The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

Director:

Eugène Lourié

Writers:

Lou Morheim (screenplay) and
Fred Freiberger (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

13 June 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

It's alive !

Plot:

A ferocious dinosaur awakened by an Arctic atomic test terrorizes the North Atlantic and ultimately New York City.

Plot Keywords:

Monster | Dinosaur | Arctic | Beast | Rhedosaurus

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Paul Hubschmid	...	Prof. Tom Nesbitt (as Paul Christian)
Paula Raymond	...	Lee Hunter
Cecil Kellaway	...	Prof. Thurgood Elson
Kenneth Tobey	...	Col. Jack Evans
Donald Woods	...	Capt. Phil Jackson
Lee Van Cleef	...	Corp. Stone
Steve Brodie	...	Sgt. Loomis
Ross Elliott	...	George Ritchie
Jack Pennick	...	Jacob Bowman
Ray Hyke	...	Sgt. Willistead
Paula Hill	...	Miss Nelson (as Mary Hill)
Michael Fox	...	ER Doctor
Alvin Greenman	...	First Radar Man
Frank Ferguson	...	Dr. Morton
King Donovan	...	Dr. Ingersoll
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Merv Griffin	...	Announcer & Bespectacled Man (in theatrical trailer) (voice)
Fred Aldrich	...	Radio Operator (uncredited)
James Best	...	Charlie - Radar Man (uncredited)
Edward Clark	...	Lighthouse Keeper (uncredited)
Louise Colombet	...	Nun / Nurse (uncredited)
Robert Easton	...	Deckhand (uncredited)
Roy Engel	...	Maj. Evans (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum	...	Ballet-Goer (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Ballet-Goer (uncredited)
Joe Gray	...	Longshoreman (uncredited)
Kenner G. Kemp	...	Cop with Rifle (uncredited)
Vivian Mason	...	Miss Ryan - Secretary (uncredited)
Vera Miles	...	Woman in Trailer (uncredited)
Steve Mitchell	...	Police Officer (uncredited)
Leo Mostovoy	...	Captain George LeMay (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Cop (uncredited)
Paul Picerni	...	Man in Trailer (uncredited)
Hugh Prosser	...	Doctor (uncredited)
William Woodson	...	Opening Narrator / Radio Announcer (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Eugène Lourié

Writing credits
Lou Morheim		(screenplay) and
Fred Freiberger		(screenplay)
Ray Bradbury		(story "The Fog Horn")
Daniel James		uncredited
Eugène Lourié		uncredited
Robert Smith		uncredited

Produced by
Bernard W. Burton	....	co-producer
Hal E. Chester	....	co-producer
Jack Dietz	....	producer

Original Music by
David Buttolph

Cinematography by
John L. Russell		(as Jack Russell)

Film Editing by
Bernard W. Burton

Production Design by
Eugène Lourié

Set Decoration by
Edward G. Boyle

Makeup Department
Louis Phillipi	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Horace Hough	....	assistant director

Art Department
Hal Waller	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
George Groves	....	sound
Max M. Hutchinson	....	sound

Special Effects by
Willis Cook	....	special effects
Ray Harryhausen	....	animation effects
George Lofgren	....	special effects
Eugène Lourié	....	special effects

Stunts
Gil Perkins	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
Maurice De Packh	....	orchestrator

Other crew
Michael Fox	....	dialogue director

Production Companies

• Jack Dietz Productions (as Mutual Pictures of California)

Distributors

• Warner Bros (1953) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1953) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. Films (1954) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1954) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2010) (Canada) (DVD) (4 film set)
• Warner Home Video (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2010) (USA) (DVD) (4 film set)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White | Black and White (Sepiatone)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #16143, General Audience) | West Germany:12 (nf)

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Jack Dietz Productions

Trivia:

While visiting his friend Ray Harryhausen on the set, Ray Bradbury was given a copy of the script (which was going under the working title "Monster From the Sea") and was asked if he could possibly do some rewriting on it. After reading the script, Bradbury remarked about a scene in the story (which featured the monster destroying a lighthouse) that seemed very similar to a short story that he had published in "The Saturday Evening Post" several years earlier called "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms". Bradbury's story was about a dinosaur that destroys a lighthouse. The next day Bradbury received a telegram offering to buy the film rights to the story. After the sale, the films title was changed to "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms". Years later when Bradbury had his story reprinted he changed the title to "The Fog Horn".

Goofs:

Factual errors: The aircraft shown in the beginning approaching the bomb drop is a Douglas DC-3. The speed announced by the person tracking the plane's progress is 350 mph. The top speed of the DC3 in 1953 (without modern modifications) was 200 mph.

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.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Monsters from the Id (2009)

Still brings a tear to my eye

When I was a kid,I would cry every time I saw the ending of this movie.I couldn't help feeling sorry for the monster,dying alone in a world he never knew. Ray Harryhausen was at his best when he designed the Rhedosaurus. This was a monster with a personality,and dare I say it,charm? Every little movement of the beast almost made you think you were watching an actual living creature,and not some stop motion puppet,like the awful Giant Behemoth. My favorites: the beast sniffing at the lighthouse before he knocks it down;the way he playfully bats at the wrecked car he stepped on,when he turns his back and lashes his tail at the shotgun toting cops,even the way it squints its eyes in the sun.The death scene was well done,and the music,as the flaming roller coaster collapses behind the beast's dead body,still sends a chill up my spine. The worst part of the movie was the casting,especially the male and female leads. Paul Christian's accent is almost impossible to understand at times,and his acting is wooden.Paula Raymond may seem pretty by '50's standards,but I think she has a pronounced overbite and adenoids,the way her mouth is always hanging open! Her acting was also pretty limp.Cecil Kelloway was a delight,as usual,and Ken Tobey was unusually restrained,not trying to hit on Raymond,as he seemed to do in most of his movies. The funniest line in the movie was Kelloway asking Tobey:"What makes you think there are no flying saucers?"(A dig at Tobey's role in The Thing.)Still in all,this is timeless sci-fi classic that holds up well,even today.