Tarantula (1955)

Director:

Jack Arnold

Writers:

Robert M. Fresco (screenplay) and
Martin Berkeley (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

14 December 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Even Science was stunned!

Plot:

A spider escapes from an isolated desert laboratory experimenting in giantism and grows to tremendous size as it wreaks havoc on the local inhabitants.

Plot Keywords:

Laboratory | Day | Tarantula | Cattle | Giantism

Cast

John Agar	...	Dr. Matt Hastings
Mara Corday	...	Stephanie 'Steve' Clayton
Leo G. Carroll	...	Prof. Gerald Deemer
Nestor Paiva	...	Sheriff Jack Andrews
Ross Elliott	...	Joe Burch
Edwin Rand	...	Lt. John Nolan
Raymond Bailey	...	Townsend
Hank Patterson	...	Josh
Bert Holland	...	Barney Russell
Steve Darrell	...	Andy Andersen

Also Known As:

The Giant Tarantula (USA) (informal title)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:PG (re-rating) (2006) | UK:X (original rating) | Germany:12 (re-rated) (video) | West Germany:18 | Australia:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #17651) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Dead Man's Point, Lucerne Valley, California, USA

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Trivia:

The tarantula was an actual live spider. Air jets were used to make it move in the desired way over a miniature landscape.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: The shadow from the off-screen hand holding the first rock in the "rockslide" can be seen before and after the rock is released.

Quotes:

Sheriff Jack Andrews: What have you git, Matt?
Dr. Matt Hastings: I don't know, but we've got to keep our mouths shut until we know.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Back to the Black Lagoon: A Creature Chronicle (2000) (V)

The second best 1950's big bug movie !

This one has a special place in my memories ! I grew up in New Mexico near the desert, and whenever they showed this one on the late night science fiction Saturday night TV thriller show, I was afraid to walk to school and back on Monday! As I have grown up over the last forty years, I have come to appreciate it as a well crafted science fiction near classic! Jack Arnold directed many good sci-fi movies in the 1950's, but there is no doubt this was the creepiest! Next to the superior "THEM", released the year before (at a different studio), this UNIVERSAL STUDIOS chiller was , for my money, the second best of the giant bug movies of that decade! You will never look at the desert the same way again. Actress MARA CORDAY impressed me so much in this one, that I named one of my daughters after her! JOHN AGAR gave a great performance, and this one led to him doing a string of more horror and sci-fi movies for the next decade or two! It helped that they used a real Tarantula (named TOMORROW), instead of a fake one, and Clifford Stine's special effects will convince you that spider is really 100 feet tall! Another plus is Henry Mancini wrote some of the music score! So, I recommend this one to all those that hate creepy crawlers of any kind! Get out the can of RAID! But, you had better make it a really big can !!!

Signed, Baron Beast