Sci-Fi The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

BudBrewster

Captain

This is one my all time favorites. Ray said the beast’s design went through quite a few alterations. I’m sure glad he rejected these concepts.

____________
Beastfrom20000Fathoms7.jpg
____________

____________
Beastfrom20000Fathoms8.jpg
____________

The final design is Harryhausen at his best.

____________
beastcloseup3nf.jpg
____________

raybeastinstreet1rp2aq.jpg


It's obvious that I had the rhedosaurus in mind when I drew this, back in 1977. I call it a centaursaurus -- for obvious reasons.
icon_biggrin.gif


centasaurus-1.jpg


raybeastinstreet2rp6jd.jpg


Beast Facts that practically everybody knows:

During pre-production, the film's producers called Ray Bradbury to punch up their concept for a proposed film about a foghorn at an isolated lighthouse which lures a lonely sea serpent up from the depths of the ocean.

After reading the script, Bradbury politely informed them that the concept bore a striking resemblance to his Saturday Evening Post story, "The Foghorn". The next day, Ray received a polite offer to purchase the rights to the story.

Mr. Bradbury also described the experience which served as the genesis of the story – a decaying roller coaster which Ray discovered one evening during a walk on the beach. In the dim light, the broken wooden framework inspired Bradbury to concoct the story of the lonely sea creature who follows the sound of a foghorn, mistaking it for the sound of a fellow creature.

beastandrollercoaster1dq6.jpg


“Beast from 20,000 Fathoms” was independently produced, but it was released through Warner Brothers Studios, who gave it a fine musical score by David Buttolph which adds a great deal to the enjoyment of the film.

beastondockrp9xr.jpg


"Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" amazed America with scenes of a giant rampaging monster in the midst of a big city. Not since "King Kong" had there been anything like it.

raybeastinstreet1rp2aq.jpg


Paul Christian is the handsome hero-scientist, and Paula Raymond is the classy and attractive heroine-scientist. Cecil Kellaway is superb as the portly little paleontologist who is so enthusiastic about dinosaurs that he forgets to be afraid when a live one is about to eat him.

raybeastinstreet3rp5gi.jpg


Kenneth Tobey ("The Thing from Another World", "It Came from Beneath the Sea") provides the traditional military presence. Lee Van Cleef is the marksman who fires the radioactive isotope into the wounded beast – an ironic touch in view of Van Cleef’s later fame as a gunman in Italian westerns. Don’t blink or you’ll miss Roscoe P. Coltrane, sheriff of Hazzard County (James Best), in a brief scene near the beginning.

____________
Beastfrom20000Fathoms1.jpg
____________

Director Eugène Lourié must have thought the story's basic premise was fool proof, because he tried it twice more in "The Giant Behemoth" and "Gorgo" – with less success than the original, unfortunately. However, some fans might agree that Lourié did a better job with “The Colossus of New York” in 1958, a film which told an imaginative story on a shoe-string budget.
 
Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
Oooh, this is a movie I haven't seen in a few years now. I remember this one for it's pretty dark story line of the efforts to kill the beast resulting in unexpected casualties.

For the curious, here's the trailer for the movie...
After reading the script, Bradbury politely informed them that the concept bore a striking resemblance to his Saturday Evening Post story, "The Foghorn". The next day, Ray received a polite offer to purchase the rights to the story.
:LOL: Oops!

It's obvious that I had the rhedosaurus in mind when I drew this, back in 1977.
Nice! Artist by trade?
 
Hm. So this preceded Godzilla?
I've seen this, 'zilla, and Gorgo. Don't think I ever saw Reptilicus, another of the genre.
This one was okay, but I liked Godzilla much better.
 
I don't remember where I heard it, but supposedly the success of "Beast" prompted Toho to do something similar.

Thanks for the kind words concerning the sketch, Kevin! :cool: No, I've never done any professional work, but I love to draw and paint.

Here's the link to the first of three galleries that display my stuff on All Sci-Fi. Just click on my own attempt to make a nice monster, Godzilla style.


myartwork1006b.jpg

* I've added this lively thread to The Multi-Board Alphabetical Index
 
One of my favorite movies!
I love how well the actors played their parts.
BTW, I watch this movie about once every two months
 
MV5BMjE5ODE1NDEzNV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzkyNDAwMQ@@._V1_SY317_CR1,0,214,317_AL_.jpg

Approved | 80 min | Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi | 13 June 1953 (USA)
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) - IMDb

As a result of an arctic nuclear test, a carnivorous dinosaur thaws out and starts making its way down the east coast of North America. Professor Tom Nesbitt, only witness to the beast's existence, is not believed, even when he identifies it as a "rhedosaurus" to paleontologist Thurgood Elson. All doubts disappear, however, when Elson is swallowed whole during an oceanic bathysphere excursion to search for the creature. Soon thereafter the rhedosaurus emerges from the sea and lays waste to Manhattan Island until Nesbitt comes up with a plan to try to stop the seemingly indestructible beast.

Director:
Eugène Lourié
Writers:
Lou Morheim (screenplay), Fred Freiberger (screenplay)
Stars:
Paul Hubschmid, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway



I like the way this story plays out. With global warming and melting ice caps in the news lately it would be cool to see this baby remade with todays techniques.
 

Similar threads

Dinosaur Island (2014)
Tagline: Their world is closer than you think.
Genre: Adventure, Science Fiction, Family
Director: Matt Drummond
Release: 2014-12-01
Replies
8
Views
4K
Back
Top