The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

Director:

Eugène Lourié

Writers:

Ray Bradbury (story)
Fred Freiberger (writer)

Release Date:

13 June 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Horror

Tagline:

It's alive !

Plot:

A ferocious dinosaur awakened by an Arctic atomic test terrorizes the North Atlantic and ultimately New York City.

Plot Keywords:

Ballet | Rampage | Fishing Trawler | Manhattan New York | Diving Bell

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Paul Hubschmid	...	Professor Tom Nesbitt (as Paul Christian)
Paula Raymond	...	Lee Hunter
Cecil Kellaway	...	Prof. Thurgood Elson
Kenneth Tobey	...	Col. Jack Evans
Donald Woods	...	Capt. Phil Jackson
Lee Van Cleef	...	Cpl. Stone
Steve Brodie	...	Sgt. Loomis
Ross Elliott	...	George Ritchie
Jack Pennick	...	Jacob Bowman
Ray Hyke	...	Sgt. Willistead
Michael Fox	...	ER Doctor
Alvin Greenman	...	1st Radar Man
Frank Ferguson	...	Dr. Morton
King Donovan	...	Dr. Ingersoll
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Vera Miles	...	Announcer in trailer (scenes deleted)
Paul Picerni	...	Announcer in trailer (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

Monster from Beneath the Sea (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Black and White (Sepiatone)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #16143, General Audience) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Jack Dietz Productions

Trivia:

The film is based on a short story by Ray Bradbury.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Shortly after the beast comes ashore in New York, he is shown emerging onto a street from a side street, and pausing. Behind him are a number of cars and pedestrians who continue to drive or walk casually, which they would certainly not be doing if a huge prehistoric monster had just appeared less than a block away.

Quotes:

Prof. Thurgood Elson: [in the diving bell, to view the monster] This is such a strange feeling, I feel as though I'm leaving a world of untold tomorrows for a world of countless yesterdays.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Braindead (1992)

50's monster action at its best.

Ray Harryhausen's first solo effort at stop-motion resulted in one of the best monster movies of the 1950's.

This was the first of the many rampage films of the 1950's and was a great success at the box office. Ray's stop-motion Redosaurus is magnificent, considering the low budget.

One of the best scenes in this movie is where the Rhedosaurus eats the policeman. The acting is rather good and the cast includes Kenneth Tobey (The Thing From Another World) and an early appearance from Lee Van Cleef before he stared with the 'carrot' in It Conquered the World.

I enjoyed this movie and rate it 5 stars out of 5. Great stuff.