent and longing to return to the ocean. So far, so good: except Barton wrecks any future plans for the Gill-Man’s rehabilitation when, consumed by jealousy, he kills Jed for continuing to make romantic overtures towards his wife. Having witnessed the murder, and apparently possessing the wherewithal to anticipate Barton’s next move – blaming him for the murder – the Gill-Man goes on a rampage, tearing down the protective electric fence designed to keep him a prisoner. Having had quite enough of the human world, the Gill-Man murders Barton, sheds his bandages and skulks off in the direction of the ocean, last seen on the beach.  By the time The Creature Walks Among Us hit theaters 3D had fallen out of favor. Perhaps anticipating its lack of popularity, Universal shot only a 2D version – unceremoniously dumped on the market without much fanfare and all but ignored by audiences.  Whether due to changing times or its decided lack of chills – as this final installment in the ‘Creature’ franchise is a not altogether successful, being more concerned with the melodrama and machinations of a highly toxic marriage, with a bit of evolutionary scientific mumbo-jumbo factored in, The Creature Walks Among Us failed to enthrall and put a period to Universal’s interest in resurrecting the creature yet again.

Despite advancements in special effects, the first two films in the Creature franchise remain marvelously spooky and unsettling. William E. Snyder’s cinematography captures the humidity of the Florida bogs with thickly redolent ambivalence, making the most of the obvious back lot sets. These movies are as much ‘mood pieces’ as horror classics. Today’s schlock-meisters have somehow forgotten true chills are not instilled by graphically illustrating human carnage and its bloody aftermath; rather, by sustaining a looming dread that can infiltrate the human imagination and linger long after the houselights have come up. Creature from the Black Lagoon and Revenge of the Creature both manage to evoke such ill-omen suspense, from the first big reveal of the creature’s webbed hand reaching into a tent, to his penultimate escape into the rolling surf at the end of the second feature.

Having seen the first two movies projected both flat and in 3D, I must admit, arguably, projected stereoscopically has a greater impact. But director, Jack Arnold has been circumspect in his handling of these more grandiose stereoscopic moments. As with Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder (1954) Arnold here gives us stories and substance supported by the film’s depth-perceptive style, only occasionally to rely on the clichéd dive into the camera (translated in projection as a leap from the screen) to jolt his audience from their chairs. It still works; but the pauses between these bravura moments are what we remember equally, if not better. Creature from the Black Lagoon and Revenge of the Creature really do not need 3D to terrify the audience. Yes, 3D helps. But it decidedly is not the whole show or focus and this is all to the good.  In the final analysis, it is Ricou Browning who imbues this Gill-man with an unsettling sense of cryptic pathos while remaining sinister and menacing.

Oh no, and here we go again! Universal Home Video, the studio infamous for cutting corners in hi-def has done it again. It’s only taken them 5 years to release the two sequels to Creature from the Black Lagoon in hi-def and when they finally did, it’s a total, miserable, misery fail. Having compressed both the 3D version of Revenge of the Creature and The Creature Walks Among Us on a single Blu-ray, they have compromised the actual transfer quality – reducing the output from native 1080p to 720p – so, basically, DVD quality on a Blu-ray disc. Is anyone at Universal even paying attention to their home video output anymore?!? Disgustingly sub-par remastering such as this ought to have died with the bootleggers – not sneaked under the radar from (choke!) a major Hollywood player. The original 3D release of Creature from the Black Lagoon was afforded all the bells and whistles the studio could then muster and, despite the passage of time, still holds up spectacularly well when projected in 3D today. So, what on earth prevented Uni from doing as much for its sequel? Were they really so eager to save the .30 cents it probably cost to isolate Revenge of the Creature on a separate Blu-ray, remastered properly to take full advantage of this hi-def format?!? Thanks for nothin’, fellas. And yes, I really mean that. I already own a 720p copy of these movies on DVD. I don’t need another identical copy on Blu-ray! Extras are confined to those made previously available – a brief featurette and audio commentary. Bottom line: not recommended! Not until Universal Home Video gets off their proverbial lump and starts reissuing this set with properly minted discs – period!

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

Creature from the Black Lagoon - 4

Revenge of the Creature – 3.5

The Creature Walks Among Us - 2

VIDEO/AUDIO

Creature from the Black Lagoon 3D/2D - 4

Revenge of the Creature 3D/2D – 1.5

The Creature Walks Among Us – 1.5

EXTRAS

2.5