BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS
1953

Almost always, monsters require some special effects (at least part of the time) which may include heavy make). In general we have discussed the idea that monsters may just be made to look different Boris Karloff in The Mummy or Frankenstein). Some monsters may require costuming like the prehistoric beasts in Unknown Island, or they may be real animals (often with attachments on their bodies as in 1,000,000 B.C.). It is also possible to make models and do stop motion animation as happens in King Kong and today’s film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Occasionally, there can be some drawn animation as occurs in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein when Dracula transforms into a bat, or in the early serial version of Superman when he fiies, or the more recent “equivalent” computer graphic animation (CGI or computer generated imagery) (e.g. The hulk in the film of the same name). There are other forms that are sometimes called “puppets” or mechanical creatures as well. More about those later on.

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms picks up the dinosaur track again. This time rather than Willlis O’Brien it is his assistant Ray Harryhausen who has taken over. Harryhausen raised stop motion animation to a high level – especially in it interaction with humans. He worked as a technician on the original version of Mighty Joe Young . In 1955 he began to be recognized when he did the special effects for this film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) which is based on a story by Ray Bradbury. In It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), a major event involves an attack on the Golden Gate Bridge by a giant octopus. This well regarded classics was made on such a low budget that the octopus had only 6 legs! The missing two were always “under water”!

It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955) was followed by a films called 20,000,000 Miles to Earth.(1957) In this film an Ymir (a critter from Venus) battles an elephant outside the Coliseum in Rome. These two “monster” films in which large animals are involved were followed by some more traditional monsters in the original sense. Rather than horror or science fiction, these films – The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958) and Jason and the Argonauts (1963), are generally classified as “fantasy/action” as are Mysterious Island (1961) (based on a Jules Verne story), and The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960) (based on the famous story by Jonathan Swift) continued in this vein. In First Men in the Moon (1964) (based on an H.G. Wells story) he returned to the science fiction genre and in 1,000,000 Years B.C. (1966) he was involved with the remake of the 1940 film about prehistoric people and dinosaurs. Willis O’Brien’s story, “Valley of the Mist” was made (without Harryhausen as The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956). Harryhausen was, however, involved in the remake of that film called Valley of the Gwangi (1969). The film once again deals with a dinosaur - a Tyrannosaurus - which is found in Mexico. Two more Sinbad films followed: Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Sinbad and The Eye of the Tiger. In his final special effect film Clash of the Titans, he returned once again to the ancient Greek mythological past. This was the only film he did in which he did not do all the special effects himself.

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms which we will see today has a number of famous scenes in it which you should watch for. See if you can tell what they are. Also watch for an appearance by Lee van Cleef before he made his mark in such spaghetti Westerns as the Clint Eastwood/Sergio Leone films A Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

AFTER THE FILM

Unlike many horror films, this film is unusual in that the monster appears quite early in the film, with almost no time to build up tension for its initial appearance. The monster, however, appears only for a few frames and we then have to wait for some time for his re-appearance.

Things to be noticed. Why are these famous bits in the film?

The end sequence in Manhattan Beach is clearly not really in Manhattan Beach since there are no roller coasters there. None the less, the difficulties of doing stop motion animation with a moving roller coaster and a fire made this a spectacular sequence when the film came out. . The earlier sequences do not allow a clear look at the beast. We see it briefly in the snow - partially hidden by falling snow and by rock. The attack on the ship shows the monster only partially visiable and often through a rain drenched window making it hard to see him. In the lighthouse scene the beast is silhouttted, and in the diving bell sequence it is often obscured by the rocks and the image is often distorted by water. ot until the arrival on the dock do we see it up close and clearly.

Note the shots that appear to have the camera dollying backwards while the beast stays put in the frame marching as it were, down the street.

Harryhousen develped a concept of "sandwich shot" which allowed for better integration of the stop motion figures with real people and sets.

What question does the film pose?

What is the relationship between the bomb being dropped and the dinosaur? What might that imply on a subtextual level about peoples' concerns about atomic weapons?