TARANTULA

Tarantula on the rampage!

TARANTULA (1955). Director: Jack Arnold. Colorized. 

When lab assistant "Steve" Clayton (Mara Corday) comes to work with Professor Deemer (Leo. G. Carroll) in a small desert community, she has no idea what she's getting into, and neither does the local doctor, Matt Hastings (John Agar), who falls for her. They have no clue that Deemer has been injecting animals with a synthetic nutrient that contains a radioactive isotope, and that during a fire caused by another assistant, a tarantula has escaped into the desert. Before long skeletons of cattle and humans are being found alongside huge pools of what turns out to be spider venom! 

Get out of town! Look what's coming!

Tarantula is one of the best fifties giant bug movies, done with enthusiasm and skill, and boasting some good acting, a nerve-wracking score, good FX work, and very chilling sound effects. The movie is horrific but it doesn't need to show chewed up corpses or limbs flying through the air; it gets it points across without them. A stand-out sequence is when the two prospectors or campers sort of cling to each other as the mandibles of the arachnid descend upon them, and we mustn't forget the sight of the stupendous spider just waiting on the top of a hill before it moves downward towards some horses and the unfortunate rancher who owns them. Then there's the spider advancing on Professor Deemer's house and peeking in, mouth parts working, on "Steve" before it demolishes the entire house. And the spider moving across the valley floor as the terrified inhabitants can only helplessly watch its inexorable progress. 

Edwin Rand, Corday, Agar, Paiva

Agar, Carroll and Corday are stalwarts who play the roles straight and are all the better for it. Nestor Paiva of The Mole People is especially good as the town's sheriff, and Hank Patterson ("it's gettin' to be a fast world" he says as he observes how quickly Steve and Matt make each other's acquaintance) adds some welcome humor as the hotel clerk, Josh. Others in the cast include Ross Elliot [The Adventures of Superboy] as a reporter, Raymond Bailey (Mr. Drysdale of The Beverly Hillbillies) as a scientist named Townsend, and Clint Eastwood in a bit as a pilot. There have been many movies about giant spiders since the long-ago release of Tarantula, but most of them are campy and grisly stinkers  This remains the best monster arachnid movie. NOTE: This is not to be confused with Bert I. Gordon's Earth vs. the Spider, which is fun but not quite as good.

Verdict: Once that humongous spider starts moving, watch out! Even creepier in color!  ***. 

THE BLACK SCORPION

The voracious black scorpion

THE BLACK SCORPION (1957). Director: Edward Ludwig. Colorized. 

The eruption of a volcano in Mexico causes enough loss of life, but things are made much worse by the emergence of gigantic man-eating scorpions from suspended animation. Rancher Teresa Alvarez (Mara Corday of Naked Gun) and geologists named Hank (Richard Denning of Assignment Redhead) and Artur (Carlos Rivas of Machete) help Dr. Velazco (Carlos Muzquiz) and the military wipe out the monsters, but one gargantuan scorpion -- a black scorpion -- survives to wipe out any others and then advances on heavily populated Mexico City. 

The Black Scorpion downs a copter!

The Black Scorpion is one of the zestier -- and grimmer -- giant bug features that came out in the wake of Them! Stop-motion animation work by Willis O'Brien of King Kong fame and Pete  Peterson helps create some very lively, scuttling horrors to give the creeps to the audience, and the close-ups of the salivating monstrosities with their movable fangs are also unnerving, especially when accompanied by the rattling, scary sound FX. One scene in particular -- an attack on a train when the giant pincers of the scorpions pick out hapless, screeching passengers to devour and tear apart -- is a vision of hell. 

Mara Corday, Carlos Rivas, Richard Denning

The colorizing process makes the movie seem even more intense and horrifying, although it can't compensate for the fact that some of the sequences are underlit. Other highlights of the film include a tense business with a scorpion grabbing hold of a cable and nearly pulling a crane down into an abyss, and the exploration of said abyss with its scorpions, giant worms and so on, An unintentionally comical moment occurs when Dr. Velazco says that the monsters "are somewhat slow and lethargic," which scene after scene proves is definitely not the case! The Black Scorpion has a standard B movie cast and all are perfectly okay even if they offer nothing more than what is indicated in the script. Paul Sawtell offers an eerie and effective score.

Verdict: Absorbing monster movie with more than decent FX work. ***. 

THE GIANT CLAW -- IN COLOR!

Mara Corday and Jeff Morrow

THE GIANT CLAW (1957). Director: Fred F. Sears. Colorized. 

"I don't care if that bird comes from outer space or Upper Saddle River, New Jersey!"

Pilot and engineer Mitch MacAfee (Jeff Morrow), mathematician Sally Caldwell (Mara Corday), Lt General Considine (Morris Ankrum), and General Buskirk (Robert Shayne) are understandably alarmed when an unidentified flying object turns out to be a gargantuan bird from outer space that is snatching airliners and military planes out of the sky. Worse, the bird has an anti-matter shield that protects it from missiles, bombs and bullets. As MacAfee and Dr. Noymann (Edgar Barrier) try to come up with a method to get through the monster's shield, the bird snatches trains and autos off of the earth after all planes are grounded. Then Mitch and Sally come across the creature's nest -- and an egg!

The big bird takes Manhattan!

Apparently there was talk of Ray Harryhausen being called in to provide a stop-motion monster for this movie, and one can only imagine how exciting the picture would have been had the producers been able to afford him. Instead they came up with a cheap little puppet that is somewhat creepy but also rather comical, making the movie hard to take seriously. That's a shame, because The Giant Claw has a good and disquieting premise and several decent sequences. 

The big bird protects its offspring

There's the attack on the nest, which also involves a French-Canadian named Pierre (Louise Merrill), who thinks the bird is a horrible supernatural creature and predicts his own death. The climax when Mitch frantically struggles to complete the machine that will dissipate the anti-matter shield as the bird rapidly pursues their plane is quite suspenseful. And then there are those poor scientists who wind up caught in the bird's mouth and get swallowed up like worms. There's lots of stock destruction footage from such as Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (also directed bn Fred Sears) and other monster movies, along with stock music from It Came from Beneath the Sea and other productions. None of this matters because The Giant Claw is a lot of amusing fun. While it may not make the monster look any better, the colorizing process works well for the movie. 

Verdict: A hoot and a holler! ***. 

NAKED GUN (1956)

NAKED GUN (1956). Director: Eddie Dew. 

Insurance agent Breen Matthews (Willard Parker) comes into the wild west town of Topaz with a chest of treasure from the late members of the Salazar family. The town is essentially run by the hanging Judge Cole (Billy House) and saloon owner Joe Barnum (Barton MacLane). Barnum sells his bar to unsuspecting newcomers, who are then hung on trumped up charges by Cole, after which Barnum reclaims his bar and keeps the money from the sale. The latest sap is Sonny Glenn (Tom Brown), who has a reputation as a card shark which may or may not be deserved. His main squeeze is the hard-boiled Susan (Veda Ann Borg), and into Topaz comes another female, Louisa (Mara Corday), who is the niece of Sheriff Jackson (Morris Ankrum) and hopes to sing in the saloon. Then the treasure chest is stolen, a certain party is hung, and anyone participating in such a foul deed winds up stabbed to death as Naked Gun turns into a western slasher!

Mara Corday has at Veda Ann Borg

One of the most notable things about Naked Gun is that it has an absolutely incredible B movie cast. Veda Ann Borg of The Shadow, Morris Ankrum of Earth vs the Flying Saucers, Mara Corday of Tarantula, Tom Brown of The Adventures of Smilin' Jack, Chick Chandler of Soldiers of Fortune and The Lost Continent, Rick Vallin of Batman and Robin and Barton MacLane of Unknown Island. Willard Parker was Rosalind Russell's leading man in What a Woman and also starred in The Earth Dies Screaming and he's fine as the laconic hero in this. The whole thing has a TV show-type feel and is directed with little inspiration, but the actors are game enough and there's a zesty, if too brief, cat-fight between Corday and Borg at the halfway point. Billy House makes an unusual hanging judge and isn't quite satisfactory in the role, but Timothy Carey as a gunman is as quirky, twitchy  and charismatic as ever. 

Verdict: Surprising just how entertaining this B western really is. ***. 

UNDERSEA GIRL

Florence Marly and the gang

UNDERSEA GIRL (1957). Director: John Peyser.  

Members of a gang led by Sam Marvin (Ralph Clanton) are after loot that comes from a sunken Navy ship. Reporter Valerie Hudson (Mara Corday of Tarantula) is trying to get info for her story from Lt. Mike Travis (Dan Seymour) and Naval investigator Brad Chase (Pat Conway), Val's on again/off again boyfriend. Apparently Brad wants Val to stop this foolishness and just shut up and marry him. Meanwhile Sam's girlfriend, Leila (Florence Marly) seems to be playing him against nasty Eric Nelson (Myron Healey of Panther Girl of the Kongo), who has his own plans for the money hidden in an underwater cave.

Pat Conway and Mara Corday

Well I won't quite say that watching Undersea Girl is like watching paint dry, but it's not all that much better. You would think a movie with gangs, hidden treasure, underwater attacks and murder, a gun moll and a brash lady reporter would be a lot more interesting than it is. Corday gives her usual spirited performance; Florence Marley is as odd as ever; Pat Conway -- son of director Jack Conway -- is okay as the hero; he was also in Deadly Mantis but had mostly television credits. Myron Healey actually does some of his best work as the sociopathic and slimy Nelson. Undersea Girl plays like a low-budget and uninspired TV production, which comes as no great surprise as director John Peyser mostly helmed episodes of TV shows. 

Verdict: Even Florence Marley  of Queen of Blood can't save this one! **. 

TARANTULA

The spider plans a midnight snack at the ranch

TARANTULA (1955). Director: Jack Arnold. 

Professor Deemer (Leo G. Carroll) is conducting experiments with a food supplement in an isolated Arizona laboratory. The food supplement makes baby animals reach adulthood much sooner, and it also increases their size. During a fire one of the lab experiments, a tarantula the size of a large dog, escapes into the desert, where it rapidly grows to tremendous proportions and begins snacking on cows, horses, and people. Dr. Hastings (John Agar of Bait), Deemer's pretty assistant, Stephanie (Mara Corday), and Sheriff Andrews (Nestor Paiva) discover this all too clearly when the spider demolishes Deemer's house then -- as big as a mountain-- advances on the town itself!

Peekaboo! The big spider looks for a meal

After the success of the giant ant movie Them, there was no doubt that more giant insect/arachnid films would be in the offing, and Tarantula was the first of them and probably the best. Although the process work is imperfect, the monster looks and acts a lot better than the giant spiders in modern low-budget CGI offerings. With a creepy, suspenseful musical score, Tarantula also manages to work up plenty of chills as the creature advances on a ranch, overturns a truck, corners two fleeing hobos who huddle together in horror as it bears down upon them, and in a bravura sequence approaches Deemer's mansion and prepares to tear it apart after first spying on Stephanie in her bedroom, its mouth parts moving back and forth expectantly in the window.

One friggin' big spider!

Tarantula is able to get across the horror of its concept without throwing one severed limb at the viewer after another or becoming too gross to be amusing, although there is some gruesome stuff involving skeletons and huge pools of spider venom. The performances are more than adequate, and the byplay between characters is often intentionally comical. The sound FX for the creature are typically disquieting. Clint Eastwood has a bit part as a pilot who drops napalm on the spider as it moves rapidly towards the town. John Agar did a number of sci fi films, and Mara Corday did a few more monster movies as well. Two years later Jack Arnold would deal with another tarantula when he helmed The Incredible Shrinking Man. 

Verdict: Entertaining semi-classic creature feature. ***.