{"id":37459,"date":"2016-09-12T09:44:12","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T16:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=37459"},"modified":"2022-04-10T23:18:56","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T06:18:56","slug":"beast-from-20000-fathoms-the-1953","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=37459","title":{"rendered":"Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, The (1953)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Two people don&#8217;t share the same hallucination!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-From-20000-Fathoms-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-From-20000-Fathoms-Poster-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-37465\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-From-20000-Fathoms-Poster-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-From-20000-Fathoms-Poster-86x128.jpg 86w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-From-20000-Fathoms-Poster-768x1149.jpg 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-From-20000-Fathoms-Poster-684x1024.jpg 684w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-From-20000-Fathoms-Poster.jpg 2005w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nWhile conducting nuclear research in the Arctic Circle, a scientist (Paul Christian) is nearly killed by a giant prehistoric monster but struggles to get his story believed by either the military (led by Kenneth Tobey) or a top scientist (Cecil Kellaway). Kellaway&#8217;s beautiful assistant (Paula Raymond) is convinced Christian&#8217;s story may be true, and helps him corroborate it by meeting with a sea captain (Donald Woods) who also saw the beast &#8212; but can the radioactive, 100-million-year-old Rhedosaurus, steadily heading south, be stopped before it destroys New York City?\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Atomic Energy<\/li>\n<li>Cecil Kellaway Films<\/li>\n<li>Lee Van Cleef Films<\/li>\n<li>Mutant Monsters<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;No One Believes Me!&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Ray Harryhausen Films<\/li>\n<li>Science Fiction<\/li>\n<li>Scientists<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary writes, the appearance of &#8220;cinema&#8217;s first monster unleashed by atomic explosions&#8221; &#8212; very loosely based on (or inspired by) a short story by Ray Bradbury &#8212; is a &#8220;minor horror movie&#8221;, but &#8220;boasts exciting special effects by Ray Harryhausen, who had absolute control for the first time in his career&#8221;. The opening sequences set in the Arctic Circle are eerily riveting, with blizzard conditions accentuating the sense of hidden menace &#8212; but Peary rightfully points out that &#8220;far too much of [the screenplay] is spent finding evidence to support Christian&#8217;s claim that the monster exists&#8221;. And while Christian and Raymond (a &#8220;rare smart woman in fifties SF&#8221;) might be a &#8220;pleasing couple&#8221;, their budding relationship is too inevitable and cliched for modern audiences to appreciate. However, this is all just filler before the final, high-octane portion of the film kicks into gear, as &#8220;the monster attacks a lighthouse&#8221; (the cinematographic effects are quite stunning during this sequence), &#8220;scientist Cecil Kellaway takes a diving bell to the ocean floor in search of the monster&#8221;, and &#8220;the beast romps through New York City&#8221;, with a &#8220;lively climax in an amusement park&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Be sure to read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/68257\/the-beast-from-20-000-fathoms#articles-reviews?articleId=290211\">TCM&#8217;s article<\/a> for interesting background info on how the widespread re-release of <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=43687\"><em>King Kong<\/em> (1933)<\/a> in 1952 sparked the creation of <em>Beast<\/em>&#8230;, which itself eventually led to the <em>Godzilla<\/em> franchise. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The exciting opening sequence in the Arctic Circle<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Arctic-Opening.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Arctic-Opening.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"850\" height=\"640\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-37463\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Arctic-Opening.jpg 850w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Arctic-Opening-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Arctic-Opening-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Arctic-Opening-768x578.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Impressive early Harryhausen special effects<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Rhedosaurus.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Rhedosaurus.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"850\" height=\"639\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-37462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Rhedosaurus.jpg 850w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Rhedosaurus-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Rhedosaurus-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Rhedosaurus-768x577.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The climactic finale<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Finale.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Finale.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"850\" height=\"641\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-37464\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Finale.jpg 850w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Finale-128x97.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Finale-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Beast-Finale-768x579.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, for its historical relevance and exciting action sequences. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0045546\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=6459&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1953\/06\/25\/archives\/beast-from-20000-fathoms-invades-city.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/moria.co.nz\/sciencefiction\/beast-from-20000-fathoms-1953.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s994fathom.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/68257\/the-beast-from-20-000-fathoms#articles-reviews?articleId=290211\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Two people don&#8217;t share the same hallucination!&#8221; Synopsis: While conducting nuclear research in the Arctic Circle, a scientist (Paul Christian) is nearly killed by a giant prehistoric monster but struggles to get his story believed by either the military (led by Kenneth Tobey) or a top scientist (Cecil Kellaway). Kellaway&#8217;s beautiful assistant (Paula Raymond) is convinced Christian&#8217;s story may be true, and helps him corroborate it by meeting with a sea captain (Donald Woods) who also saw the beast &#8212;&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=37459\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37459"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82912,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37459\/revisions\/82912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}