At the beginning of this month, I discussed famed special effects director Ray Harryhausen. I mentioned that Harryhausen got his start making b-movie monsters. After becoming an assistant to his ideal Willis O'Brien (who did the effects for The Lost World and King Kong, and doing the legwork on the O'Brien film Mighty Joe Young, Harryhausen made his debut with the film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. This cemented him as O'Brien's successor as Hollywood's premier stop-motion creator. This film was originally The Great Ymir, before it was changed (possibly to prevent the confusion between "Ymir" and the Arabic word "Emir", which is also why the creature's name is never said in the actual film). Harryhausen and actress Charlotte Knight wrote the main story, which was adapted to screenplay by Bob Williams and Christopher Knopf. Academy Award winning director (well, technically he won it as an art director, but still) Nathan Juran directed, and longtime Harryhausen collaborator Charles Schneer produced. Originally set in Chicago, Harryhausen decided he always wanted to visit Italy, so he changed the script accordingly. Filmed in the US and Italy, it was filmed in black and white due to budget. Harryhausen had wanted to film in color, and after Juran's death in 2002, worked to have it colorized (this is the version I saw.) This was his last monster movie before he transitioned towards fantasy fare, and also his last black and white film.
The film opens in a fishing village in Sicily, where several fisherman witness a rocket crashing into the ocean. Mondello (Don Orlando) and Verrico (George Khoury), two of the fisherman, with young Pepe (Bart Braverman) in tow, investigate, finding two of the crew members, Calder (William Hopper) and Sherman (Arthur Space), unconscious. They bring them back ashore. Meanwhile, the Pentagon receives word that the ship had landed near Sicily, so General McIntosh (Thomas Browne Henry) goes to investigate. While on the beach, Pepe finds a strange metal capsule, with some strange green object inside. Mondello heads to the trailer of Dr. Leonardo (Frank Puglia), a zoologist, to help heal the men. While he can't help, his granddaughter Marisa (Joan Taylor, who inexplicably speaks with an American accent, despite being in Italy) goes, because she is a medical student. Pepe meanwhile, sells Dr. Leonardo the green object. Marisa comes in time to see Calder wake up, and try to wake up Sherman, who has some strange infection. Sherman says that the whole crew had been wiped out by this infection, before succumbing to it. Marisa returns to the trailer to find a strange creature, who had emerged from the green object. Leonardo and Marisa trap it in a cage they have, and plan to study it later. Meanwhile, McIntosh meets with Calder and the local police commissioner (Tito Vuolo), and an Italian government official (Jan Arvan) Calder and McIntosh inform them that the mission was actually to the planet Venus (which technically should make the title "24 million miles to Earth"), and the strange capsule was actually holding a creature they found on the surface. The spacecraft was pelted by meteors, which broke the capsule, and caused the infection. Pepe (after a strange hangup about keeping his cowboy hat), shows them the capsule, and tells them where Dr. Leonardo lives. Meanwhile, Leonardo and Marisa wake up to find the creature much larger than it previously was, and travel with it briefly, while Calder, McIntosh and the Commissioner follow them. Eventually, the creature escapes, and rampages through the Italian countryside, and may end up in a certain "Eternal City".
Okay, the effects to create the Ymir was good, of course. I really hate to repeat myself on that matter. The actors seem to do fine interacting with it, even though during filming, there was likely nothing there. I like that the Ymir was not a vicious, bloodthirsty creature, but more a confused animal, increasingly scared at its new surroundings, and growing at an unnatural rate on this planet (as opposed to suffocating) There is also the fact the Ymir is not carnivorous. It actually consumes sulfur, which usually comes from volcanism (volcanism being a prominent feature on the Venusian surface), which actually plays into the story. The Italian setting is not cosmetic, it actually does serve some purpose in the story, with the different strategies of the American and Italian officials actually being a point of tension at one point.
That said, it was really easy to tell who was an American playing an Italian, and an actual Italian. Some of them had really fake sounding accent. (the actual Italians were really apparent). This was somewhat distracting. Okay, at least they attempt the I don't think some things were ever explained. Like the infection. I think it was implied the Ymir brought it on board from Venus, but that was never really explicitly stated. Also, obviously there is a romance between Calder and Marisa, and it is basically slows the film, and is completely pointless.
Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this. The only reason I did it was because it was set in Italy. It was actually quite a surprise, in how good it turned out to be. This is the better version of the film The Thing from Another World, and is a much better execution of that idea. It's also a good monster movie, with plenty of rampages and large sets. And if you enjoy monster movies, this is a pretty good example of the genre.
Next time, we take a look at a most recent critically acclaimed horror film, Occulus.
The film opens in a fishing village in Sicily, where several fisherman witness a rocket crashing into the ocean. Mondello (Don Orlando) and Verrico (George Khoury), two of the fisherman, with young Pepe (Bart Braverman) in tow, investigate, finding two of the crew members, Calder (William Hopper) and Sherman (Arthur Space), unconscious. They bring them back ashore. Meanwhile, the Pentagon receives word that the ship had landed near Sicily, so General McIntosh (Thomas Browne Henry) goes to investigate. While on the beach, Pepe finds a strange metal capsule, with some strange green object inside. Mondello heads to the trailer of Dr. Leonardo (Frank Puglia), a zoologist, to help heal the men. While he can't help, his granddaughter Marisa (Joan Taylor, who inexplicably speaks with an American accent, despite being in Italy) goes, because she is a medical student. Pepe meanwhile, sells Dr. Leonardo the green object. Marisa comes in time to see Calder wake up, and try to wake up Sherman, who has some strange infection. Sherman says that the whole crew had been wiped out by this infection, before succumbing to it. Marisa returns to the trailer to find a strange creature, who had emerged from the green object. Leonardo and Marisa trap it in a cage they have, and plan to study it later. Meanwhile, McIntosh meets with Calder and the local police commissioner (Tito Vuolo), and an Italian government official (Jan Arvan) Calder and McIntosh inform them that the mission was actually to the planet Venus (which technically should make the title "24 million miles to Earth"), and the strange capsule was actually holding a creature they found on the surface. The spacecraft was pelted by meteors, which broke the capsule, and caused the infection. Pepe (after a strange hangup about keeping his cowboy hat), shows them the capsule, and tells them where Dr. Leonardo lives. Meanwhile, Leonardo and Marisa wake up to find the creature much larger than it previously was, and travel with it briefly, while Calder, McIntosh and the Commissioner follow them. Eventually, the creature escapes, and rampages through the Italian countryside, and may end up in a certain "Eternal City".
Okay, the effects to create the Ymir was good, of course. I really hate to repeat myself on that matter. The actors seem to do fine interacting with it, even though during filming, there was likely nothing there. I like that the Ymir was not a vicious, bloodthirsty creature, but more a confused animal, increasingly scared at its new surroundings, and growing at an unnatural rate on this planet (as opposed to suffocating) There is also the fact the Ymir is not carnivorous. It actually consumes sulfur, which usually comes from volcanism (volcanism being a prominent feature on the Venusian surface), which actually plays into the story. The Italian setting is not cosmetic, it actually does serve some purpose in the story, with the different strategies of the American and Italian officials actually being a point of tension at one point.
That said, it was really easy to tell who was an American playing an Italian, and an actual Italian. Some of them had really fake sounding accent. (the actual Italians were really apparent). This was somewhat distracting. Okay, at least they attempt the I don't think some things were ever explained. Like the infection. I think it was implied the Ymir brought it on board from Venus, but that was never really explicitly stated. Also, obviously there is a romance between Calder and Marisa, and it is basically slows the film, and is completely pointless.
Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this. The only reason I did it was because it was set in Italy. It was actually quite a surprise, in how good it turned out to be. This is the better version of the film The Thing from Another World, and is a much better execution of that idea. It's also a good monster movie, with plenty of rampages and large sets. And if you enjoy monster movies, this is a pretty good example of the genre.
Next time, we take a look at a most recent critically acclaimed horror film, Occulus.
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