The Incredible Shrinking Man is a 1957 science fiction horror film directed by Jack Arnold. The film stars Grant Williams and Randy Stuart, and was based on Richard Matheson’s 1956 novel The Shrinking Man.
Director: Jack Arnold
Production Company: Universal Pictures
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Cast: Grant Williams, Randy Stuart, April Kent, Paul Langton
US Box Office: $3,575,000 ($68,400,000 adjusted for inflation)
Film Format: Black & White
Genre: Science Fiction, Horror
Release Date: February 22, 1957 (premiere)
Plot Summary: A few months after coming into contact with a radioactive cloud, Scott Carey (Grant Williams) realizes that he is slowly shrinking. Carey is at first optimistic about about being able to reverse or stop the shrinking, even as he shrinks to the size of a child. However, once Scott realizes that their is no cure for his condition, he becomes distant from everyone, even his caring wife Louise (Randy Stuart) who has helped him through the whole ordeal. Once Scott Carey shrinks down to the size of a doll, the real danger begins. He is hunted by the family cat, becomes lost in the basement, has to survive a water-heater flood, and fights a terrifying spider.
Production: In late 1955, author Richard Matheson began working on a science fiction novel called The Shrinking Man, about a man who slowly shrinks, eventually becoming smaller than an insect. Matheson sold the film rights for his in-progress-book to Universal Pictures on the the condition that he write the film’s screenplay for the studio. Universal producer Albert Zugsmith agreed to this. The film was in pre-production when Matheson published his novel in May of 1956. Matheson’s original script and the novel were mostly told through flashback form; Scott Carey’s fight with the spider being intercut with flashbacks telling how Carey gradually shrunk in height. Zugsmith had screenwriter Richard Alan Simmons edit Matheson’s script to remove the flashback aspect, and just tell the story in chronological order. Matheson hated this aspect of the production and thought that it lessened the quality of his story.
Zugsmith chose Jack Arnold to direct The Incredible Shrinking Man. Arnold had previously directed several horror and science fiction films for the studio including The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Revenge of the Creature (1955), and Tarantula! (1955). Arnold was friends with actress Randy Stuart and asked her to play the part of Louise Carey, wife of the main character. Arnold and Zugsmith originally wanted to cast Dan O’Herlihy in the part of Scott Carey, but O’Herlihy turned the part down. He had previously won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Robinson Crusoe (1954), and didn’t want to play another “isolated” character. Zugsmith instead chose Grant Williams for the part. Williams had previously played villains in Arnold’s Red Sundown (1956) and Outside the Law (1956).
Filming on The Incredible Shrinking Man began in May of 1956 and mostly took place at Universal Studios. Some of the film’s special effects scenes were among the first to be shot. Scenes where a child sized Scott interacts with Louise were accomplished by editing together separate footage of the two. Randy Stuart would be shot in front of a black velvet screen (which was edited out using a camera negative technique) and her footage would be synchronized together with footage of Grant Williams in an “enlarged” living room set. The scenes where the cat attacks the doll house and hunts Scott were accomplished in a similar manner. Arnold used food to coax the cat to break into the dollhouse. Arnold then filmed the cat from inside and outside the dollhouse, and timed the cat’s reactions. He later directed Williams to act accordingly to the cat and synchronized their footage together.
The basement scenes of The Incredible Shrinking Man were shot on Universal’s Stage 12, which was one of the largest film studio sets in the world at the time. Tarantulas were used to portray the film’s spider, rather than the novel’s black widows because Tarantulas were bigger and thus easier to film. The basement flooding scene was shot over the course of two days, and had to be delayed twice due to camera and crane issues. Williams was injured several times on set, which is somewhat fitting given that both he and his character were unaccustomed to the giant world and props created by the filmmakers.
Filming on The Incredible Shrinking Man took around two months, post-production went on longer than this due to all the editing and special effects work required for the film. Universal originally wanted the film to have a traditional happy ending in which Scott returned to his original size, however both Matheson and Arnold objected to this change to the novel. Arnold convinced Universal to allow him to film a different ending. Although test audiences reacted negatively to the ending, Arnold was allowed to keep his version of the ending in the finished film. The Incredible Shrinking Man cost about $750,000, much of which was spent on the effects.
Fun Facts and Trivia: Butch the cat was supposedly played by cat actor Orangey (though some sources indicate multiple cats were used). Orangey appeared in a variety of films and television episodes in the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). Several of the gigantic object props (including the scissors, mousetrap, and some of the nails) were featured in the Universal Studios Tour ride during the early years of the ride in the 1960s. Some of the other surviving giant object props were sold to Twentieth Century Fox, to be reused as props for their Land of the Giants (1968-1970) television show. One of the original trailers for The Incredible Shrinking Man was narrated by Orson Welles. Welles was working with Universal on Touch of Evil (1958) at the time. During the scene where Louise asks the telephone operator for an unlisted number for the house, music from Written on the Wind (1956) can be heard on the radio in the background. Written on the Wind was released by Universal the previous year and also starred Grant Williams.
Reception: The Incredible Shrinking Man premiered on February 22, 1957 in New York City, and went into wide release in early April. Although it only had a modest box office performance, The Incredible Shrinking Man was very profitable for Universal due to its low budget. Despite its financial success, audience reaction to the film was mixed. Filmgoers, particularly children (who were the intended audience for science fiction at the time), criticized the film for its ending.
Film critics had a mixed-to-positive reaction to The Incredible Shrinking Man when it was first released. Dilys Powell of The Sunday Times gave the film a positive review, she praised the film for its effects and themes, describing it was “inventive and humane.” Jack Anderson of the Miami Herald also praised the film for its inventive camera work and special effects. Helen Bower of the Detroit Free Press and Florence Epstein of Modern Screen had similar praise for the effects. Conversely Mae Tinee of the Chicago Times gave the film a negative review because she thought that the special effects and sets were “unconvincing.” Myles Standish of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch thought that the special effects were well-done, but that they (and the picture as a whole) were unpleasant.
In retrospect, The Incredible Shrinking Man has received largely positive reviews from critics. The film’s themes and special effects have both garnered praise. Matt Brunson of Film Frenzy thought that The Incredible Shrinking Man was one of the best science fiction films of the 1950s and that it deserved to be held in the same regard as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). Kristy Strouse of Film Inquiry also gave the film a positive review, she praised the film’s thought-provoking messages. In 2001, The Incredible Shrinking Man was one of 400 films considered by the American Film Institute for inclusion on their list of the top 100 most thrilling American films of all time.
Why You Should See It: The Incredible Shrinking Man is a mostly good (and very unique) science fiction horror film. Jack Arnold’s camera work and the film’s props do a great job of making Scott Carey’s world seem simultaneously huge and tiny. The film’s special effects were also top notch for the time. They aren’t perfect, but they work well enough. The drama and emotion in The Incredible Shrinking Man is very well done, and the actors give good performances (despite the unusual plot). In my opinion the film’s cinematography and special effects both deserved Academy Award nominations.