DVD Review: Tarantula (1955)
Another Looong DVD Review by Joe Torcivia
“Tarantula”, as
reviewed here, is not actually on a DVD of its own, but leads off a collection
that is a literal treasure trove of Universal International Pictures ‘50s
Sci-Fi films – called “The Classic Sci-Fi
Collection: Volumes One & Two”, released in 2008.
“Tarantula”
is one of several Universal ‘50s “fear-fests” to be directed by the legendary
Jack Arnold. More on him later! Now, on
with the show…
The suspicious death, in the Arizona desert, of an associate
of eccentric scientist Professor Gerald Deemer from sudden acromegaly arouses
the curiosity of Jack Andrews the local sheriff and dashing young Doctor Matt
Hastings. (In ‘50s Sci-Fi, weren’t ALL
doctors dashing and young? …Except the
old and stuffy ones, who never got the lead roles, anyway!)
 |
| "Dashing", "Stuffy", and "Pretty" - -The Three "Fifties Food Groups"! |
Though the initial questioning leads nowhere, Prof. Deemer
is indeed up to something. Employing
nutrient formulas of his own design, Deemer has created huge rats, guinea pigs,
and even the titular tarantula, all for the purpose of meeting the ever-growing
demand for food in the future years of 1975 and 2000. (He mentions those particular
years by name.)
 |
| Hmmm... Guess it worked TOO well! |
…Now, I’ve lived through 1975 and 2000 (and suspect many of
you have as well), and never once do I recall being famished enough to consider
trying rat, guinea pig, or spider meat!
Though “spider meat” DOES have
some potential as a vocal…
(Sing the
theme-song with me! “Spider-meat!
Spider-meat! …Beats
annn-eeee-thing that you could eat!”)
 |
| Look-out... Here comes the Spider-meeeat! |
At least, in THIS similarly-themed Carl Barks-written JUNIOR
WOODCHUCKS story, it was the more logical choice of TURKEYS that were grown
large for food. That, I could go
for! The …um, “big birds” (and an
accidentally injected dog) also panicked the countryside, leading me to wonder
if the movie “Tarantula” ever crossed
the path of Carl Barks.
Another associate, doomed to acromegaly by Deemer’s formula,
attacks Deemer before dying, with the expected lab fires and explosions
resulting from the struggle. In the
chaos, the experimental tarantula escapes Deemer’s lab (though it is presumed
lost in the fires, as were his other subjects), and grows to gigantic
proportions!
 |
| Did you REALLY think it would remain in its cage?! ...REALLY?! |
Stephanie (“Steve”) Clayton comes to join the Deemer Project
as yet another assistant (Gulp!), and she has the expected ‘50s Sci-Fi sort of
romance with (dashing young) Dr. Hastings.
(Double Gulp!)
 |
| Ah, the FIFTIES! We thought they'd never end! |
Eventually, they encounter the giant tarantula on the
desert, feeding on whatever life it can find (animal or human) and the behemoth
begins its slow crawl toward the town!
Along the way, it stops to demolish Deemer’s desert compound – offing
Deemer who, in accordance with the Laws
of Poetic Justice, has contracted acromegaly himself as a result of his
struggle with his now-dead second associate.
 |
| The Ending Sequence Unfolds! |
Hastings and the Sheriff fail to stop the advancing arachnid
with a truckload of dynamite, but their back-up plan – a napalm strike,
courtesy of a conveniently nearby Air Force base – succeeds in killing the
tarantula at what appears to be mere yards from the town.
 |
| Yaayyyy! Got 'im! |
Indeed, as we abruptly fade out with the words “THE END”
superimposed over the blazing tarantula corpse, the FIRE would seem to pose a greater
danger than the monster – and is poised to consume the town, though the
residents (cheering the “success” of the napalm strike) scarcely seem to notice
it.
 |
| Shouldn't somebody put that FIRE out? |
As is our custom in these reviews, we’ll break it into CONS
and PROS.
The CONS:
Assuming you
are capable of enjoying a ‘50s Sci-Fi film about a giant spider running
amok, there are no CONS to speak of.
 |
| You got a PROBLEM with this? ...Didn't THINK SO! |
The PROS:
It’s ‘50s Sci-Fi:
That means you’re in for a wild ride (often – but not always – in Black
and White), with stalwart heroes facing down monsters, aliens, bizarre
mutations, and any other strange phenomena the screenwriters could come up
with. The general feeling is not unlike
that freewheeling Sci-Fi / Adventure period for television during the early to
mid-sixties. The rules, such as they
were, were being made up before your eyes – and what a glorious sight it was.
 |
| Yaaaaah! It's the Black and White FIFTIES! |
Jack Arnold: This
legendary director of ‘50s Sci-Fi films for Universal was the unique talent
behind some of the best-known genre films of the decade: “It Came From Outer Space” (1953), “The
Creature From the Black Lagoon” (1954), its first sequel “Revenge of the
Creature” (1955), “The Incredible Shrinking Man” (1957), and much more…
including “Tarantula”. On TV, he was
best known for directing GILLIGAN’S ISLAND, among many other shows.
What Jack Arnold did for the ‘50s Big Screen certainly
appears to have influenced what Irwin Allen later did for the ‘60s Small Screen
in more ways than I can count. Needless
to say, both men hold a special place in my personal Hall of Fame!
 |
| Arnold: The Incredible Shrinking Man |
 |
| Allen: Land of the Giants |
 |
| Arnold: Creature from the Black Lagoon |
 |
| Allen: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: "The Thing from Inner Space" |
The Cast:
John Agar as “Doctor Matt Hastings”.
Mara Corday as “Stephanie (‘Steve’) Clayton”.
Leo G. Carroll (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) as “Professor
Gerald Deemer”.
Nestor Paiva as “Sheriff Jack Andrews”.
John Agar made his film debut in the John Wayne / John Ford
film “Fort Apache” (1948). After more such work, Agar later reinvented
himself as one of ‘50s Sci-Fi’s prototypical leading men – a class that would
also include actors like Richard Carlson, Kenneth Toby, Grant Williams, Jeff
Morrow, Rex and Rhodes Reason, David Hedison, and others.
He’d eventually return to Wayne pictures with
minor roles in such later films as “The
Undefeated” (1969), “Chisum”
(1970), and “Big Jake” (1971). Along the way, he was married to Shirley
Temple, who he presumably met while filming “Fort Apache”.
 |
| Yes, SIR! |
Agar’s ‘50s Sci-Fi credits include: Jack Arnold’s “Revenge of the Creature” (1955), “The Mole People” (1956, marking at least the third time Agar worked
with Nestor Paiva), and the unforgettable “The
Brain from Planet Arous” (1957).
His
good looks and easy-going manner make him, perhaps, my favorite of the (dashing
young) ‘50s Sci-Fi male lead actors. (…That’s
assuming you count David Hedison as more of a “television actor”.)
 |
| TV or not TV? Whadda you think? |
I’ll also throw a shout-out to Nestor Paiva for some
extremely diverse character acting. In “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” and
its sequel “Revenge of the Creature”,
Paiva was delightfully over the top as the Latin American skipper of the boats
“RITA” and “RITA II” that traveled the Amazon in search of the Creature.
 |
| Nestor Pavia (Top, and right with John Agar) |
In “The
Mole People”, he was an aging and emotional scientist. And, in “Tarantula”,
he was a perfectly white-bread, middle-aged sheriff. Better range than you’d expect by looking at
him. Indeed, you’d probably never
associate his “Creature” roles with “Tarantula”!
 |
| I'd a NEVER THOUGHT it was the same guy! Fancy that! ...Blub! |
Extra Features: As
part of a ten-movie set, you’d expect Extras to be few and far between, but we
do have a…
Theatrical Trailer for “Tarantula”
(01:53)
Close-up on Stephanie (“Steve”) Clayton screaming! Cue the large on-screen TEXT:
More TERRIFYING than any horror known to man, comes a CREEPING
CRAWLING MONSTER whose TOWERING FURY no one can escape –
“TARANTULA”… Science
Fiction’s most TERRIFYING THRILL!
DIALOGUE: John Agar’s “Doctor Matt Hastings” and another
scientist:
“But, what if
circumstances were to magnify one of them… it’s size and strength… took it out
of its primitive world, and turned it loose in ours?”
“Then, expect
something that’s fiercer, more cruel and deadly, than anything that ever walked
the Earth!”
VOICE OVER by Dick Tufeld (Beloved to us as the voice of the Robot
on LOST IN SPACE):
 |
| Long BEFORE Will Robinson, I was warning of "Danger!" |
“Even science was
stunned! The new atomic miracle should
have been mankind’s greatest boon.
Instead, when such power to cause phenomenal growth proved dangerously
unstable, man was confronted with his most shocking blunder…
“...A blunder that
transformed a tiny insect into the hundred-foot spider that was now ravaging
the panic stricken countryside!”
TEXT resumes: “BULLETS
can’t stop it… DYNAMITE can’t kill it…
 |
| Dynamite ain't "Dy-No-Mite!" when it comes to killing Tarantulas. |
John Agar, Mara Corday, Leo G. Carroll in “TARANTULA” from Universal International.
General Oddities:
According to the DVD commentary track on “The Creature Walks Among Us” (1956, the
only “Black Lagoon Creature” film Jack Arnold didn’t direct) Professor Deemer’s
house and grounds were the same house and grounds on which Jeff Morrow
imprisoned the captive, now-air-breathing creature.
 |
| Feelin' LUCKY, Spider-Punk?! |
A young and uncredited Clint Eastwood led the Air Force
napalm strike on the spider. He must
have enjoyed bringing about all that fiery death! An also-uncredited Eastwood appeared in Jack
Arnold’s “Revenge of the Creature”
(1955), as a lab assistant. “Revenge of the Creature”, as noted above,
starred John Agar and featured Nestor Paiva.
…Small world!
Overall:
“Tarantula” may
not be the best ‘50s Sci-Fi film (my nomination is “Forbidden Planet”, 1956),
but it is far from the worst. And, as I
suspect most of you know, even the “worst” of ‘50s Sci-Fi is something to behold! I’d call it an enjoyable “upper-middling-effort”,
and be satisfied with that.
Its director, Jack Arnold, was one of the best and most
imaginative of the period – not to mention hugely influential on Sci-Fi
television series in the decade to come.
Its star, John Agar, was a likable, solid staple of the
genre.
And its monster, despite what we’d likely view today as
laughable filming techniques, elicited that special sort of ‘50s Sci-Fi chills
of fun!
From a film about a giant rampaging spider, you can’t ask
for more than that!
Not only “Tarantula”,
but the ENTIRE PACKAGE assembled by Universal Home Entertainment, called “The Classic Sci-Fi Collection: Volumes One
& Two”, is highly recommended for sci-fi fans wise and discerning enough
to accept a dash of fun with their entertainment.
