Thursday Flicks - July 15, 2010

What's Thursday Flicks? On Thursdays (if I don't post something else - how's that for vague?), I'm going to write about films that I loved growing up and still love. And not only that, special guests will also be showing up for Thursday Flicks. So grab some popcorn and enjoy.

I am a huge fan of Atomic Age films (films primarily from the 50s that react in some way to the perils of atom bombs; remember, a couple of atom bombs were dropped in 1945). I'm not going to start with one of those classic films though. Instead I'll start with Creature From The Black Lagoon, which is also from the '50s.

Creature From The Black Lagoon was released in March 1954 in the US. It's a beauty and the beast type story, without a happily ever after. The beauty is Kay Lawrence, the girlfriend of one of the scientists trying to find the creature. The beast is the Gill-Man, a creature from the Devonian Era. In the barest of nutshells - the scientists capture the Gill-Man, he escapes, he captures Kay. If you've seen it you know what happens. If you haven't and you like classic creature films. you should watch it.

An attempt can be made to shoehorn Creature From The Black Lagoon in to the Atomic Age films by discussing it as a film dealing with the fear of the unknown (the Gill-Man), but that does not work well for me. It is however a really terrific black and white film. It has some excellent underwater scenes. The Gill-Man is a superb creature.

Here's a trailer:

Creature From The Black Lagoon remains one of my favorite creature features!

Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954)

Jack Arnold, Director

Harry Essex, Screenplay
Arthur A. Ross, Screenplay
Maurice Zimm, Story

Next week: Thursday Flicks will have a special guest.