Review of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) by Whit W — 30 Dec 2010

The prehistoric menace in "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" has to be counted as one of Ray Harryhausen's greatest creations. This movie is considered a Sci-Fi classic and it deserves that praise.

One of the hard things about watching almost any classic Sci-Fi movie is the long wait before you actually get to see the monster. That, however, is not the case in this movie. Ten minutes in, the beast is encountered in a pretty neat scene that takes place in the Arctic.

There is also a great scene at a lighthouse and of course, the sequences in New York are wonderful stop-motion treats. The thing I've always enjoyed about this movie is that the beast is so wild. It doesn't smash and destroy everything in sight.

Instead, it does what I imagine any animal would actually do if turned loose onto city streets. The beast itself is disposed of rather simply, but that adds to the movie's charm. The biggest problem here is that a respected scientist reports that he's seen a prehistoric monster.

His report is routinely dismissed by a hospital psychiatrist, his friend who is a military officer and the world's leading paleontologist. I thought this guy was a respected scientist? Everyone except a love interest simply dismisses his report as a hallucination or shock induced.

I've read that this movie influenced the original "Godzilla" film and I can easily see that as being fact.