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- Gill-Man: B+ Movie Edition, The
Gill-Man: B+ Movie Edition, The
Updated
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1954
Original Running Time:
76
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
53
Time Cut:
24
Time Added:
1
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
"The Gill-man" is the first entry in the "B+ Movie Project", a series of edits that seek to improve on older B films, but still maintain the charm and narrative of the original cut.
If you found CFTBL boring, you should find this engaging. If you liked CFTBL, you may find yourself liking "Gill-man" even more. It was intentional that nothing immediately obvious should be removed, but that the film would simply come across as better paced and more entertaining as a result of the numerous tiny trims.
If you found CFTBL boring, you should find this engaging. If you liked CFTBL, you may find yourself liking "Gill-man" even more. It was intentional that nothing immediately obvious should be removed, but that the film would simply come across as better paced and more entertaining as a result of the numerous tiny trims.
Intention:
When I watched "Creature from the Black Lagoon", I found a film that had its moments, but was generally pretty dull. The so-bad-it's-good experience was seriously "watered-down" by a crazy amount of filler - so I sought to remove that, along with the man-in-a-rubber-suit vibe.
My chief aim with this edit was to cut down the filler and in the process create what is hopefully a shorter, better paced and more enjoyable experience. I didn't want to remove any scenes or dialogue, if possible – the result was that no scenes were cut, but a small handful of negligible dialogue was removed. My approach was to do numerous small trims throughout the film in the hope that the viewer would not necessarily be able to tell if anything was cut, but simply find themselves being much more engaged and entertained compared to when they viewed the original. No scene was left untouched.
In summary, expect:
Better pacing.
Less swimming.
Less diving.
Less TALKING about diving.
Less man in a suit, and...
...more Gill-man.
My chief aim with this edit was to cut down the filler and in the process create what is hopefully a shorter, better paced and more enjoyable experience. I didn't want to remove any scenes or dialogue, if possible – the result was that no scenes were cut, but a small handful of negligible dialogue was removed. My approach was to do numerous small trims throughout the film in the hope that the viewer would not necessarily be able to tell if anything was cut, but simply find themselves being much more engaged and entertained compared to when they viewed the original. No scene was left untouched.
In summary, expect:
Better pacing.
Less swimming.
Less diving.
Less TALKING about diving.
Less man in a suit, and...
...more Gill-man.
Additional Notes:
At the moment only an MP4 is available, but I am planning on bringing out a DVD, along with special features.
Other Sources:
- Fanedit.org copyright warning template
- My own Scribbling Man Logo
- theryaney's Netflix-style fanedit.org logo
- royalty free smoke footage (used as a backdrop for Gill-man title)
- My own Scribbling Man Logo
- theryaney's Netflix-style fanedit.org logo
- royalty free smoke footage (used as a backdrop for Gill-man title)
Special Thanks:
- Sinbad – for consistently generous feedback and encouragement, as well as technical assistance.
- Theryaney – for providing a 4:3 B&W version of his Netflix-style fanedit.org logo.
- jswert123456, for providing an alternative DVD cover spread.
- All who showed interest in the edit.
- All who contributed to brainstorming the title.
- TM2YC, for his swift viewing and approval, favourable review and technical assistance.
- My sisters for helping with my branding.
I can be a forgetful soul, so if I've missed anyone out please accept my apologies and thanks!
- Theryaney – for providing a 4:3 B&W version of his Netflix-style fanedit.org logo.
- jswert123456, for providing an alternative DVD cover spread.
- All who showed interest in the edit.
- All who contributed to brainstorming the title.
- TM2YC, for his swift viewing and approval, favourable review and technical assistance.
- My sisters for helping with my branding.
I can be a forgetful soul, so if I've missed anyone out please accept my apologies and thanks!
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
Edited using Sony Vegas 12 and a single VOB file. The soundtrack was often cut and cross faded, and on rare occasions, slightly sped up or slowed down so as to better match the pacing of the video. There were also occasions where, in order to make a cut work, I re-synced different dialogue with the actors lips. Some video was also sped up in order to make the Gill man look less sluggish, improve characters reaction times and move along slow panning shots.
The new "Gill-man" title was created by using a similar font and resizing certain letters to match the style of the original titles. The smoky backdrop used was footage from the public domain which I then put through a film damage filter and adjusted until it matched the rest of the credits. I also adjusted the opacity of the letters so as to better blend them with the backdrop.
The new "Gill-man" title was created by using a similar font and resizing certain letters to match the style of the original titles. The smoky backdrop used was footage from the public domain which I then put through a film damage filter and adjusted until it matched the rest of the credits. I also adjusted the opacity of the letters so as to better blend them with the backdrop.
Cuts and Additions:
The gist:
- Trimmed or removed various panning scenery shots throughout the film.
- Sped up underwater shots of creature to make him appear more agile than humans underwater.
- Slightly sped up selected shots of Creature on land in order to make him seem less sluggish and man-in-a-suit like.
- Trimmed minimal dialogue (literally, just a couple of sentences)
- Trimmed gaps in between certain lines of dialogue to make it seem more natural.
- Swapped out/altered shots and audio (dialogue and music) in various scenes, either due to preference or convenience.
- Generally went for a less is more approach. The less we see the creature, the less we realise it’s a man in a suit.
- Overall, nearly no scene was left untouched – however, no scenes were cut and maybe two lines of dialogue were removed. The main aim being to keep the entire narrative of the film exactly the same, but make it better - more enjoyable; better paced, snappier, more intense.
Semi-complete cutlist (everything I remembered to take note of):
- Added fanedit.org warning.
- Added theryaney’s fanedit.org logo.
- Added Scribbling Man logo
- Added new title.
- Excavator doesn’t say he will take another photo and then dig – just takes a photo and digs.
- When we see the creature place its hand upon the shore, we fade out before it slips back into the water.
- Cut opening shot of Marine Institute.
-Trimmed lengthy scene of diver resurfacing.
- Trimmed fish tank panning shot.
- Trimmed David’s speech.
- We don’t see the creature’s hand on the shore a second time, we fade straight to 1st person view approaching the tent. This entire sequence has been chipped and chopped. (Also, cut first shot of tent shaking)
- Trimmed opening shots of boat.
- Cut fade transition when Lucas frightens the alligators. Instead, we cut straight to David and Kay talking.
- Cut shot of them calling from the rowboat.
- Trimmed scene with creature reaching for Kay outside the camp.
- Trimmed shot of creature splashing away.
- Cut David telling Kay to get back on board.
- Trimmed digging montage.
- Trimmed shots of boat.
- Trimmed Mark arriving on deck.
- Trimmed arrival at Black Lagoon.
- Heavily trimmed diving sequence.
- Cut shot of creature grabbing for divers leg.
- Cut out about 1.5 minutes from the swimming/stalker scene, including the creature just floating around lamely and trying to touch the woman.
- Added shot of creature grabbing for woman's leg just before she gets on boat.
- Heavily trimmed creature caught in net.
- Added fade transition when Mark says to David “you’re still working for me”
- Heavily trimmed second dive.
- Trimmed creature’s attack on the boat and improved David’s response time.
- Water drugging scene is very heavily trimmed. I mean, man, this scene is long!
- Sped up panning shot of people guarding the boat.
- Instead of panning all the way, we cut to David early.
- Trimmed creature’s attempt to get on the boat.
- Trimmed finding the creature with searchlight.
- Trimmed creature’s response to the light.
- Improved David’s reaction time in going after the creature.
- Trimmed David and Mark swimming to where the creature was.
- Trimmed David diving after mark.
- Trimmed David and Marks exploration of the lagoon.
- Numerous little shaves made here and there to the beach attack scene, adding up to approx. 12-15 sec, including:
- Shots between Kay and creature are quicker, and Kay's reaction time is improved.
- Improved reaction time of henchmen after Kay screams. I did this by speeding up the clip of him bracing himself.
- Extended pause before Kay says “… But he didn’t” and added shot of creature to create a greater sense of empathy.
- Cut several shots of the creature during when the doctor guards the trapped creature.
- Also, cut dialogue from this scene, partly because it was pretentious (“some are afraid, like humans whistling in the dark” – really?) and partly to eliminate more shots of the creature.
- Sped up creature smashing lantern.
- Fixed strange pause when captain says “You wish to say something, mister?”
- Trimmed shots of boat attempting to leave Lagoon
- Trimmed winch scene (my gosh, this drags…).
- Trimmed David diving to fix winch.
- Trimmed David and Mark fighting with the creature. This is now less than half its original length.
- Quickened Kay’s reaction to Mark’s body.
- Trimmed David retrieving Mark’s body.
- Trimmed drug mixing scene.
- Altered fade transition.
- Trimmed scene with David drugging the creature underwater.
- Heavily trimmed second winch scene.
- Trimmed creature climbing aboard.
- Improved Kay’s scream reaction and sped up creature diving with her.
- Trimmed creature and Kay arriving in Lagoon.
- Trimmed David looking for creature in Lagoon.
- Trimmed David fighting creature.
- Trimmed creature getting shot to make it more relentless and less sluggish.
- Trimmed creature’s escape.
- Trimmed people following creature.
- Trimmed creature’s death.
- Trimmed or removed various panning scenery shots throughout the film.
- Sped up underwater shots of creature to make him appear more agile than humans underwater.
- Slightly sped up selected shots of Creature on land in order to make him seem less sluggish and man-in-a-suit like.
- Trimmed minimal dialogue (literally, just a couple of sentences)
- Trimmed gaps in between certain lines of dialogue to make it seem more natural.
- Swapped out/altered shots and audio (dialogue and music) in various scenes, either due to preference or convenience.
- Generally went for a less is more approach. The less we see the creature, the less we realise it’s a man in a suit.
- Overall, nearly no scene was left untouched – however, no scenes were cut and maybe two lines of dialogue were removed. The main aim being to keep the entire narrative of the film exactly the same, but make it better - more enjoyable; better paced, snappier, more intense.
Semi-complete cutlist (everything I remembered to take note of):
- Added fanedit.org warning.
- Added theryaney’s fanedit.org logo.
- Added Scribbling Man logo
- Added new title.
- Excavator doesn’t say he will take another photo and then dig – just takes a photo and digs.
- When we see the creature place its hand upon the shore, we fade out before it slips back into the water.
- Cut opening shot of Marine Institute.
-Trimmed lengthy scene of diver resurfacing.
- Trimmed fish tank panning shot.
- Trimmed David’s speech.
- We don’t see the creature’s hand on the shore a second time, we fade straight to 1st person view approaching the tent. This entire sequence has been chipped and chopped. (Also, cut first shot of tent shaking)
- Trimmed opening shots of boat.
- Cut fade transition when Lucas frightens the alligators. Instead, we cut straight to David and Kay talking.
- Cut shot of them calling from the rowboat.
- Trimmed scene with creature reaching for Kay outside the camp.
- Trimmed shot of creature splashing away.
- Cut David telling Kay to get back on board.
- Trimmed digging montage.
- Trimmed shots of boat.
- Trimmed Mark arriving on deck.
- Trimmed arrival at Black Lagoon.
- Heavily trimmed diving sequence.
- Cut shot of creature grabbing for divers leg.
- Cut out about 1.5 minutes from the swimming/stalker scene, including the creature just floating around lamely and trying to touch the woman.
- Added shot of creature grabbing for woman's leg just before she gets on boat.
- Heavily trimmed creature caught in net.
- Added fade transition when Mark says to David “you’re still working for me”
- Heavily trimmed second dive.
- Trimmed creature’s attack on the boat and improved David’s response time.
- Water drugging scene is very heavily trimmed. I mean, man, this scene is long!
- Sped up panning shot of people guarding the boat.
- Instead of panning all the way, we cut to David early.
- Trimmed creature’s attempt to get on the boat.
- Trimmed finding the creature with searchlight.
- Trimmed creature’s response to the light.
- Improved David’s reaction time in going after the creature.
- Trimmed David and Mark swimming to where the creature was.
- Trimmed David diving after mark.
- Trimmed David and Marks exploration of the lagoon.
- Numerous little shaves made here and there to the beach attack scene, adding up to approx. 12-15 sec, including:
- Shots between Kay and creature are quicker, and Kay's reaction time is improved.
- Improved reaction time of henchmen after Kay screams. I did this by speeding up the clip of him bracing himself.
- Extended pause before Kay says “… But he didn’t” and added shot of creature to create a greater sense of empathy.
- Cut several shots of the creature during when the doctor guards the trapped creature.
- Also, cut dialogue from this scene, partly because it was pretentious (“some are afraid, like humans whistling in the dark” – really?) and partly to eliminate more shots of the creature.
- Sped up creature smashing lantern.
- Fixed strange pause when captain says “You wish to say something, mister?”
- Trimmed shots of boat attempting to leave Lagoon
- Trimmed winch scene (my gosh, this drags…).
- Trimmed David diving to fix winch.
- Trimmed David and Mark fighting with the creature. This is now less than half its original length.
- Quickened Kay’s reaction to Mark’s body.
- Trimmed David retrieving Mark’s body.
- Trimmed drug mixing scene.
- Altered fade transition.
- Trimmed scene with David drugging the creature underwater.
- Heavily trimmed second winch scene.
- Trimmed creature climbing aboard.
- Improved Kay’s scream reaction and sped up creature diving with her.
- Trimmed creature and Kay arriving in Lagoon.
- Trimmed David looking for creature in Lagoon.
- Trimmed David fighting creature.
- Trimmed creature getting shot to make it more relentless and less sluggish.
- Trimmed creature’s escape.
- Trimmed people following creature.
- Trimmed creature’s death.
Teaser Trailer
User reviews
9 reviews
Overall rating
9.3
Audio/Video Quality
9.2(9)
Audio Editing
9.6(9)
Visual Editing
9.5(9)
Narrative
9.0(9)
Enjoyment
9.0(9)
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
What a wonderful edit!
At its best, The Creature From The Black Lagoon is a moody monster movie that definitely deserves its 'classic' status. At its worst, it is a plodding slow burn of a film that is stuffed full of content simply there to pad the run time. This edit does away with all that filler and leaves us with a tight, suspenseful drama that brings forth the best qualities of the film. I went into this edit blind and then watched the original release for the first time afterwards. The difference is day and night. The cuts make sense, the pacing is vastly improved and all the minor changes add up to give a very fluid experience. The editing was seamless, the audio work was very nice and I love the black and white fanedit card. My only quibble was the video quality but with a little luck we'll see a HD rebuild of this edit in the not to distant future.
Fantastic work Scrib.
At its best, The Creature From The Black Lagoon is a moody monster movie that definitely deserves its 'classic' status. At its worst, it is a plodding slow burn of a film that is stuffed full of content simply there to pad the run time. This edit does away with all that filler and leaves us with a tight, suspenseful drama that brings forth the best qualities of the film. I went into this edit blind and then watched the original release for the first time afterwards. The difference is day and night. The cuts make sense, the pacing is vastly improved and all the minor changes add up to give a very fluid experience. The editing was seamless, the audio work was very nice and I love the black and white fanedit card. My only quibble was the video quality but with a little luck we'll see a HD rebuild of this edit in the not to distant future.
Fantastic work Scrib.
M
Overall rating
8.8
Audio/Video Quality
8.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
8.0
Enjoyment
8.0
I heartily endorse A Scribbling Man's B+ movie series -- what a fantastic idea, to make older-but-iconic movies (or obscure overlooked ones) punchier and more palatable to modern audiences. Much like classic TV-to-movie edits, this a great idea and framing it as a series is a wonderful way to put these edits under one umbrella.
This edit, the inaugural entry in the series, ditches a lot of the dull bits of TCFTBL but still feels a bit poky in places. Part of that is just the nature of "slow burn" suspense movies from this era, and ASM has done the best possible job without reducing the film to a super-8-style clip reel, but there are other movies that will likely have more incident that will make the jump to modern action pacing a bit better. Nevertheless, this aquatic beast is a world-famous one for a reason and without all the slog that originally was part of the movie, this primeval monster can shine a whole lot better.
This edit, the inaugural entry in the series, ditches a lot of the dull bits of TCFTBL but still feels a bit poky in places. Part of that is just the nature of "slow burn" suspense movies from this era, and ASM has done the best possible job without reducing the film to a super-8-style clip reel, but there are other movies that will likely have more incident that will make the jump to modern action pacing a bit better. Nevertheless, this aquatic beast is a world-famous one for a reason and without all the slog that originally was part of the movie, this primeval monster can shine a whole lot better.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
R
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
A great edit. This is an example of the potential of fanedits.
While I am a fan of the classic Universal monsters, and most of the associated movies, the gill-man saga was always pretty near the bottom of my list. Despite amazing creature design and a decent backstory, the gill-man fell victim in his first movie to a waffling script, some bad shots and a lot of filler. The film had impressive underwater camera work, but this got showcased to such an extent that the core -- an antediluvian creature in a black lagoon, dishing out doom, and how people try survive the relentless attacks -- got a bit lost. Tension was followed by blah. And blah was followed by more blah.
There were sequels, none as good as the first one, but the first one was just barely good.
This edit cuts almost a third of "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" but you won't miss any of it.
It delivers the movie that should always have been: a fast-moving, interesting movie with stakes and some debates on the parameters and goals of scientific research. And the focus is where it should be: a creature in a black lagoon, dishing out doom to trapped survivors, and their efforts to fight back.
Watch it. You will not be disappointed.
While I am a fan of the classic Universal monsters, and most of the associated movies, the gill-man saga was always pretty near the bottom of my list. Despite amazing creature design and a decent backstory, the gill-man fell victim in his first movie to a waffling script, some bad shots and a lot of filler. The film had impressive underwater camera work, but this got showcased to such an extent that the core -- an antediluvian creature in a black lagoon, dishing out doom, and how people try survive the relentless attacks -- got a bit lost. Tension was followed by blah. And blah was followed by more blah.
There were sequels, none as good as the first one, but the first one was just barely good.
This edit cuts almost a third of "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" but you won't miss any of it.
It delivers the movie that should always have been: a fast-moving, interesting movie with stakes and some debates on the parameters and goals of scientific research. And the focus is where it should be: a creature in a black lagoon, dishing out doom to trapped survivors, and their efforts to fight back.
Watch it. You will not be disappointed.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
D
(Updated: April 06, 2021)
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
This was a great edit. I don't usually like many older movies due to pacing, and this one one of the cult classics I could never get into as much as I felt I should. But this was great, even almost half a century later, completely due to the pacing. Solid edit that keeps the best of the original and improves pacing so that I was glued to my seat the whole time, even for an old movie.
Thanks to the editor for this one. I know an HD update was discussed, but I watched the 720 on a big screen, and I thought it looks perfect - time period appropriate and probably keep a better suspension of belief. No need to update from this viewers POV. This was awesome.
Thanks to the editor for this one. I know an HD update was discussed, but I watched the 720 on a big screen, and I thought it looks perfect - time period appropriate and probably keep a better suspension of belief. No need to update from this viewers POV. This was awesome.
W
Overall rating
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
10.0
A highly enjoyable edit that's absolutely worth watching, whether you're a fan of Creature from the Black Lagoon or not.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
F