Up From The Depths Reviews | The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ต.ค. 2024
- Atomic testing in the Arctic Circle awakens a prehistoric dinosaur frozen for millions of years.
Purchase this film on Amazon: amzn.to/2YM59Bc
Released: June 13, 1953
Producers: Jack Dietz and Hal E. Chester
Director: Eugène Lourié
Screenplay: Fred Freiberger, Eugène Lourié, Louis Morheim, and Robert Smith
Music: David Buttolph
Special Effects: Ray Harryhausen
Starring:
Paul Christian as Professor Tom Nesbitt
Paula Raymond as Lee Hunter
Cecil Kellaway as Dr. Thurgood Elson
Kenneth Tobey as Colonel Jack Evans
Donald Woods as Captain Phil Jackson
Ross Elliott as George Ritchie
Steve Brodie as Sgt. Loomis
#TheBeastfrom20000Fathoms #RayHarryhausen
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Before anyone points it out, Ray Bradbury's story was originally titled "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" before it was changed to "The Fog Horn."
Up From The Depths it’s crazy that I just read the story for the first time two hours before your upload. Excited for your take as always!
I appreciate your reviews, but could you not stretch the aspect ratio of the movies to 16:9 in your future videos? I think you can upload videos with 4:3 aspect ratio to TH-cam directly.
Up From The Depths I wish Godzilla the series had a proper finale and made a crossover with Kong the animated series.
@@a1do255 16:9 is the aspect ratio of the copy I have.
@@a1do255 What is your favorite aspect ratio?
The creature that made Godzilla become Godzilla.
Before godzilla
Because that creature Ashley was inspired by Godzilla basically Godzilla was inspired by it oh yeah I also watch the movie since in the poster it was Green basically it's like Godzilla but will stop motion
More Like “ The American Kajiu Movie That Inspired Gojira 1954”
The true Granddaddy of all Giant Monster Movies
no king kong is obviously
If this is the grandaddy, then King Kong is the creator god
No. This might of been before, BUT GODZILLA IS ALWAYS BETTER
@@MGWFilms97 i didn't ask if it was better
@@bentramer682 Well the uploaded didn't fricking ask you to say your opinion!
The beast from 20k fathom is without a doubt the first American Kaiju movie and maybe even the first Kaiju movie period, preceding the original Gojira by one yr. sporting a classic and iconic Kaiju, the Rhedosaurus. I hope to see this movie get remade someday, maybe in the MV. I can also see that the lighthouse (2019) looks like the lighthouse from this movie lol, maybe it’s a secret prequel to this movie....
The Ice Giant from the Superman cartoon also predates Godzilla.
Yeah but Godzilla was inspired by King Kong and since stop motion was so expensive and long they created there on genre suitmation
@@abloogywoogywoo Yeah were talking about the good stuff not the bad stuff
@@MGWFilms97 The Fleischer Superman cartoons aren't bad. Get the feeling you don't get the reference.
@@abloogywoogywoo Well I dont watch that stuff
A legend has done a legend, that fits.
Good review and all, but I recall the tale of this movie's connection to Ray Bradbury being very different.
The way Ray Bradbury tells it , Harryhausen brought the producers of BEAST his short story "The Fog Horn", and they decided to base their script around it without getting his permission first. They worked out a script, and were so confident with it that they called Bradbury in to peruse the script. [Bradbury, at the time, already had a well-received film adaptation called IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, and was becoming very popular.] When he read it, he recognized the influence of his story and basically caught them red handed. After that, they officially bought the rights and plastered his name all over the promotional material as their own special way of saying, "Please don't sue us." This is how Bradcury describes it in a dual interview with Harryhausen on the behind-the-scenes for this film.
I grant you, Ray Bradbury was a storyteller by trade, so I concede the possibility that he might have embellished the tale...but Harryhausen never corrects him in the interview, so I'm inclined to think it's true.
Still, good analysis otherwise.
I'm inclined to believe this too, primarily because I cannot imagine Bradbury giving his poetic and tragic tale such a splashy title. The fog horn is central to the story, based on the idea that the creature mistakes its call for the voice of another of its kind.
@nicolas lau They already remade it back in 1998, but they called it Godzilla. The producers even came out and said The Beast from 20,000 fathoms heavily influenced it, and it shows. You can see how that was a fantastic remake of The Beast but a bad take on a Godzilla movie.
I met both Ray Harryhausen and Ray Bradbury at a science fiction convention in Chicago in the 1990's. They were both very friendly and loved meeting their fans.
Ray Bradbury had book signings scheduled for different times during the weekend, I was able to get my books signed early at the first one scheduled for late Friday afternoon. The signing was only supposed to be for a couple hours, but as the closing time neared, there was still a long line. At this point Mr Bradbury arranged with convention staff to make sure no one joined the line for this session of signing but he remained at his table signing books until everyone who was waiting in line got their books signed. A very classy gentleman.
Considering how much we've learned about reptiles and dinosaurs over the past couple of decades, it would be amazing to see how the design of Rhedosaurus would be adapted today. You could give it the bulk of a Megalania and maybe the spines of a thorny devil. The colors could mimic the really vibrant scales of some of the more exotic lizard or snake species to take advantage of the movie being filmed in color. Plus it helps differentiate Rhedosaurus from Godzilla. It could take some traits from marine iguanas for a more aquatic look, and since it was found in the Arctic, it could potentially even have fur since we now know that some dinosaurs were capable of surviving in polar climates.
Wouldn't feathers make more sense? No non-avian dinosaurs nor reptiles ever had fur.
Then again though there were the mammal-like reptiles which dimetrodon was part of. Could take a note from that.
@@michaelmenei5403 to be fair it’s not really confirmed if the Rhedosaurus is a irritated dinosaur or lizard, so no fur wouldn’t be so illogical
This is definitely one of the best Harryhausen movies ever made, and yet there has never been an actual figure of the Rhedosaurus, Please somebody give us a figure of the Beast
I would pay hundreds to see a figure of the Rhedosaurus perching atop an island with a destroyed lighthouse on my shelf. Hundreds, I tell ya.
Scado56 me too. I still have my x-plus figures of the Cyclops and the Dragon from 7th Voyage of Sinbad, as well as the Ymir from 20 Million Miles to Earth. I’ve preordered the Star Ace Vinyl figures of the Allosaurus and the Triceratops from One Million Years B.C. & I hear they’re going to make the Ceratosaurus, so I’m hoping in time they’ll make a figure of the Rhedosaurus.
You've never seen the Billiken kit? Terrific sculpt.
And now there is an X-Plus of him coming out soon.
Agree I really want a rhedosaurus action figure it would look so cool
I love the casualness of the police officer as he's popping off a couple shots at a monster heretofore unimagined by humankind before being devoured.
Haha yeah he's very brave.
An interesting fact about this film is that it pushed Ishiro Honda so much that you could say that Godzilla is actually an adaptation of this movie and not only an inspiration. The initial name of the first Godzilla movie was The Beast From 20.000 Miles Under the Sea.
This and the movie "Them!" (the giant ants) began the Atomic Age giant monster B-movie trend. Harryhausen was the best!
The soldier who helped finish off the creature at the end was a young Lee Van Cleef. The airman who helped kill the monster at the end of Tarantula was a young Clint Eastwood. Those two bounty killers in For a Few Dollars More had taken some big scalps.
Absolutely. After taking down two proto-kaiju, bringing in El Indio must have been a walk in the park!
"I pick my teeth with it!" - Lee Van Cleef
I recall reading Godzilla was originally conceived as a response/competitor to '20,000 Fathoms' and that early plans for Godzilla involved a stop-motion monster. When that proved too much for the studio they went with the now iconic suit.
Truly a landmark film to which we owe the genre.
If anyone is interested in reading Bradbury’s original story you can free PDFs under the title of the Fog Horn.
Spotted
Bless you, sir!
Nicolas Bur no prob
Glad to see you're doing some classic monster movies from the west! The same director who made The Beast from 20,000 Fathomas also directed The Giant Behemoth (which has stop-motion supervised by Willis O'brien) and Gorgo (which used Godzilla-esque suits and miniatures) which are both very similar to this film. I'm excited to hear your thoughts on those, and see how you compare them :)
Movies like these are simply beautiful (insert tear drop)
One of the greatest giant monster movies ever made ive watched this over 50 times never gets old just might pop it in now. Excellent review well done
I’ve never seen it but I like the short story, have you read it? If so which is better?
@@KingGiganTitanusROARKing never read the story but i should the movie is great
The scene where he chomps down on the cop freaked me out as a kid! A true Saturday night Creature Feature classic. Deadly Mantis next please!!!!!
One of the best giant monster movies ever made!
Lee Van Cleef played the sniper at the film’s finale. Angel Eyes (Bad) from The Good The Bad and The Ugly.
I think the biggest problem that this film has been overlooked, compared to King Kong or Godzilla, is more for the name of the animal that was not given much emphasis, many successful titles are recognized by the name, be it Jaws, King Kong or Godzilla, the Rhedosaurus did not have much emphasis for many to remember the title and associate directly with the animal. It may be too simple a conclusion, but believe me, a word can light a memory flame.
This is what the 98 Godzilla should Really have been a remake of....at least IMO.
Honestly that film felt more like a remake to this then it did to Godzilla.
This dinosaur is awesome :o
A little more fluid and less clearly stop motion and it becomes better then any computer animated creature of today
The light and shadow playing on the dinosaur as it roamed the streets of Manhattan was brilliant. Ray Harryhausen was the master of his craft! Warner Bros didn't make a lot of monster movies, but this one and "THEM!" set the standard for giant monster flicks -- then and now. Likewise for "King Kong" (1933).
Truly a classic film
If you ask me, this film is what truly started the genre of tokusatsu. While King Kong did have a few giant monsters, and have at least one of them attack a city, I think 20,000 Fathoms was the first film to truly invent the idea of a monster rampaging through a city. That, and the fact that the Rhedosaurus's design and execution is much more interesting than that of Kong (at least in my opinion).
See you tomorrow for another fun The Last Guardian stream!
I have great memories of first being showed this by my dad. The screams of the cop when he gets eaten are horrific and truly much more scary than modern death screams (i.e. Godzilla or even any of the Jurassic Park Movies). The scene where the monster looks into the lighthouse with the rain distortion on the windows has given me PTSD because even now as an adult I had to look off my phone because it’s so horrific to see even if it’s not “scary.”
While the plot and subplots are not perfect the fact that all the stop motion is absolutely so well done really speaks to the drive that the people working on the film had that. They couldn’t just port mo-cap into a computer and call it a day.
I love this movie and the nostalgia and the origin of the American kaiju and perhaps the first kaiju monster meets city plot.
I liked the symmetry of the Beast having been awakened by an atomic blast, and ultimately being killed by radioactive isotope. In that regard the film's finish does call back to its beginning.
Dude, spoilers!
@@brucedavis1803 With respect, dude, this whole review is full of spoilers. For a movie this old that's to be expected.
@@danieldickson8591 That was a joke.
@@danieldickson8591 with respect dude, that’s the whole point. Grow a sense of humor.
One of my favorite harryhausen films! Truly one of the best!
I love this movie I must have rented the VHS 1000 times when I was a kid my parents could never find it to buy for me and would get pissed when I'd pick this as the movie I wanted on the weekend lol
I love this movie.
That scream at 43 seconds is terrifying. More terrifying than some of the fake sounding screams heard in modern day horror flicks.
Yes, please do all the Harryhausen movies!
The first monster movie I ever remember watching and loved it.
Nice review! Will you be doing The Giant Behemoth and Gorgo next? This and the other two were all directed by Eugène Lourié.
Lourie began as an art director, so his movies always looked good, but their pacing could be slow.
I've heard that some people consider the 1998 Godzilla to be more a remake of this film than a Godzilla film. With the large beast attacking Manhattan and not being indestructible but killed by the military. Makes sense, as most people only have one huge problem with that film, and that's it being called Godzilla.
This film inspired Gamera, as that had the monster come from the ice and destroy a lighthouse.
I'm among those people- I saw '98 many years before seeing this, and I was struck by the similarities when I first watched Beast recently.
Correction. It was clips from The Giant Behemoth that was in the episode of Knot’s Landing. Eugene Lourie also directed this film before Gorgo.
I mean I love the Godzilla type suits, but Jesus Christ stop-motion monster flicks are just the best thing ever, I wish this type of visual effect made a comeback
I feel like 1998’s Godzilla has more in common with The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms than it’s actual source material. I haven’t seen this film yet, but now I really want to 👀
I can happily throw this on and sit down and watch this even though I have seen it over a dozen times which is more than I can say for a lot of modern movies what more can you ask for.
Thank you for doing this! Hoping to see more Harryhausen/American Kaiju films being reviewed on this channel!
Can you look at The Giant Behemoth 1959⚡🐉
I remember watching this movie on TCM channel back in April of this year.
Up from the depths-30 stories high
Breathing fire! His head in the sk-
Oh. Oh sorry. Wrong show.
SORRY EVERYONE!
Lol
Man The Lighthouse looks lit af
Me: Can we have Godzilla?
Mom: No we have Godzilla at home
Godzilla at home:
Me: Hey this is kinda good
A classic. I own it. Although the effects are pretty dated by modern standards, it does not detract from its worth in cinematic history. Enjoy.👍
So this is the real OG...damn...need to find this movie
I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. I didn't expect much. I guess you're right that the "diseased blood" idea comes up late, but I was struck by its novelty and the sudden conundrum they had of not being able to gun down the monster. It set up higher stakes going into the finishing sprint, which I definitely was into.
Glad to see this movie covered!
Awesome review, I was always thinking/hoping you would do 50's monster films like this one, the deadly mantis and even the giant behemoth
Amazing how one short story can be so influential!
Awesome review. I hope you also Review the 1959 Film "The Giant Behemoth". Not only was it essentially a British version of the same story, but Ray Harryhousen's Mentor, Willis O'Brian, was behind the special effects.
Stay tuned!
@@UpFromTheDepths88 Awesome. Both films are very similar.
0:43 Best death scene in a movie ever.
Lol!
I really need to see this film at some point. Great video.:)
Actually in the documentary "The Harryhausen Chronicles" it was stated by Harryhausen and Ray Bradbury that the producer hired Harryhausen to do the Special FX for his movie but he needed a writer to expand the short story he was using to a full screenplay. Harryhausen said I have a friend who was a writer that might be interested and referred him to his longtime friend Ray Bradbury. When Bradbury talked to the filmmaker on the phone ,he innocently said "gee,this sounds alot like a short story I wrote." The producer almost had a heart attack when he realized that he was talking to the author whose work he had tried to appropriate w/o permission. "Magically" Ray Bradbury received a check the next day to pay for the rights to use his story !
Funny how the 1998 Godzilla movie is more of a remake of this film then anything related to Godzilla.
It really is, they even have the same lengthy 'let's fine the monster' bits. Honestly prefer '98 of the two due to the more interesting modern characters
It's so cool you're now tackling 50s American monster movies. You're probably gonna look at these anyway but please review Them, The Monster that Challenged the World, 20 Million Miles to Earth, and It Came From Beneath the Sea
Yep, saw this one many times in the 60's on Sunrise Theater. One of my all time favorites.
Great Review! I hope to see you review 20 Million miles to Earth at some point.
And, on a side note: The chance to see the future Colonel Douglas Mortimer wielding a rifle grenade is not to be missed!
Guess I know what I'm watching tonight.
Such a classic film. And the effects work is still amazing.
Wow, directly before Gojira
Wish we could see this one on a big theater screen. It's so much fun. TCM did a Kong showing but it was right as the pandemic was hitting so I can't imagine I was the only one who was avoiding theaters by then. More old genre films should get that treatment.
My favorite of all Kaiju movies
I always remember that musical que(the brass 'blast' ) whenever the Beast appeared: "PUM Pum pum pum"
And no studio orchestra did a "brass blast" better than the one at Warner Bros.
@@fredmorrison2635 Nice factoid, thanks.
@@fredmorrison2635 did they also do the musical cue for the Creature From the Black Lagoon? The cymbals then Pa pa pa!!.
I haven't been able to get that que out of my head.
@@fredmorrison2635 scratch my prior comment! Universal made "Black Lagoon"==And I still stay it had a marvelous horns and cymbals score.
It looked great the way it pushed itself through the building.
Clips from this film was used in an episode of Knot’s Landing with actor Clyde Kusatsu as a scientist.
This movie really made an impression on me as a kid when I saw it on television. The monster scenes were epic and inspired.
Director Eugene Lourie was pleased with the reception of the film on its premiere. On the way home his daughter was upset with her father, saying, “You killed the nice beast!”
Lourie promised his daughter that he will make another film in which the monster lives. And that film became Gorgo.
The Redosaurus had a lot of personality as well as size and strength. Ray Harryhausen was a genius.
Amazing creature! My all time favorite artist: Ray Harryhausen!!!!
Good Review. This film is truly a forgotten gem. If there is a monster film that deserves a new reboot it's definitely this one. Would make a fine addition to Legendary's Monsterverse if that continues. So many great B Monster films from this era. Looking forward to you reviewing more of them.
Having recently seen this movie on Turner Classic Movies, I downloaded the Ray Bradbury story The Fog Horn and read it.
I had forgotten what an outstanding author Ray Bradbury was.
Thanks for this, I have been waiting for this one.
I can't wait to see what else you have in store. I bet "Them" is next.
I could have sworn this was released earlier.
I've wanted to watch this film for a while, I'm definitely going to give it a shot now!
Me too!
Recently discovered your channel and have been binging. Nice to hear a fresh voice about the movies I OD'd on as a little kid.
Cecil Calloways brother, Edmund Gwen played the scientist in THEM.
I did that fix character fan art thing on Deviantart and included this beast in my first one.
I hope this is the start of a whole series of 1950's monster movie reviews ;) (Them!, It Came From Beneath the Sea, etc) orrrrr a Ray Harryhausen series!
This is definitely another one of my Top Favorite creature-features, and all the more remarkable in how it was the first of its kind, saving the monsters from previous lost world films by bringing them into the Nuclear Age and having them arrive at the modern world's doorstep without even having to be captured by explorers, all while firing up the careers of two genre legends - and even featuring a bit part by future spaghetti western regular Lee Van Cleef! - and launching every monster movie I've grown up watching and loving since childhood including Godzilla! Very atmospheric, somewhat poetic in its imagery, and just plain unforgettable! Good score, too!
I have to ask: A) have you seen (or heard of) Genndy Tartakovsky's "Primal"?; B) have you considered reviewing it? I would very much like to know your thoughts on it.
Without this film, Godzilla wouldn't had been created.
I just watched this movie last night
Fun fact: after the release of Godzilla (the Americanized version with Raymond Burr) Ray Harryhausen had openly stated that the movie was a direct ripp off of Beast From 20 Thousand Fathoms. As such, Harryhausen would hold a life long grudge against Godzilla for the so called "rip off". Yes both movies have radioactive dinosaurs, yes said dinosaurs terrorize a major city, both have underlining themes of nuclear terror and both are amazingly crafted kaiju movies. I truly have respect for both cinematic pieces, if there wasn't a Godzilla vs. Kong movie slate I would absolutely love to see Godzilla vs. The Beast From 20 Thousand Fathoms.
The effects and such on this one are good, but I couldn't get over just how boilerplate the characters and story were, and how much time was spent looking for/speculating about the monster. Plus how his virus threat had a solution thought up in, like, five minutes, an afterthought like UFTD said (if setting up later movies to do it far better). It's the model, but it's a very basic model surpassed very soon after by multiple 50s monster movies. Godzilla most obviously, but I find Ymir in 20 Million Miles to be a far superior Harryhausen monster movie (though in turn, much better than 'It Came from Beneath the Sea,' which was junk!). Very middle-of-the-road outside the excellent effects.
The original Zilla
That’s really odd, I just got my dvd of the movie today, the same day you reviewed it.
Where did you get the movie from and how much did it cost cause I wanna get the movie too but I normally get movies off of Amazon and they only have it in a single case in blue ray for $20
Maniac MAD The one I got was £6, might not be any left though.
You're reviews are the best, Brandon, I hope you're doing well!!
Now here’s a creature I’d love to see be modernized!
So if Godzilla is the grandaddy of giant monster films, does that make this beast the great grandaddy, or maybe Kong? :)
Harryhausen gave us so much.
The saw this when I was 5 and it gave me nightmares for years. The scene where it eats the cop was horrifying to my child mind
They remade this film in 1998... and called it Godzilla.
A very optimistic police officer shooting a giant reptile with a 38 revolver.
That looks like a baby Godzilla crawling
god I love these videos so sad he doesn’t post anymore
This creature is my fairy movie Kaiju or giant monsters I love the beast from 20,000 fathoms
Someone should remake this movie and then put it in the monsterverse
You give great reviews this indeed a classic
I hoped you would cover Ray Harryhausen!
You should do one on the 1967 yongary and on gappa the triphibian monster