The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

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

Director:

Eugène Lourié

Writers:

Lou Morheim (screenplay), Fred Freiberger (screenplay)

Stars:

Paul Hubschmid, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway

2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited 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 Ryan (as Mary Hill)
Michael Fox	...	ER Doctor
Alvin Greenman	...	First Radar Man
Frank Ferguson	...	Dr. Morton
King Donovan	...	Dr. Ingersoll

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.

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Plot Keywords:

atomic test | atomic weapon | monster | arctic | dinosaur | 

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Taglines:

Cast of thousands! Over a year in the making!

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Genres:

Adventure | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

13 June 1953 (USA)

Also Known As:

Monster from Beneath the Sea

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$210,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$5,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jack Dietz Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White (Sepiatone)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

(at around 38 mins) Prof. Elson (Cecil Kellaway) reads an article about a 1797 professor who was fired for claiming that he had seen leprechauns remove a tree. He continues "Today it's monsters instead of leprechauns". Tom Nesbitt (Paul Christian) then enters and asks "How certain are you there were no leprechauns?" Cecil Kellaway played a leprechaun in the 1948 film "The Luck of the Irish".

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Goofs

One fathom equals six feet. The beast must have come from about 23 miles down. The sea is only seven miles deep at its deepest!

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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.

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Alternate Versions

The original 1953 version cuts the shot where the cop is swallowed whole. This shot is restored in the video version of the film.

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Connections

Referenced in Lights, Camera, Action!: A Century of the Cinema: The Grand Illusion (1996)

User Reviews

Rhedosaurus rampage as Harryhausen genius starts to work.

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