Jack Arnold reigns supreme as one of the great directors of 1950s science-fiction features. His films are distinguished by moody black and white cinematography, solid acting, smart, thoughtful scripts, snappy pacing, a genuine heartfelt enthusiasm for the genre and plenty of eerie atmosphere.
Arnold was born on October 14, 1916, in New Haven, Connecticut. He began his show business career as an actor in both on- and off-Broadway stage productions in the late 1930s and early 1940s; among the plays he appeared in are "The Time of Your Life," "Juke Box Jenny," "Blind Alibi," "China Passage," and "We're on the Jury." Arnold served in the US Army in the Signal Corps during World War II. He apprenticed under famous documentary filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty. Following his tour of duty Jack started making short films and documentaries. One short, With These Hands (1950), was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Documentary Feature. Arnold made his theatrical movie debut with the B picture Filles dans la nuit (1953). He then did his first foray into the science-fiction genre: the supremely spooky Le météore de la nuit (1953). Jack achieved his greatest enduring cult popularity with L'étrange créature du lac noir (1954), a scary yet poetic reworking of "Beauty and the Beast". La revanche de la créature (1955) was a worthy sequel. Tarantula (1955) was likewise a lot of fun. L'homme qui rétrécit (1957) rates highly as Arnold's crowning cinematic achievement; it's an intelligent and entertaining classic that's lost none of its potency throughout the years.
Arnold's final two genre entries were the enjoyable Le monstre des abîmes (1958) and the offbeat The Space Children (1958). His other movies are a pretty varied and interesting bunch, including the hugely successful La souris qui rugissait (1959) (which helped to establish Peter Sellers as an international star), the teen exploitation gem Jeunesse Droguée! (1958), the superior Audie Murphy western Une balle signée X (1959), the goofy comedy Hello Down There (1969) and the silly softcore romp Sex Play (1974).
In addition to his film work, Arnold also directed episodes of such TV shows as Science Fiction Theatre (1955), Peter Gunn (1958), Perry Mason (1957), Rawhide (1959), L'île aux naufragés (1964), La nouvelle équipe (1968), Wonder Woman (1975), La croisière s'amuse (1977), Super Jaimie (1976) and Buck Rogers (1979).
The father of producer/casting director Susan Arnold, Jack Arnold died at age 75 on March 17, 1992.
