The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' is a 1953 American independent monster film directed by Eugène Lourié, with stop motion animation by Ray Harryhausen. It is partly based on Ray Bradbury's 1951 short story of the same name, which was later reprinted as " The Fog Horn". In the film, the '' Rhedosaurus'', a giant dinosaur is released from its frozen state in the Arctic by an atomic bomb test. Paul Christian stars as Thomas Nesbitt, the foremost surviving witness of the creature before it causes havoc while traveling toward New York. Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, and Kenneth Tobey are featured in supporting roles.

Jack Dietz and Hal E. Chester arranged the production of a monster movie in response to the successful 1952 re-release of '' King Kong'' (1933). While Lou Morheim and Fred Freiberger were solely credited for screenwriting, many contributed to writing the film, including Dietz, Harryhausen, and Lourié. On an estimated budget, principal photography occurred in New York from July to August 1952, under the title ''The Monster from Beneath the Sea''. Harryhausen and Willis Cook created the special effects over roughly six months. In 1953, Warner Bros. bought the film for , retitled it, and hired David Buttolph to replace Michel Michelet's original score.

''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' was released throughout the United States in June 1953, to widespread critical praise for its special effects. The film grossed over worldwide, making it one of the highest-grossing films of 1953. It pioneered the "atomic monster" genre and is credited with launching the giant monster and ''kaiju'' movie trend that ensured its initial release. '' Godzilla'' (1954) is often cited as having taken inspiration from the film. In recent years, ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' has acquired a cult following and has been listed among the greatest science fiction, horror, and B movies of the 1950s.

Plot

Far north of the Arctic Circle, a nuclear bomb test, dubbed "Operation Experiment", is conducted. Prophetically, right after the blast, physicist Thomas Nesbitt muses "What the cumulative effects of all these atomic explosions and tests will be, only time will tell". The explosion awakens a long carnivorous dinosaur known as a '' Rhedosaurus'', thawing it out of the ice where it had been held in suspended animation for millions of years. Nesbitt is the only surviving witness to the beast's awakening and later is dismissed out-of-hand as being delirious at the time of his sighting. Despite the skepticism, he persists, knowing what he saw.

The dinosaur begins making its way down the east coast of North America, sinking a fishing ketch off the Grand Banks, destroying another near Marquette, Canada, wrecking a lighthouse in Maine, and destroying buildings in Massachusetts. Nesbitt eventually gains allies in paleontologist Thurgood Elson and his young assistant Lee Hunter after one of the surviving fishermen identifies from a collection of drawings the very same dinosaur that Nesbitt saw. Plotting the sightings of the beast's appearances on a map for skeptical military officers, Elson proposes the dinosaur is returning to the Hudson River area, where fossils of ''Rhedosaurus'' were first found. In a diving bell search of the undersea Hudson River Canyon, Professor Elson is killed after his bell is swallowed by the beast, which eventually comes ashore in Manhattan. It devours a police officer shooting at it, totals cars, knocks over buildings, and generally causes a panicking frenzy. A later newspaper report of its rampage lists "180 known dead, 1500 injured, damage estimates $300 million".

Meanwhile, military troops led by Colonel Jack Evans attempt to stop the ''Rhedosaurus'' with an electrified barricade, then blast a hole with a bazooka in the beast's throat, which drives it back into the sea. Unfortunately, it bleeds all over the streets of New York, unleashing a horrible, virulent prehistoric contagion, which begins to infect the populace, causing even more fatalities. The infection precludes blowing up the ''Rhedosaurus'' or even setting it ablaze, lest the contagion spread further. It is decided to shoot a radioactive isotope into the beast's neck wound with hopes of burning it from the inside, while at the same time neutralizing the contagion.

When the ''Rhedosaurus'' comes ashore and reaches the Coney Island amusement park, military sharpshooter Corporal Stone takes a rifle grenade loaded with a potent radioactive isotope and along with Nesbitt climbs on board the Coney Island Cyclone roller coaster. Riding the coaster to the top of the tracks to get to eye-level with the beast, he fires the isotope into its open neck wound. It thrashes about in reaction, causing the roller coaster to spark when falling to the ground, setting the amusement park ablaze. With the fire spreading rapidly, Nesbitt and Stone climb down as the park becomes engulfed in flames. The ''Rhedosaurus'' collapses and eventually dies from the isotope's radiation poisoning.

Cast

Production

Development

''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' had a production budget of around $200,000. Lourié asserted that the budget was ; Chester said it was ; and '' Variety'' reported was spent on the film.

The film was first announced in the trades on July 30, 1951, as ''The Monster from Beneath the Sea'', one of 16 titles the newly formed Mutual Films Corporation were readying for production. This appeared exactly a week after Ray Bradbury had his short story " The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" published in ''The Saturday Evening Post'', which was later anthologized under the title "The Fog Horn". During preproduction, in the spring of 1952, according to Ray Harryhausen, Dietz showed him an illustration of the monster from the Ray Bradbury story published the previous year. This story was about a marine-based prehistoric dinosaur that destroys a lighthouse. A similar sequence appeared in the draft script of ''The Monster from Beneath the Sea''. During production, Bradbury visited his friend Harryhausen at the studio and was invited to read the script. When Bradbury pointed out to the producers similarities to his short story, they quickly bought the rights to his story. When Warner Bros. bought ''The Monster from Beneath the Sea'' from Mutual over a year later, they changed the film's title to match the story's title. Bradbury's name was used extensively in their promotional campaign. It also had an on-screen credit that read "Suggested by ''The Saturday Evening Post'' story by Ray Bradbury".

Eugène Lourié, Harryhausen, and Robert Smith contributed to the screenplay, adapting it from producer Jack Dietz's initial draft. None of them were credited in this position within the film itself. A retrospective source indicated that Lourié had once said that a blacklisted screenwriter also worked on the film. It theorized that Robert Smith was that individual's pseudonym, and this is why Smith was only credited in the script. However, a screenwriter with that name is listed in the AFI catalog with credits dating back to 1945, two years before the Hollywood blacklist. According to historian Bill Warren, the uncredited blacklisted screenwriter was Daniel James, who worked on Lourié's '' The Giant Behemoth'' (1959) and '' Gorgo'' (1961) under the pen name Daniel Hyatt.

Creature design and effects

Some early pre-production conceptual sketches of the Beast showed that, at one point, it was to have a shelled head and later was to have a beak. Creature effects were assigned to Harryhausen, a protégé of King Kong co-creator Willis O'Brien. The film monster looks nothing like the '' Brontosaurus''-type creature of the short story. It is instead a kind of '' Tyrannosaurus''-type prehistoric predator, though quadrupedal in stature. The monster was unlike any real carnivorous dinosaur and more closely resembled a rauisuchian. A drawing of the creature was published along with the story in ''The Saturday Evening Post''.

According to author A. T. McKenna, at one point, there were plans to have the Beast snort flames, but this idea was dropped before production began due to budget restrictions. The concept was later used for the film's poster and allegedly became an inspiration for Godzilla's atomic breath.

Filming

The climactic roller coaster live-action scenes were filmed on location at the Pike in Long Beach, California, and featured the Cyclone Racer entrance ramp, ticket booth, loading platform and beach views of the structure. Split-matte, in-camera special effects by Harryhausen effectively combined the live action of the actors and the roller coaster background footage from the Pike's parking lot with the stop-motion animation of the Beast's destroying a shooting miniature of the coaster.

In a scene attempting to identify the ''Rhedosaurus'', Professor Tom Nesbitt rifles through dinosaur drawings by Charles R. Knight, a man whom Harryhausen claimed as an inspiration. The dinosaur skeleton featured in the museum sequence is artificial; it was obtained from RKO Pictures' prop storage where it had been constructed for its classic comedy '' Bringing Up Baby'' (1938).

Music

An original music score was composed by Michel Michelet, but when Warner Bros. purchased the film, it had a new score written by David Buttolph. Ray Harryhausen had been hoping that his film music hero Max Steiner, under contract at the time with Warner Bros., would write the film score. Steiner had written the landmark score for RKO's ''King Kong'' in 1933. Unfortunately for Harryhausen, Steiner had too many commitments, but Buttolph composed one of his more memorable and powerful scores, setting much of the tone for giant monster film music of the 1950s.

Release

Warner Bros. acquired the film for $400,000, $450,000, or $800,000 and launched a large advertising campaign for its June 1953 release. Sources differ on the exact day it was distributed that month, though '' Harrison's Reports'' and the official websites of the AFI and Warner Bros suggest it was the 13th. However, many contemporaneous American newspapers from June 1953 reported the opening date as the 17th. ''Boxoffice'' listed the film's distribution date as 27th. ''The 1954 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures'' cited the 24th, which ''Variety'' stated was its New York premiere. The film had one of the widest and fastest releases of the time, planning to have most of its bookings in its first two months, opening in 1,422 theaters nationwide within the first week. Original prints of ''Beast'' were sepia toned. The film earned roughly at the North American box office and more than $5 million worldwide. It is believed to have been a sleeper hit.

The film was distributed by Daiei Film in Japan on October 17, 1954.

Reception

Critical response

According to Turner Classic Movies (TCM), ''The Beast'' was met with a mixed critical reception, but garnered unanimous praise for its special effects. In July 1953, ''Boxoffice'' analyzed that contemporary critical reviews were generally positive. '' Famous Monsters of Filmland'' described the initial critical response as "respectable".

''Harrison's Reports'' described the film as a "fantastic horror-melodrama", adding that it is a "highly exciting thriller of its type". Hy Hollinger of '' Variety'' lauded Harryhausen's effects, Lourié's direction, and the acting of Christian and Kellaway; he also felt the script and cinematography were documentary-like. Hollinger directed criticism towards Raymond's performance citing it as "too still" and "unconvincing".

TCM said the review from ''The New York Times'' was "lukewarm". The reviewer wrote: "And though the sight of the gigantic monster rampaging through such areas as Wall Street and Coney Island sends the comparatively ant-like humans on the screen scurrying away in an understandable tizzy, none of the customers in the theater seemed to be making for the hills. On sober second thought, however, this might have been sensible".

Reception of the ''Rhedosaurus''

The ''Rhedosaurus'' was largely panned by dinosaur experts, who felt that its depiction was unrealistic. These viewers also complained that the filmmakers should have used an actual dinosaur instead of creating a fictional one. Lourié subsequently explained that the ''Rhedosaurus'' was created because the crew agreed that a regular dinosaur would not frighten modern-day audiences.

Legacy

Aftermath and cultural influence

The film's financially successful release and RKO's re-release of ''King Kong'' spawned the giant monster film genre of the 1950s. It is considered the first live-action film to feature a giant monster unleashed by an atomic bomb. According to numerous retrospective sources, Ishirō Honda's '' Godzilla'' (1954) was heavily inspired by the film and this concept. Its initial proposal was allegedly titled , and the original story by Shigeru Kayama featuring Godzilla destroying a lighthouse. However, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka claimed to have been ignorant of ''The Beast'''s existence. Authors Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski noted how Japanese critics compared the two films but felt that ''Godzilla'' lacks direct resemblance to it. During his late life, Harryhausen expressed his belief that the original ''Godzilla'' film was a rip-off of ''The Beast'', and allegedly disliked the Toho monster presumably due to the aftermath of the 1962 film '' King Kong vs. Godzilla''.

Harryhausen continued to gain popularity for his efforts on monster movies such as '' It Came from Beneath the Sea'' (1955) and '' 20 Million Miles to Earth'' (1957). He eventually decided to venture into other genres, accepting that ''Godzilla'' and other Japanese ''kaiju'' movies were making the giant monster genre "tiresome". In 1958, the ''Rhedosaurus'' model was reused by Harryhausen to portray the dragon in '' The 7th Voyage of Sinbad''. Likewise, Lourié later directed two productions featuring fictitious giant dinosaurs. '' The Giant Behemoth'' (1958) was a British-American co-production panned by critics for its close resemblance to ''The Beast''; Lourié accused himself of plagiarizing from it when scripting. '' Gorgo'' (1961) is considered the British edition of a ''Godzilla'' movie or rip-off thereof.

Daiei Film later yielded the ''Gamera'' franchise. The original 1965 film '' Gamera, the Giant Monster'' depicted the titular monster that was awoken by a nuclear explosion in the Arctic and later destroys a lighthouse. Before this, Daiei Film distributed the re-released edition of RKO's '' King Kong'' in Japan in 1952, making it the first post-war release of monster movies in Japan, and these distributions presumably influenced productions of the first films of '' Godzilla'' and ''Gamera'' franchises.

The film '' Cloverfield'' (2008), which also involves a giant monster terrorizing New York City, inserts a frame from ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' (along with frames from '' King Kong'' and '' Them!'') into the hand-held camera footage used throughout the film.

The film was featured in the ''TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Sci-Fi Adventures'' DVD box set along with ''Them!'', '' World Without End'', and '' Satellite in the Sky'' (both 1956). It was also released on standalone DVD and Blu-ray.

Retrospective assessment and analysis

Since its release, ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' has been assessed as one of the greatest monster, science fiction, and horror films of the 1950s. It was also nominated for AFI's Top 10 Science Fiction Films list, and listed among the best B-movies of its decade by ''Collider'' and ''Screen Rant''.

Harryhausen's stop-motion and special effects work in particular have continued to receive critical acclaim in retrospective reviews. Leonard Maltin cited Harryhausen's effects in the last act.

''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' has been analyzed as reflecting distress of the outcome of nuclear testing during the Atomic Age. Some believe that it is the first film to directly address this subject. Writers have also ofted noted how upon the bomb's detonation in the movie, one of the characters states: "Every time one of these things goes off, I feel as if we were helping to write the first chapter of a new Genesis". According to Cynthia Hendershot and Dominic Lennard, the film offers the theory that nuclear testing could result in the dominance of other lifeforms over humanity. Hendershot felt that the ''Rhedosaurus'' is a metaphor for the fears of the destruction of New York that the American public had during the 1950s.

Notes

References

Works cited

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External links

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Rerecording of ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' soundtrack

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beast From 20, 000 Fathoms, The
1953 films
1950s American films
1950s fantasy films
1950s monster movies
1950s science fiction films
1950s science fiction horror films
American black-and-white films
American monster movies
Films about nuclear war and weapons
English-language science fiction films
Kaiju films
Films based on works by Ray Bradbury
1950s English-language films
Films about dinosaurs
Giant monster films
Films based on science fiction short stories
Films directed by Eugène Lourié
Films scored by David Buttolph
Films set in the Arctic
Films set in the Arctic Ocean
Films set in Newfoundland and Labrador
Films set in Maine
Films set in Massachusetts
Films set in lighthouses
Films set in amusement parks
Films set in New York City
Films set in Brooklyn
Films set in museums
Films set in natural history museums
Films shot in New York City
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Films using stop-motion animation
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