Creature from the Black Lagoon Amazon instant video download

Gill-Man/The Creature From The Black Lagoon 1954

Description

Creature from the Black Lagoon is a Monster themed horror film that came out in 1954. Jack Arnold directs it and it stars Richard Carlson, Julia Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno, and Whit Bissell. The creature/monster itself is played by Ben Chapman on land and Ricou Browning in underwater scenes. It also is one of the first Universal Pictures‘ films to be released in 3-D Vision. The film is 79 minutes long. There is a remake that is in production right now.

Summary

Creature from the Black Lagoon is about an amphibian/humanoid creature in the Amazon River who comes out of the water to kidnap a beautiful female that he is attracted to. The movie begins with Dr. Carl Maia (Antonio Moreno) who excavates a large webbed fossilized hand while on an expedition in the Amazon. The creature makes a brief appearance in this scene as he watches the Doctor and his hand comes out of the water. When the Doctor visits his friend Dr. David Reed (Richard Carlson) at the Marine Biology Institute, he persuades the institute’s financial backer, Dr. Mark Williams (Richard Denning) to fund a return expedition to the Amazon to look for the remainder of the skeleton. It is noted that the fossil they found dates back to the Devonian age.
Now the crew consisted of Dr. David Reed, Dr. Carl Maia and Dr. Mark Williams, as well as Reed’s girlfriend, Kay Lawrence (Julie Adams), and another scientist, Dr. Edwin Thompson (Whit Bissell). They are traveling on the Amazon River on the boat called “The Rita” which is captained by the salty Lucas (Nestor Paiva). When the crew gets back to the campsite they see that Carl Maia’s research team has been ripped to shreds. The team discusses what was responsible for the killing of the research team. Lucas the Captain suggests it was a jaguar. The others are not satisfied and are unsure about what the cause was. The crew decides to head further into the Amazon and go into a remote lagoon dubbed the “Black Lagoon” thinking it will lead them to the rest of the skeleton of the prehistoric find. The old veteran captain Lucas says no one has ever returned from this lagoon.

Julie Adams in The Creature from the Black Lagoon 1954

They are unaware that the creature has been watching them and is following them downriver. It also has taken an interest in the beautiful Kay Lawrence. Once they arrive at the paradise like lagoon, both Mark and David go diving to collect fossils from the lagoon floor. They both return to the boat with some samples so they can be tested. Kay decides to go diving and is being stalked by the creature. She returns to the boat and the creature is briefly caught in the Rita’s net. It escapes leaving one of its claws behind. They completed the analysis of the limestone rocks and that some of the deposits are on the bottom of the “Black Lagoon”. The crew realizes that the creature does exist and matches the fossil that they found at the excavation site. Mark and David head underwater to hunt and photograph the creature. Mark and David return to the boat after they briefly encounter the amazing creature that they all now call a “Gill-Man”. The “Gill-Man” that was injured by Mark’s harpoon shows up on the boat and kills one of the crewmembers.

The captain, Lucas, suggests to the team that they poison the water so they can capture the creature alive. At nighttime with everyone on guard, the gill-man tries to attack Kay but is frightened off and the entire crew gets their first real good look at the monster. They also notice the gill-man is suffering from the effects of the drug/poison. Mark and David follow the wounded gill-man in its home, which is a cavern in the lagoon. As they lose track of the gill-man, it kills another crew member that is guarding Kay. It tries to run off with Kay but as the others arrive it succumbs to the drugging effects of the poison and is put in a cage made out of bamboo on the boat to be taken back to civilization. The crew tries to leave for civilization but finds out the passage back has been blocked by some logs that the gill-man put there when he broke free from his cage and escaped. Mark is soon killed by the gill-man in a struggle while the others try to remove the logs. The gill-man then kidnaps Kay and brings her back to his cavern lair. David, Lucas, and Carl go after the creature to save Kay. The crewmembers pump the gill-man full of bullets and showing mercy they let the creature retreat back into the water where its body sinks to the bottom, presumably dead.

Creature from the Black Lagoon: The Review

Creature from the Black Lagoon is a late entry into the great Universal Pictures Horror Films Legacy. Universal Pictures/Universal Studios is responsible for the great classics of Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Invisible Man, The Phantom of the Opera, and The Mummy. The film did well at the box office and was followed up with two sequels. Neither of those I have seen so I do not know the quality of those films. The Gill-Man’s costume is very well designed and along with the way he swims underwater. They make him out to be realistic. Two different actors played the creature. The actor in the land scenes, Ben Chapman shot his scenes in California. The Underwater actor, Ricou Browning did his scenes in Florida cities such as Wakulla Springs and Rice Creek Florida. I love the music in the film that is scored by Henry Mancini, Herman Stein, and Hans J. Salter. It is both suspenseful and serene sounding at times. Even though the film is in Black and White all the underwater shots are captured beautifully.

My favorite shots are when you see the monster mimicking Kay’s swimming movements while he is stalking her. Julie Adams who has had a long career in movies who plays Kay is very beautiful to look at. She plays the role of Beauty for the Beast very well. The film makes you feel some sympathy for the creature. It pretty much just defended its territory which was intruded on by humans. This is a dark atmospheric classic creature feature that has a high replay value. You can get the DVD in the Universal Studios Classic Monster Collection package or in the Legacy pack which contains the other two sequels.

Creature from the Black Lagoon Film Review: Done by Rancel

The Creature From The Black Lagoon 1954 Trailer