Film Forum

U.S., 1954
Directed by Jack Arnold
Starring Richard Carlson, Julie Adams, Richard Denning
Approx. 79 mins. 3-D restoration courtesy Universal Pictures.

Pre-JAWS underwater terror as intrepid scientists search the Amazon for clues to the Missing Link and its prehistoric past, but find instead a “Gill Man” with both a nasty streak and a healthy fascination with Julie Adams and her tight white bathing suit.

-- PLUS EXTRA ADDED ATTRACTION!

SPOOKS
U.S., 1953
Directed by Jules White
Starring Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard A.K.A. The Three Stooges
Approx. 16 min. 3-D DCP courtesy Sony Pictures.

It's the 3-D Stooges to the rescue as a mad scientist and his assistant menace a frightened girl in an old dark house. Even non-Stooges fans will be impressed by the special effects (a whole arsenal of objects comin' at ya) in the best 3-D short of the 50s.

Reviews

“Director Arnold was an early pioneer of the art of playing on the fears of the average human being—as Spielberg did in the seventies with JAWS and Spielberg was reportedly heavily influenced by the brooding, menacing style of Arnold’s atmospheric film…Strong on atmosphere and plot, but with a low budget, AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE OF HOW TO MAKE A GOOD MONSTER MOVIE.”
– Phil Hardy

“The 3-D lensing adds to the eerie effects of the underwater footage, as well as to the monster’s several appearances on land. The below-water scraps between skin divers and the prehistoric thing are thrilling and will pop goose pimples on the susceptible fan.”
– Variety (1954)

“The routine story is mightily improved by Arnold's sure sense of atmospheric locations and by the often sympathetic portrait of the monster.”
– Time Out (London)

“Archetypal 50s science fiction…Jack Arnold has a flair for this sort of thing.”
– Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader