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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Monday, August 14, 2017

The Creature Walks Among Us (1956)

Starring Jeff Morrow, Rex Reason, Leigh Snowden, Gregg Palmer, Maurice Manson
Directed by John Sherwood
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A wealthy scientist, obsessed with controlling what he owns, including his young wife, plans to recapture the Gill-Man and transform him into an evolved form of life.

The second sequel to Creature From The Black Lagoon is an improvement on the previous film, Revenge Of The Creature, staging much of its action in the Florida Everglades, where the Creature, hidden beneath the murky surface, becomes a predatory threat, with underwater photography to rival that in the original film.  It also takes the story further in a unique direction, with the creature becoming less bestial and more tragic as he is robbed of his gills and forced to live on land.  Although Snowden is given a progressive role as a woman concerned with her own needs and seeking to distance herself from both Morrow's controlling husband and Palmer's obsession with her, it's too bad and rather surprising she doesn't have any meaningful scenes with the Creature.  I think the film's strongest plusses are the speculative screenplay by Arthur Ross and the adept music score which paints a different palette than the past two films, featuring a memorable jazz theme for Snowden, and some terrifically suspenseful cues.

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