I just enjoy little sci-fi movies dealing with matters of how science, even when used to benefit mankind, can ultimately result in danger to the public at large. In Jack Arnold's Tarantula (1955), there is a positive, not negative, intention by the scientists to help a food/hunger shortage certain to inflict harm on a growing world populace in the future. However the impatience of two of three scientists, taking it upon themselves to inject a type of nutrient created by the trio to combat hunger, with help from a radioactive isotope, into their bodies produces horrible, deadly consequences: the onset of acromegaly. Malformation in record time, even inducing psychosis, with psychical side effects quite devastating. When the second of the two dying scientists attacks Leo G Carroll with the nutrient, he awakens to find their lab partially destroyed. What he doesn't realize is that not all his large animals, with affected pituitary gland resulting in their increase in size, were burned in a fire that ruined a lot of the lab...a tarantula got free. And it is a giant, eating cattle, horses, and people!
John Agar, a B-movie icon to many of us creature feature fans, is the "hunky country doc" who has a great deal of perplexity in regards to the discovery of the first dead scientist's acromegaly body and won't let it alone although the sheriff gets tired of him questioning Carroll's diagnosis due to its improbability. How does one develop acromegaly so suddenly? Arriving is a biology student, Mara Corday, pretty but brainy, fitting the typical casting choice at the time: bun black hair, genie bottle figure with lucious hips, and sophisticated and chic costuming. Agar and Corday eventually hop in a convertible and speed away, hoping to put some distance between them and the giant spider after it demolishes Carroll's mansion (and eats him!).
Jack Arnold has endured positive revaluation. His The Incredible Shrinking Man and Creature from the Black Lagoon are classics that have left lasting legacies. I think he also left behind fun secondary B-movies like Tarantula (1955) and Return of the Creature for us to enjoy just as Saturday sci-fi darlings with a bucket of popcorn. The big spider eclipsing large swaths of Arizona desert with its imposing shadow, as unlucky town folk stumble upon it or are tending to their livestock when it emerges is just a treat for me, an ever loving monster movie fan itching for the occasional "when abnormally huge earth creatures attack" fix. Agar's pleasant personality and on-screen charm offer an appeal to go along with that. The dialogue can be amusing to listen to as well, particularly when locals react to the spider.
John Agar, a B-movie icon to many of us creature feature fans, is the "hunky country doc" who has a great deal of perplexity in regards to the discovery of the first dead scientist's acromegaly body and won't let it alone although the sheriff gets tired of him questioning Carroll's diagnosis due to its improbability. How does one develop acromegaly so suddenly? Arriving is a biology student, Mara Corday, pretty but brainy, fitting the typical casting choice at the time: bun black hair, genie bottle figure with lucious hips, and sophisticated and chic costuming. Agar and Corday eventually hop in a convertible and speed away, hoping to put some distance between them and the giant spider after it demolishes Carroll's mansion (and eats him!).
Jack Arnold has endured positive revaluation. His The Incredible Shrinking Man and Creature from the Black Lagoon are classics that have left lasting legacies. I think he also left behind fun secondary B-movies like Tarantula (1955) and Return of the Creature for us to enjoy just as Saturday sci-fi darlings with a bucket of popcorn. The big spider eclipsing large swaths of Arizona desert with its imposing shadow, as unlucky town folk stumble upon it or are tending to their livestock when it emerges is just a treat for me, an ever loving monster movie fan itching for the occasional "when abnormally huge earth creatures attack" fix. Agar's pleasant personality and on-screen charm offer an appeal to go along with that. The dialogue can be amusing to listen to as well, particularly when locals react to the spider.
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