Once again, atomic bomb testing has awakened an ancient monster.That's an extremely over used plot device but considering that this came out in 1953, there's a good possibility that this was the first movie to do it.Of course Ray Harryhausen's special effects are awesome.The beast is a rather generic looking lizard but the stop motion animation is top notch.My only problem with this movie is that the entire first half is just the first guy who saw the beast trying to convince other people that it really exists.But as soon he convinces the elderly scientist, you know what that old man is going to do.You should watch this and all Ray Harryhausen movies.

I love classic horror films. I watch a lot of them, so I have grown an appreciation for them. I can tolerate older styles of acting and film making that I recognize a lot of newer fans will not appreciate. That doesn't make their tastes any better or worse than mine, just different. There are some classic movies that I would recommend to anyone and everyone. A movie like FRANKENSTEIN or THE THING is just so classic and timeless that anyone should love it. There are the bottom end classic horrors, like the Universal sequels that I would acknowledge are really for lovers of the genre only and wouldn't expect Joe Public to like, at all. This movie fits somewhere in the middle of those two categories. It is not going to be loved by everyone. That's okay. On the other hand, there is a lot that's really enjoyable about this movie that makes me believe it is not just for the drive-in junkies either.Of course, what will always get talked about the most with this movie is the special effects. That may be a good or a bad thing. I cannot imagine my 17-year old nephew, for example, looking at this movie and thinking "those effects kick butt". For those who can appreciate the history of a genre, though. For those who can look at a movie like this and see the landmark effect that it had on things to come, there is a lot to love here. The movie reminds me a great deal of THE THING at the beginning. A group of scientists at work in the arctic, testing weaponry. The massive explosions that they set off have the undesired effect of unlocking a prehistoric monster from its' frozen hibernation (we'll ask you to ignore what you know of cold-blooded physiology and the fact that the animal would never wake up again. That's not relevant if you suspend belief). Naturally, nobody believes the first person who sees the monster, even after leaves the arctic and sinks a ship. Seems nobody will believe our hero until the giant lizard shows up in the Big Apple ready to destroy some stuff.The movie definitely shows its' 50sness (yes, I made up a word). We get a lot of scientific mumbo jumbo and scenes of theorizing that attempt to make the plot seem possible for the audience. Seemed every 50s film from CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON to MOLE PEOPLE shares this trait. It's the kind of a movie where military men will suddenly take orders from a random scientist and his involve his secretary girlfriend in their plans for no other reason than because they are the main stars of the movie. None of that is important, though, if you can have some imagination. What is really important, here, are the effects. Harryhausen took what he learned from his early age, working on KING KONG, and applied it to created a monster that is far superior to most of what you'll see in 50s monster movies. The monster moves fairly believably. It looks great and it blends in with the background scenery as well as can be expected for its' era. The movie was a monumental impact on the creation of GOJIRA a year later and the entire kaiju genre. For us monster junkies, that in itself, makes this movie legendary.

HAVE I EVER seen this film? Well I should say so! It was during its original release back about 63 years ago. My older sister, Joanne Ryan (1942-90) and our cousin, Linda Sattler took this 7 year old, 2nd Grader as a sort of tag-along to the HI-WAY Theatre, 63rd Street & Western Avenue in Chicago.MAYBE IF WE'D arrived for the start of the movie, things wouldn't have been so bad. But the showing was in progress for some time and our first look at "the Beast" was that of his peeking into the window of a lighthouse, which he promptly devoured. Needless to say, this scared the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks out of this fair haired grade schooler; in fact successfully turning him off to any Sci-fi, Horror or anything remotely resembling same for some years.WELL IT'S BEEN said that "Time heals all wounds". So, eventually, aided by the coming of several successive & highly successful birthdays and the coming of the great, old classic Universal Pictures' Horror movies to television (via the "SHOCK THEATER" package of releases), this aversion was overcome.*IN VIEWING OUR subject several times since, we can now commit a valid and impartial write up to paper. It will be, however a much more complex of an undertaking than one would imagine; being that it definitely should be classified as a work of celluloid and cinematic pulp.THE DSTORY AND combination of top action scenes with first rate stop action special effects are framed and complemented by a well thought and planned screenplay. It moves things along at the rate of not too fast; but without wasting any footage either. We hadn't realized that it was an adaptation of a Ray Bradberry story, THE FOGNORN until recently.ONE ELEMENT THAT is central to the movie (as well as so many of those Science Fiction/Monster epics of the 1950's is the portrayal of just who it is that is just so heroic as to save us all from such horrendous monsters? How can we find solutions to such catastrophic situations as we've never dreamed of? Where do we get the guys with the both the know-how and the moxie to carry out the rescue mission? THE ANSWER IS a simple equation of: OUR MILITRY + MODERN ATOMIC/ROCKET SCIENCE = Our World Saved! This was a very commonly used plot element, very widely used. Of course this is quite understandable; being that this is the combination of forces that were used in defeating the enemy Axis Powers (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan) in World War II.AS WE'VE ALREADY said, the action, the story and special effects are outstanding and well meshed very well into a coherent on screen experience. There is one area that the movie really misses, falls short, disappoints, doesn't ring true, even sucks.AND THAT WOULD be that of the Science and authenticity of the "Beast" so mentioned in the title. It is a totally manufactured bit of overgrown and impossibly proportioned an animal as to render it unbelievable. There are too many questions about the creature as represented. How is it entombed in a great Arctic Glacier? How does it manage to satiate the enormous appetite required to maintain its gargantuan, mammoth size? WELL, PERHAPS WE'RE being too critical for what was intended to be the centerpiece of the Saturday matinée and the all night marathon at the Drive-Ins.OUR BUDDY AND co-conspirator, Schultz, said he saw it and it scared the (you know what) out of him too! ** 1/2 (Stars).NOTE * The classic Universal horror pictures were released to TV in 1957 under the umbrella title of SHOCK THEATRE, a name that was both adapted and adopted by the local stations that aired the films.

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms is a real science fiction pleaser in which Ray Harryhausen invents his own creature, a Theseasarus. Say it quickly and it sounds like a reference book. In fact Harryhausen liked this one so much he used it again in a few films. Check some of his future work out and see what I mean. He had many cousins.Talk about global warming our military is conducting atomic tests in the Arctic Ocean and a hydrogen bomb blast awakens this creature from a long several million year slumber. Theseasaurus wakes up and heads for the only place where his fossils have been found, the Hudson Valley which is probably the Theseasaurus burial ground.Scientist Paul Hubschmid sees the thing after it wakes up, but nobody believes him at first. As other incidents occur he gains some converts which include paleontologists Cecil Kellaway and Paula Raymond. The military also gets involved in the persons of Kenneth Tobey and Donald Woods.It won't be easy to bring old Thesee down because when they do wound him contact with his blood is infecting anyone who comes near with some millions of years old germs which have died out and man has no immunity to. But our military is capable.When I first saw The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms decades ago I was scared out of my wits when Cecil Kellaway and a navy yeoman go down in a diving bell to observe the creature and midst description, the bell is swallowed whole in one gulp. Looking at it now I think how stupid is this, to be absolutely helpless in that bell, why would you do it in the first place. Saying that though it still is one of the most frightening moments I've ever seen in any science fiction film.Issues like global warming and cryogenic freezing are actually if superficially dealt with in The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. Even with its mythical dinosaur, the film still is marvelous fright entertainment.