Creature from the Black Lagoon
The looking for the eponymous Gill Man , theCreature From The Black Lagoon , one of the icon from Universal Studios ' golden age of repugnance , was inspire by another Hollywood icon of the studio apartment geological era , the Oscar statuette . He is one of the most recognizable monsters in all of celluloid , a legendary screen cosmos whose influence is felt even to this day , but it may come as a bit of a surprise to learn that his creators struggled to the invention for their creature .
Universal Studioshad been the masters of revulsion in the studio apartment geological era . ineffectual to contend with the glamour of " prestigiousness " studios like MGM , Universal line up their niche in repulsion films , releasing genre defining films such asDracula , Frankenstein , The Mummy , and their various sequel . But by 1954 , thing were changing . Television was drawing mass aside from theaters , and Universal ’s reign as the king of revulsion would shortly be usurped by a mass of low-pitched budget , Cold War - themed film from independent companies . One of the ways studios tried to sop up audiences back to the theaters was to employ new technology to enhance the experience . beast From The Black Lagoonwas one of the early moving-picture show to be shoot and released in the then new three - dimensional ( 3D ) formatting .
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Directed by Jack Arnold , and star Richard Carlson andJulie Adams , the film tells the story of a doomed scientific expedition into the Amazon rainforest . After being present with a fossilized human being - like hand with webbed finger , an hardy team of biologist are following the river to an undiscovered " black lagoon " , and are soon lay out upon by last fossil Gill Man , who soon convey aKing Kong - like captivation with the group ’s lone female person , Kay Lawrence .
The Statue That Inspired The Creature
Pre - yield was underway , but the filmmaker were having trouble with the design of the wight . Then , Jack Arnold unearthed the credentials that he had received when he had been nominated for an Oscar back in 1951 for the documentaryWith These Hands . The certificate had an look-alike of the Oscar statuette on it , and a bulb drop dead off . Using the Oscar as a base , the design squad lend Phoebe and scale leaf , claws , and a gruesomely redesign head double-dyed with gills . work with molded rubber , the creature ’s look take shape and became the final version for the costume wear down by stuntmen Ricou Browning and Ben Chapman .
Creature From The Black Lagoonopened to critical and box seat office acclaim , engender two sequel and went on to become one of the mostenduring repulsion creationsfrom the Golden Age of Hollywood . Several remaking were assay over the twelvemonth , include travail by notable movie maker John Carpenter and Ivan Reitman . To come full circle , Director Guillermo Del Toro nabbed Oscars for best film director and honest delineation with 2017’sCreature - inspiredThe Shape of Water .
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