Be afraid of your cat. Be very afraid.
The premise of the movie is short and simple. Scott Carey (Grant Williams) is on his boat when a fog passes over him. He is showered with particles of radioactive mist. Later he is accidentally sprayed with insecticide. After a few days he finds that he is shorter than he used to be. He keeps getting shorter. The doctors can’t stop it. Apparently glitter makes you shrink.
Each act is a different point in Scott’s life that illustrates what he as a man is going through. And what he as a man is losing. The destruction of his marriage. The illusion of a “Normal” relationship with the little person Clarice Bruce (April Kent). The loss of his job. The loss of his home and living in a doll house. The attack from his own cat. The battle with the spider.
"The Incredible Shrinking Man" was released in 1957and was directed by Jack Arnold. The movie is based on a book by Richard Matheson. The book was written as a series of flashbacks. Universal vetoed key sequences of the book, such as Scott spending the night with the female midget, a drunk homosexual who abuses Scott, a gang of teenagers who terrorize him, and Scott becoming a Peeping Tom secretly spying on a teenage girl baby-sitter. These were obviously rejected as too risqué for 1957!
When you mention shrinking person movies, everybody thinks of this one first. It’s a sad and terrifying movie. The terror that everyday objects can bring. The problems that everyday life can bring. His struggle to survive in his own house. The monster is everything that you took for granted in life or the loss thereof. Except for the cat and the spider, it’s a psychological drama more than a horror movie and very tragic.
The cat’s name was Orangey. The same tarantula was used in the movie “Tarantula”. Its name is “Tamara”. Condoms filled with water being dropped from a treadmill were used as drops of water in the scene where the water heater in the basement leaks. To get that effect Jack Arnold ordered 100 gross of condoms. After the picture was made Jack Arnold was called to the production office and asked about the 100 gross of condoms he ordered. His reply was "Well, it was a very tough picture, so I gave a cast party. " And that was all I told them."