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| Them [1954] | ![Them [1954]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QA4MXPG2L._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Gordon Douglas
Actors: James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness, Onslow Stevens
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: £12.99
Buy New: £4.98
You Save: £8.01 (62%)
New (9) from £3.33
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 3825
Format: Black & White, Pal
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Parental Guidance
Running Time: 89 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 7321900111911
ASIN: B000083EH4
Theatrical Release Date: June 19, 1954
Release Date: February 17, 2003
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Amazon.co.uk Review
An early entry in the 1950s cycle of creature-feature pictures, Them! is the one about hordes of ants mutated to a giant size by the first A-bomb test. An exciting, persuasive exercise in paranoid science fiction, it exhibits an interesting tension between cautious warning about irresponsible tampering with the atom and a Cold War vision of the authorities taking on extraordinary powers to combat a threat to the country. It begins as an eerie desert mystery, with New Mexico cop James Whitmore investigating disappearances and deaths: a mobile-home and a general store are crushed as if tanks have rolled over them, a shopkeeper is found dead of a huge injection of formic acid, quantities of sugar have been stolen (the film's sole straight-faced joke) and a catatonic little girl is shocked into shrieking "them, them!". FBI agent James Arness takes charge and a plaster-cast of a strange imprint summons a father and daughter investigative team from the Department of Agriculture, cherubic Edmond Gwenn and smart-suited Joan Taylor. Law-enforcement, military and scientific experts deduce the nature of the problem and take swift, decisive action to counteract the danger. Director Gordon Douglas stages several great monster-suspense scenes: a first encounter in a sandstorm, a venture into a poisoned nest, a glimpse of horror at sea, and a finale in the Los Angeles storm drains. On the DVD: Them! has the wonderful scarlet-lettered, shrieking title on an otherwise sharp-looking black and white print. An amusing newspaper-style menu uses original artwork from the lurid poster to showcase some interesting snippets of test or outtake footage of the big puppet ants in action, and there's a wonderfully overblown terror-trailer.--Kim Newman
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
What a classic! June 19, 2008
This film is a perfect 50's classic. Sure the special effects a limited but the acting is spot on. All the actors are perfectly cast and the viewer can see why it spawned so many more like it. The fact that the police are wearing bow ties in the desert is also something to look out for. Great movie.
Great film! March 27, 2008
I first saw this film when I was about 13 (i'm now 26) on the TV over a friends house and I thought it was brilliant then and I still do now, I own it on DVD and every time I watch it I get chills up my spine.
Don't get me wrong the film isn't exactly terrifying but I still have vivid memories of the first time I heard the eerie sound of the Ants communicating with each other and the horrible screams of their victims.
The special effects are stunning considering how old the film is and the Ants are genuinely scary if you can see past the fact that they are obviously models. I guess you could say the storyline of giant radioactive Ants in the desert is a bit pants but c'mon this was the 50's an era notorious for giant irradiated mutations running around killing small town Americans...films like this are classic and I recommend it, especially at the low price Amazon are offering it at.
We're gonna need more Orkin men November 25, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
As a kid, I thought it was entertaining to squirt ants with my water gun and see if they could get away without drowning. I'm not proud of that fact, but I daresay I'm not the only dumb kid who ever tortured ants for fun. You can't tell me you've never kicked over an anthill before. For centuries, ants have also paid the price for the "crimes" committed by their nastier cousins (bees, wasps, etc.) because they are the perfect scapegoats - you can find them anywhere, and they're oh so harmless (well, except for the likes of fire ants and soldier ants). Just think about how many ants you've unknowingly squashed under your shoes over the years. Even those who "wouldn't hurt a fly" have probably sent countless ants to that big ant hill in the sky. If I were an ant, I would hunger for revenge on all the ruthless humans. Here they are, mind bogglingly more powerful than the mightiest of their tormentors (no human can lift something twenty times his own body weight), veterans of interspecies warfare, more organized than even the mightiest of human armies, and yet they can do nothing but wish they were large enough to really teach humans a lesson. Ironically, human beings actually grant them their wish in this seminal science fiction/horror classic.
Nothing much happens out in the New Mexico desert - until now. It's a big mystery at first, as Sgt. Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) and his partner pick up a shell-shocked young girl wandering aimlessly in the desert, then discover an abandoned car trailer down the road that has been ripped apart pretty good. The only clues - a bloody shirt, a mysterious print in the sand, and some scattered sugar cubes. The situation gets curiouser and curiouser when they check in at Gramps' store and find it all smashed up, just like the trailer. Neither the cops nor FBI Agent Robert Graham (James Arness) can make heads or tails of it all. They are still grasping at straws when Dr. Harold Medford (Edmund Gwenn) and his daughter Pat (Joan Weldon) from the Department of Agriculture arrive in town. Their suspicions are soon confirmed - it's an ant problem. A really, really big ant problem. A really, really big problem with really, really big ants. Nine years after the atomic tests in that area of the desert, the radiation has caused the most unnatural of genetic mutations. The brass wants to find and bomb the nest, but the good doctor points out the futility of such an act. It's not just a matter of killing the gigantic ants - they have to make sure no queens have escaped to parts unknown. If that has indeed happened, a whole army of Orkin men couldn't save mankind.
The idea of giant ants terrorizing the countryside sounds pretty hokey, but Them! is fantastically successful at presenting the story in a serious, plausible manner. The question of whether or not to inform the public is given due consideration, for example, and the giant ants themselves are pretty impressive, especially for 1954. I doubt they would scare even the youngest of kids in our day and time, but they are not ludicrously constructed, ridiculous looking "monsters" (OK, I'll admit those giant pipe cleaner antennae are borderline adorable) or the product of superimposed images of ants run amuck. You also don't get too many shots of them along the way, and this helps the film generate an impressive amount of suspense early on. Throw in some pretty good acting (Edmund Gwenn and James Whitmore are especially good, while James Arness' voice alone lends a serious air to every scene) and a minimum of nuclear bomb moralizing, and you've got yourself one of the best classic monster movies ever made.
Possibly the best 50's Sci-Fi movie EVER... October 16, 2007
Well, this is up there with the lot... Forbidden Planet, Creature From The Black Lagoon, Thing From Another World... All of them...
Giant mutated ants battle humans in the American desert in possibly the most atmospheric B&W Sci-Fi movie ever made. A classic of the genre, this move paces itself brilliantly and the tension generated as you wait for the arrival of the ants on screen is palpable.
If you're a fan of the genre, you no doubt own it or have seen it, for those who haven't, order it, get the duvet down from upstairs, open a bottle of wine and press play about 10pm...
Enjoy...
"Spit's all that's holding me together right now, too!" February 10, 2007
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
I first saw this movie when I was very young and the images stayed with me for a long time, especially the atmospheric and climatic assault on the Los Angeles storm drains sequence. Years later, I happened to see it again and it was this viewing that established Them! firmly in my list of all time favourite movies.
So, what's so special about this movie? - I hear you ask. Well, you often hear the term 'classic' being applied to movies of this era and, quite often, they simply don't deserve it. Them! is one of the few movies that qualifies to be called a classic and rightly so. Quite simply, it's one of the best creature movies of the 1950's.
Its basic plot is very simple. Strange things are happening in the desert of New Mexico - a child is found wandering in shock and a general store is ransacked, its owner pumped full of enough formic acid to kill 20 men. Police Sgt Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) and FBI agent Robert Graham (James Arness) are assigned to investigate. But they are at a loss to explain what's going on until the arrival of Dr Medford (Edmund Gwenn) and his daughter Pat (Joan Weldon). What they discover has far reaching consequences. Atomic bomb testing has created a colony of giant mutated ants. And if the queen ant mates and hatches her eggs it could be the end of civilization as we know it!
For a movie made in the 1950's, the effects are surprisingly good. Of course, the focus is on the giant ants and, while today's audiences would probably find them laughable, if you stop to think about it, they really are remarkably effective for the age - I've seen worse giant crawlie effects in far younger movies. And the sound effect for the giant ants - a sort of chirrupy-whistling - is suitably creepy and instantly memorable.
For me, the best scene in the whole movie is the heroes' descent into the ants' nest. Atmospherically lit, with rolling mist (cyanide gas!) and dead ants everywhere, this is the definitive stand out scene. It's also the one that inspired the quote at the head of this review. In fact, speaking of quotes, check out the interplay between the four main characters. The dialogue and action flows so freely that, on occasion, it almost feels as though the actors were ad-libbing! It makes for an interesting and unique viewing experience!
So, in short, Them! is a landmark movie that should form part of any discerning viewers' DVD collection. Boasting Academy Award nominated special effects and a competent and likable cast, this movie spawned a generation of films about mutated gigantic creatures. Few have equalled the artistry of Them! If you don't believe me then give it a go - you won't be disappointed!
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