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Post by Zone Fighter on Oct 22, 2007 5:11:45 GMT -8
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
Based on a short story by Ray Bradbury
Animation by Ray Harryhausen
Paul Christian - Professor Tom Nesbitt Paula Raymond - Lee Hunter Cecil Kellaway - Prof. Thurgood Elson Kenneth Tobey - Col. Jack Evans Donald Woods - Capt. Phil Jackson Lee Van Cleef - Cpl. Stone Steve Brodie - Sgt. Loomis Ross Elliott - George Ritchie Jack Pennick - Jacob Bowman Ray Hyke - Sgt. Willistead Michael Fox - ER Doctor Alvin Greenman - 1st Radar Man Frank Ferguson - Dr. Morton King Donovan - Dr. Ingersoll
An atomic blast awakens a giant monster which had been suspened in the ice. The monster finds its way to New York City. The beast can be wounded, but its blood contains a deadly disease and its feared that blasting the monster would only spread the disease further.
This was before a radioactive blast awoke a giant monster which terrorized Japan. Not as good as Gojira (Godzilla) but its not bad.
My favorite western movie bad guy, Lee Van Cleef, plays a good guy, an army sharpshooter.
The DVD includes a short making of documentary, a reunion of old friends Ray Harryhausen and Ray Bradbury and trailers for The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Black Scorpion, Valley of Gwangi, Clash of the Titans. Now Gwangi is the only one of these films I have not seen.
On side B of the DVD is "Them!"
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Post by Torgaman on Oct 22, 2007 9:53:03 GMT -8
I think Harryhausen said it best when he compared the films he was making with the modern Hollywood blockbusters:"If people had listened to us sooner they would have gotten richer faster."
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Feb 29, 2008 23:57:14 GMT -8
i like it, but it ends so quickly after the Beast dies. no aftermath or anything, and that set the tone for many US movies to follow.
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Post by RedKing on Mar 26, 2008 3:53:13 GMT -8
I love this movie. Between 1983 and 1990 it was shown on ch 23 here roughly every 6 months.It does definitely set the stage for most US giant monster movies to come-mainly that science and/or the military will find a way to kill the monster, in sharp contrast to Japanese monsters which usually stopped by nature or another monster. This is just a class prodcution all around, the cast is good, the music is excellent and Harryhausen's effects are magnificent.
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