This movie, with it's silly 1950's title, is a great work of the mind as it fathoms the universe. It's about a man, an ordinary man, who, after an astronomical event, begins to become smaller. Unlike so many cheesy films, his clothes don't get smaller along with him. Richard Matheson considered all the implications of a shrinking man along with all the forces that would work against him. Our power is often dictated by our size, so this man finds himself having to fear things that he previously took for granted. We can only imagine what was going to happen down the road. The sad fact that he must live in a doll's house, without hope, to be forsaken pretty much by the humans who have left him, is very depressing. There are the usual things, being chased by a cat, fighting with a spider, having objects like pencils and common pins become huge to him. The ending, however, is what puts this beyond anything that has been done since. It's a look at the hugeness of the universe and the relative tininess of our own earth in the scheme of things. It really has a positive side. This man has dignity and, while he doesn't know what is coming, he knows that the great order of the universe gives him a position in it.
The Incredible Shrinking Man
1957
Action / Drama / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller
The Incredible Shrinking Man
1957
Action / Drama / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Plot summary
A dangerous combination of radiation and insecticide causes the unfortunate Scott Carey to shrink, slowly but surely, until he is only a few inches tall. His home becomes a wilderness where he must survive everything from spiders living in the cellar to his beloved cat.
Uploaded by: OTTO
May 30, 2015 at 06:10 PM
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It's About Our Human Condition
a "classier" sci-fi movie from the 50s
The same era and genre that brought us ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN and THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN also gave us this more cerebral and less sensationalistic account of a man who shrinks thanks to the miracle of atomic mutation! Because it takes a slightly less sensationalistic bent and the acting and writing are a definite notch above these other two movies, this is more likely to impress viewers. But, if you are looking for a good laugh, this really isn't your film, as it is both a fantasy sci-fi film AND takes a rather philosophical attitude towards this poor man. Additionally, people who MUST have a clear ending in a movie will be greatly disappointed, as the film ends but the problems of this shrinking man aren't really resolved.
A gradual Lilliputian
Radiation, something we were only beginning to understand, is once again the villain of another science fiction movie. Grant Williams got the career role when he plays a man exposed to a combination of radiation and insecticide which causes him to gradually shrink. The Incredible Shrinking Man is a film that is truly unique unto itself in both concept and execution.
I imagine with computer graphics we could do so much better with the special effects showing Williams gradually shrinking and how he relates to all around him. I could see someone like Matt Damon in a remake today.
It's a wonderful and complex part of the man becoming a gradual Lilliputian in his own house. A great struggle for survival in a world that gets more terrifying as the house cat becomes a beast of pray and he struggles to survive even against life we normally step on.
I did so like the ending as Williams resigns himself to his fate. We're all just a lot of molecules lumped together and it's in that complexity of arrangement which we could only judge if we were that small. Williams realizes he's been given a gift of sorts part of a package with his horrible fate. Too bad he can't report back to the rest of humanity.
Take note also of Randy Stuart as our shrinking man's wife who bears up under the most unique of trials ever given anyone besides her husband.
A real classic and advances in technology almost demand a remake.