Curious breed, these old school monster films. Lapped up by the kids of their time, yet I can't imagine today's CGI glutted youth grooving to them, talkative, even educational, weaving together dry facts, ripe drama and a splash of romance and chuckles into their giant beast template. The Deadly Mantis is pretty much a textbook example of the genre, and as such I can say right here that if you enjoy the creature features of the 1950's you could do well in looking up this one. The plot deals with an enormous preying mantis revived in the Arctic by human activity. The film diverges from the standard nuclear portents in its explanation, in fact its explanation is a little fuzzy but it does tie into Cold War fears, the human activity in question being the development of Arctic early warning radar. There are tussles, tracks and development of mystery, then just under half way through the mantis rears its ugly head and the film locks down to classic shenanigans, delivering some nifty action, a few nice chuckles and a satisfying tense finale. Director Nathan Juran keeps a steady hand on events, fairly mastering the build up and release structure that sometimes undoes these films by opting less for destruction and more for journeying and pursuit. There is a little in the way of things being crushed or broken but the film never sets itself potential in those areas that it can't fulfil. The pacing is a little patchy though, with the film suffering from a dusting of dry spells in the first two thirds that keep it from being really great. A bit of off humour as well, but I didn't mind it so much as it comes with the territory. Acting is fair throughout, everybody plays pretty standard roles but they fill them out nicely, I never groaned at anyone though no one exactly sparkles. William Hopper makes for a good determined scientist and has a compelling intonation for proclaiming theories, Craig Stevens, Donald Randolph and others make for solid military men and Alix Taylor is an pleasing romantic interest. The cast work well together and have plenty of opportunity to do so, one nice thing about this film (typical of its type) is that the characters work together, they get along and once they realise what the enemy is, they embark on taking it out no matter what. Not much more to say, but it would be remiss of me to not mention the mantis itself. Its a terrific beast, bug eyed winged, fierce clawed and multi legged, a fine, looming antagonist. It doesn't look so hot in flying sequences, but when on the ground its pretty darned ace. Definitely worth a look for 50's monster buffs, as far as giant insects go its one of the best, even if it wasn't put together with Harryhausen expertise. All in all its a film worth a shot then, I certainly liked it and if you like this sort of thing you might well do too.
Review of The Deadly Mantis
