History Film / TheIncredibleShrinkingMan

** Scott's sexual frustration is addressed in a more straightforward fashion. When he is shorter than his daughter, Louise hires a 15 year old babysitter to watch her while she works. [[spoiler: Scott while not making any direct moves, lusts over her (unknown to her as she doesn't know about his presence). Incidentally, he vividly repeats a phrase he heard from a pedophile who mistook him for a little boy.]]

''The Incredible Shrinking Man'' is a 1957 ScienceFiction film directed by Jack Arnold, [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on]] the novel ''The Shrinking Man'' by Creator/RichardMatheson (who also wrote the screenplay adaptation).

* ChekhovsSkill: A rather subtle example, but during an early conversation with his doctor Scott mentions in passing that he served in the Navy, and some of the survival techniques he employs in the basement are likely skills he picked up as part of his military training.

* ChekhovsSkill: A rather subtle example, but during an early conversation with his doctor Scott mentions having served in the Navy, and some of the survival techniques he employs in the basement are clearly skills he picked up as part of his military training.

* ChekhovsSkill: During an early conversation with his doctor Scott mentions having served in the Navy, and some of the survival techniques he employs in the basement are clearly skills he picked up as part of his military training.

In 2015, there was a comic book adaptation from Creator/IDWPublishing, which was distributed in a four-issue miniseries from July to October. It shares the novel's title (though the variant cover to Issue 3 uses the movie title) and is closer to it in terms of story detail.

In 2015, the book had a comic adaptation from Creator/IDWPublishing, which was distributed in a 4 issue miniseries from July to October. It shares the title with the book and is closer in terms of story detail. Though the variant cover to Issue 3 uses the movie title.

* ILoveNuclearPower: As stated in the summary, the cloud is generally assumed to be radioactive.

* HopeSpot: An antidote is found that halts Scott's shrinking at three feet, and a friendship with a female dwarf helps him realize that it's possible to live happily even at that size. Then the antidote stops working.

* HopeSpot: An antidote is found that stops his shrinking at three feet, and a friendship with a midget helps him realize that it's possible to live happily even at that size. Then the antidote stops working.

* SquareCubeLaw: Quite possibly averted because Scott ''slowly'' shrinks, thus giving his body a chance to adapt.

''All this vast majesty of creation, it had to mean something. And then I meant something, too. Yes, smaller than the smallest, I meant something, too. To God, there is no zero. I still exist!''

* NarratingThePresent: One interesting this is that Scott's voice remains the same pitch despite his getting smaller as the film progresses, unless we're reading his mind...

* GiantSpider: Technically, the spider is normal sized, it's Scott that's small, but from his POV, it ''is'' giant.

** Scott has shrunk to about three feet tall when he encounters a group of boys. When they realize he's that "Shrinking Man" they threaten to take his pants off to see if ''every'' part of him has shrunk.

* MouseWorld: From the scenes in the dollhouse to being chased by the cat, and finally being trapped in the cellar. In the cellar, this is the epitome of the Mouse World. Scott is forced to eat crumbs from a stale cake, live inside a match box and fight off a spider.

* MagicPants: Completely averted. Scott's physical body gets smaller while his clothes don't. As a result, he is forced to wear children's clothes, doll clothes and the rags from his doll clothes.

Grant Williams stars as Scott Carey, an ordinary man who is exposed to some type of dust cloud (generally assumed to be radioactive) and subsequently begins to slowly shrink, soon growing so miniscule that his wife Louise (Randy Stuart) is unable to see or hear him. Scott finds himself battling for his life against his pet cat and a spider, and confronting the possibility of eventually shrinking to nothing.

* AdaptationDistillation: In the novel, Scott had a daughter. A couple other omissions from the movie:

** Scott has shrunken to about three feet tall when he encounters a group of boys. When they realize he's that "Shrinking Man" they want to take his pants off to see if ''every'' part of him had shrunk.
** In the novel Scott's sexual frustration is addressed in a more straightforward fashion. When he is shorter than his daughter, Louise hires a 15 year old babysitter to watch her while she works. [[spoiler: Scott while not making any direct moves, lusts over her (unknown to her as she doesn't know about his presence). Incidentally, he vividly repeats a phrase he heard from a pedophile who mistook him for a little boy.]]
** Though he's upfront with Louise about his intentions, his relationship with Clarice is a one stand as he will eventually shrink to the point where intimacy will be impossible altogether (unlike the film, there were no successful attempt to temporarily prevent the shrinking).
* AdaptationalSpeciesChange: Because black widows are too small (and too ''deadly'') to be used, a tarantula from Panama named Tamara in the press book played the role of the spider.

* CatsAreMean: You just knew that the cat was going to try to eat poor Scott when he got small enough.

This is considered one of the better sci-fi movies of TheFifties, thanks to an intelligent script and above-average special effects that lift it above the standard BMovie fare of the era.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a8f509fe11572f8cddfcac15f6682b89.jpg]]

''The Incredible Shrinking Man'' is a 1957 ScienceFiction film directed by Jack Arnold, [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on]] the novel ''The Shrinking Man'' by Creator/RichardMatheson.

''The Incredible Shrinking Man'' is a 1957 ScienceFiction film directed by Jack Arnold, [[TheFilmOfTheBook based]] on the novel ''The Shrinking Man'' by Creator/RichardMatheson.

''The Incredible Shrinking Man'' is a 1957 sci-fi movie directed by Jack Arnold, based on the novel ''The Shrinking Man'' by Creator/RichardMatheson.

''The Incredible Shrinking Man'' is a 1957 sci-fi movie directed by Jack Arnold, based on the novel ''The Shrinking Man'' by Creator/RichardMatheson, who wrote the screenplay.

''The Incredible Shrinking Man'' is a 1957 sci-fi movie directed by Jack Arnold, based on the novel ''The Shrinking Man'' by Creator/RichardMatheson.

* BittersweetEnding:
** Scott's voice-over monologue at the end has him accepting the inevitable and reaffirming that no matter how small he is, he will still matter in this universe. That doesn't change the fact that he will eventually shrink to ''atomic size'' or worse, that his wife assumes that their cat had eaten him.
** In the book, his family packs up and moves out of the house the day before he finally shrinks for what he thinks is the final time. But it turns out much happier for Scott, as he finds he's now in a new microscopic world, still existing but smaller than anything any normal person could perceive. Excited by the implications of all this, he happily runs off to explore his new surroundings.

* HopeSpot: An antidote is found that stops his shrinking at three feet, and a friendship with a midget helps him realize that it's possible to live happily even at that size. [[spoiler:Then the antidote stops working. Matheson wrote a sequel -- unfortunately never filmed -- where it turned out the antidote has long-delayed effects that will eventually return him to normal. Scott's wife catches on as she begins to shrink herself. She sets out to find Scott, then they have more adventures trying to get back to the house.]]

* BittersweetEnding: Scott's voice-over monologue at the end has him accepting the inevitable and reaffirming that no matter how small he is, he will still matter in this universe. That doesn't change the fact that he will eventually shrink to ''atomic size'' or worse, that his wife assumes that their cat had eaten him.

** At 42 inches, Scott has some trouble with his car and hitches a ride with a guy. Problem is that [[spoiler: the guy believes Scott is a preteen kid and tries to hit on him.]]
** Scott has shrunken to about three feet tall when he encounters a group of boys. When they realize he's that "Shrinking Man" [[spoiler: they want to take his pants off to see if EVERY part of him had shrunk.]]

* BittersweetEnding[=/=]DownerEnding: Mileage will vary on which one this is. Scott's voice-over monologue at the end has him accepting the inevitable and reaffirming that no matter how small he is, he will still matter in this universe. That doesn't change the fact that he will eventually shrink to ''atomic size'' or worse, that his wife assumes that their cat had eaten him.

In 2015, the book had a comic adaptation from IDW Publishing (Creator), which was distributed in a 4 issue miniseries from July to October. It shares the title with the book and is closer in terms of story detail. Though the variant cover to Issue 3 uses the movie title.