The Incredible Shrinking Man
Short description
The Incredible Shrinking Man follows Scott Carey, who is exposed to a combination of radiation and insecticide and begins to shrink steadily. His clothes no longer fit, medical treatment offers no answer, and he withdraws from his wife and family as his body keeps diminishing. Eventually his own home becomes hostile territory, where a household cat, water from a faulty boiler and a spider in the cellar turn everyday objects into deadly obstacles. Much of the story concerns his struggle to survive in a world that has grown enormous around him.
Jack Arnold directed the film, which sits between This Island Earth and Bachelor in Paradise in his filmography. Richard Matheson and Richard Alan Simmons wrote the screenplay, and Albert Zugsmith produced it for Universal International Pictures. Grant Williams plays Scott Carey, with Randy Stuart as Louise Carey, April Kent as Clarice Bruce, Paul Langton as Charlie Carey, Raymond Bailey as Doctor Thomas Silver and William Schallert as Doctor Arthur Bramson. Fifty-four crew members are credited.
Released in February 1957 and running 81 minutes, the film mixes adventure, fantasy, horror and science fiction. Critics rated it 8.2 out of 10 across 53 reviews, while audiences gave it 7.6 out of 10 on IMDb from around 22,000 votes and 7.5 out of 10 on TMDB from 585 votes. The critical and audience scores are close, indicating broad agreement on the film's quality.
What's left behind the scenes
- Richard Matheson's (1926-2014) novel 'Down There' (1956), on which Jack Arnold (1916-1992) based his film, was written in the form of flashbacks, so the main character ended up in the basement quite quickly. However, Universal Pictures insisted on a linear narrative and the removal of some storylines that were too provocative for 1957.
- The plot proved somewhat unexpected for Universal Pictures as it lacked a clearly defined conclusion. The original novel ends with the protagonist shrinking to infinitesimally small dimensions. There is no happy ending; the character simply continues to shrink. Despite this, producer Albert Zugsmith (1910-1993) managed to secure a budget of $750,000 for the film. After production was completed, the studio decided to change the ending to a happy one (where doctors create a serum to reverse the shrinking process), but director Jack Arnold categorically refused the idea. Having directed the horror film 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' (1954) and its sequels, he was able to convince studio management to hold preview screenings before making any changes. While the audience was surprised by such a finale, they were satisfied, and the idea of changing the ending was abandoned.
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