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Them! 1954

PaladinNites :_vip:

Posted at 2020-10-24 00:46:04(212Wks ago) Report Permalink URL

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Welcome to the First Nighter's Theater

Please make your way to the usual seat in the balcony

From 1954, this ensemble cast will take you on a journey to the desert southwest...

Cast:
James Whitmore ... Sgt. Ben Peterson
Edmund Gwenn ... Dr. Harold Medford
Joan Weldon ... Dr. Patricia Medford
James Arness ... Robert Graham
Onslow Stevens ... Brig. Gen. Robert O'Brien
Sean McClory ... Maj. Kibbee
Christian Drake ... Trooper Ed Blackburn (as Chris Drake)
Sandy Descher ... The Ellinson Girl
Mary Alan Hokanson ... Mrs. Lodge (as Mary Ann Hokanson)
Don Shelton ... Trooper Capt. Fred Edwards
Fess Parker ... Alan Crotty
Olin Howland ... Jensen (as Olin Howlin)
A journey to meet;

Desert Search;
New Mexico spotter plane and Trooper car 5w are scouring an area after a report of a small child wandering alone. The plane spots the child and Sgt Ben Peterson and Trooper Blackburn stop and call out. But she doesn't respond at all. Sgt Peterson runs her down and finds she's mute and has the infamous "1000 yard stare"

Sgt Peterson places the child in the car, her face plasticine, eyes unblinking. Her robe torn and the doll she clutches is damaged.
The plane spots a trailer and car just a few miles from where they have found the little girl, and direct the Troopers to it. Along the way to the trailer, the rocking of the vehicle on the secondary road brings merciful sleep to her.
First Attack Site;
On arrival at the camp site they find the trailer has one whole side ripped out.

A bloody remnant of a shirt. Money scatterd about. In the back sleeping a service revolver is found with all cartridges expended. And in a very small storage area under the bed, Sgt Peterson finds a ripped piece of the little girls robe and the broken part of her doll. Trooper Blackburn finds sugar cubes scattered around the outside of the trailer, and a very strange large print in the sand. They put in the call for backup and an ambulance.

Department print experts, photographer and others swarm the trailer site. No one has a good answer as to what has happened, nor why. The printer, as he is making a cast of the the strange print found has never seen anything like it before. At the ambulance Sgt Peterson gives the medic what sparse information he has on the child. It's then that
wafting across the desert as the winds are picking up, they hear a high frequency sound, warbling. As all turn towards where the sound is coming from the little girls rises straight up, her face now reacting to the sound.

As the strange sound fades on the winds, she slowly lays back down.
Second Attack Site;
Peterson and Blackburn head down to Gramp Johnson's store. The closest place that supplies would have been bought and possibly Gramps could give them some ideas of who was in the camper. The desert sandstorm in getting fiercer and night has fallen by the time they reach it. Parking by the solitary gas pump, they note the lights are on in the store. But once inside they find the whole place has been damaged. In the back room they find a radio playing, dinner layed out and a pot of coffen on the old pot bellied stove. Behind the register area is Gramps level action rifle. Bent in half. Just past the counter, they peer into the stoage cellar and find Gramps body.
Battered and bloodied.

Beyond that the far wall has been ripped out, just like the trailer site. And a barrle of sugar has been tipped over and torn open. The cash regsiter is full of money.
Sgt Peterson tells Blackburn he's going to call it in and head to the hospital, as he wants to be there when the little girl comes round. Blackburn is to stay behind until the back up team arrives. Peterson leaves, and again that strange warbling sounds comes from out of the night. Blackburn kills the lights in the store, draws his pistol and slowly makes his way out past the torn out wall.

as he moves outside and turns in the direction of the sounds. We hear him empty his gun...and a final scream.
State Patrol Sector Office;
The Captain, Peterson and a couple of other officers recap what they know. Gramps got off 4 shots from his 30-30 and was a crack shot, before whoever or whatever bent the gun in half. Prints at the trailer have come back with a name, it was an FBI agent on extended vacation with his wife and 2 kids. Now just the lone child is the only survivor. And no one has been able to ID the print cast as well. Peterson is instructed to get hold of the local FBI office, as they now have a stake in the
investigation.
Enter the FBI and a puzzling Autopsy Report;
Agent Robet Graham of the Alamagordo office arrives with Peterson. They have been out to each of the sites.

All agree they have lots of evidence, loaded with clues that just make no sense. Graham asks about the print casting and the Captain tells him they even sent it to the local college zoology teacher-who has never seen a print like it. Graham asks for permission to sent it to HQ in Washington for them to say if it is something, or at least prove it's not. Doctor Putnam comes in and gives the details of the autopsy on Gramps. "Old man Johnson could have died in any of five ways. His neck and back were broken, chest was crushed, skull was fracture. And here's one for Sherlock Holmes" as he glances at Agent Graham "there was enoght formic acid in him to kill 20 men"
At the Airfield;
Telegram to Robert Graham, FBI Alamogordo NMex=
Doctors Medford of Dept Agriculture arriving army aircraft approx 1500 hours your time meet and extend all coopertation=
Peterson and Graham are both shaking their heads as to why not one but 2 Doctors are coming, let alone from the Department of Agriculture.

An elderly man disembarks, and gives the air of being somewhat scatterbrained. Then the second Dr Medford comes out of the plane

The elder Doctor is ovejoyed at meeting Peterson, the man who found the print. Graham and Peterson offer to take them to the hotel first, but are brushed aside by the elder Mediford as he wants to see all their reports first, as they have work to do.
Being somewhat evasie with their answers, the two Doctors are quizzing each over "this was the only print you found?" "Where was the first Atomic bomb exploded"
Peterson answers yes that was the only print found, and Graham confirms the area of White Sands was the testing site. The elder Medford leans into his Daughter and says" 1945, Hmm thats nine years.Yes! it is certainly genetically possible"
Graham gets a bit testy and demands to know more informtion. Both Medfords put him off as they need more to enforce their theory. The elder Medford then issues the request for them to stop at a local drugstore and then go see the little Ellison girl. And after that the site where you found the first print. And with an air of dismissal heads out the door. Peterson and Graham both flustered, have no choice to but to go along.
At the Hospital with the little Ellison Girl;
The resident explains to Dr Medford why they have not tried curare or nacrosynthesis on her. The diagnosis is Hysteria-Conversion and she feels the only thing to "jolt"her out would be a severe catharsis to over come the aphonia. Medford interrupts the physician and asks for an empty glass. He has Pat Medford pour some formic acid into it.
The physician questions the use and Dr Medford calmly replies "this may provide the jolt you need" and he slowly waves the glass below the little Ellison girls face.
resulting in

She begins to blink and then lets out a scream of "Them, Them" and runs to a corner trying to hide. Peterson grabs her up and holds her. Nonchalantly Dr Medford says "May we visit the desert now gentlemen?" Graham says it's getting pretty late for that to which Medford replies "Later than you think"
Back at the scene of the First Attack
With a heavy wind blowing sand all around the group makes its way to where the first print was found. Dr Medford asks if there have been any reports of a strange mound observed in the area. Pat Medford mentions that with the slim pickings for food, they would turn carnivourous quickly. And the 4 spread out to look for other possible prints. Agent Graham pulls Pat aside and demands to know "what would turn carnivourous" Pat says her Father will tell, when he is sure.

Next to a Joshua tree, Dr Medford calls out to Pat. He's found another print.As the two Doctors huddle over it and measure. Dr Medford exclaims the size indicates it would be around 8 feet.

Peterson and Graham press Dr Medford to tell them what he suspects, but Medford gently deflects this. He understands that they are concerned with what appears to be just a local crime, but if his suspeciions are incorrect no harm has been done. However if he is right, and the evidence he has seen so far is only bolstering his hypothesis, then "none of us may dare risk revealing it, because we can not risk a nationwide panic"
Meanwhile Dr Pat Medford has headed off in the direction that the print indicated-whatever it was- was heading. Crouching down by an embankment she finds more prints. And then comes the same eerie sound, but this time from above her.

Screaming in fear she backs away, which alerts the others. Graham and Peterson both open fire on the creature that faces them.

Dr Medford now shows his metal and shouts for them to 'aim for the antennae, he's helpless without them". Graham manages to hit one, but it's Peterson with a machine gun that finally hits the other and takes the creature out.

As they examine the carcass, Dr Medford asks do they notice the odor...it's formic acid. He explains that ants use their mandible to rend/tear and hold their prey, but he points out the stinger...they use formic acid to kill. As he further explains that they must find the colony, Peterson and Graham are dumbfounded. You mean there are more?
And Pat Medford says Yes, this one was only foraging. You heard the sounds. Now Graham and Peterson are more amazed. Dr Medford explains that all creature communicate in some form or fashion. And that is when an answering sounds comes out of the desert winds....

from several areas around them, more sounds issue forth.
Military Chopper Search Teams;
Two choppers sweep the area in a grid pattern. Search Able contains General O'Brian, Dr Medford and Sgt Peterson. Search Baker has Major Kibee, Agent Graham and Dr Pat Medford.
The General asks Medford on the possible size of the nest, and why hasn't anyone seen them before. Dr Medford postulates that he believes the mutations are only of recent origin, and lack of sightings is due to the location of the vast expanse of the desert. The banter between Dr Medford and Sgt Peterson over proper radio procedure is
priceless.
It's Search Baker chopper who discovers the mound. And Dr Pat Medford has them do a slow fly around as she takes pictures.

And as they sweep around, the mystery of the missing people is now decided

Nest briefing and initial battle plan;
The General is consternated with Dr Medford. He has been instructed by Washington to follow the Drs. lead in this, but can't understand why not go ahead with a bomber squadron attack. Dr. Medford very patiently begins to school those assembled on what exactly they are up against. Pat puts up a rather simplified chart showing a cross section of a typical and nest. Dr Medford describes the tunnels, chambers, water traps very simply to those gathered. And gives them an idea of just how far down this nest could be. He removes the request for a night bombing by telling the General that most of the ants would be out foraging. They hold up in the nest during the day, because like us, they don't like the heat either.
He tells them the best chance is tomorrow, in the hottest part of the day. But to keep the ants in the nest is the problem.He first suggests flooding the nest to drown them, as they breath through their sides. But it's the desert and no appreciable sized water source is close. And the General says cloud seeding is a waste of time as
well.
But the second proposal he asks, is to keep the surface of the nest mound hot enough to drive them deep into the nest. Major Kibee suggests laying phosphorus on the mound with bazookas. The General then asks what next?
Dr Medford says they drop cyanide gas into the nest to kill them. The General asks "how can we be sure we got all of them?" And Dr Medford calmly replies "We go into the nest...and find"
Next day;
Still tying to keep secrecy only the six head to the nest site. General, Major, Agent Graham, Sgt Peterson, and Drs Medford. Taking up positions two bazookas lay on the phosphorus round about the mound.

After a period of time Graham and Peterson dress out in close approach fire gear and peer into the opening. One ant comes charging out, Peterson sprays it with machine gun fire, then both begin dropping the cyanide granades into the opening.

Decent into the nest;
As Graham and Peterson gear up for decent, Pat Medford is dressed out as well. Graham balks at the idea, but she equally rears up and reminds him there are important things to be observed in the nest, her Father is too old for this and she doesn't have any time to attempt to teach insect pathology to them. With reluctance Graham concedes.

In the tunnels you get the claustrophic sense as they find carcass after carcass dead. The gas still hugging the ground for several feet. They make their way down another drop and Pat Medford marvels at the walls and tells them it's held by ant saliva. And here Peterson has one of the best lines in the film...

"Yeah, spits all that's holding me together right now too"

Once they find the Queen's chamber Pat moves around snapping pictures, until she finds two eggs opened and empty.

Post Nest attack debriefing
Dr Medford upon viewing the pictures taken, mutters to himself "Strange,very strange'. He asks Pat specifically "You found no winged ants" and all reply negative. Medford tells the General, they were too late in wiping out this nest. At least 2 new Queen ants have dried their wings and flown off with winged male consorts. The males are not a worry as they will soon die, but the new Queens... will eventually land somewhere and new nests will arise. "You better inform Washington, General"
Washington, D.C. - closed security briefing;

The New Mexico members are in a briefing with Pentagon heads and select Senators. Peterson is asked does his local department know about the ants, and he replies "No, General O'Brien & Dr Medford maintained that absolute secrery should be maintained". Queried again Peterson gives his opinion that no police force in the world could
contain the panic if the general public knew of their existance. Dr Medford now holds a school, yet again, for these people. As he explains "Some of you have displayed incredulos attitudes towards our reports and pictures. The rest of you are trying to understand the gravity of out situation. But repeatedly ask how really serious this is." He has prepard a short film, in which he hopes will give them a better idea of the nature of the creatures they are going to face.

"This is why you gentlemen are here, to consider this problem and I hope, solve it. Because if you don't man as the dominate species on this planet will be extinct in what Doctor?" Medford askes the Washington science advisor. The answer is maybe a year...
Data Center-Top Secret only;

Report of a flyer named Alan Crotty who claimed flying saucers shaped like ants caused his crash. Now being held in a psychiatric hospital. The Major, Agent Graham and Pat Medford go to interview him. In the hospital an extremely agitated young man recounts his encounter while flying into Brownsville, Tx. He calls them flying saucers because he doesn't know what else to call them. When pressed for a description he perfectly describes a Queen and two males and gives his guess that they were bearing due West as he dodged them and ended up crashing. All three, the Major, Graham and Pat have noncommital faces but Pat does tell him that they believe his account. Crotty asks for help with the doctors to get him out and Graham says he will speak to them. He just didn't include that he will advise the doctors to hold him and allow no
visitors....Washington will send the doctor a communique when he's 'cured'.
Post Crotty interview speculation;
Dr Medford decides they should concentrate from Panama to Santa Barbara, and let the Mexican authorities in as well. The phone rings and Medford listens for a few seconds and tears out of the room.

Down in the report capture center Dr Medford leans over a naval man as he intercepts an SOS from the SS Viking at sea...it appears a nest has hatched aboard a ship.

The Navy has pinpointed the location of the Viking and the crusier Milwaukee has arrived and managed to pick up two survivors. The Naval Chief of Staff then ordered the Milwaukee to sink the Viking with naval gunfire. Dr Medford and team have found out the Viking was anchored at Aculpoco for several days and nights, With one of the hatches
having remained open the whole time. It's postualted a queen flew in and the rest is now history. Wondering how to contain the story of his, the Naval Chief says the Milwaukee will remain at sea until further orders, so at this point secrecy/security is still intact. A huge map on the wall has flags that show the finds of dead male ants. with the latest one found in California. Agent Graham and Peterson are now in Los Angeles to follow up on a lead of a large theft of sugar from a train yard. 40 tons to be exact. The night yard man is being held in city jail, because they think he's lying about not hearing anything. The man tells Graham "Is sugar a rare cargo? is there a black market for it? did you ever hear of a fence for hot sugar?" He maintains he didn't see or hear anything that night.
Sgt Peterson comes in and says a woman has identified the body of her dead husband, and he wants Graham to see the deceased.
In the Morgue;
The morgue attendant describes and shows the wounds. A Mr Lodge who had left early that morning with his two kids to go play, as he works several jobs and has little time to spend with them. Mrs Lodge gives them places he could have taken the kids too. Graham and Peterson bring in the cops who found Lodge. He has the cops recount the arrests they made in the area that night. Three drunks and a speeder. One of the drunks is in the alcoholic ward of the hospital. Jensen is a regular resident in the ward. He keeps looking out the window, "they gone now". The ants. He says big ones. Mostly at night he sees them. Five months he's been seeing them.

Preliminary investigation LA river across from hospital;
The Major, Graham and Peterson arrive in a prowl car and position across from the hospital that Jensen was looking from. They find fresh tire tracks, a print of an ant in the mud and the patrol officer finds a small model airplane. The cop radios in and Mrs Lodge confirms the plane as her son's same model and type. Graham and Peterson from the clues found concur what happened there. The father did his best to fight back, but with no bodies of the children...they all look into the tunnel as a possible route the kids ran for to escape.

Can't keep it secret any longer;
General O'Brian heads a table filled with local leaders and holds a full radio/tv press conferencc. Per the President with full agreement of the Governor of California and the Mayor of LA. Los Angeles is now under Martial Law for public safety. Curfew at 1800 hours for all. He then gives a brief description of the mutated ants. As he speaks all thru out the city National Guard and Regular Army troops flood in. Night decends on the city, and at the LA river where Mr Lodge evidence was found is now ground zero for operations. Near the General's command post, Dr Medford is hunched over a map of the drains with some city official who is pushing for just pumping gasoline in and torching the creatures out. Agent Graham and Sgt Peterson have just cleared a civilian car past an MP, it has Mrs. Lodge who wants to be there, for what ever they
find out of her children. Graham nixes this as they still need to determine if the kids are alive, the official bucks up and demands to know why they should jeapordize the whole city, just for 2 kids who are in all probability already dead. He figures any remaining ants would be flushed out and the troops will take of that. Graham simply asks "Why don't you ask the mother?" and Peterson points in her direction "Yeah, she's right over there"

That pretty much puts a lid on the city official. Dr Medford also points out they need to determine if any new queens have hatched and left. So the plan remains to send teams into the drains. Pat, Kibee, Graham and Peterson are on different teams heading into the tunnels taking branches as they come to them.

Reports come across the radio at command post
Graham in drain 203, in 6/10ths of a mile. Nothing to report.
Medford in drain 207, in one half a mile. Nothing to report.
Peterson in drain 223, in 6/10ths of amile. Nothing to report.
Kibee in drain 192, in 8/10ths of a mile. Nothing to report.
Then Peterson's jeep comes to a stop. Both him and the driver are hearing something. He gets on the radio and calls for "Stop all motors". They are in over a mile and definate sounds are heard...coming from a small secondary pip3 a little over head height. All units halt and kill their motors. The map shows it to be a feeder pipe leading to an unfinished section in drain 267. Peterson gears up with a torch and the flame thrower and cautiously makes his way into the pipe. The sounds indicate the kids may still be alive. The drain 267 has been left unattended for over 60 days, and as it's still under excavation worklights are still there. The order goes out for them to be turned on. Peterson makes it to the end of the pipe, and has to deal with rebar stubs that haven't been cut off yet. With an effort he bends them out of the
way. The sounds of the ants rise up and Peterson gets the same scent "brood odor" they had in New Mexico. He can see the two kids trying to hide from two ants coming for them.
The General issues the order for all to converge on drain 267. Peterson finally makes his way in and angles so he can use the flame thrower and not hurt the kids.vHe takes out 3 in quick sucession

Taking the kids and moving them toward the feeder pipe, he lifts the littlest child up first and gets him on his way. As he picks up the second child he sees another antvapproaching fast. He manages to get the second child on his way but as he attempts to climb in himself...

Graham and the first set of troops arrive and using gunfire take out the ant. From behind them, coming thru the support timbers are many more. Troops begin suppresion fire as Graham makes his way to Peterson. His chest crushed and bleeding badly Peterson does tell Graham that he got the kids into the pipe

More troops pour in and a firefight ensues with rifle, machine gun and grenade lauchers. Which take out the first wave of advancing ants, but also damage the supports in the unfinished section. General O'Brien and Dr Medford arrive and call a cease fire. Medford is desperate to see the Queen's chamber to determine if any new queens have hatched out, and if so are they gone or still here.

Graham advances with a squad behind him, a support beam falls, the roof collapses trapping Graham near the mouth of the chamber. In near total darkness he hears the sounds and fires towards it, two more come at him from opposite sides, but the troops behind him have cleared debris and back him up killing the two. The General, Drs Medford
come in and peer down into the chamber.

But did they find it in time?...
Trailer

Prodution Notes;
Them! is one of the first of the 1950s "nuclear monster" films, and the first "big bug" feature.
Them! began production in the fall of 1953, it was originally conceived to be in 3D and Warner Color. During pre-production, tests shots in color and 3D were made.
A few color tests of the large-scale ant models were also made, but when it was time to shoot the 3D test, Warner Bros "All Media" 3D camera rig malfunctioned and no footage could be filmed. The next day a memo was sent out that the color and 3D aspects of the production were to be scrapped.
Because of the preparation of certain scenes, many of the camera set-ups for 3D still remain in the film, like the opening titles and the flamethrowers shots aimed directly at the camera.

The entrance to the ants LA final nest was filmed along the concrete spillways of the Los Angeles River, between the First and Seventh Street Bridges, east of downtown.
The depiction of the Chihuahuan Desert of southern New Mexico is actually the Mojave Desert near Palmdale, California.
Mercy Hospital was a real institution and is now Brownsville Medical Center.

The giant ants, painted a purplish-green color & slicked with vaseline, were constructed and operated by unseen technicians supervised by Ralph Ayers. During the climactic battle sequence in the Los Angeles sewers, there is a brief shot of one ant moving in the foreground with its side removed, revealing its mechanical interior.
This blunder has been obscured in the DVD releases of the film.There were 3 full sized creatures, and several 1/2 & 3/4 size for certain shots.

James Whitmore wore "lifts" in his shoes to compensate for the height difference between himself and James Arness.
Whitmore also employed bits of "business" (hand gestures and motions) during scenes in which he appeared in order to draw more attention to his character when not speaking

The sound that the giant ants make as they approach their prey is a recorded chorus of bird-voiced tree frogs (Hyla avivoca) of the southeastern U.S. Occasionally, a gray tree frog (Hyla chrysoscelis) can be heard on the soundtrack as well, as these species can often be heard together at the same wetland. These distinctive whistling-type sounds were re-used in other films in the years that followed, particularly in Mohawk and The Black Scorpion.

The flamethrowers used in the movie were standard World War II weapons, and were loaned by the U.S. Army. The actors handling the weapons were World War II combat veterans who had used them in battle.

In 1998 Joan Weldon revealed that the temperature reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) during filming, and she and Edmund Gwenn were wearing wool clothing. Gwenn struggled with advanced arthritis. Although unnoticeable to audiences, he was in pain and was helped off-set by his valet between scenes shot in the desert locations.

The B-25H Mitchell bomber transporting the doctors Medford was actually the personal transport for a two-star general. This aircraft was registered as N1203,and was also a camera plane for Catch-22 (1970). The pilot seen taxiing this aircraft in the opening scene appeared to be Paul Mantz, the legendary Hollywood movie stunt pilot. He was killed filming the Phoenix P1 airplane seen in The Flight of the Phoenix (1965).

Trivia
Walt Disney screened the movie because he was interested in casting James Arness as Davy Crockett. However, he was so impressed by Fess Parker as the "Crazy Texan Pilot" that he chose him for the part.

John Wayne saw the film and, impressed with Arness' performance, recommended him for the role of Marshal Matt Dillon in the new Gunsmoke TV series, a role that Arness went on to play from 1955 to 1975

The old man singing "Make Me a Sergeant" is Olin Howland, who later played the old man in The Blob (1958) who is absorbed by the title creature.

The subterranean chase scenes in He Walked by Night (1948) convinced a Warner Brothers executive to use the storm drain tunnels under Los Angeles,CA, for the climactic scenes in this film.

A very young Leonard Nimoy appears as an Army sergeant in the information center.

Studio head Jack L. Warner predicted that Them!, with its far-fetched plot, wouldn’t fare well at the box office. So imagine his surprise when it raked in more than $2.2 million—enough to make the picture one of the studio's highest-grossing films of 1954.

Sandy Deschner had to sniff a mystery liquid in her signature scene; in one of the most effective title drop scenes ever orchestrated, a vial of "formic acid" is held under her character’s nose. Suddenly recognizing the aroma, the traumatized youngster screams “Them! Them!” Descher never found out what sort of liquid was really sloshing around in that container.
“They used something that did smell quite strange. It wasn’t ammonia, it was something else,” she told an interviewer. Still, the mysterious brew had a beneficial effect on her performance. “They tried to create something different and it helped me a lot with that particular scene,” Descher said.

Final thoughts on this movie;
The four actors that give life to the key roles in the film really make the most of the characters they play, starting with-
James Whitmore, as the State Trooper whose simple and quiet life gets changed after his discovery in the desert.
James Arness is excellent as agent Graham, and shows off the natural talent and charm that would make him a star in "Gunsmoke".
Joan Weldon is also very good in an atypical (for the 50s) role very ahead of its time as she plays Dr. Pat Medford with a confidence that shows that women can be both beautiful and intelligent.
However, to me the true highlight of the film is the performance done by Edmund Gwenn as Dr. Harold Medford.
It is he who gives the film the heart and becomes the basis for the "old scientist" role of future creature features.

Last edited by PaladinNites on 2020-10-27 00:38:58

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