Welcome to Wikizilla! — Please log in or sign up to contribute.

The Black Scorpion (1957)

From Wikizilla, the kaiju encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
Article.png
Image gallery for Kaiju No. 14/Sandbox/The Black Scorpion
Credits for Kaiju No. 14/Sandbox/The Black Scorpion
Kaiju No. 14/Sandbox/The Black Scorpion soundtrack


The Black Scorpion
The American poster for The Black Scorpion
Alternate titles
Flagicon Japan.png Black Scorpion (1958)
See alternate titles
Directed by Edward Ludwig
Producer Jack Dietz, Frank Melford
Written by Robert Blees, David Duncan
Music by Paul Sawtell
Production company Warner Bros. Entertainment, Seven Arts Productions
Distributor Warner Bros.
Rating Not Rated
Running time 88 minutesUS
(1 hour, 28 minutes)
108 minutes
(1 hour, 48 minutes)
Aspect ratio 1.85:1 (intended ratio),
1.37:1 (negative ratio)
Rate this film!
3.33
(3 votes)

For the monsters, see Giant scorpions.
“
Every horror you've seen on the screen grows pale beside the horror of "The Black Scorpion"
„ 

— Tagline

The Black Scorpion is a 1957 giant monster horror film co-produced by Warner Bros. Entertainment and Seven Arts Productions. The film was released to American theaters on October 11, 1957.

Plot

Mexico is struck by an earthquake, resulting in the birth of a volcano overnight. Dr. Hank Scott and Dr. Arturo Ramos are dispatched to study the crisis. On their way to the village of San Lorenzo, the two men witness a totalled police car and a destroyed house. A dead policeman and an abandoned infant are discovered nearby.

A village priest, Father Delgado, welcomes them to San Lorenzo and has the infant given to missing parents' friends. The disappearance of locals and the destruction of their houses have been accompanied by the slaughter of livestock and strange nighttime sounds. There has been a push among the villagers to ask Delgado for divine assistance since the villagers believe that the culprit is a demon bull. The geological survey is continued by Hank and Arturo as troops from the Mexican Army, led by Major Cosio, arrive at San Lorenzo to begin disaster relief efforts. The enigmatic rancher Teresa Alvarez enters Hank's life and falls in love with him, and a young Mexican boy named Juanito becomes a friend.

A new eruption occurs. It has been revealed that giant scorpions were responsible for disappearances and deaths. The scorpions attacked San Lorenzo itself after killing telephone repairmen. Their guns are useless against the troops of Major Cosio. Leaving the authorities with no other option but to consult the renowned entomologist, Dr. Velasco, on the matter, the scorpions returned to their underground lair (along with giant worms and spiders). Hank and Arturo will need to work together to determine whether to destroy the scorpions or seal off the cavern entrance.

Despite collapsing the cave entrance, a train is destroyed, some passengers are killed, and the giant scorpions engage in battle. All the smaller scorpions are killed by one scorpion, the largest, and the scorpion heads for Mexico City. As Hank and Arturo plot to lure it to a stadium, tanks and helicopters are waiting to capture it. In the stadium, the scorpion is lured by the use of meat from a butcher shop, which proves useless against its armor. The only vulnerable part of his body is his throat, which is where he shoots an electric cable attached to a spear. The remaining fighters finally destroyed the scorpion by detonating the electric charge after they destroyed several tanks and helicopters.

Staff

Main article: The Black Scorpion/Credits.

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

  • Directed by   Edward Ludwig
  • Written by   Robert Blees, David Duncan
  • Produced by   Jack Dietz, Frank Melford
  • Music by   Paul Sawtell
  • Cinematography by   Lionel Lindon
  • Edited by   Richard Van Enger
  • Assistant directors   Jaime Contreras, Ray Heinz
  • Special effects by   Willis O'Brien
  • Visual effects by   Pete Peterson, Ralph Hammeras
  • Puppet creator   Wah Chang
  • Sound effects by   Mandine Rogne

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

  • Carlos Múzquiz   as   Dr. Velasco
  • Fanny Schiller   as   Mara Corday
  • Teresa Alvarez   as   Mario Navarro
  • Juanito   as   Pedro Galván
  • Father Delgado   as   Roberto Contreras
  • Ángel Di Stefani   as   Military Man
  • Jaime González Quiñones   as   Boy in San Lorenzo
  • Leonor Gómez   as   Villager
  • Bob Johnson   as   Narrator / Radio Newscaster / Police Radio Dispatcher / Public Address Announcer
  • Margarito Luna   as   Crane operator
  • Héctor Mateos   as   Military Man
  • José L. Murillo   as   Military Man
  • Manuel Sánchez Navarro   as   Victor Steven
  • Isabel Vázquez 'La Chichimeca'   as   Villager
  • Enrique Zambrano   as   Cayetano, lineman killed in truck
  • Pascual García Peña   as   José de la Cruz
  • Fanny Schiller   as   Florentina
  • Arturo Martínez   as   Major Cosio
  • Quintín Bulnes   as   Lineman killed on pole
  • José Chávez   as   Train conductor

Appearances

Monsters

Gallery

Main article: The Black Scorpion/Gallery.

Soundtrack

Main article: The Black Scorpion (Soundtrack).

Alternate titles

  • Black Scorpion (American VHS title; Siyah akrep; Turkey; Musta skorpioni; Finland; 黒い蠍 Kuroisasori, Japan)

Theatrical releases

  • United States - October 11, 1957
  • Japan - January 15, 1958  [view poster]Japanese poster
  • Finland - March 14, 1958
  • Sweden - December 1, 1958
  • Denmark - January 26, 1959
  • United Kingdom - February 23, 1959  [view poster]British poster
  • Italy  [view poster]Italian poster
  • Australia  [view poster]Australian poster
  • Belgian  [view poster]French poster

Reception

Harrison's Reports voluntarily gave The Black Scorpion a mixed review in September 1957, rating it acceptable for its stop-motion and special effects on monsters but reservations about its unexceptional character storytelling.[1]

Video releases

Warner Home Video VHS (1993)

  • Tapes: 2
  • Audio: English
  • Notes: Released on December 13, 1993

Warner Home Video DVD (2006)

  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: English
  • Subtitles: English, Japanese
  • Notes: Aspect ratio is 1.37:1.

Shout! Factory DVD (2014)

  • Audio: English
  • Notes: Included in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXX DVD box set released on July 29, 2014.

Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray (2018)

  • Region: N/A
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: English (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono)
  • Subtitles: English (SDH)
  • Notes: Aspect ratio is 1.78:1.

Videos

Trailers

The Black Scorpion trailer

Trivia

  • The miniatures used for the trapdoor spider, the giant tentacled and the Giant spider, briefly seen in the film, are reportedly reused models of the spiders from The Lost Spider Pit Sequence, a lost deleted scene original King Kong film. However, in An Animated Life, Ray Harryhausen noted that many models used in King Kong were still in storage at RKO in the 1950s, by which time many were decayed. Biographers have disputed whether O'Brien actually saved his models.

References

This is a list of references for Kaiju No. 14/Sandbox/The Black Scorpion. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

  1. ↑ "Harrison's Reports, September 21, 1957, page 151" (PDF).

Films
 
Godzilla films
Showa era
Heisei era
Millennium era
Reiwa era
American films
Short films
"Godzilla vs. Charles Barkley" (1992) • Monster Planet of Godzilla (1994) • Godzilla: The Real 4-D (2017) • CANAL CITY HAKATA GODZILLA The Destroy Mapping Show (2018) • Dream Challenge: Godzilla Appears in Sukagawa (2019) • "The Faceless Star" (2019) • Godzilla vs. Evangelion: The Real 4-D (2019) • Godzilla Interception Operation Awaji attraction video (2020) • Godzilla Appears at Godzilla Fest (2020) • Godzilla the Ride: Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle (2021) • "The Impact of a Blue Day" (2021) • Godzilla vs. Hedorah (2021) • Godzilla vs. the Tigers (2022) • Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex (2022) • Fest Godzilla 3: Gigan Attacks (2022) • "GO YOUR WAY" (2023) • Godzilla vs. Megalon (2023) • Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar (2023) • Godzilla: Attack on Tokyo (2024)
 
King Kong films
King Kong (1933) • Son of Kong (1933) • King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) • King Kong Escapes (1967) • King Kong (1976) • King Kong Lives (1986) • The Mighty Kong (1998) • Kong: King of Atlantis (2005) • King Kong (2005) • Kong: Return to the Jungle (2006) • Kong: Skull Island (2017) • Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) • Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)
 
Other Toho films
Shōwa period
Ramayana (1940s) • Invisible Man (1954) • Half Human (1955) • Rodan (1956) • The Mysterians (1957) • The H-Man (1958) • Varan (1958) • The Three Treasures (1959) • Battle in Outer Space (1959) • The Secret of the Telegian (1960) • The Human Vapor (1960) • Mothra (1961) • The Last War (1961) • Gorath (1962) • Matango (1963) • Atragon (1963) • Dogora (1964) • Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965) • The War of the Gargantuas (1966) • The Killing Bottle (1967) • Latitude Zero (1969) • Konto 55: The Great Outer Space Adventure (1969) • Space Amoeba (1970) • Daigoro vs. Goliath (1972) • Submersion of Japan (1973) • ESPY (1974) • Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974) • The War in Space (1977) • Magnitude 7.9 (1980) • Bye-Bye Jupiter (1984) • Princess from the Moon (1987)
Heisei period
Reiwa period
 
Other Japanese films
Shōwa period
Heisei period
Reiwa period
 
Miscellaneous
Films
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) • The Giant Behemoth (1959) • Gorgo (1961) • Bulgasari (1962) • Gogola (1966) • Space Monster Wangmagwi (1967) • Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967) • A*P*E (1976) • The Mighty Peking Man (1977) • Pulgasari (1985) • Reptilian (1999) • Cloverfield (2008) • 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) • Colossal (2016) • The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) • Rampage (2018) • Notzilla (2019) • untitled Cloverfield sequel (TBA)
Documentaries
Fan films
Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969) • Gamera 4: Truth (2003) • Waiting for Gorgo (2009) • G vs. G (2019) • Godziban (2019) • Heritage (2020) • Coming Out (2020) • Wolfman vs. Godzilla (TBA)

 
 
V • T • E

Comments

Showing 0 comments. When commenting, please remain respectful of other users, stay on topic, and avoid role-playing and excessive punctuation. Comments which violate these guidelines may be removed by administrators.

<comments voting="Plus" />

Warner Bros.
Movie


Retrieved from "https://wikizilla.org/w/index.php?title=User:Kaiju_No._14/Sandbox/The_Black_Scorpion&oldid=207811"