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Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
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Gord Green
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Joined: 06 Oct 2014
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 23, 2020 9:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is the first (And only article!) about Milicent as mentioned above...from FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND.










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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Let's Create a Sequel!
________________________________

~ A Question for the Members: Could a sequel to this popular classic resolve the question many of us have; how could there be just ONE creature? If he's the last of his kind, shouldn't the movie have made that sad fact part of the drama?

~ Here's what I came up with.: How about a third sequel that follows Revenge of the Creature, and it involves another expedition to the Amazon jungle . . . which takes the surgically altered gillman back home?

Why, you may asked? Confused

Because they rescued the poor guy from the beach at the end of the third movie when he seemed to be so lonesome for the watery depths that he was about to go into the ocean — even though he didn't have gills anymore!

And if that isn't a dramatic opening for this movie, my name isn't Bud Brewster! Shocked






Let's assume that Jeff Morrow survived his apparent death at the hands of the creature after his character, an unscrupulous scientists, tries to blame his own murder of Gregg Palmer on the former gillman (now just a lungman, like the rest of us).

In this manner, Jeff Morrow avoids prosecution for his crime.

However, Morrow (for his own selfish purposes) argues that the creature's violent actions were justified because of the poor treatment it had received at the hands of humans. And he claims that the creature's actions also indicate that it possesses more intelligence than previously suspected.

Because of this, the creature is afforded more humane treatment than it had previously received, and it is also provided a series of rudimentary lessons in human behavior to stimulate its ability to interact with people. The lessons are surprising successful, and although the creature has no vocal cords (other than the ability to roar every now and then), it rapidly learns sign language and begins to communicate with the humans. Very Happy

Deprived of his ability to breath underwater, the creature forces himself to learn how to swim like humans. He spends each day learning to swim in the ocean, and by dong so he manages to burn off the fat which developed after his aquatic outer skin was burned off and surgically removed.

As a result, he slims down considerably and he stops resembling the beefy Mr. Don Megowan. He gets his slim physique back and looks more like Rico Browning again — with a little help from me and Paint.net . . . Very Happy












As his communication skills improve, the creature tells the humans about how a tribe of Amazon natives attacked his hidden aquatic community of "gill people" who lived in the Amazon river, deep in the jungle.

These natives managed to captured him, and after he's bound and carried away from his remote lagoon in the jungle, he sees the Amazon natives apparently slaughtering his family and the other members of his community! Shocked

After living in captivity for several months, many miles from his home lagoon, he finally escapes . . . but when he returns to the Black Lagoon, none of his species remained there. Sad

Hoping that some of his aquatic people survived and will come back, he remains there for several years. Sadly, they never did. Sad

When the human expedition eventually arrived at the Black Lagoon (in the first movie), the creature made a few misunderstood efforts to establish friendly relations with them. But instead of this, they hunted him ruthlessly!

Completely unable to communicate with the humans, the creature made repeated efforts to show that he was intelligent — including the tree he pushed over to block the lagoon, and his advances towards the female . . . without ever seriously threatening her, despite her reaction to his frightening appearance.






This unfortunate series of misunderstandings continued to produce tragic results until the poor creature was horribly burned and surgically stripped of both its aquatic outer skin and its gills, which forced him to use his vestigial lungs to breath! Sad





The final straw was the conflict between the humans, one of whom attempted to blame the murder of a colleague on the creature!





But as the creature continues to perfect his communication skills he gains a clearer understanding of the situation, and he cooperates with the humans' plans to use him to locate any remnants of his lost community.

Actually, however, his own plans are to rejoin his people and insure that they learn how to protect themself from the brutal nature all the humans they've encountered so far.
________________________________________________

I think my version of this story provides this proposed sequel with the depth and intelligence the previous movies have always lacked. I apologize to all the fans who feel the three movies are fine just the way they are — especial to Mr. Tom Weaver, who is devoted to the creature trilogy.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Wed Oct 19, 2022 11:13 am; edited 1 time in total
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17 Oaks
Planetary Explorer


Joined: 17 Aug 2017
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 27, 2021 10:29 am    Post subject: Re: Creature from the Black Lagoon - (1954) Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
We know that the Creature is a missing link, half man and half fish. Now we can add this new revelation concerning his complex biological nature.

He's a party animal!
Cool

Brigz wrote:
As I'm quickly perusing through this vast list of films, I just have to mention that Julie Adams, in this movie in particular, is the most beautiful woman ever ]filmed. EVER!.

Well, she's certainly easy on the eyes! Very Happy




Julie is so HOT she ought to have handles, especially those underwater scenes . . .
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 27, 2021 11:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Well, the creature seemed to think she already had plenty of convenient places to grab on to. (And I completely agree . . . Very Happy)

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~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 09, 2022 11:20 am    Post subject: Re: Creature Feature Reply with quote

Phantom wrote:
The same can be said for Revenge of the Creature. By the way, did anyone ever question how a freshwater monster is able to function in the ocean? Duel gills?

Interesting comment, Phantom. I was curious, so I googled this question.

"Are there any fish who can swim in both saltwater and freshwater?"

The answer is, "Yes". Here's what Scientific Americansays. Very Happy
____________________________________________

Fish that live in both environments retain both mechanisms. SALMON and other so-called anadromous fish species spend portions of their lives in both fresh and saltwater.
____________________________________________

The articles I read also mentioned Bull sharks could swim into rivers and travels for many miles in the fresh water.

So, I guess the star of this movie is actually The Anadromous Creature from the Black Lagoon

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Tue Sep 13, 2022 12:07 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 5:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just a pretty picture . . .


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tmlindsey
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Joined: 18 Jul 2022
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 10:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

As far as another sequel goes, there are those three white columns clearly visible in the background of the Creature's cave.

Instead of just a sloppy blooper, scientists could return to explore the long-dead Creature's lair and discover a vast, lost civilization; either ruins or active. More Creatures could exist there and maybe the one we saw was a "stray from the herd"?

Or it could have been a hidden lab for a mad scientist who created or resurrected the dormant Creature.

I know at least one of the abandoned remake ideas had the Creature the result of an experiment.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 2:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

Great Caesar's Ghost, you're righ! Shocked

I never notice the strange formations in the background. In fact, a close examination reveals that the cave is packed with features that look suspiciously man-made — or Creature-made!






Portions of the ceiling look unnatural, almost as if the concave recesses had been carved into it to create a free-form sound-baffling ceiling.







Behind Julie Adams are several white structures which appear to be hollow eroded columns.







On the right there appears to be a wall and a column constructed of rounded stones in various sizes — as if they were cemented together!


____

___________


Even the very back part of the cave looks suspiciously artificial in some ways. From the water line up to a point several yards above it are a series of vertical structures grouped into pairs of parallel lines.

They almost look like the left-and right sides of large door frames, indicating entrances to rooms beyond the cave walls.

Or perhaps the rectangular structure on the ceiling above is a drop-down door which seals a door way between the two pair of parallel structures on each side.

to the upper edge of door frame.






Tim, I think your suggestion is correct! This cave was once occupied by intelligent beings who constructed an underground civilization!

Whether the inhabitants were humans or BL Creatures is the real mystery here. Perhaps the BL Creatures were slave animals, like the Metaluna Mutant or the Mole People!

By God, Tim, NOW we've got a good sequel concept! Mr. Green

We never saw all that stuff in the scene from the movie because the camera is so much further back. Just for comparison, here's the jgeg I used above, and then the screen shot from YouTube that shows how the scene looks in the movie.

The blue rectangle on the third one shows exactly what the top one includes.








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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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tmlindsey
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 5:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I mean, it's no secret that Universal re-used a backdrop from an Abbott & Costello movie for Creature, but the sloppiness of the filmmakers not to notice (or care about) the columns is a bit surprising.

However, their mistake could be used for good Smile

I also imagine it wasn't as noticeable until the images were relentlessly cleaned up and sharpened for DVD. Digitizing old TV/movies ruins a lot of details, sometimes.

There was a film called Pirate Radio (alias The Boat That Rocked) that filmed a scene in that old style soft focus to give a female character an ethereal quality and they sharpened it right up for DVD and completely ruined the Director's intent.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 7:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

Well, I can't imagine what that backdrop was used for, but I had a ball conjuring up explanations for the fuzzy elements we can glimpse after I enhanced the image. Very Happy

While doing so, I succeeded in selling myself on the idea that the cave we see is actually the ancient remnants of an underground complex built by an advanced civilization which enslaved an aquatic pre-historic species!

In other words, the BL Creature is the last survivor of this ancient civilization. These aquatic beings were an incredibly long-lived species who served the ancient humans. But many of them somehow survived the catastrophe which wipe out their "master race" — even after they had to move their entire civilization underground.

Eventually the BL Creature became the lone survivor of his species, and he lived the last days of his existence in the Amazon region, far from the haunts of the current race of humans who now ruled the Earth after his ancient masters perished in their subterranean civilization.

Gentlemen, all this speculation has provided me with the backstory I've always felt was lacking in The Creature from The Black Lagoon. I've never understood why the celebrated film historian Tom Weaver felt compelled to write all those reference books about a film which, frankly, bored me to tears. Rolling Eyes

But I would LOVE to write the screenplay for a sequel that revealed the sad tale about a lonely ex-slave who outlived the civilization which enslaved his race for hundreds of years.

And in the sequel, I think he should look like this.





___________


And this was his nagging mother-in-law! (Click on the image to see his family album.)


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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