igging in the riverbanks of the Amazon, Dr. Carl Maia (Antonio Moreno), finds an unusual fossil—a skeletal arm with intact hand. The hand is vaguely human but larger, and has the appearance of a web structure between the joints. He takes his find back to civilization to gather an expedition to uncover the remainder of the fossil. There he boards a dodgy riverboat with noted scientsts, including Dr. David Reed (Richard Carlson), Kay Lawrence (Julia Adams) and Dr. Mark Williams (Richard Denning), who fronts the money for the expedition and makes no bones about who's in charge. Upon returning to the site, the expedition finds two of Maia's crew dead, and no sign of more of the fossil.
Hypothesizing that the rest of the bones may have washed downriver to a nearby lagoon sometime within the last few million years, the expedition seemingly ignores the dead men and continues to search for the fossil remains. And within minutes, it seems, the creature finds them. Soon, more people are dead, and the creature has proven itself smart enough to block the exit to the lagoon with a tangled tree to prevent the humans from leaving. Smitten with the lovely Kay Lawrence, the creature seems bound on his obsession to possess her.
The Creature from the Black Lagoon is certainly one of the most memorable and long-lasting of Universal's monster films. Released originally in 3-D, it may not have had the most interesting story, nor was it the most groundbreaking of films, but its creature design was memorable enough to keep it in the public consciousness without pause since the film's release in 1954. The film spawned two sequels, Revenge of the Creature and The Creature Walks Among Us.
Sideshow Toy has released a 12-inch action figure based on this popular iconic screen legend. This creature has seen perhaps the most merchandising in Universal's stable of creatures, with images of the gill-man adorning every possible item under the sun, from lunch boxes to wind-up toys, to clothing and even items that would not necessarily warrant such imagery.
Rather than mold the body from a sculpt of the suit, this figure wears a rubber suit in much the same way actors Ricou Browing and Ben Chapman did when they portrayed the creature in the film. Underneath the detailed molded rubber suit is a standard Sideshow highly articulated body. Only the head, hands and feet are molded as they appear on the creature.
The Creature comes in a highly decorative box featuring the film's famous poster, and includes a figure display stand and a model of the fossilized hand that starts the adventure.
This creature will get under your skin
The Creature from the Black Lagoon has been the subject of models, toys and busts, some of which were of extremely high quality, and much being, to put it generously, not quite so high quality. Truthfully, some of the merchandise has been hardly recognizable as the creature. Sideshow's entry into the pantheon of merchandising is definitely very high on the quality scale.
Starting with a green Sideshow body, this figure includes approximately 30 points of articulation, many more than generally featured on an action figure. The neck joint is highly flexible, allowing for poses that include horizontal swimming with the head pointed forward. The super-articulated arms and legs allow for extreme angles some action figures do not allow. The fit of the rubber over-suit is slightly loose, meaning the rubber doesn't tend to push the joints back into place as one might expect.
The molding of the skin is excellent. Each detail is lovingly portrayed. From the spinal fin, which splits into two at the back, to each fleck and bump on the chest, from overlapping scale segments to the overlapping cuffs, the creature looks every bit like the film version.
Sculptor Oluf Hartvigson has once again done an amazing job of capturing the creature's face. As with the film's creature, its head proportions are excellent, and even specific skin blemishes are captured accurately.
Most importantly, the color tones seem accurate. According to a documentary (on the DVD release of the film), the creature's actual color for filming was a muted moss-green, and not the garish colors that often appeared on publicity photos. This model seems to have caught the true suit as it appeared in the film.
This figure's one disappointment is in its ankles. While every other joint seems to move as one would like it to, the ankles do not move in the obvious front-to-back angle. This means posing it in a swimming position leaves its feet angled incorrectly, perpendicular to the lower leg. This also seriously restricts standing poses—a serious no-no in action-figure enjoyment. Instead, the ankles twist side-to-side, an almost unnecessary range of movement that really should have been rotated 90 degrees.
Apart from this one flaw in its design, this creature is one of the finest pieces of Creature merchandise yet available.
Sideshow also makes a version of the creature as seen in the third film, The Creature Walks Among Us.
If you can, capture this creature before it's gone!
