Them! Movie Review

“A horror horde of crawl-and-crush giants clawing out of the Earth from mile-deep catacombs!” Inspired by the success of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, this was the first and the best of the giant bug movies (no picnic jokes, please). What hath the atomic age wrought? Radiation-enhanced behemoths – or should we say behe-ants – which terrorize New Mexico before devastating a Navy ship and finally hiding out in the sewers of Los Angeles. Hoping to stomp them out are policeman James Whitmore, FBI agent James (The Thing) Arness, scientist Edmund Gwenn (best-loved as Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street), and his beautiful daughter Joan Weldon. According to Fess Parker, Walt Disney saw his brief bit as a pilot and sought him out to audition for the role that would make him a legend, Davy Crockett. As chilling as The Fly’s cries of “Help me” is little Sandy Descher's sudden cry of “Them.” Olin Howlin, who appears as a drunk, was “The Blob's” first victim. Look quick for Leonard Nimoy. The ants were actual-sized models and were not stop-motion animated (special effects supervisor Ralph Ayres was nominated for an Academy Award). This was Warner Brothers’ highest-grossing film of the year.

1954 93m/B James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Fess Parker, James Arness, Onslow Stevens, Jack Perrin, Joan Weldon, Leonard Nimoy, Sandy Descher, Olin Howlin; D: Gordon Douglas; W: Ted Scherdemann; C: Sid Hickox. VHS, Beta, LV WAR