The Deadly Mantis

The Deadly Mantis

Director ~ Nathan Juran

Writers ~ Martin Berkeley, William Alland

1957, USA

Stars ~ Craig Stevens, William Hopper, Alix Talton

Or: Giant Mantis vs Stock Footage. Starts as it means to go on: the first five minutes are a leisurely pan around a map to find said stock footage, and then it sends its giant dinosaur mantis in search of more. There’s some pseudo-science, some wearisome sexism – there’s a female cast member!! – and plenty of laughs at the expense of the mantis effects - although the puppetry has appeal; my favourite is a very brief night shot of the mantis flying over the city - but there’s an overall shonkiness that leaves its datedness tiresome rather than charming. This is the stuff that parodies are made of. Best of all is probably the moment where the mantis is right outside the window and she is *right there* and doesn’t notice (!!).

The Land Unknown

The Land Unknown

Director ~ Virgil W. Vogel

Writers ~ László Görög, William N. Robson, Charles Palmer

1957, US

Stars ~ Jock Mahoney, Shirley PattersonWilliam, Reynolds

 

So, it is the effects that everyone will see as dated, but it’s the gender politics that are most tiresomely of the era. The dialogue is mostly exposition or “Gee you’re a woman and I can hardly contain my manliness.” Shirley Patterson as Margaret Hathaway has to swing between smart, brave, capable and Scream Queen; all the stakes rest upon her gender. Her male colleagues are bland and unmemorable without her, and it’s left to Henry Brandon to do the acting heavy-lifting as Hunter, the sole survivor of a previous fated expedition, traumatised by solitude in a savage land. He gives a stony performance of suppressed psychosis as a man on a mission to bring the surround fauna to extinction in the name of self-preservation.

 

This hints at something harsher than the film can really get to grapple with, as does a T-Rex warded off by helicopter rotor blades and Hunter’s designs on Margaret. There’s something struggling to surface here, something about savagery and civility and self-sacrifice, but it is all put right with the two leads getting together. Of course.

 

 

But we’ve come for the world of dinosaurs, and to this end Vogel’s direction is attentive and wise, elevating this B-movie pulp at least to something immersive and entertaining. The descent into this world is one of the film’s highlights, and the fact it’s all on sound-stage only adds to the otherworldly feel. The matte paintings, miniatures, puppetry and all tricks thrown in have their distinct retro-charm. The dinosaur effects are mostly primitive yet delightful – except the fighting genuinely monitor lizards. Yes, they seem to have descended into the land of a giant man wearing a ‘Rex costume, but the hydraulics give it animation. The Elasmosaurus terrorising the river is better and probably has the best moments. The effects team give it their all – diving in, they often have credits in far superior and recognisable work – and we’re a long way from the dazzle of ‘King Kong’ (1933), this being exactly the kind of thing easily parodied, but there’s undemanding fun to be had.