<P> Producer William Alland was attending a 1941 dinner party during the filming of Citizen Kane (in which he played the reporter Thompson) when Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa told him about the myth of a race of half - fish, half - human creatures in the Amazon River . Alland wrote story notes titled "The Sea Monster" 10 years later . His inspiration was Beauty and the Beast . In December 1952, Maurice Zimm expanded this into a treatment, which Harry Essex and Arthur Ross rewrote as The Black Lagoon . Following the success of the 3D film House of Wax in 1953, Jack Arnold was hired to direct the film in the same format . </P> <P> The designer of the approved Gill - man was Disney animator Milicent Patrick, though her role was deliberately downplayed by make - up artist Bud Westmore, who for half a century would receive sole credit for the creature's conception . Jack Kevan, who worked on The Wizard of Oz (1939) and made prosthetics for amputees during World War II, created the bodysuit, while Chris Mueller Jr. sculpted the head . </P> <P> Ben Chapman portrayed the Gill - man for the majority of the scenes shot at Universal City, California . Many of the on - top of the water scenes were filmed at Rice Creek near Palatka, Florida . The costume made it impossible for Chapman to sit for the 14 hours of each day that he wore it, and it overheated easily, so he stayed in the back lot's lake, often requesting to be hosed down . He also could not see very well while wearing the headpiece, which caused him to scrape Julie Adams' head against the wall when carrying her in the grotto scenes . Ricou Browning played the Gill - Man in the underwater shots, which were filmed by the second unit in Wakulla Springs, Florida . </P> <P> Creature from the Black Lagoon received positive reviews from critics upon its release and is now considered a classic . Leonard Maltin awarded the film three out of a possible four stars, writing, "Archetypal' 50s monster movie has been copied so often that some of the edge is gone, but...is still entertaining, with juicy atmosphere and luminous underwater photography sequences ." Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 84%, based on 32 reviews, with a overall rating average of 6.9 / 10 . The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: </P>

Where did they film the creature from the black lagoon