The Deadly Mantis
         
Director: Nathan Juran
Year: 1957
Rating: 7.5
I confess to being a fan of giant monster films whether Kaiju in Japan or the many ones produced in America in the 1950s and 60s. It must be the ten-year-old in me though as I have gotten into my elderly years, my general dissatisfaction with the human race has me rooting more and more for the monster. That was certainly the case here. It just wanted to go south for the winter like so many other snowbirds. Though this giant monster film doesn't seem to be held in as high regard as others, I enjoyed much of it. Admittedly, it uses way too much stock footage (though the part of the Intuit Village from the 1933 film S.O.S. Iceberg was incredibly cool) and its militaristic tone and propagandistic narrative is off-putting, the monster is wonderful. It is a giant Preying Mantis and the special effects are done with a paper mâché model that measured 200 feet long and 40 feet high and had a wingspan of 150 feet. With a hydraulic system inside of it. Ugly creatures. And sometimes using a real praying mantis up close and personal.



It begins with a rah-rah narrative with a man telling us that America is protected with radar systems all up North America to the Artic Circle. To warn us that the Commies are coming. Less effective against giant insects it turns out. Here is another argument for Climate Change. In The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, the monster came out of the Artic Ice - same here when something happens to allow it to break out of the ice. Imagine what we might find when all the ice melts. Probably alien cities or Atlantis. After all those years in the ice, it is hungry and people are tasty. So, I am told by friends. One of the heroes of the film, Col. Parkman (Craig Stevens, Peter Gunn) is in command of a small station up in the Artic and when a plane crashes and a radar shack is destroyed, he investigates. It might be the sneaky Russkies. Instead, he finds a giant hook. He takes it to the Pentagon and they bring in the second hero in the film, the renowned paleontologist Dr. Nedrick Jackson played by Paul Drake aka William Hopper. He has a hot assistant of course, Marge (Alix Talton)



He is the one who identifies it as a praying mantis - the most vicious insect in the world! And it's big and it is headed south. Lots of munchies on the way. First though Nedrick and Marge go to the Artic to gather evidence and who-hoo - a babe in the Artic - the men go wild and even Parkman does a little happy dance. Best scene is when the mantis looks in the window - pure King Kong. I was a little surprised and disappointed when Parkman swoops her up out of the grasp of Nedrick. Come on - you are Paul Drake. Whenever the mantis is on the screen it is great - crawling up the Washington Monument or in the Manhattan Tunnel - but a lot of talking when it's not. There is a headline reading that a Congress person calls it a hoax and I immediately wondered if it was Marjorie Taylor Greene.