I loved the Friday nights when everyone went to the local high school football game and I stayed home to watch old horror movies on tv. This was one of them.
@johnmburt1960 no "the shape of water " was not a remake,it was influenced by the creature movie, but if it was a remake it would of needed to get permission from Universal and that would has been mentioned in the reviews of the film.
The Shape of Water is cross between Black Lagoon and Beauty and the Beast, but more on the Beauty and Beast side. I would prefer a more Black Lagoon/horror remake.
There was plans to do a remake as part of the creature feature remakes which included the Invisible man, the Wolfman and the Mummy with Tom Cruise, but because those movies did so horribly they ended up shelving the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
I read somewhere that the underwater Creature suit was molded in a very light-colored rubber, orange I recall, because the green suit registered as dark gray or black underwater causing the details and textures to be lost on the print.
No "remake" would ever live up to the original. Hats off to Millicent Patrick and the 2 stunt actors who played The Gillman. Julia Adams was a real trooper and a true sweetheart. Julia (RIP)
Thanks Johnathan for your wonderful treatment of this classic film! I was doing some research on Julie Adams a few years back, noting how strikingly beautiful she was, and read that at one time she was married to a Ray Danton, and that they had a son named Steven. When I looked up Ray Danton and saw his picture, I had a sudden realization…I recognized Mr. Danton as one of the parents I saw after one of our high school football games! I played football with Steve Danton, and although I didn’t know him well, I do recall that he was a very handsome young man, no doubt he inherited much of his mother’s good looks! This is one of those “small world” stories, I guess, but thank you again for your channel and these reviews, I enjoy them very much!
MY FAVORITE UNIVERSAL STUDIOS MONSTERS CREATURE. ICONIC! INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT HOW 2 DIFFERENT ACTORS PORTRAYED THE CREATURE IN AND OUT OF THE LAGOON.
I was fortunate enough to see this film in 3D back in 1972 at my local theater. I was only twelve at the time and had seen the film on TV. Here was a chance for me to go see it on the big screen. That would have been enough but when I got there it was being presented in 3D. I thought that's pretty cool and didn't know what to expect from a 3D fim. It's still vivid for me, at the very beginning when the Rocks come hurtling at your face.
It is available on 3D BluRay disc. I have it in my Universal Horror collection! I also have 'House of Wax' and 'It Came from Outer Space'... both in 3D.
Bud Westmore had very little to do with creating the look of the Creature. You mention Jack Kevan, and he is the main person involved. Several other people in the department also contributed. There were a lot of ideas all being discussed, and Milicent was the one who helped take all the ideas and make composite drawings, helping to combine various ideas into a "final". (I had a brief correspondence with her, and visited her back in the 70's and 80's to talk about her work on this and a couple of other films. Also interviewed several other people who worked on the costume.) Kevan really is the main guy by everyone's consensus.
This was my first monster movie in the 50s. Years later, when it came out on vcr, I showed it my two sons. About halfway through, my younger son looked at me and said “are we supposed to be scared now”? They were brought up movies like “The Exorcist “.
Some of the underwater scenes were filmed at Wakulla Springs Florida, the same place the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan was filmed. I live a very short distance from there.
Kudos n thanks for your analysis of the movie. Fan of the movie n saw it many many times as a child n adulthood. We even had models to construct the creature n its surroundings. Fantastic movie !
The entire movie is an homage to movies of those Times. Dr Cacroach is a parody of "The Fly", Missing Link is in Gill-Man, B.o.b. is a parody of "Blob" and that huge insect (forgotnits name) was parody of creature features in general, specifically Mothra from Godzilla universe. And the alien antagonist is also an homage to those cheesy alien movies of the 50s.
I love the Creature movies, the Gill Man is one of my favorite movie monsters. Julie Adams was hot in the first movie and I watch these movies once year, sometime I’ll catch them on Svengolie. Loved The Shape Of Water, it was an awesome movie.
You forgot about 50's Vincent Price, 'House of Wax' is 3-D in color. Gilligan's lagoon was not at universal lot. It was at Studio City's republic studio that later become CBS Radford studios near Laurel canyon blvd and ventura blvd. they had a small lagoon there until back lot remolding and expansion with a bridge over the LA river to new property.
Thanks- I was surprised this simple mistake was made. Normally anything made for RU-vid is totally unreliable. I’ve found this Chanel actually mostly accurate and shows a rare ability to go beyond Wikipedia.
The fault of any mistakes on You Tube belong to the video makers, solely. They do not do the best multi citation to check for REAL facts. Wikipedia is not fact checked for truth. Wikipedia, wikipedia, wikipedia, or any 'Wikipedia' format archive.....Sure...I wish people would be better educated about the huge flaws in using that archive as 'facts', I would feel more comfortable. Internet serious researchers and myself have known for years that Wiki is can be flawed for factual information. The system is flawed because it relies on 'consensus', not researched citated facts. There are hundreds of articles (Google 'flaws of wikipedia') about the fact that people only using Wikipedia for their factual information are flawed if they wish to be confident about receiving a true fact. One of the original founders of Wikipedia, has come to that conclusion, gave his opinion and he was banned & exiled from Wikipedia for his differing factually based factual based opinion. So much for personal freedom of speech and knowledge in the current owner's of Wikipedia world. Most people have found the huge flaw in Wikipedia and no longer rely on it for factual information, solely.
also fun fact Clint Eastwood 1st started acting in the movie thou he went uncredited, After many unsuccessful auditions, he was eventually given a minor role by director Jack Arnold in Revenge of the Creature (1955), a sequel to the recently released Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Great job on this. TRUE STORY: In 1980 a small theater in Berkeley, CA showed The Creature in two projector 3D. It was great. And guess the name of the street the theater was on. ..... It was Gilman Street. And the theater was called 'The Gilman Theater.
I always and still freakin amazed at the great underwater shots, Ricou’s Browning work is Legendary, considering the costume was probably foam which absorbs water would’ve made the suit heavier, and Browning having to hold his breath in all the shots while swimming is what makes The Creature so believable!!! The Shape of Water creature Design still doesn’t come close to the Creature!!
Glad the movie was shot in black and white as I think the creature's red lips (as seen at 5:12, 5:31 and 5:56 in this video) would've been distracting.
"Two young children are the sole survivors of a shipwreck... in a time when sailing was the only way of travel! They are stranded on a tropical island, a real paradise (so they think.) Together, Richard and Emmeline have to survive..." *THE CREATURE FROM THE BLUE LAGOON!*
Isn't the Creature's motivation in all three movies is that it desires a mate and wants to reproduce in order to continue it's species.Plus the only reason he attacked the male characters in because he saw them as rivals
Julie much more beautiful than Marilyn, Jayne, etc. ... Movie spoofed (Too young to know the flick) in 'Ruff n Reddy' cartoon "Goon From The Black LaCreature."
Own the trilogy. The last film was such a let down. Not for the story line, which was top notch. But because they didn't really resolve the conflicts at the end.
