Film Forum

U.S., 1954
Directed by Jack Arnold
Starring Richard Carlson, Julie Adams, Richard Denning
Approx. 87 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 restoration 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 on playing on the fears of the average human being — as Speilberg did in the seventies with JAWS and Speilberg 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