Them! (1954)

Them! (1954)

Atomic bomb testing in the New Mexico desert creates a lethal giant mutant strain of ants which naturally pose a grave threat to mankind's status as the dominant species on the planet. It's up to stalwart police sergeant James Whitmore, no-nonsense FBI agent James Arness, sweet, cranky, dynamic old entomologist Edmund Gwenn, and Gwenn's equally feisty daughter Joan Weldon to stop the deadly gigantic insects before it's too late.

Director Gordon Douglas, working from a smart, witty and literate script by Ted Sherdeman, expertly crafts one of the best, most creepy and effective of the many over-sized killer monster movies that were made in the 50's, starting things out on an arrestingly spooky and mysterious note with the marvelously atmospheric and enigmatic opening third before progressing with a fine bunch of potent set pieces (the exploration of a corpse-littered underground ant colony is memorably eerie) and culminating with a tense and thrilling climactic confrontation between the army and the ants in the Los Angeles sewer drains. Sid Hickox's exquisitely crisp black and white photography, Bronislau Kaper's perfectly ominous, brooding score, the excellent special effects, the grimly serious tone, the tightly streamlined narrative and the nicely low-key, naturalistic acting from a uniformly sound cast (Gwenn especially is a rip-snorting delight) further add to the picture's sterling quality. Popping up in cool small parts are Fess Barker as a twitchy airplane pilot, William Schallert as an ambulance attendant, Sandy Descher (one of the titular kids in Jack Arnold's "The Space Children") as a frightened little mute girl, Leonard Nimoy as an Air Force sergeant, Dub Taylor as a peppery railroad night watchman, and Olin Howlin (the first victim of the original "The Blob") as a funny boisterous drunk ("Make me a sergeant! Give me the booze!"). A simply terrific gem that's wholly worthy of its classic status. (IMDB Woodyanders)

#2000

#2000