TARANTULA / Universal - 1955 / Music by Henry Mancini & Herman Stein

This is a great movie! Best blue screen effects of the monster movies produced in the US. Japan always had the best effects overall, though. So, the music is by an uncredited Henry Mancini & Herman Stein. Mancini did it all in his amazing career, including the soundtrack for THE THING THAT COULDN'T DIE!! Stein did tons of uncredited music, many are Universal horror and sci-fi classics from the '50s! He did TV stuff like LOST IN SPACE, THE TIME TUNNEL, and, the last music he did was for... BLAZING STEWARDESSES! Here at DD, we think that a lot of the Universal monster movie music was way too orchestrated, devoid of any real 'hip' or 'youth' element. Because of their unwillingness to experiment, we just consider them some of the less interesting pieces. We're not complaining, just saying... Here's TARANTULA MUSIC! Oh, sorry about the photo quality, sometimes you gotta use what you have! 

 

Never pass up a chance to show a '55 Fairlane convertible driven by John Agar! Actually, he just got out of his airplane, too!! Not bad for a country doctor! 

 

WOW!.. This make up by Bud Westmore is the best!! Freakin' weird, man!.. You can see the resemblence in two other Universal movies Bud did, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE and MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS! 

 

After destroying the lab and letting the tarantula escape, Paul gets ready to shoot up the doctor with the deadly serum, right before he, then, keels over and dies!! 

 

Hey, Mara's back!.. And, John's totally slick as usual! 

 

Mara gets to work with Leo, or 'Topper' as we knew him from TV. 

 

Cigarettes were nothing but cool back then!!.. Oh, and, hats too! 

 

Symtoms from the shot are starting to appear!.. Shocking!

 They find some pools of slime in the fields after cattle and horses were horribly slaughtered by the unknown killer!.. So, what does John do?!.. That's right!.. HE TASTES IT!!

 After exposing the whole story to John, Leo is really feeling the effects of the serum... He sums up the success of the 'nutrient' experiment as... "All's lost!" 

 

The ultimate 'peeping Tom!' *I know, crappy still, but, that is the Tarantula staring into her room!! 

 

I saw this movie at the theater in 1956 with THE WEREWOLF!.. This image of Leo almost made me faint, I'm not kidding! The make-up job here is unbelievable!! 

 

Yep, we give the last line tonight to our pal, Clint Eastwood!! He also appeared with Agar in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE, which, we've already posted. 

 

Somehow... Humans win again!!