Stars:
William Hopper and Joan Taylor
Writers:
Bob Williams and Christopher Knope
Based
On A Story By: Charlotte Knight
Director:
Nathan Juran
Feature
length: 83 minutes
Extras:
The Harryhausen Chronicles, “The Is Dynamation” Featurette, Trailers
Languages:
English Monaural Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1957/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Columbia
TriStar is releasing another film in the “Ray Harryhausen Signature
Collection,” this time digging into his black and white films with “20
Million Miles To Earth.” After a voyage to Venus where precious minerals were
discovered, the return rocket ship suffers damage from an asteroid collision and
crashes into the sea off the coast of Sicily. Aboard the ship is a specimen that
washes ashore. Sold to a zoologist, the “Ymir” grows at a frightening rate,
as it becomes a threat to the people of Italy.
The
notable aspect of Harryhausen’s “Ymir” is that the creature is really as
much of a victim as the terrified Italian citizens. Yes it is something to be
captured, but not something that should have ever been taken back to Earth. The
“Ymir” is reacting to an unknown alien and hostile environment. The other
sole survivor from the mission, an Air force Astronaut (Guess there was no NASA
yet) states, “the creature is only ferocious when provoked.” So when the creature is finally hunted down, Harryhausen
manages to evoke a sense of sympathy for the monster not seen in other films
from that era.
Down
converted from a new high definition master, Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
presents “20 Million Miles To Earth” in both a matted widescreen (1.85:1)
aspect ratio and a (1.33:1) aspect ratio with English Two-Channel Monaural Sound
and optional English Captions and Closed Captions and French Language Subtitles.
The picture quality is somewhat uneven with some scenes showing visible grain
from age while others are very sharp, but a little too dark in appearance. The
English Two Channel Monaural Soundtrack is clear though somewhat low.
As
with previous installments of the series on DVD, Columbia TriStar has included
the 3-½ minute featurette “This Is Dynamation,” which shows a mix of color
and black and white footage from Harryhausen’s “The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad.”
The featurette is notable for some footage showing star Kerwin Mathews shadow
fencing where eventually the dynamation skeleton that appears in the finished
feature will be. “The Harryhausen Chronicles” is the 58-minute documentary
narrated by Leonard Nimoy that feature clips from various Harryhausen features
and early films along with videotaped interviews with Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury
and behind the scenes photos as well as those filmmakers and effects gurus his
work has inspired. While you can find this documentary on almost all of the
Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment DVD titles that make up their continuing
“Ray Harryhausen Signature Collection,” I am still glad they do make it a
point to include it for three reasons. The first reason is the documentary is a
great introduction for anyone not familiar with Harryhausen’s work and the
second reason is that Harryhausen is a man with a love of fantasy whose work in
stop motion animation is still impressive even when compared to the dazzling CGI
effects of today because of the human element Harryhausen bought to his work,
and finally I just think it is a great documentary that I never grow bored of
watching. A full-framed trailer for “20 Million Miles To Earth” and a
full-framed trailer for “The Three Worlds Of Gulliver” wrap up the extra
features on this dual layered DVD. The menus are standard interactive still
frames that are easy to navigate.
“20
Million Miles To Earth: Ray Harryhausen Signature Collection” will debut on
DVD-Video on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.
Other titles in the ongoing DVD series that include “The Seventh Voyage Of
Sinbad,” “The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad,” “Sinbad And The Eye Of The
Tiger,” “Jason And The Argonauts,” “The Three Worlds Of Gulliver,” and
“First Men In The Moon” are available on DVD-Video now as well from Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.