"The Beast from 20000 Fathoms" was a short story by Ray Bradbury originally published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1951. The basic story is about a sea serpent attracted every night by the sound of a lighthouse fog horn that resembles its mating call. Ray Harryhausen (Bradbury's friend from their time as friends of sci-fi superfan Forrest Ackerman) saw the similarities between the short story and a film he was working on called "Monster from Beneath the Sea", particularly one scene at a light house, after Bradbury pointed it out. Given Bradbury's reputation, producers Hal Chester and Jack Dietz bought the rights to the short story, changed the name, and added "Suggested by the Saturday Evening Post story by Ray Bradbury" into the credits. (Bradbury would change the name of the short story to "The Fog Horn"). The original film itself was more or less inspired by King Kong, with Dietz and Chester getting Harryhausen (who was the apprentice of Willis O'Brien, the special effects director of that film) to do the effects. The creature used was based off an illustration used in the original Saturday Evening Post, as well as the illustrations of early Paleoartist Charles R. Knight (whom Harryhausen admitted was a massive influence). The creatures (a quadripedal archosaur) was originally going to breathe fire, but due to budget limitations, this was scaled back. Ultimately, Warner Brothers would buy the distribution of the film, and replaced the original score by Michael Michelet with something more "dramatic" by David Buttolph. It was a massive box office success, and would spark off the giant atomic monster craze of the 1950's.
"Operation Experiment" (real original name there) is an atomic test being conducted by the US government in the Arctic. After a successful detonation, the radar operators find something strange emerging from the test range. When investigators, including physicist Dr. Tom Nesbitt (Paul Christian) come to area to investigate the event, they see a strange four legged creature walking around in the snow. Nesbitt is injured, and he is dismissed as insane after describing the creature. He is sent to a psychiatric ward, where he learns that a strange sea creature has been attacking fishermen. He tries to convince paleontologist Dr. Elson (Cecil Kellaway), who also dismisses him. Elson's assistant Lee (Paula Raymond) is sympathetic, and after another attack, she convinces Nesbitt to identify the creature. Sure enough, he finds it to be Rhedosaurus, a creature from the Mesozoic. With another account, he and Lee convinces Dr. Elson. Now, as the creatures destroys lighthouses and ships, they must work with the military to put a stop to it.
The best part of this film is the creature attack scenes. It shows a stunning amount of technical acumen, from the creature to the sets it destroys to the way it integrates this footage into the scenes of people running, or the military trying to bring it down. It creates some truly excellent scenes. The Rhedosaur itself is very well designed, showing both classical dinosaur design with a menacing design. The texture was especially impressive. Despite it's jerky movement, it feels like a real animal walking around. I like that the characters are fairly rational in dealing with the creature, dealing a reasonable amount of skepticism until it is undeniable.
This is surprisingly short, at only 80 minutes. It conveys most of the action and plot well during this period, but I feel more should've been there. Maybe the creature rampaging through the country, or more planning against it, but it feels a little too short as is. I feel that maybe show a little sympathy for the creature might've helped, especially seeing it writhing in pain at the end. The film clearly shows it as a great "the monster is gone" moment, but it is a bit difficult to watch, and maybe more of an acknowledgment of it.
This was a very good monster movie, with all the good ingredients (good monster, good effects, good characters). If you like monster movies or stop motion monsters, this is likely the premiere example of the genre. Even if you don't, it's just a fun film to watch, with some excellent scenes of destruction. Certainly one of the best monster movies I've seen thus far.
We continue looking into monster movies with Frankenstein Conquers the World.
"Operation Experiment" (real original name there) is an atomic test being conducted by the US government in the Arctic. After a successful detonation, the radar operators find something strange emerging from the test range. When investigators, including physicist Dr. Tom Nesbitt (Paul Christian) come to area to investigate the event, they see a strange four legged creature walking around in the snow. Nesbitt is injured, and he is dismissed as insane after describing the creature. He is sent to a psychiatric ward, where he learns that a strange sea creature has been attacking fishermen. He tries to convince paleontologist Dr. Elson (Cecil Kellaway), who also dismisses him. Elson's assistant Lee (Paula Raymond) is sympathetic, and after another attack, she convinces Nesbitt to identify the creature. Sure enough, he finds it to be Rhedosaurus, a creature from the Mesozoic. With another account, he and Lee convinces Dr. Elson. Now, as the creatures destroys lighthouses and ships, they must work with the military to put a stop to it.
The best part of this film is the creature attack scenes. It shows a stunning amount of technical acumen, from the creature to the sets it destroys to the way it integrates this footage into the scenes of people running, or the military trying to bring it down. It creates some truly excellent scenes. The Rhedosaur itself is very well designed, showing both classical dinosaur design with a menacing design. The texture was especially impressive. Despite it's jerky movement, it feels like a real animal walking around. I like that the characters are fairly rational in dealing with the creature, dealing a reasonable amount of skepticism until it is undeniable.
This is surprisingly short, at only 80 minutes. It conveys most of the action and plot well during this period, but I feel more should've been there. Maybe the creature rampaging through the country, or more planning against it, but it feels a little too short as is. I feel that maybe show a little sympathy for the creature might've helped, especially seeing it writhing in pain at the end. The film clearly shows it as a great "the monster is gone" moment, but it is a bit difficult to watch, and maybe more of an acknowledgment of it.
This was a very good monster movie, with all the good ingredients (good monster, good effects, good characters). If you like monster movies or stop motion monsters, this is likely the premiere example of the genre. Even if you don't, it's just a fun film to watch, with some excellent scenes of destruction. Certainly one of the best monster movies I've seen thus far.
We continue looking into monster movies with Frankenstein Conquers the World.
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