Tarantula

 Year:  1955

Director:  Jack Arnold

Screenplay:  Robert M. Fresco and Martin Berkeley, from a story by Jack Arnold and Robert M. Fresco, based on the television episode "No Food for Thought" written by Robert M. Fresco from Science Fiction Theatre 

Starring:  John Agar, Mara Corday, Leo G. Carroll

Running Time:  80 minutes

Genre:  Science-fiction, horror

When a strangely deformed man is found dead in the Arizona desert, Dr. Matt Hastings (Agar) investigates the laboratory of the respected Professor Gerald Deemer (Carroll), who has been working on a new nutrient to help feed the world's rapidly growing population, however, in it's unperfected state it causes rapid, uncontrolled growth, and exposure to it was somehow responsible for the deformity and death of the man found in the desert.  Things go from bad to worse when a tarantula Deemer had been experimenting on breaks out and goes on the rampage, as it keeps getting bigger and bigger, and hungrier and hungrier.

This is one of the better examples of the giant bug movies that were crawling all over American screens in the 1950s.  Science and particularly scientists were often depicted quite ambiguously in American film in the 1950s.  While science promised the brave new world of numerous gaudily printed science-fiction magazines, it also unleashed the horrors of the atomic bomb.  Even when the scientists were essentially benevolent and well-meaning, as in Tarantula, when the eggheads inevitably make a complete mess of things it is time for them to step aside and let the US Air Force blow everything to kingdom come. The film used quite advanced and complex special effects for the time, with blown up images of real animals used to depict the giant animals.  Most of the sequences of the tarantula itself use a real tarantula superimposed on to the footage, with model effects used for close-ups of it's fangs, and for the film's climax.  They may look unconvincing today, but the special effects were deemed convincing for the 1950s.  Also a lot of people are terrified of tarantulas anyway.  Jack Arnold was one of the great directors of B-movies, and has a solid cast of veterans, including Leo G. Carroll, who appeared in several Alfred Hitchcock films, as the avuncular professor who is unwittingly responsible for the whole mess.  John Agar, who appeared in a number of John Ford Westerns, plays the square jawed hero, and Mara Corday, who really doesn't have much to do as Carroll's assistant and Agar's love interest.  The film has an interesting script, adapted from a 1955 episode of the TV anthology series Science Fiction Theatre.  Tarantula's lasting legacy in popular culture is probably being name checked in the lyrics to "Science Fiction, Double Feature" the opening song for The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975): "And Leo G. Carroll/ was over a barrel/ when tarantula took to the hills."  You may also recognise the Air Force pilot at the end of the film as it is a very early, uncredited appearance by Clint Eastwood.

Tarantula

Strangers on a Train

Year of Release:  1951
Director:  Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay:  Raymond Chandler, Whitfield Cook and Czenzi Ormonde, based on the novel Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
Starring:  Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker, Leo G. Carroll, Patricia Hitchcock
Running Time:  101 minutes
Genre:  crime thriller

Guy Haines (Granger), an amateur tennis star, wants to marry senator's daughter Anne Morton (Roman), and pursue a political career.  First of all, though, he has to get a divorce from his unfaithful wife, Miriam (Laura Elliott).  On a train he chances to meet charismatic psychopath Bruno Anthony (Walker).  The two fall into conversation, and Bruno proposes that they "swap murders", he will kill Guy's wife, if Guy will kill Bruno's hated father.  His theory being that if there is no connection between the murderer and the victim, than there is much less chance of the killer being caught.   Bruno succeeds in killing Miriam, and then tries to force Guy to complete hi side of the bargain.

This film, based on the debut novel of celebrated crime author Patricia Highsmith, has an arresting premise that has been reused several times in movies and television shows.  It features one of the most memorable set pieces in Hitchcock's work, the prolonged stalking and murder of Miriam at a  fairground, the murder itself being shown as a reflection in Miriam's discarded glasses.  It also works with the cat and mouse game between Guy and Bruno, as Bruno stalks Guy and tries to convince him to fulfill his side of the deal.      It's at it's weakest in the family scenes with Guy and his girlfriend Anne, and her father (Leo G. Carroll).  Anne is kind of a dull character who is really only there as a love interest, and her father has nothing to do at all, he's kind of a sober, wet blanket who is only there to dispense sage advice.  As Anne's kid sister, Barbara, Patricia Hitchcock (the director's daughter) provides most of the humour.  Farley Granger is good as the everyman caught in a vortex of suspicion and paranoia as he becomes a murder suspect while being stalked at every turn by the implacable Bruno.  As the charming but ruthless murderer, Robert Walker brings a  touch of humour to Bruno, who is one of Hitchcock's most sinister villains.  From the very strange relationship he has with his doting mother, to his relentless pursuit of Guy, Bruno is a very ambiguous character. He is also as obviously gay as a character could be back in 1951
This is a suspenseful tale, stylishly told. If the pacing slows down towards the middle it is more than made up for with a thrilling climax.  Look out for Hitchcock's cameo as a man exiting a train carrying a double bass early in the film.

    Farley Granger and Robert Walker are Strangers on a Train