A ferocious dinosaur awakened by an Arctic atomic test terrorizes the North Atlantic and, ultimately, New York City.
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Title: The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
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2 nominations.
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Paul Hubschmid | ... |
Prof. Tom Nesbitt
(as Paul Christian)
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| Paula Raymond | ... |
Lee Hunter
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| Cecil Kellaway | ... |
Prof. Thurgood Elson
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| Kenneth Tobey | ... |
Col. Jack Evans
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| Donald Woods | ... |
Capt. Phil Jackson
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| Lee Van Cleef | ... |
Corp. Stone
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| Steve Brodie | ... |
Sgt. Loomis
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| Ross Elliott | ... |
George Ritchie
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Jack Pennick | ... |
Jacob Bowman
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Ray Hyke | ... |
Sgt. Willistead
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Paula Hill | ... |
Miss Ryan
(as Mary Hill)
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Michael Fox | ... |
ER Doctor
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Alvin Greenman | ... |
First Radar Man
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| Frank Ferguson | ... |
Dr. Morton
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King Donovan | ... |
Dr. Ingersoll
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Plot Summary
|
Plot Synopsis
Storyline
As a result of an arctic nuclear test, a carnivorous dinosaur thaws out and starts making its way down the east coast of North America. Professor Tom Nesbitt, only witness to the beast's existence, is not believed, even when he identifies it as a "rhedosaurus" to paleontologist Thurgood Elson. All doubts disappear, however, when Elson is swallowed whole during an oceanic bathysphere excursion to search for the creature. Soon thereafter the rhedosaurus emerges from the sea and lays waste to Manhattan Island until Nesbitt comes up with a plan to try to stop the seemingly indestructible beast. Written by Doug Sederberg <vornoff@sonic.net>
Taglines:
Cast of thousands! Over a year in the making! See more »Parents Guide:
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Details
Country:
USARelease Date:
13 June 1953 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Monster from Beneath the Sea See more »Box Office
Budget:
$210,000 (estimated)Gross:
$5,000,000 (USA)Company Credits
Show detailed
company contact information
on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound System)Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1
Edit
Opening Narrator: This is Operation Experiment, a secret base far north of the Arctic Circle. Experiment was the codename for a top priority scientific expedition. These men arrived here on X-day minus 60. It has taken them the full two months to get ready. Today is X-day.
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
Before the film was sold to Warner Brothers, it contained an original music score composed by Michel Michelet. Execs at Warners felt Michelet's score wasn't powerful enough so they replaced it with an original score by David Buttolph. See more »Goofs
At the end of the underwater struggle between the octopus and the shark, a segment of the fight is run and then played in reverse to stretch the scene out. You can see the shark twist, pause, and then reverse its movements. See more »Quotes
[first lines]Opening Narrator: This is Operation Experiment, a secret base far north of the Arctic Circle. Experiment was the codename for a top priority scientific expedition. These men arrived here on X-day minus 60. It has taken them the full two months to get ready. Today is X-day.
See more »
"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.