Panik in New York

This is the movie that introduced me to monster-on-the-loose pictures. Warner Brothers did not pioneer the genre; RKO started it off in 1951 with THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD. But it WAS Warner Brothers who began both the "radiation releases monster" and "radiation creates mutant monster" genre's with this film and THEM! two years later. I had never heard of Ray Harryhausen when I saw this for the first time at the tender age of 7 but I knew a scary monster when I saw it and this movie became an instant fave. Later I discovered Godzilla and could not figure out why that film had so much destruction and this one had so little. Later I learned about stop motion vs man-in-suit special effects. I also learned that Inoshiro Honda was using this film as a blueprint. Fantastic film! The first glimpse of the Beast is terrific! The destruction of the first ship is spellbinding! (That is Jack Pennick from many John Ford westerns as the shocked helmsman.) and the rampaging of The Beast through the streets of New York panicked me as a child. The only scene I did not (and still don't) care for is where the helpless blind man is knocked down and trampled by the fear crazed mob. The climax at Coney Island was amazing. I later found out the marksman in the end scenes is Lee Van Cleef who starred in so many spaghetti westerns. He actually saves the world in this movie. Well, maybe not the world, but New York anyway. I still watch this movie whenever I get a chance. When the film was new they tinted the underwater scenes where Cecil Kellaway is in the diving bell green. They did not restore the tinting to the video print and I think that was a mistake. Maybe when the movie gets to DVD they will do so. Don't miss your chance to discover this film. You will enjoy it.

Messrs. Harryhausen and Bradbury serve up a thoroughly enjoyable dinosaur epic with a reasonable amount of thrills and typically excellent effects work by Harryhausen. It's rather heavy on plot and dialogue for a while, so the less patient of viewers may get a little restless waiting for the next good bit of dinosaur action. However, whatever pacing issues there may be are compensated for with some wonderfully iconic shots & scenes. The lighthouse sequence in particular is a gem.

Based on the Saturday Evening Post short story "The Fog Horn" by Bradbury, this tells of an atomic test in the Arctic that unleashes a ferocious rhedosaurus from its icy tomb. It goes about doing just what you'd expect any monster to do in this type of tale, making its way to NYC for the grand finale. Nuclear physicist Tom Nesbitt (Paul Hubschmid), one of the first to glimpse the monster, must convince paleontologist Thurgood Elson (Cecil Kellaway) that he wasn't hallucinating, and also enlists the services of Jack Evans (Kenneth Tobey) in hunting down and destroying this beast.

The acting is engaging across the board, with Hubschmid very likable in the lead; Paula Raymond plays his leading lady (fortunately, hints of romance that might slow down the action further are kept to a bare minimum). Intrepid Tobey is once again terrific as the kind of hero you need in such a story, and Kellaway is delightful as the old pro who is willing to put vacation plans on hold in order to participate in a historic expedition. Donald Woods, Lee Van Cleef, Jack Pennick, Frank Ferguson, King Donovan, and an uncredited James Best can be seen among the top notch supporting cast.

The exciting amusement park finale is of course the best part, with expert marksman Van Cleef and Hubschmid taking on the beast from atop a roller coaster.

Good fun overall.

Seven out of 10.

Nuclear testing out in the arctic rouses a prehistoric Rhedosaurs from its icy incarcerated sleep. It promptly lays waste to everything that gets in its path, and its next stop is New York City.

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms stands as one of the most important of the 50s sci-fi/creature feature films that filled the screens during that particular decade. Notable for being the first picture where Ray Harryhausen had total control over the effects {and thus setting his career on an upward route}, it is also one of two pictures from 1953 that would be the first adaptations of the gifted writings of Ray Bradbury (the other being It Came from Outer Space).

Watching it now you can see just what a template movie it was to be for the genre, the perils of nuclear testing a vivid jolt of paranoia, the rugged alpha male, the svelt sexy strong lady, and of course the creature to terrify all who come into contact with it, yep it's safe to say that this picture has all the trademarks. The Rhedosaurus {completely made up name} is a wonderful creation from Harryhausen, a giant stalking lizard who sinks ships for fun, pulls down lighthouses, and has no problems about feasting on local police officers, it's safe to say that since being woken from his sleep he is in a very bad mood!. The ending is wonderful, as the giant beast finds himself cloaked in a roller-coaster with mankind fighting the good fight, a perfect finish to a hugely enjoyable picture. 8/10

"The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" is one of many "nuclear explosion thaws out the pre-historic monster" movies popular in the 1950's. What sets this film apart from other similarly themed films, are the superior special effects created by the legendary Ray Harryhausen.

His dinosaur is as good as you will see in any sci-fi movie. It moves without that jerky motion common in so many stop-motion monsters (i.e. King Kong). The "monster destroys the city" sequence is outstanding. There is also an excellent fight between an octopus and a shark that is very exciting. The best sequence takes place at the end of the film when the monster is cornered in an amusement park.

As in all such movies, the human actors are incidental to the plot. The German/Swiss actor Paul Christian (aka Hubschmid) plays the requisite scientist, Paula Raymond and Cecil Kellaway are the "dinosaur experts" and Kenneth Tobey and Donald Woods play the sceptical military types. There are also a number of recognizable "B" movie faces from the period such as Lee Van Cleef, Steve Brodie, Jack Pennick and James Best.

One of the best atomic monster movies from the 50s.

Ray Harryhausen's first solo effort at stop-motion resulted in one of the best monster movies of the 1950's.

This was the first of the many rampage films of the 1950's and was a great success at the box office. Ray's stop-motion Redosaurus is magnificent, considering the low budget.

One of the best scenes in this movie is where the Rhedosaurus eats the policeman. The acting is rather good and the cast includes Kenneth Tobey (The Thing From Another World) and an early appearance from Lee Van Cleef before he stared with the 'carrot' in It Conquered the World.

I enjoyed this movie and rate it 5 stars out of 5. Great stuff.