Creature From the Black Lagoon | 1954

Here it is, gentlemen.

Exactly as I found it.

It's amazing.

It's incredible!

Could it possibly belong to a Pleistocene man?

Chances are that that hand belonged to an amphibian, Mark.

One that spent a great deal of time in the water.

So how do you account for the structure of the fingers, obviously for land use?

What do you think, Dr Matos?

We can be sure of one thing.

Whatever it was, it was very powerful.

You say you hope to find the rest of the fossil?

As soon as I get a suitable expedition together.

Well, why don't we make up the expedition?

It does come under the heading of our work, doesn't it, David?

It certainly does. More and more we're learning the value of marine research.

Look. Look over here.

This lungfish

the bridge between fish and the land animal.

How many thousands of ways nature tried to get life out of the sea and onto the land.

This one failed. He hasn't changed in millions of years.

But here...

Here we have a clue to an answer.

Some day spaceships will be travelling to other planets.

How will human beings survive on those planets?

The atmosphere will be different, the pressures will be different.

By studying these, and other species,

we add to our knowledge of how life evolved and adapted itself to this world.

With that knowledge, perhaps men will learn to adapt themselves