The Deadly Mantis (1957)
Director:
Nathan Juran
Tagline:
« This Was the Day That Engulfed the World in Terror! »
Actors:
Col. Joe Parkman
Dr. Nedrick Jackson
Marge Blaine
Maj. Gen. Mark Ford
Sgt. Pete Allen
Rating:
(4’554 votes)
(4’554 votes)
Quotes:
[the officers are all staring at Marge]
« Dr. Ned Jackson: It looks like you don't have too many women up here, Colonel.
»
« Col. Joe Parkman: Well, we have a little joke up here. The boys say there's a girl behind every tree. Only try and find a tree.
»
« Dr. Ned Jackson: I'm convinced that we're dealing with a Mantis in whose geological world the smallest insects were as large as man, and now failing to find those insects as food, well… it's doing the best that it can.
»
« Col. Joe Parkman: Maybe there's an ordinary explanation to what happened, but I wouldn't take any bets.
»
Trailer:
The Deadly Mantis
Runtime:79 minutes
Plots:
A giant prehistoric praying mantis, recently freed from the Arctic ice, voraciously preys on American military at the DEW Line and works its way south.
The calving of an Arctic iceberg releases a giant praying mantis, trapped in suspended animation since prehistoric times. It first attacks military outposts to eat their occupants, then makes its way to the warmer latitudes of Washington and New York. A paleontologist works together with military units to try to kill it.
An attack on an arctic weather station and subsequently on a USAF transport plane have the Air Force puzzled. Their scientists can make little headway but Col. Joe Parkman enlists the aid of a paleontologist, Dr. Ned Jackson, who thinks he has the answer: the culprit is a giant praying mantis. The creature is traveling south at high speed and it’s a race against time to capture or kill it. They get their chance when the creature is trapped in the Manhattan tunnel.
