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Stars:
Paul Christian, Paula Raymond, Ceil Kellaway, Kenneth Tobey, Donald Woods, Jack
Pennick, Lee Van Cleef, Steve Brodie, and Ross Elliott
Writers:
Lou Morhem and Fred Freiberger
Suggested
By The Sensational “Saturday Evening Post” Story By: Ray Bradbury
Director:
Eugene Lourie
Feature
length: 80 minutes
Extras:
The Rhedosaurus And The Roller Coaster: Making The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms
Featurette, Harryhausen & Bradbury: An Unfathomable Friendship, Trailers
Languages:
English and French Language Monaural Soundtrack
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Snap Case
Chapter
Stops: 25
Sound:
Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1953/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Warner Home Video
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
After
an atomic bomb is detonated in the arctic, a giant rhedosaurus, mutated from the
radiation, begins a deadly rampage as it moves toward New York City after a
100-million year slumber. “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms” was inspired by a
short story by Ray Bradbury published in the “Saturday Evening Post” and was
the first film to feature Ray Harryhausen’s effects produced solely by the
great Master himself. In addition, the film was produced independently and then
purchased by Warner Brothers for approximate $450 thousand dollars and went on
to earn millions and usher in the era of atomic age creatures run amuck. The
rampage in lower Manhattan complete with the memorable scene of a cop being
devoured by the creature and the Coney Island confrontation are excellent.
Kenneth Tobey (The Thing From Another World” and Western legend Lee Van Cleef
appear in the film.
Presented
in the original (1.33:1) aspect ratio of the film’s theatrical release, “The
Beast From 20,000 Fathoms” looks marvelous on DVD with a wonderful grayscale
and nice contrasts. A clear English and a French Language Monaural Soundtrack
are encoded onto the dual layered DVD along with English Captions and Closed
Captions for the hearing impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles as
options.
To
celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the film, Warner Home Video has included
two featurettes that contain an interview with Ray Harryhausen discussing the
film, which started his career that would span through 16 features between 1953
and 1981 (6:12). Approximately 13 of these movies are available in Region One,
North America on DVD from Warner Home Video and Columbia TriStar Home
Entertainment respectively. Harryhausen denies the rumor that the mythical
rhedosaurus was somehow a play on his own name.
Next
is a taped seminar from June of 2003 with Ray Harryhausen and Ray Bradbury, who
share many anecdotes about their friendship and careers as well as their
genuinely deep admiration for each other (16:50). Trailers for “The Beast From
20,000 Fathoms” (2:33), “The Valley Of Gwangi”
(2:41), “Clash Of The Titans”
(1:48), and “The Black Scorpion”
(2:08) wrap up the bonus features on this DVD. The menus are standard
interactive still frames that are easy to navigate.
Collectively
all four of the films mentioned above in the trailers section as well as the ten
Harryhausen classics distributed by Columbia TriStar (you can find reviews
for all of them by searching through the site archives) are a must addition
for any Harryhausen fan’s DVD collection and the three recently released
Warner Home Video DVD editions of “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms,” “The
Valley Of Gwangi,” and “The Black
Scorpion” also make for a terrific triple feature set. “The Beast From
20,000 Fathoms” is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on and offline from
Warner Home Video.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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