Review of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) by Francis L — 23 Jun 2011

Before there were any giant monster movie, even before Godzilla, there was The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms! An inspiration for future creature features in the atomic age, not so much an inspiration for writing.

As scientists experiment with the atomic bomb in the arctic, they awaken a giant reptile-like monster that has been in the ice for 100 million years. Few have spotted the monster (like our main character) but no one believes them, that is until it is too late and the monster rampages through New York. As you can tell this kind of story has been heard of before. Though King Kong existed 20 years prior, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms inspired countless other creature features. The world was amazed by the atomic bomb and Hollywood wanted to exploit it as much as they could. There are many points in this movie that can surely be connected to the very first Godzilla movie made one year before, but not everything about this movie is great. The story is only as good as every other Hollywood creature feature that has been made, and the acting is truely terrible.

Why the 3 stars though? Because this is one of the earliest works of the greatest animator ever in the movies, Ray Harryhousen. It's not his best work, and the movie is in black and white which takes away from what we know Harryhousen would eventually perfect, but the monster is truely, masterfully made. The design is uninspired though, but Harryhousen's attention to detail is extraordinary. The monster's movements are great, and the lighting of the monster, all done before actual shooting, is just outstanding and creative. And there are certain scenes where the monster interacts with objects that are very cool. The directing and cinematography for the rest of the movie..... pretty good.... I guess. There's a nice little waterlight effect that was a nice touch, but the rest is pretty uncreative. Especially certain scenes, it was just way too cheesy.

An inspiration? Yes. And if you're a Harryhousen fan you'll love what you see. But is The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms a great arch for other creature features after it? Not at all. Sure, it has its inpired ideas, but as far as acting, directing, story, metaphores, everything that makes a good movie, I recommend Gojira (the original Japanese Godzilla movie) But you might as well see where it all started.