Universal-International's 1957 release, The Incredible Shrinking Man, directed by Jack Arnold is widely recognized as one of the best science fiction films of the fifties. Working from an intelligent script by Richard Matheson (author of the original story) and Richard Alan Simmons, Arnold tells this utterly fantastic tale with remarkable economy and restraint. Grant Williams does an admirable job in the title role; his underplaying convinces us that Robert Scott Carey is an ordinary man caught in a bizarre, nightmarish experience beyond his control.
Unlike many other stories of this type, in which a reckless scientist brings about his own destruction, Carey's dilemma is a simple accident of fate: while relaxing on a small yacht, he is exposed to a mysterious radioactive mist. Soon after this exposure, he gradually begins to shrink.
The peerless Reynold Brown designed most of the advertising for The Incredible Shrinking Man. The One-sheet uses only the menacing face of the cat, seen through a mesh screen (with the shrinking man and scissors in the foreground). My preference is for the completely different design [at the left] featured on both the 41" x 81" Three-sheet and the 14" x 36" Insert.
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