Creature from the Black Lagoon

Creature from the Black Lagoon is a genre-making 1954 horror film. A fossil(!) expedition along the Amazon River discovers the fabled Black Lagoon and it's prehistoric menace, a Gill-Man - a fish-human hybird. The explorers capture the creature after it kills their native guides, but it escapes. It then returns to kidnap the token female research assistant and carries her away to its lair for the others to rescue her.

Made for Universal Pictures in a lightweight 79 minutes, directed by Jack Arnold and starring Richard Carlson, Julie Adams and Richard Denning. The Gill-Man was played by Ben Chapman and Ricou Browning, the underwater action specialist.

It is considered a classic of the 1950s monster B-movies and has wonderfully crisp photography to back up the featherweight plot and acting.

Followed by two sequels Revenge of the Creature (1955) and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956). Both the 1954 and 1955 films were originally made in 3-D.