Deadly Mantis (1957)
IMDb meta-data is runtime of 1 hour and 19 minutes, rated 5.1 by 3,628 cinematizens.
Genre: Sy Fy; Species: Creature; Sub-Species: Bugs.
A classy Paul Frees opening voiceover goes on and on about the early warning systems against a Red surprise attack in 1957: picket boats, Pine Tree Line, and the DEW Line all funded by tax payers. The Air Force boys have many toys, and happily play with them until they discover they are on the menu for lunch.
After 15 minutes on all those precautions and gizmos, it turns out none of them are relevant to the story that follows.
An earthquake in the Arctic Circle vivifies a dormant creature for this feature. See title above. First two, then three, then more Air Force men disappear while the footprints of a gigantic…bug appear. Paul Drake, magnifying glass in hand, is summoned from his office in the Smithsonian Institute. Alas, he is no Ed Gwen.
Peter Gunn is the man on the scene for the Air Force and he has seen plenty on the scene. He and Drake team up, along with a photographer who contributes nothing. All the military men are alert and dutiful, all the journalists are respectful and motivated by the greater good. Hence, we know it is work of fiction, where there are no slackers or careerists in uniform and no self-serving egoists in the Fourth Estate.
Some verisimilitude enters when the Mantis scare is denounced as a hoax perpetuated by Mortein to sell more bug spray. Lacking, however, were free marketeers rushing to the lecture circuit to condemn the spurious crisis as another ploy by big government to emasculate hapless citizens by saving their lives, or Republican senators voting against doing anything and then denouncing the government for not doing enough. That would be true to life; ripped from today’s headlines.
It is Them! with snow and without Sandy Descher but with the final showdown in a tunnel. A discerning viewer will notice some differences. In this case the bug is not an atomic mutant. Ergo, the bomb-happy airmen need not feel guilty. Moreover, there is only one bug and not a swarm. Also this cliché has the mandatory helpless woman, a photographer, in need of manly protection. Cringe.
Peter Graves was unavailable. Too bad, his experience with grasshoppers would have been invaluable. All the Reds remained under the beds. Nor were any of those Air Force toys of any use! The men of the DEW line only proved to be a buffet for The Mantis.
It was entertaining, though the mantis was overexposed, and there were many repetitive scenes, especially of jet planes that seemed completely ineffective but the Air Force footage was free. Drake gave up science later and went to work for Perry Mason. Peter Gunn’s mellow baritone carried most of the movie as far as it went. Mano à Mano is easier to watch than Red Snow which is more highly rated by the Human Comedy. Like Red Snow there was some Arctic footage cut into the film from the same documentaries. Move over Roger Corman.
Peter Gunn was not the dedicated scene stealer that his counterpart in Them! was. Not Marshall Dillon, the other one.