The Deadly Mantis

The Psychotronic Zone

By Ed Garea

The Deadly Mantis (Universal, 1957) – Director: Nathan Juran. Writers: Martin Berkeley (s/p), William Alland (story). Narrator: Marvin Miller. Stars: Craig Stevens, William Hopper, Alix Talton, Donald Randolph, Pat Conway, Florenz Ames, Paul Smith, Phil Harvey, Floyd Simmons, Paul Campbell & Helen Jay. B&W, 79 minutes.

In the world of ‘50s science-fiction films, two trends were popular with moviegoers: big bug films and prehistoric monster films. Along comes The Deadly Mantis, blending these two sub-genres into an unsuccessful concoction that leaves us disappointed and wondering what could have been if a little more time was taken and a little more money was spent.

The big bug movies, so profitable earlier in the decade, were winding down at the box office. Universal was running out of ideas for plots and the return on the films was not worth the cost of making them. So it was decided that if costs could be reduced in some areas of the film, then the special effects would not have to be trimmed as well.

The film opens with a rather awkward pan around a giant wall-map of the world before stopping on a tiny island above the Antarctic circle just long enough for narrator Marvin Miller to solemnly intone “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” We quickly move to footage of a volcanic eruption in the South Pacific followed by a jump more stock footage of icebergs crumbling into the ocean up near the North Pole. Then we see a close-up on a praying mantis, frozen in what appears the ice as we cut to the title superimposed on the image, followed by the cast and crew. 

After about five to ten minutes spent on stock footage the movie begins to take off. At one of the front-line stations, known as Weather 4, a huge blip comes on the radar screen, followed by a loud droning and the collapse of the station.     

Red Eagle One, the home base, tries to contact Weather 4, but to no avail. The base commander, Colonel Parkman (Stevens), flies out to investigate. Everything’s in ruins and there is no sign of the two men who worked there. It looks as though the building was hit by something big. But there’s nothing except a set of long parallel tracks in the snow.    

After Parkman returns to the base, a C-47 cruising along meets that same fate as the weather station. Again Parkman investigates. The same strange tracks are there, along with something new: an object about five feet long that comes to a point like a knife. Parkman decides to turn it over to CONAD (the Continental Air Defense Command at Colorado Springs). They, in turn, send it on to the Pentagon.        

At the Pentagon, General Ford (Randolph) and a room full of scientists are trying to determine what the strange object could be. The consensus is that they don’t know, but they agree that it comes from a living creature. As to what that could be, they are stumped. It’s suggested that Dr. Nedrick Jackson of the Museum of Natural History, the foremost expert in the field of paleontology, be brought in.

At the museum, we meet Dr. Jackson (Hopper) and Marge Blaine (Talton), a former reporter who edits the museum’s magazine. General Ford calls, requesting Dr. Jackson’s presence at the Pentagon.

Jackson determines that the hook is made of cartilage. After a discussion it’s determined the hook’s origin lies in the insect kingdom. Dr Gunther confirms from a blood test that the object is from an insect. It is eventually narrowed down further by Jackson, who shows the others an illustration of a praying mantis in a book. Says Jackson, “In all the kingdom of the living, there is no more deadly or voracious creature than the praying mantis.”

Ned is sent to see Col. Parkman at his base, Red Eagle One, for further investigation. He learns that Marge – to no one’s surprise – has managed to get permission from General Ford to accompany him as his photographer. Meanwhile the mantis has struck again, wiping out a village of Eskimos.

Once Ned and Marge arrive Parkman flies them to the site of the C-47 crash, shows them the strange skid marks and notes that they found the same marks at the weather shack and the Eskimo village.    

As they return to base to figure everything out, we see the mantis has landed outside the base and is slowly making its way to the main building. Jackson is going over notes in an office, trying to determine the size of the beast, when Marge and Parkman enter. As he talks about how huge the creature might be Marge walks over to a shelf to examine a couple of things. Outside the window we see the mantis creeping closer.       

Marge asks if the creature is as big as Ned thinks, then why hasn’t anyone seen it? Ned replies by saying that all who have seen are dead. By this time the mantis is practically against the window and we can see parts of its enormous head and eyes, much like a similar scene in Tarantula where the spider does the same thing. At that instant Marge turns, sees it, and screams. The mantis begins breaking through the roof as the red alert is sounded. Two soldiers armed with a flame thrower manage to drive it off before much damage is done.     

Back at the base reports come in that the mantis has been spotted at the Mid-Canada radar fence and the Pine Tree radar line. The creature is definitely heading south. Ned, Marge and Parkman prepare to head to Washington.   

General Ford appears on television to assure us that the mantis is not a hoax and the military is doing everything it can. He introduces Parkman, who tells of his encounter with the mantis and then assures us that the Civilian Ground Observer Corps is on the job and will spot the creature next time it appears. Parkman and Jackson display the spur and compare an enlarged photo of the mantis to a model of a C-47 to illustrate how big the creature is and so everyone on the ground will know what to look for. Parkman reminds everyone to listen for the loud drone produced by the mantis.     

Finally the creature is spotted and a squadron of jets launch to intercept it. This, of course, means even more stock footage. They fire missiles at the mantis, but the mantis vanishes below the cloud layer after being hit and a kill cannot be confirmed. 

At the Pentagon, Ned and Marge are plotting the locations of any strange events on a map. As it’s after midnight, General Ford orders everyone home for rest. As Parkman is driving Marge home in a thick fog, a report of a train derailment comes over the radio. As it’s nearby they go to investigate, but it looks like just another accident and they drive off, failing to notice the skid marks on the ground.     

Elsewhere in the fog, a bus stops to discharge its passenger. The driver tells his passenger to be careful out there in the fog and drives away – right into the path of the mantis. Parkman and Marge hear the report of the incident over the radio. The announcer goes on to report that, including the earlier train accident, this makes seven accidents in the area within the last 24 hours.

Parkman turns the car around and heads to the scene of the bus accident. A crowd is milling around with the cops trying to comfort the woman who witnessed the attack. Parkman asks one cop what happened and he says that he doesn’t know, but it looks like something lifted the bus and smashed it. Guess who? The cop turns away the guys from the coroner’s office as there are no bodies to collect. Parkman overhears a report coming in over the police radio that the mantis has been sighted over Washington. He and Marge quickly leave.     

We see the mantis fly over the Capitol building and land on the side of the Washington Monument. As it slowly climbs up the side we see two frightened watchmen inside watching as it passes. 

   

Later in a control room General Ford, Ned and Marge watch as the mantis is tracked toward Baltimore, and the order is given for ground-based artillery to shoot at anything not identified as friendly. As the mantis nears Baltimore, the army starts firing everything they have at it. The bug drops too low for radar to pick it up, but Ford notes that one of the ground observers will pick it up. The ground observers relay information that allows Parkman to track the mantis. The planes spot the beast and begin firing. Parkman, in one of the planes, collides with the monster, and is forced to eject and safely parachutes to the ground. The mantis vanishes and they later learn he is trapped in the Manhattan Tunnel right below the Hudson River.     

We see that the entrance to the tunnel has been portioned off with large tarps and smoke being pumped in the tunnel for cover if troops need to be sent in. Parkman arrives, dressed in a containment suit. He tells General Ford everything is go at the Jersey end as the tarps are holding in the smoke. Ned and Marge arrive with Ned saying that the mantis is mortally wounded. If they can keep it inside the tunnel long enough, it will die. Worried that the mantis may break through the tunnel walls and cause a flood, Ford allows Parkman to go inside and confront the beast.   

The colonel and a small group of soldiers go inside the tunnel and eventually spot the mantis among a group of wrecked and overturned vehicles. After bombarding it with chemical grenades the mantis collapses and dies.     

After the tunnel has been cleared of smoke, Parkman leads the others – including Ned, Marge and Ford – inside. Ned points at the dead mantis and tells Marge right there is the cover for next month’s magazine. As Marge snaps her photos, the giant foreleg of the mantis is rising up behind her. Parkman sees the movement, runs and pushes Marge out of the way as the giant leg drops back to the ground. For some reason, Parkman feels it is necessary to lift her up and carry her away from the mantis. Marge and Parkman kiss as Ned snaps a photo of them, and we get one last shot of the mantis as it lies there dead.

Afterwords

What ultimately does in The Deadly Mantis is its stultifying docudrama style combined with the excessive use of stock footage. To accommodate this something must suffer, and here it’s the almost casual neglect of the hows and whys of the story. It’s the hows and whys that make a sci-fi film interesting, especially one that has such an excellent monster as this does. The film is also handicapped by lack of urgency. We have a monster on the loose and it seems as if everyone’s taking their time about it. Given the 78-minute running time there could have been more put into the script along the line of how and why.

The movie adheres to the standard sci-fi plot line of its time: (1) There is a mystery involving missing people. It deepens as more people vanish and strange clues are found. (2) Specialists are called in to determine the nature of the threat. (3) The monster makes its appearance and goes on an unstoppable rampage. (4) After repeated failed attempts at stopping it, a lethal formula is finally arrived at and the monster is killed. 

If this is done with care we get classics like The Thing From Another World, Them!, and Tarantula. But done poorly and without care (no matter what the budget) we get Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, Beginning of the End, and The Giant Claw. The Deadly Mantis falls somewhere in the middle. It has much to recommend it, such as a solid cast, a great monster and, for the most part, a good plot. Never mind that the basic premiss, that of a huge insect, is impossible. These things have never mattered in sci-fi films as long as there can be the hint of plausibility and a decent monster. The Deadly Mantis has both. Face it, the reason we watch is to see a giant insect and no matter how ridiculous that idea is we will gladly suspend disbelief as long as the thing in entertaining.

What we end up with is a film top heavy on stock footage. Most of the first act is taken up with borrowed footage, mainly from an Air Force short titled One Plane - One Bomb. Additional footage came from Air Force shorts Guardians All, SFP308, and even a Universal adventure drama titled S.O.S. Iceberg, made back in 1933 and starring Rod LaRocque, along with Leni Riefenstahl, of all people, before she became Hitler’s favorite auteur.

The film takes about ten minutes to get the plot going. Until then we are regaled with uninterrupted stock footage accompanied by Our Narrator about the construction, placement and value of the three radar “lines” along with the constantly vigilant personnel who keep America safe from nuclear attack by Godless Communists. I felt as if I was back in grade school watching one of the educational films that only served to break up the boredom of the school day, as I learn the difference between the Pine Tree radar fence, the Mid-Canada radar fence, and the Distant Early Warning System, otherwise known as the DEW line. I also learn that, somehow, all this is very important. 

When Colonel Parkman mentions sending the insect part to CONAD, we get even more stock footage, as Our Narrator explains that, “The focal point of the supersonic shield that guards the North American continent,” and “A shield that could mean the difference between life and death for millions of Americans.” 

Inside, four telephones lined up on a desk, each one a different color. But these are not just ordinary phones. Oh no. “These are hot phones,” says Our Narrator. “Using them it takes only 15 seconds to talk to Alaska, 10 seconds to alert Newfoundland, 5 seconds to contact DEW, 3 seconds to reach the Pentagon command post.” Do we really need to know all this? The last phone rings and is answered by General Ford (Randolph). The way the scene is set up, its seems as if he was sitting there waiting for the call.

Later we cut to even more stock footage as the mantis attacks the Eskimo village. We see the villagers suddenly taking to their kayaks and fleeing from their village. This is the footage taken from S.O.S. Iceberg. But it occurs to us: why are the men suddenly fleeing and leaving the women and children behind? That makes no sense, unless it’s some sort of Eskimo cultural ritual, which it isn’t.

Honestly though, I don’t know what’s worse – the stock footage or the scene at the base’s recreation hall when Parkman takes Marge there. The men are busy dancing with each other to a record playing in the background as Parkman and Marge enter. Immediately the men become utterly entranced by Marge’s presence, like a pack of dogs staring at a package from Omaha Steaks. “A female woman,” says Parkman’s aide (Smith), “I thought they stopped making ‘em.” He walks over clumsily and asks Marge to dance, leading her to the dance floor.

Marge, for her part is there simply as the romantic attraction, and from the minute she meets Parkman, we know romance will be in bloom. Her task is to fill the role of the female in these pictures: a strong, self-sufficient professional who still needs a man to save her and make her life complete. She goes where’s she’s not supposed to go, she charms everyone with her intelligence and the fact she’s a babe, and she’s the best screamer. And let me tell you, Marge screams really well.

Other than the dumb scene in the rec room, the acting is better than this sort of film deserves. Leads Craig Stevens and Alix Talton (a former Miss Georgia) give decent performances. The original choices to play their roles were Rex Reason and Mara Corday. Reason dropped out saying he’d rather not (“I knew that the monster would be the star, and I knew I was worth a little more than just to support a praying mantis,” he said in an interview years later) and Corday was busy at the time being embarrassed by Sam Katzman in The Giant Claw. However, William Hooper often seems like he’d rather be anywhere else, and Donald Randolph as General Ford also seems out of place somehow, like we can see he’s not really a military man. 

One of the film’s lesser highlights is the mantis flying past a superimposed montage of newspaper headlines – Mantis Reported Over Bangor, Curfew Ordered In New Orleans,  Congressman Calls Mantis “Hoax.” The last one is really great, as Congress can always be counted on to be stupid.

When the Civilian Ground Observer Corps is mentioned we are treated to even more stock footage, with shots of people on beaches, in watchtowers and on ships at sea, all staring into the sky and watching for the mantis. When the bug drops too low for radar to pick it up, Ford notes that one of the ground observers will pick it up. That’s the cue for even more stock footage, this time of the ground observers as the mantis flies through the clouds and fog. Say what you want, the people in the Observer Corps are diligent.

The best scenes in the movie are when the mantis comes down in Laurel, Maryland. Parkman is driving Marge home in the fog and making like an octopus at the traffic light when the report of the train derailment comers over the radio. Set in the fog, it makes for an eerie scene, especially when we see they overlooked the mantis’ skid marks. Later, when it attacks the bus, the scene is well done and shocking, especially the passenger who just got off and witnesses the whole thing.

The other effective scene is where the mantis climbs up the Washington Monument. This was achieved by filming a real mantis climbing and combining it with shots of the scared crew inside the building watching it go past. This is the only time a real mantis is used. In the other scenes a 200-by-40-foot-long papier-maché model of a mantis – with a wingspan of 150 feet and fitted with a hydraulic system – was used. Two smaller models, one six feet long, and another, one foot long, were used for the scenes where the mantis walked or flew.

The ending, with the mantis stuck in the tunnel, is a let down. At this point, after the goings-on in Laurel, we were expecting more. Instead we learn that the bug is mortally wounded, it’s trapped in the tunnel, and all Parkman and his gang have to do now is go in and finish it off. 

In the final analysis, the film just seems tired. Perhaps it was the timing. The film was produced at the end of the era. During its heyday, William Alland produced the films and Jack Arnold directed them. Films like It Came From Outer Space, Creature From the Black Lagoon, This Island Earth, Tarantula, and The Incredible Shrinking Man were excellent examples of their teamwork. For The Deadly Mantis the director’s chair was turned over to Nathan Juran. This was his fourth picture and his first in the science-fiction genre. The fault for the failure of the movie did not lie with Juran. The blame for this was on the studio for making a film on a cut-rate budget and substituting lots of stock footage for plot and action to save even more money. 

Trivia

The end credits contain the following written statement: “We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the Ground Observer Corps.”

The Deadly Mantis was released in May 1957 as part of a double bill with the spy film The Girl in the Kremlin.

In February 1997, The Deadly Mantis was featured on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. 

William Hopper served in World War II as an underwater demolition expert in the Pacific Theater. His hair turned permanently white by the stress and terror of his job.

Memorable Quotes (all from The MST 3000 Version)

[The movie opens with a review of North American defense monitoring stations.]

Narrator: Another radar fence stretches across the long, unfortified border between the United States and Canada...

Servo [as Narrator]: Canada, our mortal enemy.

Narrator: ... the Pine Tree Radar Fence.

Mike [as Narrator]: The natural radar of pine trees protects our northern borders.

[A museum guard salutes Dr. Jackson]

Mike: Uh, you don't need to salute the paleontologist.

[Parkman’s aide, the Corporal at the Arctic base, acts like he's having a nervous breakdown after Marge Blaine appears.]

Crow: Yeah, I think this guy's familiar with dishonorable discharge.

[The rather effeminate-looking General Ford explains to the media that the mantis is real]

General Ford: I want to say at the outset that, contrary to rumor and certain newspaper headlines...

Crow [as Ford]: I'm not gay!

Crow [as Col. Parkman with Marge in the car]: But I've got a mantis in my pantis.