Them!
Dir: Gordon Douglas
1954
*****
One of the first and one of the best Atomic monster movies from the 1950's. I'm very fond of these movies and was quite disgruntled when I saw this at a 50's B-Movie festival screening where the audience laughed and jeered throughout. I know the crowd were fans but it was like watching people make fun of an old man just because he couldn't keep up and it made me feel sad. Although the effects etc are dated, they are still based on creative and intelligent ideas that could teach modern film makers a thing or two. At least it didn't have a gratuitous love story going on and the gi-ants were not defeated by teenagers, the townsfolk look generally scared (as you would be) and it really did tap into a very real paranoia of the time. As a rule, it seems that every good B-movie is in fact a secret political statement heaped full of symbolic ideas. It's quite brilliant.