Saturday, January 24, 2015

The Creature Chronicles: Exploring The Black Lagoon Trilogy


If you’re a fan of The Creature From The Black Lagoon series, you’ll love this book, and if not, you’ll still love as a historical tome. The Creature Chronicles “chronicles” the actors, directors, and crew that worked on the films, at a time when the US film industry was losing out to television. Hollywood still used salaried stock actors, and it still filmed on the backlots, but the studios were making cheaper films that were once considered beneath their dignity.

One of the funniest chapters was on Benjamin Franklin Chapman, and little-known actor who played the “Gill Man” monster. He was a 6-foot-5 Tahitian transplant to California, and had two assets; his size and his swim.  After the film wrapped, he became a tour guide and real estate agent in Hawaii, and remained unknown until the 1990’s, when he entered his final career…as an autograph signer. He made a fortune on the conventions circuit, better known as an old man than when he made the movie. As for the costume, it turns out that the fin on the back was used to hide the stitches that held it together.

This book has biographies of all the actors, many of whom were also stunt doubles. Then we get the production story, which took place on a Hollywood backlot and in Florida. The composers of the soundtrack are covered as well, though the music was standard suspense. The author, a writer for horror magazines, details all the wonderful talent that went into this drive-in classic.

No comments:

Post a Comment