The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

While doing reconnaissance after nuclear testing in the arctic (what could go wrong?) Professor Nesbitt spots a giant prehistoric beast. Nobody believes him at first, but later we follow all the conventions of the genre.

Let’s get this out of the way. 20k fathoms is 120,000 feet, or over three times the depth of the Mariana Trench. I blame Jules Verne. But keep in mind, the beast didn’t come from the ocean. It came from the Arctic ice. Never let logic get in the way of a good movie title, I suppose. Looking at you, Valley of the Zombies.

Inspired by King Kong, it may have been a primary inspiration for Godzilla. This means that our Rhedosaurus beast is the first giant whatzis to be awakened by nuclear testing. While stop motion master Ray Harryhausen worked on Mighty Joe Young four years earlier, this would be his first time as head of the effects department, and he nailed it.

Cecil Kellaway plays the kindly old Paleontologist. That was his type. Most recently I saw him in Harvey. Lee Van Cleef and James Best make brief appearances and Merv Griffin does some voice work. I saw Van Cleef but I missed the others.

The Beast is a very by-the-numbers giant whatzis movie. It plays a little loose with the science but spins an effective yarn. But the important thing is that they didn’t fail with the monster. AMRU 3.5.

It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)

The US Navy, with help from two scientists, fights an enormous hextopus. Will love bloom?

Released two years after “It Came from Outer Space”, it helped solidify the “It Came From” cliche for B movie titles. And say what you will, it is an accurate description of where the It came from. But one big difference between this film and the former is the budget. While From Outer Space was a B movie, From Beneath had practically no budget at all. Ray Harryhausen created his monster with only six legs to save money. Because it’s never seen in full, it is not noticeable. What is sometimes noticeable is that many scenes only got a single take. If it was good enough, it was good enough.

All the tropes of the subgenre are here. Military type partners with nerdy scientists, one being a pretty woman (Faith Domergue), to do some detective work and eventually save the day. Think of films like Them!, Cosmic Monsters, and The Monster That Challenged the World. 50’s audiences were always flabbergasted that a young, attractive woman could be an actual scientist. 50’s sexual politics rears its head again when Commander Pete pursues Domergue’s Professor Joyce a little too aggressively.

Short, watchable, and forgettable, It Came from Beneath the Sea is one of many also-rans of the era. It offers nothing new or interesting. The best think I can say is that it is inoffensive. Unless you are a woman scientist. AMRU 2.5.

The Valley of the Gwangi (1969)

Tuck (James Franciscus), a charming scoundrel, seeks out wild west star and old flame T.J. Breckenridge (Gila Golan) to make a deal for her trained horse. T.J. isn’t initially receptive. Tuck had broken her heart by walking out on her, but she changes her tune when she comes in possession of a tiny horse, a living ancestor of modern horses … ok, ok, it’s Cowboys vs. Dinosaurs.

Old friend Richard Carlson plays the owner of the struggling wild west show, fiercely protective of T.J. Carlson would appear in the Elvis flick Change of Habit later that year, his last feature film. Also, Elvis’. Gila Golan was quite charming as the feisty T.J. Breckenridge, but because of her thick accent, all of her dialog was dubbed. It was noticeable.

All the important elements are present. A secret valley, a blind gypsy fortune teller (in turn of the century Mexico, no less), a bumbling scientist, a spunky sidekick, a love triangle, and a proper character arc for our protagonist. Oh yea, and cowboys and dinosaurs. It’s not exactly a think piece, but for the most part it gets the science right. Because of the time crunch, Ray Harryhausen didn’t finish color testing of his creatures. As such, they were blue-purple in color.

Valley of the Gwangi parallels King Kong (1933) a bit, which tracks as it is based on an abandoned Willis H. O’Brien script. It’s not a bad film, despite itself. It’s goofy in parts but the story makes in-world sense. Having no faith, the studio didn’t promote it, and it predictably bombed. A few years earlier it might have been a sizable success on the drive-in circuit. AMRU 3.

Mighty Joe Young (1949)

An oversized ape is brought to America by a greedy promoter. Things go poorly. Sound familiar? Depictions of African rituals are handled with amazing accuracy and sensitivity.

Sixteen years after King Kong, RKO brought back much of the same team to make Mighty Joe Young. They even reused Fay Wray's screen. Here, a rich little girl on an African plantation buys Gorilla Joe as a baby and they grow up as great friends. And Joe grows to a great size, between eight and twelve feet, depending on the situation. Much larger than real gorillas but tiny compared to Kong’s fantastical 18 to 60 feet, depending on the situation. Pretty Jill is convinced by the promoter (Robert Armstrong) to bring her friend to America for fame and fortune, so no need for gas grenades here. While it was easy to sympathize with the monster Kong, Joe is intended entirely as a sympathetic character.

This was Ray Harryhausen’s first job as special effects animator, and there are a lot of effects on display. Not just Joe, but lions, people, cars, and a climatic building fire. It is easy to criticize the end result (visible wires, overlaid scenes sometimes shake) but this stuff was very new at the time and the effects took fourteen months to complete. I would guess that some sort of special effect was on screen for the majority of the 84 minute runtime.

Ben Johnson played the awe-shucks cowboy sent to Africa to rope the wild animals. He did a lot of westerns so our paths haven’t crossed much. But he was very memorable in The Last Picture Show. Less so in The Outlaw. Many familiar contract players appeared, particularly in the night club scenes. Specifically Ellen Corby (Grandma Walton) and Irene Ryan (Granny Clampett). Charles Lane had appeared in 241 feature films, this being the eleventh I’ve seen him in. He died thirteen years ago at a hundred and two, and somehow has a short film coming out soon.

It is mentioned that Jill’s contract was not legal because she was under aged. Maybe that meant she was under 21 (actress Terry Moore was twenty when the film was released) but in 1949 I suspect that means under 18, which makes the 30ish Johnson going off with her a bit suspect.

Mighty Joe Young isn’t a bad film and the effects were fun, but it comes off as sappy, especially when compared to the masterpiece. It felt targeted more for children. AMRU 2.5. In lieu of a good quote, I’ll leave you with one of Terry’s:

“I hate silicone, because now everyone can have what I have.”

One Million Years B.C. (1966)

Our story begins One Million Years B.C., or 1,001,966 years before the films release, which is an oddly specific date. As the narrator says, this is when the Earth was just beginning. The Earth is 4,543,000,000 years old, so this was when it was a mere 4,541,998,034 years old, which too is an oddly specific date. So, actually, the story begins with us completely dispensing with the idea of it making any scientific or logical sense.

The Rock Tribe, peopled with brunettes, is brutal and warlike. Our hero Tumak is cast out of the tribe during one of their nonsensical grunting and grabbing ceremonies. He finds a cave with water and some sort of indoor pine tree that produces edible fruit, but he has to leave when the Morlocks come. Later he stumbles onto another tribe. Not sure what they were called. The narrator had given up by then. They carried shells with them, so let's call them the SHELL tribe! Yea, that works.

Anyhow, the Shell Tribe is peopled by blonds who make their cave comfortable and inviting. Totally interior decorators, these people are. They are nice and treat this injured new human. He can't stop his grunty and grabby ways, so off he goes with hot Loana (Raquel Welch) in tow. Have we heard this before? Why yes, as it is a remake of the 1940 One Million B.C., a film with basically no dialog, and the story was copied almost verbatim! They added a few more monster fight scenes, and had the talents of Ray Harryhausen, but the end result was amazingly similar.

So, the question is, did this film need to be remade? All it added was color, slightly better effects, and more cleavage. Otherwise it was quite dull. But let's hand it to Hammer Films. It was a HUGE money maker and movie poster is absolutely iconic. Although noticed in Fantastic Voyage, this was this film that made Raquel an international sex symbol.

Having seen the original, I felt I needed to see the remake. Maybe I would have liked it more had the order been reversed, but that's not what happened. Raquel's boobies not-with-standing, this is a fairly uninteresting movie. AMRU 2.5.

20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

Astronauts land 20 Million Miles (from) Earth on a distant, primitive planet called Sicily. Two men are pulled from the rocket by Mario and Luigi who exclaim "What a spicey meat-a-ball!" while a small-a boy sells a cylinder of space goo to a professor so he can buy a cow-boy hat from-a the Texas ...

Ok, enough with the terrible, over-the-top accent. I've never been to the Sicily so I don't-a know if they talk-a that way there, but I'll say it got fairly irritating here. Now, back to our show.

When the professor's hot daughter returns from a day of treating an injured American astronauts she is greeted by a little green lizard friend wandering about (hint: it hatched from the goo). Prof and daughter cage the beastie but come morning it's grown three times it's size. Before they can bring it to the University, it escapes and starts menacing the countryside.

Captain Hero Astronaut Man (William Hopper) wants it captured alive, but the local authorities no like-a the plan very much. As the monster continues to grow, they become desperate.

Not a bad flick. Very King Kong-esque, although not nearly as good. What may have been better was old pal's Harryhausen's work. The nuance in the movement of our Venus creature was quite remarkable. Also remarkable to note that there was a lot of his footage. It was shot in Italy because Ray wanted to visit but couldn't afford the trip himself.

Typical B-movie acting, typical story trajectory. Excellent special effects, for the day. AMRU 3. And, yes. Joan Taylor was just as hot.

"Why is it always, always so costly for Man to move from the present to the future?"

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)

A flying saucer buzzes a scientist and his hot young wife on the way to work, and delivers a critical message. That message was that space aliens want to take over the Earth, but are tired of the whole "lay waste to society" business, so wouldn't it be much better if you give up before we start? Tragically, Dr. Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) doesn't understand the message.

Well, Dr. Marvin's day job involves sending up rockets all day long even though some mysterious force keeps shooting them down. He should ask the saucer people if they've seen anything suspicious.

Meanwhile, back at the top secret military base, a saucer lands thinking it was expected. The soldiers do the predictable and shoot at the space men, which angers our benevolent overlords. They proceed to destroy the base. Except for Dr. Marvin and his hot wife (Joan Taylor), who for some reason are deep underground. They are flown to Washington DC to explain their silly Flying Saucer theory. I guess no videotape survived.

Earth resists, saucers appear invulnerable, secret weapon developed, climax, conclusion, roll credits. 100% pure 50's Sci-Fi fun! But lets discuss the man of the week: Ray Harryhausen.

I watched EvtFS two days before I learned of his death, so when NPR said "Today we remember a pioneer in stop motion animation" I didn't think to myself "I wonder who that could be?" All of the extras on the DVD except maybe the one about the blacklisted and uncredited screenwriter gave extensive praise to Ray. Not only were the saucers his work, but when they would destroy the library of congress or the Washington monument, he was there too. Apparently he was cheaper than a four foot model and a small explosive charge.

Harryhausen apparently called this the least favorite of his films, and I am guessing he was referring to the buildings. Stop motion works for alien creatures and space ships, but the capitol dome blowing up looked more than a little cheesy. Only a guess. I'll see if my library has his book.

A quick word about the leads: Marlowe was the douche-bag boyfriend five years prior in The Day the Earth Stood Still, but now he gets to be the Hero-Scientist. Hottie Taylor also starred in my next Harryhausen movie: 20 Million Miles to Earth. I presume she'll be just as hot. Well written, well acted, excellent pacing, this is a winner in the genre. And when compared to the extremely similar Invisible Invaders made three years later, the latter is revealed as even more of a stinker. AMRU 4.

I'm going with two quotes. One from the movie, one from our pinko-commie screenwriter. See if you can't figure out which is which.

"When an armed and threatening power lands uninvited in our capitol, we don't meet him with tea and cookies!"

"The action by the guild [restoring some of his writing credits] comes about 40 years too late to help my Hollywood career. I sure am angry at the way I was treated by all the major studios. They blacklisted me, and I couldn't get any work in this damn town."

Ray Harryhausen 1920-2013

My goal with starting this blog was to explore my interest in film. I've learned a lot about what I like and don't. Along the way, however, I have become familiar with the names attached to the films I've loved since childhood. One of those names is Ray Harryhausen.

To date I've only blogged on two of his films, but as fate would have it, I had just finished Earth vs. the Flying Saucers and all of the DVD extras the day before learning of his death. I don't wish to expound about "our loss". He lived a full, and by all accounts, fulfilling life. And he gave to us so much, not only in his works, but with the works of those he inspired. Essentially pick a name in the realm of science fiction or fantasy, and you will find they were a fan of Harryhausen. His playful artistry made us believe in the impossible.

While the craft of stop motion is all too evident when viewed onscreen, it accomplished more than to add to the charm. You cannot watch his sequences (otherwise impossible with the technology of the day) without realizing that a human hand was at work. Shoot, move, repeat, thirty frames a second. The labor involved is unheard of in today's CGI world, and he hearkens back to the world of Fritz Lang. On a side note, the DVD I had for Metropolis had an extra explaining how the special effects had to be produced inside the camera itself, and the labor involved. It was truly amazing. Ray Harryhausen produced two to three minutes of footage a day of shooting. With this level of respect for the art and craft involved, I tend to find CGI boring.

I will leave you with a quote from George Lucas about hearing of his death:

"Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no Star Wars"

Maybe, just maybe, you could add a great many other movies to that list.

The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958)

Sinbad is one awesome sailor! At the brink of exhaustion, he navigates his ship to the island of Colossa, where the crew relax for some R&R. Unfortunately, there's this grumpy cyclops who pays them a less than friendly greeting. While bravely running away from the giant, scary monster, they rescue a mysterious wizard who seems totally trustworthy!

They all return to Baghdad where they enjoy themselves in the green zone and plan Sinbad's wedding to Princess Parisa. It seems that Mr. Wizard dropped his lantern-thingie during the rescue and wants Sinbad to raise an army to return to Colossa and defeat the evil cyclops. Sinbad and his kin politely tell him to go pound sand.

Next morning, the hot Princess Parisa wakes up fully refreshed and about three inches tall. Mr. Wizard says the only cure needs the shell from a Roc, which can only be found on the island of Colossa. Hmmm ...

In addition to the roc and cyclops there is a dragon, a skeleton, and other stop-motion fun. Sinbad was obligatory after watching Jason a couple weeks earlier, and it didn't disappoint. I think Jason was a bit better, but I am glad I watched it. My boys are too. AMRU 3.

One note about the hot princess. She was played by the hot Kathryn Grant, who became better known as Kathryn Crosby after marrying some old duff named Bing. She was thirty years his junior and called him a male chauvinist pig after he died. She has since remarried and has had more work done to her face than a strip club bar stool.

Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

The bulk of my TV time allotment was used up by the Olympics. Coinciding with the Olympics, two things events occurred in the last few weeks that have influenced my movie watching. One was my wife insisting we all go see Percy Jackson and the Olympians. We all liked the movie and it got me thinking of the Greek myths. Another thing was that Leonard Maltin suggested The 7th Voyage of Sinbad in his movie a day calendar. No, not Greek by any stretch, but Ray Harryhausen, who did the special effects for Sinbad, later did the effects for Jason and the Argonauts. I was speaking to a scientist at work (one of two people I know who give a damn about pre-CGI movies) and the following day Jason was left at my desk. I promptly watched and returned it.

Pelias learns that the gods have ordained his conquest of the kingdom of Thessaly, so he does. The gods also will that the dead king's son, Jason, will in turn dethrone him. What's a tyrant to do? Kill the ex-King's offspring, of course. But, dang-it, Jason gets away. Of all the luck.

Many years later, Jason bumps into Bad King Pelias but doesn't recognize him. Pelias learns that Jason is hunting for this Golden Fleece, which is supposed to be totally awesome, and Pelias thinks that's nice, because it will send Jason to the ends of the world.

Jason is helped by Hera (played by the hot Honor Blackman), but she can do so only five times. Jason speaks to her through a creepy headpiece attached to the Argo. Quickly Jason uses up his Hera favors and is mostly on his own. He battles Harpies, a giant bronze man, and rocks with a bad attitude. Hercules loses his boyfriend so he takes off to search for him.

Arriving in Colchis, land of the mystical sheep skin, Jason meets Medea, played by the oh-my-god-hot Nancy Kovack. Jason, kills the Hydra (stabbing it worked, go figure), steals the skin (sitting on a dead tree in the middle of nowhere), evades some awesome skeletons, and returns to his boat with the hot Medea.

Only thing left to do now is set sail and ... credits roll. What? No journey back? No confrontation with Pelias? What's the deal? Is there a Jason II? Nope. That's it. Oh, come on!

The two of my boys that watched really liked it. Apparently the mythology presented is fairly accurate, though the benchmark is rather low. The fact that just about everybody's voice was dubbed was annoying, but I would consider seeing it again. AMRU 3.5.

Sinbad has already been picked up from the library. Oh, by the way. Percy Jackson was very accurate to the Greek myths, but apparently not at all to the books. Athena's daughter is hot.