Revenge of the Creature

In my review of The Creature from the Black Lagoon I noted that this series more-or-less formed a thematic trilogy. To be clear: that is not to say that these films are all truly good. While Revenge of the Creature could have been a lot worse, and it’s evident that a lot of work went into it. It also gets credit for actually moving the story forward, rather than repeating it. However, it’s still a pale comparison of the original.

That said, the movie opens with an expedition to capture the Gill Man, and withing a few minutes the task is achieved and the Gill Man is on his way to an Oceanarium to be put on public display. Naturally, it’s only a matter of time before he falls in love with a woman and breaks out. Basically, it’s the end of King Kong without the build up or fantastic locales.

The underwater scenes don’t look quite as good as in the first film. I’m honestly not sure if that’s because the budget was lowered for the sequel, or because the characters are now in an aquarium, so the movie made no effort to disguise the fact that the actors are as well. I’m also uncertain if the costume is inferior, or if it’s effect is just hindered by a mixture of chaining the Gill Man up underwater, and having him walk through parking lots, neither of which are situations that seem appropriate to this iconic monster.

The film’s human plot follows a love triangle between the Gill Man’s captor and keeper, Joe Hayes (John Bromfield), psychologist Clete Ferguson (John Agar, and no I don’t know why a psychologist is studying a fish person), and ichthyology student Helen Dobson (Lori Nelson). Honestly, the character’s really aren’t interesting enough to merit much discussion. Helen loves Clete, Joe loves Helen, but for the most part they’re all portrayed as too professional for much real drama to come out of it. They work together without much incident until the Gill Man kills Joe.

As with the last movie, there’s definitely an environmentalist message here, but once again I’m not sure if it was intentional or not. The researchers “train” the Gill Man to understand the word “stop” by luring him with food and then delivering an electrical shock (also, they’re in the water mere feet from him when using the electric prod...just thought I’d point that out…). This may have been intended to elicit sympathy, or it may have simply been the way animals were trained in the 1950s.

What little tension the film does have comes from the final act. After his escape, the characters apparently assume that the Gill Man is heading back to the Amazon, and are caught off guard when he somehow tracks down and kidnaps Helen in Jacksonville (so we get at least a brief period of Florida swamps, which look a lot cooler than the aquarium). I could complain that a fish man is a terrible symbol for primal masculinity, but that was true of the first film, and it works better here than many other things. Also, the idea that the Gill Man realizes that Helen is air-breathing, and transports her by carrying her along a river, and leaving her on the bank to re-submerge himself every few minutes, is pretty clever.

The single thing that annoys me the most about this film is the periodic cut to news reports. The Newscaster (Ned Le Fevre) serves two purposes: reminding us of what we just saw, and informing us of things that the filmmakers couldn’t be bothered to show us. Either way, he just annoys me.

Also, for some reason Clete is put in charge of the Jacksonville Police Department when they go hunting for Helen. I assume it was because he “understood” the creature, but it still comes across as awkward. It even seems silly by the usual standards of a 50s B-movie.

The film ends with the Gill Man being shot multiple times and killed, despite being immune to bullets in the previous movie. Then again, it’s Universal, continuity was never their strongest suit. No one ever expected these movies to be watched back-to-back. That said, the final shot of the film seems only to exist to show that the creature had died, and not merely run away, in a bizarre reversal of the standard Movie Monster final shock.

I don’t really recommend this film, honestly. It’s more appropriate to MST3K than to a straight viewing. Watch it there if you’re going to watch it. There’s a reason that it was this film, and no the original, that was picked for riffing.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon

I wish they would hurry up and remake this movie. The Creature from the Black Lagoon has an engaging story, and beyond that the Gill-man (yes, that's his official name) is a memorable character in his own right. I'd actually say that in making the three Creature films Universal unintentionally created an early example of the film trilogy by sheer chance, as each film thematically follows the previous film. The first film takes place primarily in the Gill-man's natural habitat, the creature is taken into the human world in the second film, and loses his ability to re-enter the sea in the third. That’s not to say that the later films are “good” by any stretch of the imagination.

This movie works best when you take it with a heavy dose of Death of the Author. The filmmakers likely didn't intend to create an environmentalist film, or at least intended it to be subtle, but to modern viewers it'll seem like the main take-home lesson. Many scenes now stand out as showing the pinnacle of human arrogance. Plenty of people have discussed the scene in which Kay Lawrence (Julie Adams) throws her cigarette into the lagoon, and the camera zooms over to show the Gill-man peaking out from the water, staring at her.

The scenes that really stuck out to me, however, were the discussions of evolution. Anyone who passed High School biology in the last few decades can tell at a glance that the characters' understanding of evolution is nonsense, based on the idea of some guided purpose beyond simple survival. The suggestion that lungfish represented a “failure” because they survived millions of years unchanged is obviously laughable. These are characters who imagine humans as nature's sole great achievement, and have no concept of themselves as part of a larger system. I don't want to go full tree-hugger in this review, but these people are just so dumb to modern viewers that it's very difficult to not read them as villains.

Moving to the actual story, however, it's simple but effective. An unusual fossil was found in the amazon: a webbed hand. So, a group of ichthyologists decide to launch an expedition to look for more evidence connecting sea and land animals. They decide to travel to a mysterious place called the Black Lagoon, despite their boat captain Lucas (Nestor Paiva) warning them that no one who entered the Lagoon ever returned. Unknown to them, they disturb the Gill-man, an aquatic humanoid who defends himself aggressively against intruders into his territory.

The Gill-man was the last of the six (seven counting The Phantom of the Opera, or eight with The Bride of Frankenstein) classic Universal Monsters to premiere, his first film coming out after all the others had completed their full run of sequels. The fact that he was canonized along with the others is a testament to just how good this film is, and it's my personal favorite.

When discussing the other Monster films I often talk about how they tend to feel more like filmed plays than movies. This film is absolutely exempt from that criticism. Coming out in 1954 it was a time when filmmaking had started to come into it's own as an art form, and director Jack Arnold was born in 1916, the only classic Monster director born in the 20^th Century. The movie, by extension, feels far less dated, with some truly dazzling underwater shots, and a costume for the Gill-man that's simple, yet spectacular. Also, the music is just downright awesome.

The story eventually develops into a conflict between Mark (Richard Denning) and David (Richard Carlson). I feel the conflict between the two of them has likely undergone a shift in modern interpretations as well, with Mark coming across as far more reasonable. Mark wants proof of the Creature, but would be happy to just shoot him and bring his body back.

David, on the other hand, wants to capture the Creature alive, but has no inhibitions about using tranquilizers on the entire Lagoon to bring him to the surface, and when the Creature is eventually captured is happy to cage him up in a tiny tank that even David admits may be too small for him to survive. To a modern viewer Mark is the pragmatist, and David is the sociopath.

Needless to say, the creature breaks out, a final confrontation happens, and Mark dies. The others escape the Lagoon, having apparently learned nothing, and the creature gets shot a few times but survives and escapes into the Lagoon. Everyone is happy, except the audience because David is still alive.

It makes me sad that this movie, possibly because of it's sequels, has become synonymous with cheesy B-movies and terrible special effects. Yes, the science is cheesy, but the story and acting are both strong, the Gill-man looks cool. Beyond that, the underwater photography is cleaner than most underwater photography today. I’d say give this a watch when you get the chance.