February 24, 2010: 20 Things You May Not Have Known About The Creature From the Black Lagoon

The recent 3-D revival fad that has even found two such films nominated for Best Picture Oscars has inspired me to look back on one of the first and greatest 3-D movies. Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) is rarely screened in its original gimmicky format these days, but its iconic creature, timeless Beauty & the Beast plot, and subtle ecological themes have made Jack Arnold’s film as enduring as earlier Universal Monster hits like Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolf Man. While even those who’ve never seen the movie are well-familiar with the scaly sensation known as the Gill Man, even the most fish-frenzied fans may discover something to fascinate them among Psychobabble’s 20 Things You May Not Have Known About The Creature From the Black Lagoon!

1. Creature From the Black Lagoon was born during a party thrown by Dolores del Rio and Orson Welles while the latter was filming Citizen Kane. Cinematographer Gabriel Figeuroa entertained producer/actor William Alland (who played reporter Jerry Thompson in Kane) with stories about a mythical race of fish-men living along the Amazon River. Eleven years later, Alland hired several writers to develop treatments based on the idea, which he initially referred to as “The Sea Monster”. The project was soon re-titled The Black Lagoon.