The last of the Universal Monsters - The Creature from the Black Lagoon
The Universal monsters began with Frankenstein in 1931. What became the first crossover cinematic universe expanded through the Depression, the Second World War, and into the fifties (though by then, the universe had run its course) and wrapped up with three films featuring the subject of the current film. They began with a bang and finished with a triumph of creature design, atmosphere, and even a couple of thought-provoking turns. I caught all three of the Creature trilogy a couple of times on TV in the seventies and saw the first entry in 3-D for the first time in the mid-80s. I saw it more recently a few days ago, and my goodness, it’s a good looking film and the 3-D worked. What also worked is the atmosphere of the film and how it held all the other pieces together. The film runs at an efficient 79 minutes but hardly feels rushed. The pacing is deliberate and while we see the hand of the Creature twice, we don’t see him in full until a jump cut in an underwater ...