Them! (Snapcase Packaging)
|
Our Price: $23.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $9.64 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Them! (Snapcase Packaging)
Movie Review: Nothing Bugs Me About Them!
Summary: 5 Stars
Of all the B-horror films of the 1950's, "Them!" stands out as the most dramatic. Big stars, and soon-to-be big stars scatter the landscape.
At first you think you're part of a murder mystery of sorts. Two policemen, one played by James Whitmore (quite a great star here) as Ben, and a plane above, clearly marked New Mexico State Police, are doing a search of the desert. They find a little girl who can't speak, and who seems to be in shock. She carries a broken doll.
Further searching finds a destroyed trailer. Ben figures that there must be some kind of murder here. They find tracks. They find that the trailer was ripped out. And they find pieces of broken doll. (Sad music).
They put the girl into a medical van (driven by uncredited William Schallert) and as they load her in, they hear the mysterious warbling sounds that will scare the crap out of any ten year old who watches this movie. "Must be the wind." Yeah, sure.
Ben and his partner drop off at a general store where the report of a missing girl was first placed (apparently). They find it ripped out just like the trailer. A busted shotgun is mute testimony that something unholy lurked here. A dead body filled with formic acid (as you kids know, is also the acid secreted by ants!).
Ben leaves his partner to go drive away in his police car and report evidence. His partner, alone, hears that warbling sound again. The photography here is great. The shadows, the man, the silence ** screams, gunshots ** silence. Except for the warbling.
A lot of this movie is drama more than scary stuff. A lot of talking goes on to clearly explain to the viewer exactly what's going on, why the ants are dangerous and what's being done about it.
Yes, we have the usual daughter of the professor who happens to have brains and is gorgeous. Imagine that in 1954!
They team up with Ben and Robert (playing a tough guy FBI agent, James Arness of Gunsmoke fame).
They find the nest, but it's too late. Queens have flown the coop. And they could be nesting anywhere!
Panic in New Mexico:
Usually in movies like this, the female professor gets the hots for the hero and she is saved from the manly man. No, not this time. Sure, there are heroics, but the suspense-building is done by the scientists and somehow, an absent-minded professor from the Department of Agriculture is running the military. Bizarre but true.
The professor has a great way of getting their shocked little girl to snap out of it. They fill a glass of ant juice and let her smell it. She screams: Them! Them! Quite the fright!
Some of the actors are not convincing. When the girl (Pat) is confronted by one of the ants, she screams OK, but when Arness is pumping it full of bullets, she stands there waiting for her cue rather than cower in fear. No nuzzling of Arness' shoulder either which was disappointing to miss.
Investigating the Nest:
They find the nest OK, and kill the bugs with cyanide. Much music and adventure as they comb the caves.
In one hilarious scene, Pat finds that the caves are covered with saliva.
Dr. Patricia 'Pat' Medford: [observing the tunnel walls] Look! Held together with saliva!
Ben Peterson: Yeah! Spit's all that's holding me together right now, too.
Flying to Washington:
This is the most boring part, as we get a film presentation from the professor as to ant's habits and why the eight foot long ones could spell the end of Man. Oh brother.
A lot of the movie at this point goes incessantly over investigation and searching for the ants. Fess Parker (Davy Crockett!) plays a brief role as a guy who saw flying ants and is locked up in a psych ward. He overdoes the southern accent a bit but is fun to watch.
The usual media suppression and marshal law ensue.
Panic in Los Angeles:
After much hullabaloo, we find our way to Los Angeles. Ants are in the tunnels. Much drama ensues here too.
The ending is great as Arness is cut off from his men and the ants converge on him as he runs out of bullets! He screams and runs. Now would Matt Dillon scream and run? I mean, really now!
And James Whitmore plays a great death scene as he saves the lives of children at his own sacrifice. It's sad.
The bottom line: Them! is well worth seeing. It's dramatic overtones and its subtext of the dangers of atomic testing is clear. It does not get heavy into romance or how goofy the professor and how hot his daughter is (though there is some of that).
The director focusing on how the ants impact our lives with the deaths of others is real and though a bit overacted, is refreshing and unusual for a B-movie horror flick.
Since "Them!" helped to inspire other atomic testing nightmares, such as Godzilla, film students especially should study this film.
In fact, it might teach your kids not to burn ants!
A great cast is worth repeating. Thanks, Warner Bros!
Cast:
James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness, Onslow Stevens, Sean McClory, Chris Drake, Sandy Descher, Mary Alan Hokanson, Don Shelton, Fess Parker, Olin Howlin, Leonard Nimoy
Director: Gordon Douglas
Other Atomic Energy Gone Wrong Films:
Gojira / Godzilla Deluxe Collector's Edition (Gojira/Godzilla [1954] / Godzilla, King of the Monsters [1956])
The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms / Them! (Double Feature)
The Giant Behemoth
Movie Review: One of the Best
Summary: 5 Stars
It's great to finally see this fifties classic on DVD. I'm not sure what some reviewers were talking about...this is, in my opinion, a very CRISP transfer, the best version of the film I've ever seen. Perhaps their sets need adjusting.
As some mention, the 'extras' aren't much. An interview or commentary with James Whitmore would be a welcome addition, but the movie is great on its own.
Why recount the plot? If you've seen it, you know it, if you haven't, just watch the movie!
Warners was looking for a follow-up to Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, their biggest money-maker of 1951. When Ted Sheridan's script was chosen, it was initially given the 'A picture' treatment. It was going to be in color, and 3-D, with an 'A' movie cast. As the time for filming apprached, Warners got cold feet, and the first two concepts were shelved, though the picture still has a color title card.
The lucky thing is that the solid cast remained...James Whitmore, James Arness, Academy Award winner Edmund Gwynne, Joan Weldon (in an inappropriate tweed suit and hat...which I loved, because what would a fifties woman coming to New Mexico from Washington, DC, wear? and she ditched it later on...smart girl.)
Throw in a great group of character players, including bit parts from Richard Deacon, Leonard Nimoy, William Schallart, and most famously, Fess Parker (legend is that this part led to his being cast as Davy Crockett), Onslow Stephens ("Drain 227 !!!"), Olin Howard ("Make me a sergeant and gimme the booze!")and one of my faves, Dub Taylor ("Is sugar a rare cargo? Is there a market for it? You ever hear of a fence for hot sugar?"), plus numerous other recognizable bit players (Mrs. Lodge, the LA beat cops, Kibbie.)
Helmed by B-director Gordon Douglas, the film has a realism and snappy feel missing from most 'monster pics.' This film was very much a reflection of the hard-nosed atmospheric film noir of the late 40s-early 50s on which Douglas had frequently worked. Note the whirring fans, the boiling coffee, the radio broadcasts, the ceilings on the room sets. Whitmore recounted that they set up the general store, and then he, Arness, and Douglas took hatchets to it to create the 'ant destruction chaos'. Can you imagine actors doing this today?
This movie is what RKO scare-master Val Lewton would have made if he made fifties sci-fi. (Of course, Robert Wise, one of Lewton's prodigies, did make 'The Day the Earth Stood Still', another understated classic...I've always considered Them! to be a 'sister piece', along with Howard Hawks' "The Thing from Another World', which has a similar feel to it (as well as also another 'spunky-but-gorgeous heroine' who is ahead of her time but admitted to the 'inner circle' by the menfolk, both of whom look great in slacks!)
The score by A-movie composer Bronislaw Kaper is one of the key elements to the film. Music is missing at some times of suspense, but greatly enhances others.
The photography is wonderful. The shots of "New Mexico" and the storm drains of LA are both well-done and unforgettable.
and what lines!
"Look at the walls, held together with saliva!"
"Right now, spit's about all that's holding me together, too!"
"Please, my nerves!"
"we may be witness to a Biblical prophesy come true..."
"There's no homicidal maniac in this case."
"Give it to us straight, Doc. Get to the verb."
"He's with the government, so watch your step."
"Stay loose, huh?"
"THEM ! THEM!"
(A special kudos to an amazing little girl. She set the tone right off, and the rest of the story took off from there.)
By the way, it is easy to tell that the film was originally intended for 3-D. Next time you watch, look at shots like the hovering helicopter, the trees and cactus in the desert, the ants coming straight towards the screen, etc. To my knowledge, though, it wasn't shot using the process...I've never known it to be shown that way, anyway.
A treat to watch again and again, this one is a Halloween fixture, along with "Day the Earth Stood Still", "The Thing", "War of the Worlds", "It! The Terror from Beyond Space", "I Married a Monster from Outer Space", "It Came from Outer Space" and any Ray Harryhausen film.
I've shown it to some kids who were mesmorized, some just won't watch it. You'll have to find out for yourself, but you can always watch it yourself!
Movie Review: Sometimes the Bug Eyed Monsters are actually Bugs...
Summary: 5 Stars
A home in the New Mexico desert has been destroyed and all that remains is a catatonic little girl (Sandy Descher) who says nothing and reacts to nothing until suddenly in the hospital she starts screaming "Them! THEM! THEM!" The scene justifies the rather interesting use of a pronoun as the title for this science fiction monster movie from the 1950s. Those who have trouble remembering this title usually can still recall the film when you tell them this is the one with the giant ants. "Them!" divides neatly into two parts. The first half, where our cast of characters are confronted with the mystery of what is happening in the desert, is the best part of the film, creating a nice sense of tension as the clues that make no sense begin to add up to something quite unbelievable. But we know that this is 1950s black & white science fiction and the rule of thumb is once you actually see the monster a film quickly loses steam. The ants are basically a cross between giant puppets and giant marionettes. The thrills and chills come not so much from seeing the giant bugs as it does from the eerie sounds the ants make that are pretty much targeted right for your spine. Still, these special effects are not as laughable as, say, throwing grasshoppers on photographs of Chicago skyscrapers. The second half of the film becomes a search and destroy mission where you have to go along with the idea that a colony of giant ants can get from the area of New Mexico where the first A-bomb was exploded to below Los Angeles without anybody noticing. But then you remember this is a movie about ants the size of elephants and your curtail your complaints regarding your willingness to suspend disbelief.
I have long considered "Them!" and "The Thing From Another World" to be linked ideologically, as well as by the presence of James Arness, who is the heroic FBI Agent Robert Graham in the former and the carrot monster in the latter. The two films are linked ideologically basically by being opposite. In "The Thing" the military has to save the world from the scientist who wants to study the strange visitor from another planet and considers sacrificing a few human beings to satisfying the monster's blood lust a small price to pay for the advancement of science. However, in "Them!" the military looks to the scientist to not only understand what is going on but how to proceed with hunting down and destroying the nests of giant ants. After all, Edmund Gwenn as Dr. Harold Medford might not be playing Kris Kringle this time around but he is still a kindly grandfather type with no thought of sacrificing anyone to these atomic mutants. Consequently, there is no conflict about what to do, just how to go about doing it as quickly as possible (the image of James Whitmore using a tommy gun to take down the first giant ant seems more appropriate to a pre-war gangster flick).
I would think that at some point Hollywood might get around to remaking "Them!", although I would think the ants would work a lot better if they were smaller but more numerous (I am thinking something along the lines of "Starship Troopers" type numbers of ants pretty much doing the scarab thing from the recent "Mummy" movies). If they were the size of dogs or cats they could still do serious damage to anything that got in their way. Even if there were only 10 times bigger than normal, a couple hundred of them would give audience members the wiggens before they actually started stripping some poor slob down to the bone.
Another thing I have noticed is that many of these 1950s science fiction classics have some of the smartest damsels in distress you have ever seen. Witness Joan Weldon as Dr. Patricia "Pat" Medford, out there in the desert helping her father fight the good fight. It is as if Hollywood was going out of its way not to emulate the stereotype perpetuated on dozens and dozens of science fiction pulp magazine covers over the first half of the 20th century. There is still screaming from time to time, but a lot less fainting.
Movie Review: You Can't Stop "Them"!
Summary: 5 Stars
In the late 1940's and 1950's the USA and the Soviet Union repeatedly tested nuclear bombs. In the USA the early tests were done in the desert southwest, and the mushroom clouds could be seen for dozens of miles (and the noise could be heard for hundreds of miles). As scientists measured the increased levels of radiation in milk served to schoolchildren and their parents built bomb shelters in their backyards, Hollywood decided to take the cold war paranoia which made the fifties so unique and create a new type of sci-fi/horror movie - the "mutant monster" film. Along with the original "Godzilla", 1954's "Them" is one of the best of the lot. It starts out in the New Mexico desert, where two state troopers discover a mobile home that's been ripped apart by some unknown animal. The adults are missing, but they do find a terrified little girl (a creepy Sandy Descher) who's so shocked that she can't talk and simply stares wide-eyed and zombie-like at the policemen. A fierce sandstorm blows up, and the troopers then arrive at a local general store that's been ripped apart like the trailer. Curiously no money or valuables were stolen, but sugar has been spread everywhere, and the owner's corpse is found. He had emptied his shotgun at his attacker before being killed with a massive injection of acid. The troopers also find some tracks from an "unknown" large animal. Baffled by this turn of events, one trooper takes the mute little girl to a hospital. The other trooper stays behind to guard the store, but he is attacked and killed by an unknown assailant. The next day Robert Graham (a pre-Gunsmoke James Arness), an FBI agent, arrives to help with the investigation. Soon they are joined by two scientists from the Agriculture Dept. in Washington - the eccentric but brilliant Dr. Harold Medford (a scene-stealing Edmund Gwenn) and his lovely daughter and assistant, Dr. Pat Medford (Joan Weldon). The scientists have a hunch that the "unknown" animal that killed the storeowner and destroyed the buildings was - a giant ant! The ants had been at the site of the first atomic bomb test in New Mexico in 1945, and the radiation has caused them to mutate to an enormous, man-eating size. Soon our heroic quartet is involved in a race against time to find and destroy the ant's colony before they can reproduce and spread across the world. When the queen ant and some male escorts escape the search becomes even more frantic, and leads to a final showdown in the vast sewers of Los Angeles. This film features fine performances by all three of the male leads - James Whitmore as the gruff-but-warm-hearted New Mexico cop, Arness as the quintessentially stern and macho 1950's movie hero, and Gwenn as the quirky ant expert. Although the special effects are obviously primitive by today's standards, "Them" actually had a larger budget than most fifties sci-fi movies, and the ants themselves were an impressive creation for their time. This film also features an impressive number of cameos by future celebrities, including Fess Parker of "Davy Crockett" fame in a hilarious role as a hillbilly pilot who sees three "ant-shaped" UFOs buzzing his airplane. When he tells his story he is declared "crazy" and locked in a mental hospital. Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek's "Mr. Spock") also has a tiny cameo. "Them" was so successful that it was followed by a string of imitators, but it remains superior to all of them. This DVD offers a neat featurette on how they made the giant ant puppets work, but it has few other "extras". However, the film itself is more than worth the relatively cheap sticker price, IMO. Recommended!Movie Review: We're gonna need more Orkin men
Summary: 5 Stars
As a kid, I thought it was entertaining to squirt ants with my water gun and see if they could get away without drowning. I'm not proud of that fact, but I daresay I'm not the only dumb kid who ever tortured ants for fun. You can't tell me you've never kicked over an anthill before. For centuries, ants have also paid the price for the "crimes" committed by their nastier cousins (bees, wasps, etc.) because they are the perfect scapegoats - you can find them anywhere, and they're oh so harmless (well, except for the likes of fire ants and soldier ants). Just think about how many ants you've unknowingly squashed under your shoes over the years. Even those who "wouldn't hurt a fly" have probably sent countless ants to that big ant hill in the sky. If I were an ant, I would hunger for revenge on all the ruthless humans. Here they are, mind bogglingly more powerful than the mightiest of their tormentors (no human can lift something twenty times his own body weight), veterans of interspecies warfare, more organized than even the mightiest of human armies, and yet they can do nothing but wish they were large enough to really teach humans a lesson. Ironically, human beings actually grant them their wish in this seminal science fiction/horror classic.
Nothing much happens out in the New Mexico desert - until now. It's a big mystery at first, as Sgt. Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) and his partner pick up a shell-shocked young girl wandering aimlessly in the desert, then discover an abandoned car trailer down the road that has been ripped apart pretty good. The only clues - a bloody shirt, a mysterious print in the sand, and some scattered sugar cubes. The situation gets curiouser and curiouser when they check in at Gramps' store and find it all smashed up, just like the trailer. Neither the cops nor FBI Agent Robert Graham (James Arness) can make heads or tails of it all. They are still grasping at straws when Dr. Harold Medford (Edmund Gwenn) and his daughter Pat (Joan Weldon) from the Department of Agriculture arrive in town. Their suspicions are soon confirmed - it's an ant problem. A really, really big ant problem. A really, really big problem with really, really big ants. Nine years after the atomic tests in that area of the desert, the radiation has caused the most unnatural of genetic mutations. The brass wants to find and bomb the nest, but the good doctor points out the futility of such an act. It's not just a matter of killing the gigantic ants - they have to make sure no queens have escaped to parts unknown. If that has indeed happened, a whole army of Orkin men couldn't save mankind.
The idea of giant ants terrorizing the countryside sounds pretty hokey, but Them! is fantastically successful at presenting the story in a serious, plausible manner. The question of whether or not to inform the public is given due consideration, for example, and the giant ants themselves are pretty impressive, especially for 1954. I doubt they would scare even the youngest of kids in our day and time, but they are not ludicrously constructed, ridiculous looking "monsters" (OK, I'll admit those giant pipe cleaner antennae are borderline adorable) or the product of superimposed images of ants run amuck. You also don't get too many shots of them along the way, and this helps the film generate an impressive amount of suspense early on. Throw in some pretty good acting (Edmund Gwenn and James Whitmore are especially good, while James Arness' voice alone lends a serious air to every scene) and a minimum of nuclear bomb moralizing, and you've got yourself one of the best classic monster movies ever made.