Them!

Last updated

Them!
Them02.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Gordon Douglas
Screenplay by Ted Sherdeman
Russell Hughes (adaptation)
Story by George Worthing Yates
Produced by David Weisbart
Starring James Whitmore
Edmund Gwenn
Joan Weldon
James Arness
Cinematography Sidney Hickox
Edited byThomas Reilly
Music by Bronislau Kaper
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release dates
  • June 16, 1954 (1954-06-16)(New York) [1]
  • June 18, 1954 (1954-06-18)(US)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2.2 million (rentals) [2]

Them! is a 1954 American black-and-white science fiction monster film from Warner Bros. Pictures, produced by David Weisbart, directed by Gordon Douglas, and starring James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, and James Arness. [3] The film is based on an original story treatment by George Worthing Yates, which was then developed into a screenplay by Ted Sherdeman and adaptation by Russell Hughes.

Contents

Them! is one of the first of the 1950s "nuclear monster" films, and the first "big bug" feature film to use insects as the monster.

A nest of gigantic irradiated ants is discovered in the New Mexico desert; they quickly become a national threat when it is discovered that two young queen ants and their consorts have escaped to establish new nests. The national search that follows finally culminates in a battle with Them in the concrete spillways and storm drain system of Los Angeles.

Plot

New Mexico State Police Sgt. Ben Peterson and his partner, Ed Blackburn, discover a little girl in a catatonic state wandering the desert near Alamogordo. After they summon assistance, an ambulance arrives. While inside, the girl reacts unnoticed by the adults to a pulsating high-pitched sound coming from the desert by sitting upright, eyes open -- and then she lies back as the noise ceases. Later that night at a rural general store, the officers stumble upon the owner's dead body. Peterson leaves Blackburn behind to secure the crime scene. Upon hearing a strange, pulsating sound outside, Blackburn goes to investigate. Gunshots are heard, then screams. Days later, FBI Agent Robert Graham arrives to investigate. Additionally, the Department of Agriculture sends myrmecologists Drs. Harold Medford and daughter Pat to lend assistance. Medford exposes the little girl to formic acid fumes, characteristic of ants. The odor releases her from her catatonia. In panic, she cries, "Them! Them!"

Peterson accompanies Graham and the Medfords to the location where the girl was first discovered. There, Pat encounters a giant foraging ant. Following Medford's orders, Peterson and Graham shoot off the ant's antennae, blinding and killing it with a submachine gun. Medford theorizes that giant ants, mutated by radiation from the first atomic bomb test near Alamogordo, are responsible for the area's deaths. A helicopter search ensues, and the giant ants' nest is found. Cyanide gas bombs are tossed inside before Graham, Peterson, and Pat check for survivors. Inside, Pat finds evidence that two queens have hatched and escaped to establish new colonies. A worldwide search is begun. One queen and its offspring are discovered aboard a freighter sailing from Acapulco, with no survivors among the crew. The freighter is subsequently sunk by the Navy.

Graham and Pat then travel to Brownsville, Texas, to interrogate a civilian pilot, committed to a mental hospital after claiming he was forced down by UFOs shaped like giant ants. A later report sends the investigators west to a Los Angeles hospital, where one patient claims he has seen giant ants in the drainage system outside his window. The mutilated body of a father is found, but his two young sons are missing. With help from Graham, the Medfords, and the armed forces, Peterson searches inside the drain system for the two boys. He finds them trapped by the ants near their nest. He calls for reinforcements and lifts the boys to safety, just before being attacked and killed by a giant ant. Graham arrives with the military and kills the ant. Later, they find the remaining queen and her hatchlings. The Medfords sanction their destruction and the ants are dispatched via flamethrowers, as Pat's father considers the possible consequences of all the other atomic tests in the 9 years since Trinity.

Cast

Cast notes

Production

Opening title card with the background in black and white and Them! in red and blue Themtitle.jpg
Opening title card with the background in black and white and Them! in red and blue

When Them! began production in the fall of 1953, it was originally conceived to be in 3D and Warner Color. During pre-production, test shots in color and 3D were made. A few color tests of the large-scale ant models were also made, but when it was time to shoot the 3D test, Warner Bros.' "All Media" 3D camera rig malfunctioned and no footage could be filmed. The next day a memo was sent out that the color and 3D aspects of the production were to be scrapped; widescreen black-and-white would now be the film's presentation format. Warner Bros. hoped to emulate the "effective shock treatment" effect of its previous science fiction thriller The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms ; ultimately, however, the film was never made in widescreen. Because of the preparation of certain scenes, many of the camera set-ups for 3D remain in the film, like the opening titles and the flamethrowers shots aimed directly at the camera. [6]

Although Warner Bros. was dissatisfied with the color results, the film's titles were printed in vivid red and blue against a black-and-white background to give the film's opening a dramatic "punch". This effect was achieved by an Eastman Color section spliced into each release print. [4] The 1985 VHS tape release, the subsequent LaserDisc and later DVD release have retained this black-and-white-with-two-color title effect.[ citation needed ]

The entrance to the ants' final nest was filmed along the concrete spillways of the Los Angeles River, between the First and Seventh Street Bridges, east of downtown. The depiction of the Chihuahuan Desert of southern New Mexico is actually the Mojave Desert near Palmdale, California. Mercy Hospital was a real institution and is now Brownsville Medical Center. [4]

James Whitmore wore "lifts" in his shoes to compensate for the height difference between himself and James Arness. Whitmore also employed bits of "business" (hand gestures and motions) during scenes in which he appeared to draw more attention to his character when not speaking. [4]

The Wilhelm scream, created three years earlier for the film Distant Drums , is used during the action sequences: when a sailor aboard the freighter is grabbed by an ant, when James Whitmore's character is caught in an ant's mandibles, and when an overhead wooden beam falls on a soldier in the Los Angeles storm drain sequence. [4]

The giant ants, painted a purplish-green color, were constructed and operated by unseen technicians supervised by Ralph Ayers. During the climactic battle sequence in the Los Angeles sewers, there is a brief shot of one ant moving in the foreground with its side removed, revealing its mechanical interior. [4] This filming error was obscured on the DVD and Blu-ray releases of the film.[ citation needed ]

The film poster shows a gigantic ant with menacing cat-like eyes rather than the normal compound eyes of an ant.

The stridulations (the sounds the giant ants emit on the soundtrack) were the calls of bird-voiced tree frogs mixed together with the calls of a wood thrush, hooded warbler, and red-bellied woodpecker. These were recorded at Indian Island, Georgia, on April 11, 1947, by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. [7]

Reception

Drive-in advertisement from 1954. Tri-City Drive-In Ad - 22 June 1954, Loma Linda, CA.jpg
Drive-in advertisement from 1954.

Them! was released in June 1954, [4] and by the end of that year had accrued $2 million (US) in distributors' domestic (U.S. and Canada) rentals, making it the year's 51st biggest earner. [8] [Note 1] According to an article in Slate , this was Warner Bros. highest-grossing film that year. [9] However, 1954 In Film lists two other films from Warner Bros. that earned more in gross.[ citation needed ]

From contemporary reviews, the Monthly Film Bulletin stated that despite the science fiction film genre being new it had developed several sub-divisions including "the other-worldly, the primeval-monstrous, the neo-monstrous, the planetary-visitant, etc." and that "Them! is a "well-built example of the neo-monstrous", "less absurdly sensational than most" [10] Discussing the ant monsters in the film, the review referred to them as "reasonably horrible--they do not entirely avoid the impression of mock-up that is almost inevitable when over-lifesize creatures have to be constructed and moved" while noting that they were "considerably more conceivable than those prehistoric remnants that have recently been emerging from bog and iceberg". [10] The review commented on the cast as "like most science-fiction, [the film] is on the whole serviceably rather than excitingly cast" and the crew was noted, stating the direction was "smoothly machined" and the film has "decent writing" though "more short cuts might have been [taken]", finding that the start of the film was too slow. [10] A. H. Weiler's review in The New York Times noted "... from the moment James Whitmore, playing a New Mexico state trooper, discovers a six-year-old moppet wandering around the desert in a state of shock, to the time when the cause of that mental trauma is traced and destroyed, Them! is taut science fiction". [11] The reviewer in Variety opined it was a "top-notch science fiction shocker. It has a well-plotted story, expertly directed and acted in a matter-of-fact style to rate a chiller payoff and thoroughly satisfy the fans of hackle-raising melodrama". [12] [13] John McCarten of The New Yorker wrote, "If you're willing to let your imagination off its leash, you may have a fairly good time at 'Them!'" [14]

Since its original release, Them! has become generally regarded as one of the best science fiction films of the 1950s. Bill Warren described it as " ... tight, fast-paced and credible ... [T]he picture is suspenseful". [4] Phil Hardy's The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction noted, "Directed by [Gordon] Douglas in semi-documentary fashion, Them! is one of the best American science fiction films of the fifties". [15] Danny Peary believed the film "Ranks with The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers as the best of the countless '50s science fiction films". [16] In the Time Out Film Guide , David Pirie wrote, "By far the best of the 50s cycle of 'creature features' ... retains a good part of its power today". [17] The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 93% approval rating with an average rating of 7.6/10, based on 57 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "One of the best creature features of the early atomic age, Them! features effectively menacing special effects and avoids the self-parody that would taint later monster movies". [18]

Them! was nominated for an Oscar for its special effects [19] (but the award went to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ) and won a Golden Reel Award for best sound editing.

Remake

On January 4, 2023, it was revealed that Academy Award winning film composer Michael Giacchino would make his feature directorial debut with a remake of Them! for Warner Bros. Pictures. [26]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Rentals" refers to the distributor/studio's share of the box office gross, which, according to Gebert, is roughly half of the money generated by ticket sales. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Burton</span> American filmmaker and animator (born 1958)

Timothy Walter Burton is an American director, producer, writer, and animator. Known for pioneering goth culture in the American film industry, Burton is famous for his gothic horror and fantasy films. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and three BAFTA Awards. He was honored with the Venice International Film Festival's Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2007 and was given the Order of the Arts and Letters by Culture Minister of France in 2010.

3D films are motion pictures made to give an illusion of three-dimensional solidity, usually with the help of special glasses worn by viewers. They have existed in some form since 1915, but had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion picture industry because of the costly hardware and processes required to produce and display a 3D film, and the lack of a standardized format for all segments of the entertainment business. Nonetheless, 3D films were prominently featured in the 1950s in American cinema, and later experienced a worldwide resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s driven by IMAX high-end theaters and Disney-themed venues. 3D films became increasingly successful throughout the 2000s, peaking with the success of 3D presentations of Avatar in December 2009, after which 3D films again decreased in popularity. Certain directors have also taken more experimental approaches to 3D filmmaking, most notably celebrated auteur Jean-Luc Godard in his film Goodbye to Language.

While the history of animation began much earlier, this article is concerned with the development of the medium after the emergence of celluloid film in 1888, as produced for theatrical screenings, television and (non-interactive) home video.

<i>Attack of the 50 Foot Woman</i> 1958 film

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is a 1958 independently made American science fiction horror film directed by Nathan H. Juran and starring Allison Hayes, William Hudson and Yvette Vickers. It was produced by Bernard Woolner. The screenplay was written by Mark Hanna, and the original music score was composed by Ronald Stein. The film was distributed in the United States by Allied Artists as a double feature with War of the Satellites.

Maurice James Noble was an American animation production designer, background artist and layout designer whose contributions to the industry spanned more than 60 years. He was a long-time associate and right-hand man of animation director Chuck Jones, especially at Warner Bros. in the 1950s. His work contributed to such cartoon classics as Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, What's Opera, Doc? and the Road Runner series.

<i>Journey to the Center of the Earth</i> (1959 film) 1959 film by Henry Levin

Journey to the Center of the Earth is a 1959 American science fiction adventure film in color by De Luxe, distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film, produced by Charles Brackett and directed by Henry Levin, stars James Mason, Pat Boone, and Arlene Dahl. Bernard Herrmann wrote the film score, and the film's storyline was adapted by Charles Brackett from the 1864 novel of the same name by Jules Verne.

<i>The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms</i> 1953 monster film by Eugène Lourié

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is a 1953 American science fiction action horror film directed by Eugène Lourié, with special effects by Ray Harryhausen. The film stars Paul Christian, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, and Kenneth Tobey. The screenplay is based on Ray Bradbury's 1951 short story "The Fog Horn", specifically the scene where a lighthouse is destroyed by the title character. The film is about the Rhedosaurus, a dinosaur that is released from its frozen hibernating state by an atomic bomb test in the Arctic Circle and begins to wreak a path of destruction as it travels southward, eventually arriving at its ancient spawning grounds, which includes New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fess Parker</span> American actor (1924–2010)

Fess Elisha Parker Jr., was an American film and television actor best known for his portrayals of the titular characters in the Walt Disney television miniseries Davy Crockett and the television series Daniel Boone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Shayne</span> American actor (1900–1992)

Robert Shayne was an American actor whose career lasted for over 60 years. He was best known for portraying Inspector Bill Henderson in the American television series Adventures of Superman.

<i>When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth</i> 1970 film by Val Guest

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth is a 1970 British science fiction film from Hammer Films, written and directed by Val Guest, and starring Victoria Vetri. It was produced by Aida Young. This was the third in Hammer's "Cave Girl" series, preceded by One Million Years B.C. (1966) and Prehistoric Women (1967); it was followed by Creatures the World Forgot (1971).

<i>The Black Scorpion</i> (film) 1957 film

The Black Scorpion is a 1957 black-and-white Mexican-American giant arachnid horror film from Warner Bros., produced by Jack Dietz and Frank Melford, directed by Edward Ludwig, and starring Richard Denning, Mara Corday, Carlos Rivas, and Mario Navarro. The film's stop-motion animation special effects were created by Willis O'Brien. In the film, volcanic activity releases giant prehistoric scorpions from the earth. They wreak havoc in the rural countryside and eventually threaten Mexico City.

<i>Tarantula</i> (film) 1955 US science-fiction monster film by Jack Arnold

Tarantula is a 1955 American science-fiction monster film produced by William Alland and directed by Jack Arnold. It stars John Agar, Mara Corday, and Leo G. Carroll. The film is about a scientist developing a miracle nutrient to feed a rapidly growing human population. In its unperfected state, the nutrient causes extraordinarily rapid growth, creating a deadly problem when a tarantula test subject escapes and continues to grow larger and larger. The screenplay by Robert M. Fresco and Martin Berkeley was based on a story by Arnold, which was in turn inspired by Fresco's teleplay for the 1955 Science Fiction Theatre episode "No Food for Thought", also directed by Arnold. The film was distributed by Universal Pictures as a Universal-International release, and reissued in 1962 through Sherman S. Krellberg's Ultra Pictures.

<i>The Giant Gila Monster</i> 1959 American film

The Giant Gila Monster is an American 1959 science fiction horror film directed by Ray Kellogg and produced by Ken Curtis. A famous B-movie of the era, the film stars Don Sullivan, a veteran of several low budget monster and zombie films, and Lisa Simone, the French contestant for the 1957 Miss Universe, as well as comedic actor Shug Fisher and KLIF disc jockey Ken Knox. The effects included a live Mexican beaded lizard filmed on a scaled-down model landscape.

<i>20,000 Leagues Under the Sea</i> (1954 film) American film by Richard Fleischer

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a 1954 American science fiction adventure film directed by Richard Fleischer, from a screenplay by Earl Felton. Adapted from Jules Verne's 1870 novel of the same name, the film was personally produced by Walt Disney through Walt Disney Productions. It stars Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas, and Peter Lorre. Photographed in Technicolor, the film was one of the first feature-length motion pictures to be filmed in CinemaScope. It was also the first feature-length Disney film to be distributed by Buena Vista Distribution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monster movie</span> Film genre

A monster movie, monster film, creature feature or giant monster film is a film that focuses on one or more characters struggling to survive attacks by one or more antagonistic monsters, often abnormally large ones. The film may also fall under the horror, comedy, fantasy, or science fiction genres. Monster movies originated with adaptations of horror folklore and literature.

Rampage is a series of video games released by Midway (1986–2009) and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (2009–present) for arcades and consoles. Due to experiment-related accidents, the player controls a human transformed into a giant monster. The player using their chosen monster to destroy cities around the world while attacking or avoiding police and military forces.

<i>Gun the Man Down</i> 1956 film by Andrew V. McLaglen

Gun the Man Down is a 1956 American western film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring James Arness and Angie Dickinson in her first leading role. The film was produced by Robert E. Morrison for his brother John Wayne's company Batjac Productions. It was the second theatrical feature directed by McLaglen, who was a prolific director of television westerns.

<i>The Command</i> (1954 film) 1954 film by David Butler

The Command is a 1954 American CinemaScope Western film directed by David Butler. It stars Guy Madison and James Whitmore. It was based on the novel Rear Guard by James Warner Bellah and features a screenplay by Sam Fuller.

The Miller's Daughter is a 1934 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on October 13, 1934.

References

  1. ↑ "Them! - Details". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  2. ↑ "The Top Box-Office Hits of 1954". Variety Weekly, January 5, 1955.
  3. ↑ "Them!". Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Warren 1982, pp. 188–195.
  5. ↑ Smith 2012, p. 167.
  6. ↑ Herzberg 2007, p. 176.
  7. ↑ "Hyla avivoca: Bird-voiced Treefrog - Hylidae - Early wildlife recordings - Environment and nature | British Library". Sounds. April 11, 1947. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  8. 1 2 Gebert, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Movie Awards (listing of "Box Office (Domestic Rentals)" for 1954, taken from Variety magazine). New York: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1996. ISBN   0-668-05308-9.
  9. ↑ Waldman, Katy (January 31, 2013). "The Nuclear Monsters That Terrorized the 1950s". slate.com. Retrieved October 22, 2015. Them!, a cautionary tale about giant irradiated ants, was Warner Bros.' highest-grossing film in 1954.
  10. 1 2 3 "Them! U.S.A., 1954". Monthly Film Bulletin . Vol. 21, no. 240. British Film Institute. 1954. p. 131.
  11. ↑ Weiler, A. H. (A.W.). "Them (1954); Warner Brothers chiller at Paramount." The New York Times, June 17, 1954. p. 36.
  12. ↑ "Brog". Review from Variety dated April 14, 1954, taken from Variety's Complete Science Fiction Reviews, edited by Don Willis, Garland Publishing, Inc., 1985, ISBN   0-8240-6263-9.
  13. ↑ "Them! (1954)." Variety, April 14, 1954.
  14. ↑ McCarten, John (June 26, 1954). "The Current Screen". The New Yorker . p. 61.
  15. ↑ Hardy, Phil, ed. The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction. London: Aurum Press, 1984. Reprinted as The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction. London: Overlook Press, 1995. ISBN   0-87951-626-7.
  16. ↑ Peary, Danny. Guide for the Film Fanatic. London: Fireside, 1986. ISBN   0-671-61081-3.
  17. ↑ Pirie, David, ed. "Them!" The Time Out Film Guide, 2nd Edition. London: Penguin Books, 1991. ISBN   0-14-014592-3.
  18. ↑ "Them! (1954)." Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved: September 28, 2021.
  19. ↑ "The 27th Academy Awards, 1955". Oscars.org. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
  20. ↑ "ギャラリー1： 怪獣映画、過去から現代まで：写真ギャラリー". WIRED.jp (in Japanese). May 20, 2010. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  21. ↑ Mills, Peter (2010). Hymns to the Silence: Inside the Words and Music of Van Morrison. London: A&C Black. p. 205. ISBN   978-0-8264-2976-6.
  22. ↑ "RIP Eric Wrixon".
  23. ↑ Greenberg, Allen (April 1990). "It Came from Out of the Disk Drive" (PDF). Computer Gaming World . No. 70. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  24. ↑ The Silence of Fallout: Nuclear Criticism in a Post-Cold War World. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. September 26, 2014. p. 135. ISBN   9781443868037.
  25. ↑ Jasper, Gavin (August 4, 2018). "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Complete Marvel Universe Easter Eggs and Reference Guide". Den of Geek! . Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  26. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (January 4, 2023). "Michael Giacchino To Make Feature Directorial Debut With Fresh Take On 'Them!' At Warner Bros". Deadline. Retrieved January 4, 2023.

Bibliography

  • Herzberg, Bob (2007). The FBI and the Movies. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN   978-0-78642-755-0.
  • Parish, James Robert; Pitts, Michael R. (1977). The Great Science Fiction Pictures. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN   978-0-81081-029-7.
  • Smith, Dave (2012). Disney Trivia from the Vault: Secrets Revealed and Questions Answered. New York: Disney Press. ISBN   978-1-4231-7857-6.
  • Strick, Philip (1976). Science Fiction Movies. London: Octopus Books Limited. ISBN   0-7064-0470-X.
  • Warren, Bill (1982). Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties, Vol. 1: 1950-1957. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN   0-89950-032-3.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.