Revenge of the Creature

Revenge of the Creature

Directed by Jack Arnold
Produced by William Alland
Written by Story:
William Alland
Screenplay:
Martin Berkeley
Starring John Agar
Lori Nelson
Music by Herman Stein
Cinematography Charles S. Welbourne
Edited by Paul Weatherwax
Production
company
Distributed by Universal-International
Release dates
  • March 23, 1955 (1955-03-23)

(Denver premiere)[1]
May 13, 1955 (general release)[2]

Running time
 82 min
Country United States
Language English
Box office $1.1 million (US)[3]

Revenge of the Creature (aka Return of the Creature and Return of the Creature from the Black Lagoon) is the first sequel to Creature from the Black Lagoon, being the only 3-D film released in 1955 and the only 3-D sequel to a 3-D film released during "the golden age of 3-D". Directed by Jack Arnold, the film stars John Agar and Lori Nelson.

Revenge of the Creature premiered in Denver on March 23, 1955[1] and a 2-D sequel, The Creature Walks Among Us, followed it in 1956.

Plot

Having previously survived being riddled with bullets, the Gill-man is captured and sent to the Ocean Harbor Oceanarium in Florida, where he is studied by animal psychologist Professor Clete Ferguson (John Agar) and ichthyology student Helen Dobson (Lori Nelson).

Helen and Clete quickly begin to fall in love, much to the chagrin of Joe Hayes (John Bromfield), the Gill-man's keeper. The Gill-man takes an instant liking to Helen, which severely hampers Professor Ferguson's efforts to communicate with him. Ultimately, the Gill-man escapes from his tank, killing Joe in the process, and flees to the open ocean.

Unable to stop thinking about Helen, the Gill-man soon begins to stalk her and Ferguson, ultimately abducting her from a seaside restaurant where the two are at a party. Clete tries to give chase, but the Gill-man escapes to the water with his captive. Clete and police arrive and when the creature surfaces, police riddle his body with bullets and Clete saves Helen.

Actor Role
John Agar Prof. Clete Ferguson
Lori Nelson Helen Dobson
John Bromfield Joe Hayes
Nestor Paiva Lucas
Grandon Rhodes Jackson Foster
Dave Willock Lou Gibson
Robert Williams George Johnson
Charles Cane Police Captain
Robert F. Hoy Charlie
Brett Halsey Pete
Ricou Browning Gill-man (Underwater)
Tom Hennesy Gill-man (Land and in water)
Jere A. Beery, Sr. News Photographer (tank side)
Patsy Lee Beery Girl Necking in Car
Clint Eastwood Lab Technician Jennings (Uncredited)

Production

Ginger Stanley did underwater stunts in the first two movies.

Using the working titles of Return of the Creature and Return of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, filming took place at the Marineland of Florida which played the part of the film's Ocean Harbor Oceanarium. The St. Johns River stood in for the Amazon in the film.[4]

The Lobster House restaurant where the Creature kidnaps Lori Nelson was located in Jacksonville, Florida. It was destroyed by fire in 1962. The Diamondhead Restaurant (now the River City Brewing Co.) was built adjacent to the site where the old Lobster House once stood. Friendship Park was built on the vacant land near where the Lobster House stood.[5]

During the attack by the Creature on the Lobster House, a clock hangs above the entrance that suddenly jumps ahead two hours during the Creature's attack. This is a continuity error resulting from the heat from the production equipment tripping the sprinkler system in the restaurant shortly after the scene started. The extras, mostly workers from the nearby Independent Life Insurance Company, were drenched, along with the production equipment, and the extras had to go home and change while the equipment was dried, which resulted in the time difference.[6]

Revenge of the Creature marks the screen debut for Clint Eastwood, who appears uncredited as a lab technician named "Jennings" early in the story. He is shown having a discussion with Professor Ferguson, accusing a test subject cat of eating a lab rat, only to find that his character had in fact accidentally put the lab rat in his lab coat pocket.[2]

Reception

Critically reviewed in The New York Times, Revenge of the Creature was dismissed as a fourth-rate sequel with the comment, "... away we go, as before." Other than some interesting sequences involving the setting, "What is probably the most unusual aquarium in the world makes a nice, picturesque background indeed ..." the review was dismissive of the production.[7][8]

Although Revenge of the Creature has been broadcast on television in red-and-blue-glasses anaglyph form (e.g., in 1982 in the San Francisco Bay area), it was originally shown in theaters by the polarized light method and viewed through glasses with gray polarizing filters. A "flat" version without 3D was also released.[9]

In 1997, Revenge of the Creature was mocked in an episode of the comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Home media

Universal released Revenge of the Creature on DVD in a boxed set along with Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Creature Walks Among Us, and added a bonus behind-the-scenes documentary on the famous trilogy.

See also

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 Furmanek, Bob and Greg Kintz. "An In-Depth Look at Creature from the Black Lagoon." 3dfilmarchive.com, 2012. Retrieved: November 19, 2013.
  2. 1 2 Schickel 2012, p. 283.
  3. ↑ 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1955', Variety Weekly, January 25, 1956
  4. ↑ "Locations: 'Revenge of the Creature' (1955)." The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved: July 4, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Former site of The Lobster House (Jacksonville, Florida); destroyed." Wikimapia. Retrieved: July 4, 2015.
  6. ↑ Weaver et al. 2014, p. 193.
  7. ↑ Thompson, Howard, H. "Movie review: 'Revenge of the Creature' (1955); Gill Is loose, again." The New York Times, May 14, 1955.
  8. ↑ Weaver et al. 2014, p. 205.
  9. ↑ Weaver et al. 2014, p. 203.

Bibliography

  • Schickel, Richard. Clint: A Retrospective. New York: Sterling, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4027-9704-0.
  • Weaver, Tom, David Schecter and Steve Kronenberg. The Creature Chronicles: Exploring the Black Lagoon Trilogy. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc., 2014. ISBN 978-0-7864-9418-7.
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