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

Name: The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
Director: Eugène Lourié
Released: 1953-06-13
Duration: 80 min

BudBrewster · Sep 1, 2018

Title: The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

Tagline: You'll see it tear a city apart!

Genre: Drama, Horror, Science Fiction

Director: Eugène Lourié

Cast: Paul Hubschmid, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, Kenneth Tobey, Donald Woods, Lee Van Cleef, Steve Brodie, Ross Elliott, Jack Pennick, Ray Hyke, Paula Hill, Michael Fox, Alvin Greenman, Frank Ferguson, King Donovan

Release: 1953-06-13

Runtime: 80

Plot: The controlled explosion of an atomic bomb in the Arctic Circle awakens a frozen dinosaur that will wreak havoc in New York City.

BudBrewster · Sep 1, 2018

Title: The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

Tagline: You'll see it tear a city apart!

Genre: Drama, Horror, Science Fiction

Director: Eugène Lourié

Cast: Paul Hubschmid, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, Kenneth Tobey, Donald Woods, Lee Van Cleef, Steve Brodie, Ross Elliott, Jack Pennick, Ray Hyke, Paula Hill, Michael Fox, Alvin Greenman, Frank Ferguson, King Donovan

Release: 1953-06-13

Runtime: 80

Plot: The controlled explosion of an atomic bomb in the Arctic Circle awakens a frozen dinosaur that will wreak havoc in New York City.

screenersam · Sep 2, 2018

USA's answer to Godzilla. Gorgo was Brit IIRC; I think Giant Behemoth was some other country? (maybe I'm thinking of Reptilicus)

50s Kaiju. that stuff had a feel that the modern flics can't recapture. some critic saw one of the new King Kongs and compared it to the original; he said the original looked fake but felt real.

tx for posting

BudBrewster · Sep 3, 2018

USA's answer to Godzilla.

Actually, the good folks in Japan saw "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" in 1953 and decided to make THEIR answer to the rhedosaurus!

One year later . . . Presto! Godzilla was released in Japan!

It didn't arrive in American until 1956, re-edited and with scenes of famed lawyer Perry Mason moonlighting as a reporter. Raymond Burr's scenes were mostly shots of him allegedly watching Godzilla trash Tokyo, while Raymond stood at a window and talked into a microphone, recording news reports about this big ugly monster walking around with human remains between his toes.

Frankly I've never been impressed by Godzilla's design, not to mention his sluggish movements. I mean, heck, if an amateur artist like me can come up with a fairly nice design like the one below, you'd think Toho Studios could have done a bit better.