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20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
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Overview
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Director:
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Release Date:
June 1957 (USA)
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Tagline:
Monster from outerspace runs wild! more
Plot:
The first U.S. spaceship to Venus crash-lands off the coast of Sicily on its return trip. A dangerous, lizard-like creature comes with it and quickly grows gigantic. full summary | add synopsis
NewsDesk:
(2 articles)
Fantasy Movie Producer Schneer Dead At 88
(From Studio Briefing - Film News. 26 January 2009, 1:32 AM, PST)
Colorization Endorsed by Legendary Special-Effects Guru
(From Studio Briefing - Film News. 30 July 2007)
(From Studio Briefing - Film News. 26 January 2009, 1:32 AM, PST)
Colorization Endorsed by Legendary Special-Effects Guru
(From Studio Briefing - Film News. 30 July 2007)
User Reviews:
Fast-Moving & Fun Flick From The Fifties
more (58 total)
Cast
(Complete credited cast)| William Hopper | ... | Colonel Robert Calder | |
| Joan Taylor | ... | Marisa Leonardo | |
| Frank Puglia | ... | Dr. Leonardo | |
| John Zaremba | ... | Dr. Judson Uhl | |
| Thomas Browne Henry | ... | Major General A.D. McIntosh (as Thomas B. Henry) | |
| Tito Vuolo | ... | Commissario Charra | |
| Jan Arvan | ... | Signore Contino - Government Official | |
| Arthur Space | ... | Dr. Sharman | |
| Bart Braverman | ... | Pepe (as Bart Bradley) |
Additional Details
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Parents Guide:
Runtime:
82 min
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Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)
Certification:
Argentina:Atp |
Finland:K-15 (2000) |
Canada:PG (Ontario) |
South Korea:All |
South Korea:All (2008) |
Australia:PG |
UK:PG |
USA:Approved (PCA #18428) |
West Germany:12
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The Ymir roars in the film are variations of elephant roars sped up and modulated in pitches at different rates.
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Goofs:
Miscellaneous: The general and scientist consult a wall map of the world to locate the small village in Sicily where the rocket has crashed. At the end of the scene the camera pulls in for a close-up of Sicily, and we see that there are no city names printed on the map - not even major Sicilian cities like Syracuse or Palermo, let alone a tiny fishing village.
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Movie Connections:
Featured in Monsterama Sci-Fi Late Night Creature Feature Show Vol. 1 (1996) (V)
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I think the best thing about this movie is that it's fast-moving. The filmmakers don't waste a lot of time with unnecessary dialog or a sappy romance. They get right to it and stay on track for almost all of the 82 minutes.
Thus, if you like somewhat-hokey 1950s science-fiction movies dealing with space or monsters, or in this case both of them, you should enjoy this little film. Most of it involves trying to cope with a specimen from Venus which quickly grows into a Godzilla-like monster (but smaller).
It seems a space ship had gone to Venus, but crashed on the way home. Only good-guy William Hopper, who used to help Perry Mason win courtroom cases on TV about this same time, survives the crash. The ship lands in a big body of water off Italy. The specimen, about the size of a trout, washes onshore where a little boy finds it and then shows it to his scientist-uncle. Within hours, it seems, the "thing" begins to break out of its ice encasing and - presto! - we have a small little Godzilla. Hours later, it's about the size of a small man. Very soon it's several times the size of a man.
Here's the good and bad news on the special-effects, which are crucial to a film like this. With Hall of Fame FX man Ray Harryhausen, you know you're going to get the best of what you can expect from a film 50 years ago. Compared to most films of its ilk during the '50s, this is good stuff and the creature looks and moves in a pretty realistic manner. The only "goof" is that in some scenes, such as the one in the barn, the monster looks about three feet high in some shots, and 20 feet in others. The scale gets thrown out of whack a few times and then several times later in the film. Thus, you never really know how big this lizard-creature is. Overall, however, it's still done extremely well for its time period.
There is a scene, too, where the alien creature fights an elephant! Once again, for something 50 years old, they did an excellent job re-creating what that fight might look like. It was well done....and how often do you see a monster fighting an elephant?? Pretty cool stuff. By the way, I watched the colorized version and the monster was green.
The acting is passable, too. Hopper, as "Col. Robert Calder," knows what's he doing, as do most others in here. Some of the actors are familiar faces from '50s and '60s television. The female interest - which is played down - has Joan Taylor as "Marisa Leonardo." She's a bit bland but not bad-looking. She reminded me of Phyllis Coates, from the first season of "The Adventures Of Superman."
All in all, if you're looking for a campy and fun, along with fast-moving classic-era sci-fi flick, this is highly recommended. You won't be bored.