Every fright film aficionado has a favorite Creature film. It would seem that the original Creature From The Black Lagoon is the overwhelming favorite with most -- but the subsequent installments of the Gill Man saga have much to recommend them. Loyalties are split among the Creature's leading ladies and air-breathing romantic rivals. The B Monster offers this opportinity for his rapacious readership to size up the credentials of the respective casts. STUNNING STARLET Julie Adams With substantial B and A film credits encompassing every movie genre -- from John Wayne westerns to Murder She Wrote -- Ms. Adams' presence in the original Black Lagoon installment is undoubtedly the role she is best remembered for.   LEAD LOTHARIO Richard Carlson This talented actor-turned-director is an often overlooked influence on the course of cult filmdom, with credits including It Came From Outer Space, Magnetic Monster, The Maze, Tormented and Riders to the Stars.   ATHLETIC SUPPORT Richard Denning Craggily handsome and ingratiating, Denning's copious credits stretch from the 30s to his turn as the governor on Hawaii 5-0. His best-known genre efforts include Creature With the Atom Brain, Day the World Ended and Target Earth.   FITTED WITH FINS Ricou Browning, Ben Chapman Big Ben Chapman stalked Ms. Adams on dry land, but any aquatic acrobatics were the work of swimming champion Browning, including the tensely sensual swim beneath an unknowing Ms. Adams. STUNNING STARLET Lori Nelson Her genre film résumé boasts leads in Hot Rod Girl and Day the World Ended. As the Creature's aquatic amour, Ms. Nelson plays a pertly shrieking marine biologist.   LEAD LOTHARIO John Agar A thespian of impeccable cult film credentials -- Tarantula, Mole People, Zontar, Brain From Planet Arous -- Agar does his usual sturdy turn as the stalwart scientist.   ATHLETIC SUPPORT John Bromfield A beefily handsome B movie vet, Bromfield barely has time to vie for Nelson's affections before getting clobbered by the Creature.   FITTED WITH FINS Ricou Browning, Tom Hennessy This time Tom Hennessy hefts the heroine on land and spends some screen time submerged, while Browning reprises his underwater work. STUNNING STARLET Leigh Snowden Star of the definitive JD flick, Hot Rod Rumble, the talented Ms. Snowden inherited the role of the Creature's catch of the day just as Universal seemed to be losing interest in the series. She retired soon after, marrying Dick Daddy-O Contino.   LEAD LOTHARIO Jeff Morrow An amiably effective actor, Morrow's fixed, quizzical expression served him well through a host of fondly remembered shock films -- The Giant Claw, Kronos and This Island Earth among them. Morrow capped his career with the ludicrous Octaman.   ATHLETIC SUPPORT Rex Reason The square-jawed, silver-toned Reason assays a perfunctory role as Snowden's scientific paramour. Sci fi devotees know his stoic demeanor and dulcet voice from the classic This Island Earth.   FITTED WITH FINS Ricou Browning, Don Megowan Browning swims through the early going. Megowan, whose credits include The Werewolf and Creation of the Humanoids, assumes the role once the Creature has been converted to an air-breather.   DOCTOR IN RESIDENCE Whit Bissell One of the very best character actors in pictures, his presence in the first Creature film could well sway the vote. Part of the determined scientific team which seeks to study the Gill Man, he was likewise professorially effective in I Was a Teenage Werewolf, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, Monster on the Campus, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Target Earth, Lost Continent, The Time Machine -- as well as top-flight A films like Seven Days in May and Birdman of Alcatraz. The list of films, both A and B, enhanced by his work is staggering.