Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

This geocache is NOT at the above coordinates; that could be the lagoon where the Creature is lurking, though !

You must obtain the coordinates to the location of the container by watching the film in the title and finding the answers to the eight questions below. This is one of eight Classic Monsters geocaches, each of which can be solved and found independent of each other. There is also a final multi-cache that can be found by writing down the puzzle clue that is in each of the eight movie geocaches.

This series is meant to ease the burden of the stay-at-home orders in place to some extent; watch a movie you may not have seen ever before or recently, and work on finding a new geocache as well.

This cache was placed while following all Colorado guidelines and rules during the Coronavirus outbreak. As these conditions change frequently, please ensure that you follow all current guidelines while searching for this series of geocaches.

These are Classic Monster movies, not classic horror movies; when they were made, they may have shocked the audiences but by today's standards, they are not very scary at all.

This Classic Monsters series is named after 8 films, all produced by the same Hollywood film company, from 1931-1945. Seven of the eight are in black and white, also known as "monochrome", with Phantom of the Opera being produced in Technicolor. As such, a few of the Phantom questions are about colors seen in the film. There will also be a final cache, which you can get the coordinates for by keeping track of the puzzle clues that will be in each of the eight movie caches. These movies are not lengthy -- 7 of the 8 range from 70 to 79 minutes long, and Phantom of the Opera is 92 minutes. You DO NOT have to purchase anything to solve the puzzles to learn where the geocaches are -- they are available on several streaming and download services, as well as at many libraries.

So -- let's get started !

BE SURE TO WRITE DOWN THE LETTER CODE IN THE FRONT OF THE LOGBOOK WHICH IS USED IN THE “CLASSIC MONSTERS" FINAL CACHE which is still being worked on for now. Also, there is a Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) (Sea Serpent) trackable printed out and in the front of the logbook as well for discovery.

Welcome to the eighth Classic Monsters cache by the 3 Williams Kidz geo-team. The idea is that you will have to watch the movie to get the answers to the questions below; there are one, maybe two exceptions, for trivia’s sake. Since the entire script is available – and easily “searchable” -- online, I have tried to come up with questions that you cannot answer by searching the Internet.

Here are all the geocaches in the Classic Monsters series:

1. Dracula (1931)

2. Frankenstein (1931)

3. The Mummy (1932)

4. The Invisible Man (1933)

5. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

6. The Wolf Man (1941)

7. Phantom of the Opera (1943)

8. Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)

9. Classic Monsters FINAL cache

If you are willing to watch one of Hollywood’s finest classic movies, get your movie source ready, fire up the TV, maybe pop some popcorn, and have a pen and paper ready to answer the below questions, which YES -- ARE IN THE ORDER they are presented in the film. The questions should be EASY to answer as in these difficult times, the idea here is to just ENJOY the movie and then have the opportunity to get out and find a cache while meeting the state guidelines during the Coronavirus outbreak.

The cache is located at North 38 5A.BCD West 105 2E.FGH

Latitude:

A: On the anchored barge, the line is slowly lifted up and we see pyramid shaped depth markings on the line. What is the last (deepest) mark ?
If it is 40, A=7; if it is 20, A=8; if it is 30, A=6

B: Thanks to some creative camera work, we see from the Creature’s perspective that he approaches the campsite. He puts one hand/claw into the tent and then Louis throws what at him? Note: I say “him” because Kay references the Creature as “him” at 59:50 into the film.
If he throws a book, B=2; if he throws a bottle, B=9; if he throws a kerosene lamp, B=0

C: Motor vessel Rita makes it to the black lagoon; 2 divers (David and Mark) are going to investigate underwater with the aid of aqualungs. How many air tanks do they have on their backs – TOTAL? Note: Each of the two has a different number of tanks -- this is a visual device used by the filmmakers to help the audience distinguish between the two characters when they are swimming under water.
If there are a total of 5 tanks, C=1; if there are a total of 7 tanks, C=4; if there a total of 3 tanks, C=7

D: Kay says "Whatever the species might be, if you let it alone, it won't bother you." How many harpoon "bolts" with pointed tips does Mark have?
If he has 3 bolts, D=5; if he has 4 bolts, D=8; if he has 6 bolts, D=0

Longitude:

E: At night, the Creature attempts to board the boat but is spotted by Kay, who screams. The Creature then swings his arm and knocks over – what?
If he knocks over a buoy, E=0; if he knocks over a kerosene lamp, E=1; if he knocks over a ladder, E=2

F: After the creature has been captured and is being held on the boat in a makeshift cage topped by bamboo, everyone except the doctor and Kay return to the grotto for research and to take photos. The doctor is watching over the Creature and then what does the doctor do?
If he falls asleep, F=2; if he writes in his journal, F=9; if he eats a snack, F=6

G: The Creature grabs Kay and jumps over the side; the two men with rifles fire how many shots?
If they fire 2 shots, G=2; if they fire 4 shots, G=4; if they don’t fire any shots, G=0

H: David goes into the grotto to rescue Kay. What kind of animal approaches?
If a snake approaches, H=2; if a bat approaches, H=4; if a large bird approaches, H=6

FTF congratulations go to hartsdale !! !!! !! (seven exclamation points for his seventh FTF in this series)

Some trivia, from www.imdb.com:

Julie Adams noted that making the film was an extremely pleasant process, and that the cast and crew got along quite well. She also explained that she felt sympathetic toward the monster. Adams said, "There always is that feeling of compassion for the monster. I think maybe it touches something in ourselves, maybe the darker parts of ourselves, that long to be loved and think they really can't ever be loved. It strikes a chord within us."

Originally produced in 3-D.

Two different stuntmen were used to portray the creature, and therefore, two different suits were used in the movie. Ricou Browning played the creature when it was in the water and wore a lighter suit, Ben Chapman played the creature when it was out of the water with a darker suit.

Ricou Browning, a professional diver and swimmer, was required to hold his breath for up to 4 minutes at a time for his underwater role as the "Gill-man". The director's logic was that the air would have to travel through the monster's gills and, thus, air bubbles from his mouth or nose must not be seen. Thus, the costume was designed without an air tank. In the subsequent films, this detail was ignored and air can be seen emanating from the top of the creature's head.

Forrest J. Ackerman, a horror and science fiction writer for Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine, bought the mask and claws of the Creature's costume from a young man who had once used them as a Halloween costume. The costume pieces were discarded by Universal after production had finished on the three films (Creature from the Black Lagoon and its two sequels) and were later recovered from the studio's dumpster by a janitor, who thought the ensemble would make a good Halloween costume for his son. Other costume pieces were recently sold at auction by Bud Westmore, who was an assistant to Milicent Patrick, the original designer of the costume.

Julie Adams has stated that she was not knocked out when she was being carried into the cave by the creature. Rather, Adams claims that she scraped her head against the plaster wall of the cave while the stuntman was carrying her. Neither Adams nor the stuntman had very good visibility while filming the scene. The scene called for Adams to pretend to be unconscious in the creature's arms, which meant that her eyes were closed, and the stuntman could barely see out of the creature's mask.

Ricou Browning, the stuntman who provided the underwater shots of the creature, once had to make an emergency bathroom visit while he was filming a scene. Browning had been underwater for several minutes and breached the water, in full costume, next to an unsuspecting mother and her young daughter on the nearby shore. Browning said that they fled in terror once they saw him. He recalled, "they took off, and that's the last I saw of 'em!"

The Creature's appearance was based on old seventeenth-century woodcuts of two bizarre creatures called the Sea Monk and the Sea Bishop. The Creature's final head was based on that of the Sea Monk, but the original discarded head was based on that of the Sea Bishop.

Julie Adams performed all of her own stunts for this film.

Director Jack Arnold claimed that his main goal in the making of this film was to create a sense of dread. Arnold said, "it plays upon a basic fear that people have about what might be lurking below the surface of any body of water. You know the feeling when you are swimming and something brushes your legs down there - it scares the hell out of you if you don't know what it is. It's the fear of the unknown. I decided to exploit this fear as much as possible."

In an interview, Ricou Browning stated that he came up with the idea of Julie Adams throwing her cigarette in the water and the camera showing the Gill-man underneath, looking up at the cigarette. He also mentioned that Julie Adams didn't smoke at the time, but was willing to for the scene.

Producer William Alland was attending a 1941 dinner party during the filming of Citizen Kane (in which he played the reporter Thompson) when Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa told him about the myth of a race of half-fish, half-human creatures in the Amazon River. Alland wrote story notes titled "The Sea Monster" 10 years later. His inspiration was Beauty and the Beast. In December 1952 Maurice Zimm expanded this into a treatment, which Harry Essex and Arthur Ross rewrote as The Black Lagoon.

Jenny Clack (University of Cambridge) discovered a fossil amphibian, found in the remnants of what was once a fetid swamp, and named it Eucritta melanolimnetes - literally "the creature from the black lagoon".

When the Creature attacks Zee, the script called for him to pick him up and throw him into the camera for the 3-D effect. Unfortunately, the wires used to lift Zee up to make it appear as though he was actually being picked up by the Creature kept breaking. After two tries, Jack Arnold decided to just have Zee get strangled.

The famous Creature theme music was composed uncredited by Universal staff composer Herman Stein. When the score was recorded by the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Slovakia in 2000, the CD notes included both a photo of Stein and a blow-up of his original Creature manuscript. Stein, who also composed the music for Julie Adams swimming, contributed some 12 minutes of the score, whilst his Universal staff colleagues Henry Mancini and Hans J. Salter contributed 12 minutes and 16 minutes, respectively. A further 9 minutes were provided by the Universal stock music library.

Ricou Browning and Ben Chapman never met during the making of the film. Browning's underwater scenes were filmed in Florida, and Chapman's scenes were filmed in California. They didn't meet until they both attended a convention in Florida 20 years later.

Jack Arnold directed most of The Brady Bunch episodes. In one, centering on the boys raiding the girls' slumber party, Bobby Brady wears The Creature mask.

The first film that Stephen King can remember seeing.

The scientific narration in the beginning combines both Creation and Evolution.

Julie Adams (Kay) was one of the last surviving cast members, along with Ricou Browning. She passed away 2/3/2019 at the age of 92.

Additional Waypoints