The Monster of Piedras Blancas

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The Monster of Piedras Blancas
Theatrical release insert poster
for the film's double feature release
with Okefenokee
Directed byIrvin Berwick
Screenplay byH. Haile Chace
Produced byJack Kevan
StarringLes Tremayne
Forrest Lewis
John Harmon
Pete Dunn
Jeanne Carmen
CinematographyPhilip H. Lathrop
Edited byGeorge A. Gittens
Production
company
Vanwick Productions
Distributed byFilmservice Distributors Corporation (United States)
Grand National Pictures (United Kingdom)
Release date
  • 22 April 1959 (1959-04-22) (United States)
Running time
71 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$29,000

The Monster of Piedras Blancas is a 1959 American monster film. It was produced by Jack Kevan, directed by Irvin Berwick,[1] and stars Jeanne Carmen, Les Tremayne, John Harmon, Don Sullivan, Forrest Lewis, and Pete Dunn. The film was released by Filmservice Distributors Corporation as a double feature with Okefenokee.

The Monster of Piedras Blancas was influenced by Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). Kevan, who had supervised the manufacture of the Gill-man suit and worked on Mole People costumes at Universal-International, created the Piedras Blancas monster costume. Kevan employed several of his former Universal associates on the picture, including soundman Joe Lapis and prop master Eddie Keys.[2]

Plot[edit]

In the sleepy California town of Piedras Blancas, Sturges, the lighthouse keeper, is very superstitious and concerned for the safety of his teenage daughter, Lucy. He leaves food for a sea monster who lives in a nearby cave. The locals disregard his warnings at first, but they begin to take notice when the bodies of people killed by the creature are found on the beach. A local scientist identifies a scale found near one of the bodies as belonging to a "diplovertebron", a prehistoric amphibious reptile long presumed extinct.

Cast[edit]

  • Les Tremayne as Dr. Sam Jorgenson
  • Forrest Lewis as Constable George Matson
  • John Harmon as Sturges, the Lighthouse Keeper
  • Frank Arvidson as Kochek, the Storekeeper
  • Jeanne Carmen as Lucille Sturges
  • Don Sullivan as Fred
  • Pete Dunn as Eddie/the Monster
  • Joseph La Cava as Mike
  • Wayne Berwick as Little Jimmy

Production[edit]

Drive-in advertisement from 1959.

Both Berwick and Kevan toiled in unbilled obscurity as contract employees at Universal-International. Berwick had been an uncredited dialogue director at U-I and at Columbia prior to that, working with the likes of William Castle and Jack Arnold. Kevan in particular chafed under the stewardship of Bud Westmore, the head of the studio's makeup department, who seldom allowed employees like Kevan or sculptors Chris Mueller and Millicent Patrick to receive publicity. Berwick and Kevan formed Vanwick Productions and became independent producers. The Monster of Piedras Blancas, their first film, was designed as a takeoff on U-I's popular Creature from the Black Lagoon, whose iconic monster suit Kevan had helped manufacture. For this film's fictional "diplovertebron", Kevan cut cost and labor time by using existing molds for the feet (cast from those of the Metaluna Mutant from This Island Earth) and the oversized hands (designed originally for The Mole People). Actor/stuntman Pete Dunn wore the green-hued monster suit in the film and did double-duty playing the bartender character. Parts of the rubber monster suit showed up years later in the TV show Flipper, in the episode "Flipper's Monster", which was directed by Ricou Browning, who had performed the Gill-man swimming scenes in Creature From the Black Lagoon.[3] Universal gave a great deal of unofficial cooperation to the production, since it was going through a period of budget problems. Vanwick received sweetheart deals for production vehicles and equipment, the studio's way of helping many of its laid-off technicians who found work on the independent film. The film's end budget was $29,000.[4]

Top-lined Sullivan would appear in a number of other genre films afterward, such as The Giant Gila Monster.[5] This was the only lead role of B-movie actress and pin-up model Carmen, best known as a trick-shot golf "expert". Character actor Lewis was primarily known for his radio work, as was Tremayne. Wayne Berwick, who played "Little Jimmy", was the son of director Irvin Berwick and the godson of prolific actor Harmon.[citation needed]

The film was shot entirely on location, but oddly enough, not at the real Point Piedras Blancas, which is north of San Simeon on the California coast. The lighthouse locations were shot at the Point Conception lighthouse near Lompoc, and the film's town was actually the seaside city of Cayucos, about 30 miles south of the real Piedras Blancas.[4]

Several scenes broke new ground for onscreen gore, such as the monster making a shock entrance carrying a bloody human head and a later shot of the same head with a crab crawling across the face.[citation needed]

Release[edit]

Home media[edit]

The Monster of Piedras Blancas was released on VHS by Republic Pictures Home Video on January 1, 1998.[6] It was released for the first time on DVD and Blu-ray on September 13, 2016, by Olive Films.[7][8]

Reception[edit]

The Monster of Piedras Blancas received mostly negative reviews from film critics upon its release, with many calling it "amateurish".

Author and film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film one and a half out of four stars, calling the film "obvious and amateurish" while also criticizing its sluggish pacing.[9] TV Guide rated it one out of four stars, stating that the film was "a distinctly subpar effort", with the monster's design being the film's only item of interest.[10] In his book VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever, Jim Craddock gave the film a "WOOF", the book's lowest rating. Craddock was critical of the film's acting and special effects, which he felt were poor and "amateurish".[11] Dave Sindelar from Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings gave it a mixed review, complimenting the film's gory effects, soundtrack, and Sullivan and Tremayne's performances. However, he criticized the film's script, dialogue, and monster design.[12]

AllMovie gave the film a positive review, calling it "a horror movie with a lot of familiar elements but just enough offbeat touches to keep viewers coming back for 50 years or more".[13]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Wayne Berwick Filmography". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2015. Archived from the original on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  2. ^ "Filmography for Eddie Keys". Turner Classic Movies.
  3. ^ The Creature Chronicles: Exploring the Black Lagoon Trilogy by Tom Weaver, David Schecter and Steve Kronenberg
  4. ^ a b John Johnson (1996). Cheap Tricks and Class Acts: Special Effects, Makeup, and Stunts from the Films of the Fantastic Fifties. McFarland. pp. 335–. ISBN 978-0-7864-0093-5.
  5. ^ "Interview with actor Don Sullivan". The B-Movie Cast. 23 April 2007.
  6. ^ Amazon.com: The Monster of Piedras Blancas [VHS]: Les Tremayne, Forrest Lewis, John Harmon, Frank Arvidson, Jeanne Carmen, Don Sullivan, Pete Dunn, Joseph La Cava, Wayne Berwick, Irvin Berwick, C. Haile Chace: Movies & TV. ASIN 6301750721.
  7. ^ "The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1958) - Irvin Berwick". Allmovie.com. AllMovie. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  8. ^ "Olive Films Announces September 2016 Titles". OliveFilms.com. Olive Films. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  9. ^ Leonard Maltin; Spencer Green; Rob Edelman (January 2010). Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide. Plume. ISBN 978-0-452-29577-3.
  10. ^ "The Monster Of Piedras Blancas - Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings". TV Guide.com. TV Guide. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  11. ^ Jim Craddock (2011). VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever. Gale/Cengage Learning. p. 697. ISBN 978-1-4144-4878-7.
  12. ^ Sindelar, Dave. "Fantastic Movie Musings & Ramblings - THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS (1959)". scififilm.org. Dave Sindelar. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  13. ^ Eder, Bruce. "The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1958) - Review - AllMovie". Allmovie.com. Bruce Eder. Retrieved 5 December 2014.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Warren, Bill. Keep Watching the Skies: American Science Fiction Films of the Fifties, 21st Century Edition (revised and expanded). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009. ISBN 0-89950-032-3.

External links[edit]

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