I remember seeing this odd little movie as a kid and enjoying it, I guess because of the puppetry and "little people" angle, which has always fascinated me. After seeing it several times since, I still like it. It's nothing profound, but the sets for the "dolls" were pretty good for the time. The title is just Hollywood talking -- it doesn't make any sense because the little people aren't puppets and they don't attack. I don't think Mr. Franz, played by John Hoyt, is an evil man at heart, just driven to do what he does by his extreme loneliness, which in the end destroys his moral judgment. This is an old movie in my collection I'll watch from time to time for nostalgic value and continue to enjoy.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Them!
(1954)
One of the best of the 1950's science fiction golden age
11 July 2005
This is the kind of stuff I grew up on as a kid, watching science fiction and horror movies on TV which had been originally released in the 1940s and 50s. The 1950s was a golden age of science fiction movies, and THEM! was one of the very best. Good casting, dialog, and storyline, and commendable special effects for the time. Although the "atomic-radiation-causing-terrible-mutations" was a standard device in 50s sci fi (THE DEADLY MANTIS, IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA, and others), it was a workable one, and given that the ants were from the same area of desert where the first atomic blast occurred, it had just enough plausibility. I also like the little touches of humor and banter between characters. There was even a little bit of cheesecake when the young Dr. Medford (Joan Weldon) gets her skirt caught when descended from the plane, revealing a pair of shapely legs. This is one I keep going back to on rainy Saturday afternoons! A gem of its kind.
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