Tarantula (film)

Tarantula
Theatrical release poster by Reynold Brown
Directed by	Jack Arnold
Screenplay by	Robert M. Fresco Martin Berkeley
Story by	Jack Arnold Robert M. Fresco
Based on	"No Food for Thought" (teleplay, Science Fiction Theatre, May 17, 1955) by Robert M. Fresco[1][2]
Produced by	William Alland
Starring	John Agar Mara Corday Leo G. Carroll
Cinematography	George Robinson
Edited by	William Morgan
Music by	Henry Mancini Herman Stein
Color process	Black and white
Production company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal-International
Release dates	November 23, 1955 (1955-11-23) (Los Angeles) December 23, 1955 (1955-12-23) (United States)
Running time	80 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.1 million (US and Canadian rentals)[3]

Tarantula is a 1955 American science-fiction monster film produced by William Alland and directed by Jack Arnold. It stars John Agar, Mara Corday, and Leo G. Carroll. The film is about a scientist developing a miracle nutrient to feed a rapidly growing human population. In its unperfected state, the nutrient causes extraordinarily rapid growth, creating a deadly problem when a tarantula test subject escapes and continues to grow larger and larger. The screenplay by Robert M. Fresco and Martin Berkeley was based on a story by Arnold, which was in turn inspired by Fresco's teleplay for the 1955 Science Fiction Theatre episode "No Food for Thought", also directed by Arnold.^[1] The film was distributed by Universal Pictures as a Universal-International release, and reissued in 1962 through Sherman S. Krellberg's Ultra Pictures.