• THEM! (1954) (a film retrospective by Mark R. Leeper)

    From Mark Leeper@21:1/5 to All on Mon Nov 23 07:29:51 2020
    THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS did well enough for Warner Brothers
    that they followed it up with another monster film, THEM! In fact,
    THEM! was one of the better Fifties science fiction films and one
    of only a handful that are still fairly effective forty years after
    it was made due in large part to some very intelligent script
    choices. The style of the film begins as a straightforward police
    procedural in which the killer turns out to be giant mutated ants.
    The feel of the drama is no less than one would find in "Dragnet."
    The terrible poster used in the ad campaign gives away that this is
    a monster movie. But with the exception of the comic scientist,
    the parts are all played with grim realism.

    Certainly the opening does not immediately give a clue of what is
    to come. A girl is found wandering in the desert of New Mexico.
    The police investigate as they would a human crime and besides some
    odd clues there is no evidence that the police are not dealing with
    human criminals. Investigating is Police Sergeant Ben Peterson
    (played by James Whitmore) and his partner. As the police
    investigated keep finding apparent crime scenes and odd clues. The
    partner is killed after having been left at a crime scene. One of
    the first victims was an FBI agent, so another agent is assigned to
    the case, Robert Graham played by James Arness. Arness had been in
    two previous science fiction films: TWO LOST WORLDS and more
    notably in the title role of THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD. The
    plot unfolds tensely, but has time to have several comic vignettes.
    Some of the comedy involves Edmund Gwenn as an entomologist brought
    in to when somebody discovers that the clues point to giant ants.
    Joan Weldon appears as his daughter, also a scientist. Reportedly
    one of the minor players built an entire career on this film.
    Walt Disney--who reportedly was a fan of THEM!--saw Fess Parker
    and decided he would be a good Davy Crockett.

    Some of the touches have their problems. Multiple times ant
    footprints are found, but always singly. Do ants hop on one foot?
    In the ant colony, Whitmore's and Arness's voices are muffled by
    their breathing gear, but Joan Weldon's voice seems to be clear and
    unmuffled. The ant props are surprisingly well-handled to give the
    impression of many more ants were than props than there actually
    were. In fact, there is only one and a half adult ant mock-up built
    for the film and half of another that were used in the films. The
    audience never sees more than one ant and a half ant in any one
    scene. The film was made in color, by the way, and the ants were
    purple. THEM! was released in black and white and that probably
    helps the tension of the film.

    BEST TOUCH: The combination of realism with the science fictional
    plot.

    WORST TOUCH: The usual expository lectures about ant natural
    history seem particularly awkward.

    This film stands up very well today because it was taken seriously
    by the filmmakers. I rate it a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.

    Film Credits:
    <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047573/reference>

    What others are saying:
    <https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1021186-them>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From T987654321@21:1/5 to All on Fri Dec 18 08:25:50 2020
    The best of the mutant insect genera.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)