:32:03
and maybe that was why Universal
thought of him for Creature.
:32:06
But they decided
to go with Richard Carlson.
:32:08
For the part of Dr Maia,
Universal first thought of Ramon Novarro.
:32:12
Novarro was a Mexican-born leading man
:32:14
who became a big, Rudolph-Valentino-like
star in the silent era.
:32:17
He had the title role in one of
the greatest silent epics, MGM's Ben Hur.
:32:21
But instead of Novarro,
Universal went with Antonio Moreno,
:32:24
who back in silent days was kinda like
the poor man's Ramon Novarro.
:32:28
Creature was one of Moreno's final
screen roles. He died rich in 1967.
:32:33
This was strange at a studio
famous for its monsters,
:32:36
but Universal tried to avoid
an exploitative title on the movie.
:32:39
They called it simply
Black Lagoon for a long time,
:32:42
but then they decided
that wasn't going to cut it
:32:44
and they sent out a memo
requesting alternate titles.
:32:48
The memo read "The request is
for a title that may better suggest
:32:50
the shock and mystery, and perhaps
the prehistoric implications of the story."
:32:55
"We have been asked to stay away
from words like 'monster' or 'beast'
:32:58
to avoid a title that might
downgrade the picture."
:33:01
Somebody suggested
The Web and the Claw,
:33:03
and Alland, who had a lot of success
with It Came from Outer Space,
:33:07
recommended
It Came from Out of the Sea.
:33:09
The other titles he suggested were
The Demon of the Deep, The Sea Demon,
:33:12
The River of Terror and It Walks the Sea.
:33:15
When Alland heard in the 1980s that
Universal wanted to remake Creature,
:33:20
he felt that the studio should do
another sequel instead of a remake.
:33:23
Since the creature Alland had
originally envisioned was so romantic,
:33:27
he thought it should have a family -
a mate and one or two little ones.
:33:30
In Alland's story they were all removed
from the lagoon and taken to a lake
:33:34
on the estate of a
very wealthy family in the US.
:33:36
They communicate with the family
and a relationship develops,
:33:39
but unfortunately some heavies find out
about them and capture the children,
:33:43
and the mother
and father go out after them.
:33:45
Alland wrote it and tried
to make himself send it to Universal
:33:48
during all the many years that the studio
talked about a new Creature movie,
:33:52
but he never could bring himself
to submit it. Alland passed away in 1997.
:33:57
Director James C Havens was hired to
direct the underwater stuff in Creature.