Them!

Rating:
Summary: Bug War
Review: Big bad bugs are unleashed in the sci-fi classic "Them!". A series of unexplained murders in New Mexico leads to the discovery of a horde of giant radiation-mutated ants. This amazing find becomes an epic struggle of survival between man and a menace spawned from atomic testing. "Them!" is a superior creature feature that has open a generation of sci-fi/horror movies. The movie contains a well-paced storyline and a great climatic ending. It combines elements of suspence and humor, strong performances, and effective special effects.

This landmark creature feature is revived in surprising DVD quality. For a classic Black & White film, the picture quality and sound is quite good. The menus are original and colorful. The special features include the theatrical trailer, behind-the-scene footage and cast film highlights. Overall, this DVD scores a "B+".

Rating:
Summary: Great Premise
Review: the very concept this film proposes is thought provoking. the mere idea of collossol ants threatening the survival of mankind is phenomenal. whether atomic radiation would actually cause such a mutation is irrelevant. this movie is worthy of honored recognition in the National Film Archives as one of the greatest sci-fi classics of the 1950s.

as for the DVD. excellent transfer. it just doesn't seem possible this 48 year old film could look this good. the special features are adequate( though a documentary on ants and their natural habitat would have complemented the DVD even more )and this DVD is imperative to anyone's library of film.

Rating:
Summary: Finally on DVD
Review: Finally, one of the best SciFi films made (for its time) has been transferred to DVD. The picture quality is quite good and the sound (in Mono)transferred to my surround system in a surprisingly pleasing and 'non-shrill' manner. It's still a scary, well acted movie and only loses one star simply because the special effects (the ants) don't measure up to today's standards. But then, who cares!!!

Rating:
Summary: The DVD still gets 2 stars because the film deserves 5
Review: I already had this movie on VHS and on Beta.I bought the DVD to get the"BEHIND -THE-SCENES ARCHIVE FOOTAGE MONTAGE ON THE DESIGN AND OPERATION OF GIANT ANTS.Either they forgot to include it, as well as, the theatrical trailer and cast film highlights, or the interactive menus on this DVD are so bad it's impossible to access any of the special features besides scene selection and subtitles.And it's not that easy to get the last two to function either.

Addendum to the above review:
Although I wasted hours trying to access the footage I mentioned above, it is there.If you are trying to view it on a computer , use the arrow and enter keys on the keyboard for access.Watch for changes in the text in the lower left panel.I still have had no luck using the mouse to get to that part of the content.

Rating:
Summary: Spooktacular!
Review: This is a dream come true for fans of this film. The cover art is GREAT, having been adapted from the original poster art. The menus are fun, reading like sensationalistic newspaper headlines. The transfer ROCKS. I've never seen this film look so good. Detailed textures and fine contrast. Some nice extras with some rare test footage. I had misgivings when I saw the advanced images of the cover art, which depicted the old laser cover. Those misgivings are laid to rest! I am a happy camper! Wait...is that formic acid I smell?

Rating:
Summary: The Best of Classic Sci-Fi!
Review: This film is, in my opinion, the best of the classic 50's sci-fi films. The other "big bug" films that came out during the same few years all pale in comparison with this one.

I think this film has the best acting of any of the genre, and with James Whitmore (the Miracle Grow guy) and Edmund Gwenn (Miracle on 34th Street) in the cast, this shouldn't be surprising. If you look fast, you'll notice a young vulcan (Leonard Nimoy) running some equipment for the military. Also given a cameo is Fess Parker (Old Yeller and Back to the Future).

The DVD features are about as good as you can expect for a film of this era. Most of the additional features are things like the TV trailers, which is pretty common. One thing I like about this particular DVD is the behind the scenes featurette. This is a very informative "documentary" that gives the viewer new insight into the making of the film, and the ants.

Now for the bad news. The only drawback of this DVD edition, is that it is presented in full screen, not the original widescreen as produced in the 50's. I always hate full screen versions, because I want to see the film as the producer and director originally released it. This was my major complaint when I purchased "Creature from the Black Lagoon". Maybe they'll release these in widescreen someday, and I'll upgrade. Until then, I guess I'll have to get over it.

Rating:
Summary: Still the scariest giant bug movie ever made...
Review: I first recall seeing this movie many years ago on "The Creature Double Feature" out of Boston. The scariest moment for me has to be when one of our heroes is attacked by a sneaky ant in the ant's storm drain nest. After many years (and sleepless nights!), I have long since come to love this little gem.

While the idea of giant ants may seem silly, the film pulls it off with surprising flair. The ants are certainly a bit dated, but even so, they are just real enough to make the unbelievable believable. There's great suspense built up throughout, culminating in an ant beat-down beneath a major metropolitan city. One of the most famous action scenes in sci-fi film history occurs here when a giant ant crashes through a wall and attacks a ship's radio operator. One of our heroes even goes mano e mano with a giant ant in close-quarters combat when he's cut off from help by a cave-in. If you aren't on the edge of your seat by then, you must be comatose!

James Arness (Marshal Dillon on "Gunsmoke") plays FBI agent and hero Robert Graham. James Whitmore plays New Mexico police officer Ben Peterson, who first uncovers the mystery of the giant ants. Edmund Gwenn is probably best known to fans as Kris Kringle in the seminal holiday film "Miracle on 34th Street". Here, he plays a dottering old scientist who provides info on ants and their behavior.

There are some lighter moments despite the danger posed by the giant ants. Besides fun banter between the characters, Gwenn has an amusing encounter using a military radio, and later, unintentional comedy occurs when scientists mark giant ant sightings on a map using black flags ("Black Flag" is the brand name of a popular insecticide).

For all of the wonderful extras and menu design, the fan of "THEM!" will be disappointed with the lack of behind-the-scenes info on the film. For example, some production notes explaining that the film was originally supposed to be shot in Technicolor, but could not be due to the high cost would have been nice (the title card is in blazing red, the only use of color in the film). Also, information on the special coloring of the ant props in anticipation of the Technicolor shoot would have been informative (they were painted red and green). There are few if any behind the scenes shots showing how the ants were operated, which would have been nice. I have to go with four stars due to the lack of more info on the film, but the transfer is tack sharp, and the ants sound as spooky as ever (no info on the sound effects in the extras, either).

There are a surprising number of known faces in this film besides Mr. Gwenn, Mr. Whitmore, and Mr. Arness. Leonard Nimoy, forever famous as Mr. Spock on "Star Trek" has an early role here, walking on as a radio man who discusses a "flying saucer" sighting with a secretary. Also look for Fess Parker of Davy Crockett fame as the pilot who reports the giant ant-shaped "saucers". The well-known character actor William Schallert pops up as an ambulance attendant. Schallert appeared in countless cameos in television and films, and is probably best known for playing Patty Duke's father on "The Patty Duke Show". You may also spot Dub Ta ylor as a railway guard. Taylor was a staple of western films, and he's sure to be familiar. If you look quick, you'll also spot Richard Deacon, who went on to play Mel Cooley, the uptight producer (and target for Morey Amsterdam's jokes), on "The Dick Van Dyke Show".

"THEM!" is a landmark sci-fi/horror film, and set the standard by which all other giant radiation-mutated bug movies must be judged by. You'll never quite look at ants again in the same way after watching this film. The effects are still good even today, and the ants can still creep you out despite being fifty years old!

Rating:
Summary: Looks like the original vault print
Review: This DVD version of THEM! is far superior to the VHS version.
First off, The storage case it comes in has the original "One Sheet" movie poster for the cover. For anyone who saw this film at the theatre in 1954, ......YES! the opening title "THEM!" is
in shocking RED color on a black & white film. The transfer
sparkles. It is clear and sharp. The sound is mono and not
very strong. This DVD has the worst menu system I've ever seen.
It looks like a newspaper with all these headlines
and is not easy to understand. Only one trailer. The most disappointing thing is the so called feature "How they built and operated those dang giant ants". This is nothing more than 5 clips of the ants and if you look hard you can see some guys with cables. No commentary and it's about 3 minutes long. Cast & Crew notes are....worthless, but the quality of the transfer print in itself is FANTASTIC.

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie. Poor Cover Design.
Review: I have literally held a space on my shelf for this dvd. We are finally getting all of our favorite sci-fi and horror goodies from the 1950's on the little discs. While I am THRILLED at the prospect of owning this title, I am equally disappointed with the choice of cover art. This is the same lame cover used for the previous laser release from a few years ago. It doesn't capture the mood of the film. It evokes none of the bombast of the original poster art for the film. Why, oh why can't they use the original poster art for this? We have to live with this cover art! The original poster designs for this film ROCKED. It would have made this release more of a treasure for us fans. They should at least take the lead from the designers over at MGM who have created some really handsome covers for their "Midnight Movies" series. Even some of those are "revisionist" but they look terrific.
But hey, I love the movie and will buy this disc. Maybe I'll keep it in a brown paper bag so I don't have to look at that bad airbrush painting.

Rating:
Summary: Sometimes the Bug Eyed Monsters are actually Bugs...
Review: A home in the New Mexico desert has been destroyed and all that remains is a catatonic little girl (Sandy Descher) who says nothing and reacts to nothing until suddenly in the hospital she starts screaming "Them! THEM! THEM!" The scene justifies the rather interesting use of a pronoun as the title for this science fiction monster movie from the 1950s. Those who have trouble remembering this title usually can still recall the film when you tell them this is the one with the giant ants.

"Them!" divides neatly into two parts. The first half, where our cast of characters are confronted with the mystery of what is happening in the desert, is the best part of the film, creating a nice sense of tension as the clues that make no sense begin to add up to something quite unbelievable. But we know that this is 1950s black & white science fiction and the rule of thumb is once you actually see the monster a film quickly loses steam. The ants are basically a cross between giant puppets and giant marionettes. The thrills and chills come not so much from seeing the giant bugs as it does from the eerie sounds the ants make that are pretty much targeted right for your spine. Still, these special effects are not as laughable as, say, throwing grasshoppers on photographs of Chicago skyscrapers. The second half of the film becomes a search and destroy mission where you have to go along with the idea that a colony of giant ants can get from the area of New Mexico where the first A-bomb was exploded to below Los Angeles without anybody noticing. But then you remember this is a movie about ants the size of elephants and your curtail your complaints regarding your willingness to suspend disbelief.

I have long considered "Them!" and "The Thing From Another World" to be linked ideologically, as well as by the presence of James Arness, who is the heroic FBI Agent Robert Graham in the former and the carrot monster in the latter. The two films are linked ideologically basically by being opposite. In "The Thing" the military has to save the world from the scientist who wants to study the strange visitor from another planet and considers sacrificing a few human beings to satisfying the monster's blood lust a small price to pay for the advancement of science. However, in "Them!" the military looks to the scientist to not only understand what is going on but how to proceed with hunting down and destroying the nests of giant ants. After all, Edmund Gwenn as Dr. Harold Medford might not be playing Kris Kringle this time around but he is still a kindly grandfather type with no thought of sacrificing anyone to these atomic mutants. Consequently, there is no conflict about what to do, just how to go about doing it as quickly as possible (the image of James Whitmore using a tommy gun to take down the first giant ant seems more appropriate to a pre-war gangster flick).

I would think that at some point Hollywood might get around to remaking "Them!", although I would think the ants would work a lot better if they were smaller but more numerous (I am thinking something along the lines of "Starship Troopers" type numbers of ants pretty much doing the scarab thing from the recent "Mummy" movies). If they were the size of dogs or cats they could still do serious damage to anything that got in their way. Even if there were only 10 times bigger than normal, a couple hundred of them would give audience members the wiggens before they actually started stripping some poor slob down to the bone.

Another thing I have noticed is that many of these 1950s science fiction classics have some of the smartest damsels in distress you have ever seen. Witness Joan Weldon as Dr. Patricia "Pat" Medford, out there in the desert helping her father fight the good fight. It is as if Hollywood was going out of its way not to emulate the stereotype perpetuated on dozens and dozens of science fiction pulp magazine covers over the first half of the 20th century. There is still screaming from time to time, but a lot less fainting.