The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

Did You Know?

• Original prints of the film were sepia toned.
• Warner Bros. acquired the film for $400,000, $450,000, or $800,000, with sources differing on the exact amount.

Plot

Far north of the Arctic Circle, a nuclear bomb test called "Operation Experiment" awakens a 200-foot-long carnivorous dinosaur known as a Rhedosaurus, thawing it from ice where it had been in suspended animation. Physicist Thomas Nesbitt is the only surviving witness and is dismissed as delirious. The dinosaur travels down the east coast of North America, sinking a fishing ketch off the Grand Banks, destroying another near Marquette, Canada, wrecking a lighthouse in Maine, and damaging buildings in Massachusetts. Nesbitt gains allies in paleontologist Thurgood Elson and his assistant Lee Hunter after a fisherman identifies the dinosaur from drawings. Plotting sightings on a map, Elson proposes the beast is returning to the Hudson River area. In a diving bell search of the undersea Hudson River Canyon, Elson is killed when his bell is swallowed by the creature. The Rhedosaurus comes ashore in Manhattan, devouring a police officer, destroying cars and buildings, and causing panic. A newspaper reports 180 dead, 1500 injured, and $300 million in damage. Military troops led by Colonel Jack Evans blast a hole in the beast's throat with a bazooka, driving it back to sea, but its blood unleashes a prehistoric contagion. To avoid spreading the infection, a radioactive isotope is shot into the neck wound to burn the creature from within.

Production

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms had a production budget of around $200,000, though Lourié, Chester, and Variety gave differing figures. The film was first announced on July 30, 1951, as The Monster from Beneath the Sea, one of 16 titles from Mutual Films Corporation. This came a week after Ray Bradbury's short story "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" appeared in The Saturday Evening Post. During preproduction in spring 1952, Dietz showed Harryhausen an illustration from Bradbury's story, which involved a marine dinosaur destroying a lighthouse; a similar sequence appeared in the draft script. Bradbury visited the studio, pointed out similarities, and the producers bought the rights. Warner Bros. later changed the title to match the story and used Bradbury's name in promotion, with an on-screen credit reading "Suggested by The Saturday Evening Post story by Ray Bradbury." Lou Morheim and Fred Freiberger received sole on-screen screenplay credit, but the script began as producer Jack Dietz's initial treatment. Lourié wrote that he was tasked with getting a playable screenplay quickly and worked with an unnamed friend on a storyline. That draft was polished by writers under contract to Mutual. Later accounts say Lourié, Harryhausen, and writer Robert Smith contributed to subsequent drafts; none were credited. A shooting script at the Margaret Herrick Library credits the screenplay to Louis Morheim and Robert Smith.

Reception

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms met mixed critical reception but unanimous praise for its special effects. Harrison's Reports called it a "fantastic horror-melodrama" and a "highly exciting thriller of its type." Hy Hollinger of Variety lauded Harryhausen's effects, Lourié's direction, and the acting of Christian and Kellaway, while criticizing Raymond's performance as "too still" and "unconvincing." The New York Times gave a lukewarm review, noting that despite the monster rampaging through Wall Street and Coney Island, theater audiences did not flee.

Legacy

The film's financial success and RKO's re-release of King Kong spawned the giant monster film genre of the 1950s. It is considered the first live-action film to feature a giant monster unleashed by an atomic bomb. Ishirō Honda's Godzilla (1954) was heavily inspired by the film; its initial proposal was titled The Giant Monster from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and featured Godzilla destroying a lighthouse. However, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka claimed ignorance of The Beast's existence. Harryhausen believed Godzilla was a rip-off and allegedly disliked the Toho monster after King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962). Harryhausen continued with monster movies like It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955) and 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) before moving to other genres. The Rhedosaurus model was reused for the dragon in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958). Lourié later directed The Giant Behemoth (1958), which he accused himself of plagiarizing from The Beast, and Gorgo (1961). Daiei Film's Gamera, the Giant Monster (1965) depicted a monster awoken by a nuclear explosion in the Arctic that destroys a lighthouse. The film Cloverfield (2008) inserts a frame from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms into its handheld camera footage.