Creature from the Black Lagoon

Creature from the Black Lagoon is a 1954 black-and-white science fiction film directed by Jack Arnold, and starring Richard Carlson, Julia Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno, and Whit Bissell. First release was March 5, 1954, in the United States. It was filmed and originally released in 3-D for polarized 3D-glasses (and subsequently reissued in the inferior anaglyph format), and marketed as an A-film. It is considered a classic of the 1950s, and generated two sequels, Revenge of the Creature (1955) and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956).

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Creature from the Black Lagoon

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:00:14

The one emblematic movie monster
of the 1950s emerged - in 3-D, no less -

:00:19

from Universal Pictures, the studio which
had already led the field for two decades.

:00:23

Sci-fi expert Bill Warren calls it "one of
the most famous monsters ever created".

:00:28

Sci-fi authority Bob Burns says it's
among the best monsters ever designed,

:00:32

and despite its Johnny-come-lately
status, it fits in with Frankenstein,

:00:36

the wolf man, the mummy and all the rest
of the great movie monsters of old.

:00:39

The characters in the movie
call him the gill-man.

:00:42

The people who made the movie
affectionately called him "the beastie".

:00:45

We call him "the Creature
from the Black Lagoon".

:00:48

Out of the Devonian Period, when life
crawled out of the sea, it came.

:00:51

From fishlike thing to mammal, from
mammal to a manlike horror of the sea.

:00:55

With the heart of a human, filled with
hate, and a manlike instinct to love.

:01:00

My name is Tom Weaver. Together
we'll go back to that black lagoon

:01:03

and look behind the scenes at
one of the best monster movies

:01:06

from the second half of the 20th century.

:01:09

In the beginning,
there was William Alland.

:01:12

Alland had the idea for Creature from the
Black Lagoon and produced the picture.

:01:16

Alland was born in Delmar, Delaware,

:01:18

and he began his career
as an actor with a Baltimore troupe.

:01:22

He moved to New York City,

:01:24

arriving there with a few belongings, $25,
and the ambition to work on Broadway.

:01:28

He took acting courses, and he acted
at the Henry Street Settlement House,

:01:32

which is where he met Orson Welles.

:01:34

This was in the '30s.
Welles was on the verge of forming

:01:37

his famous
Mercury Players acting company.

:01:39

Alland worked with the Mercury Players
on stage and on the radio.

:01:42

He was in the cast of the notorious 1938
War of the Worlds CBS radio broadcast,

:01:48

which was so realistic
it caused a panic among listeners,

:01:51

and Welles and Alland nearly went to jail.
They continued to associate for years.

:01:56

Alland acted in some of Welles' movies,
including Citizen Kane.

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