The Creature From The Black Lagoon

• Cat.no: PFLEB 35801
• Cert: PG
• Running time: 82 minutes
• Sides: 2 (CLV/CAV)
• Year: 1954
• Pressing: UK, 1997
• Chapters: 17 (11/6)
• Sound: Dual Mono (English and German language versions)
• Presented in fullscreen
• Price: £19.99
• Extras : Trailers: Creature From The Black Lagoon, Dragonheart
  

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  Director:

  Jack Arnold

Cast:

Julie Adams
Richard Carlson
Richard Denning
Whit Russell

Thumbnailplot has group of scientists head down an amazon tributary insearch of fossil remains following the discovery of an unclassifiableprehistoric hand. Guess what? It belongs to the amphibian creature wholives in the Black Lagoon at the tributary’s end. And, like King Kong,the primeval monster takes a fancy to the attractive woman in the party.

This, as the superb fifties trailer points out, is The Screen’s FirstUnderwater 3D Thrill – or at least, it would have been had Pioneer optedto use a 3D print and throw in a couple of free green and red cardboardglasses. You can see throughout what you’re missingpeople talking onboat decks with jungle vegetation a distance behind, creature handsstealing over the water’s edge, the flat watery vistas of the lagoon andbags of underwater swimming sequences.

But even in 2D, the film remains impressive. One of the elementsresponsible is the aforementioned underwater photography, with aqualungdivers and creature playing a prolonged game of cat and mouse (with theroles constantly switching). Action switches periodically to the boatdeck or the shore, then back to the watery depths again. Hilariousmusical stinger cues tell you exactly what to think (or when to leap outof your seat).

But the best thing about the whole affair is the monster itself which,if not the best monster ever to grace the screen, may well be the bestof the Man-In-A-Suit variety. The suit, which included breathingapparatus for underwater stuntman Ricou Browning (who went on to directunderwater sequences in Thunderball), is not only fantastic to look atbut also had to withstand constant immersion in water. Designed by thepeople behind the considerably hammier mutant insect in This IslandEarth, it really is a triumph.

As for the disc, there’s much to compensate for the lack of 3D besidethe inclusion of an original trailer. The digital remastering brings tolife a print in surprisingly good condition making the black and whitepicture look stunning throughout.

Chaptering and side break are fine save for the fact that the sequence wherethe creature catches fire on the ship’s deck is on the end of side 1 (CLV)not side 2 (CAV)and did we really need the Dragonheart trailer on the endtaking up valuable CAV space when it could have come at the start of the disc?

Even with such faults, however, the gorgeous remastering ensures this is a trulyterrific disc.

Film: 5/5
Picture: 5/5
Sound: 5/5