Harryhausen Beast

 

THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS-1953-In the Arctic, Prof. Tom Nesbitt (Paul Hubschmid aka Paul Christian) & Colonel John Evans (Kenneth Tobey) await the arrival of a plane as part of "Operation Experiment", an atomic explosion. While checking for radiation Nesbitt and his pal Prof. Ritchie (Ross Elliot) run into a giant dinosaur which causes an avalanche. Nesbitt is rescued. 

Of course Evans and his doctor (Frank Ferguson) and a psychiatrist (King Donovan) don't believe him. After the monster sinks a ship and Nesbitt reads about it he hightails it to NYC to convince Prof. Elson (Cecil Kellaway) to organize an expedition. His assistant Lee (Paula Raymond) tries to be helpful but to no avail. Eventually Nesbitt convinces Elson the monster exists and asks Evans to help. He in turn asks his Coast Guard friend (Donald Woods) for assistance and finds out the monster wrecked a lighthouse in Maine. When Edson goes down in a diving bell he encounters the monster confirming its existence. Unfortunately he's killed and the monster attacks Manhattan. 

People flee in terror, buildings are wrecked, cars are crushed and in the movie's most famous scene a cop is lifted by his head and eaten. It's also discovered that the beast is carrying deadly germs. Nesbitt says shooting it with a radioactive isotope is the only way to kill it. He and an army sharpshooter (Lee Van Cleef) wind up on a roller coaster in a Coney Island like setting to destroy the beast. 

BEAST was one of the biggest money making films for 1953. Eugene Lourie does a fine job directing and there's lots of familiar characters throughout but of course what really makes this film is the excellent stop motion animated giant monster created by the one and only Ray Harryhausen. His painstaking effects are incredible! Based in part on a short story by Ray Bradbury.

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Harryhausen!

 

IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA-1955-Commander Pete Mathews (Kenneth Tobey) and professor Leslie Joyce (Faith Domergue; in THIS ISLAND EARTH the same year) are friendemies investigating a strange occurrence at sea. Brilliant scientist John Carter (Donald Curtis) joins them. They figure out it's a giant octopus which attacks and sinks a ship. While checking out the incident the trio come face to face with the monster and it kills a local deputy (Harry Lauter). Later it attacks the Golden Gate Bridge. Pete and John head a submarine to blow up the creature after it terrorizes San Francisco. It traps their sub and Pete has to go out and plant explosives. 

Despite a low budget this features some great Ray Harryhausen sfx. Too bad director Robert Gordon (THE JOE LOUIS STORY; a former actor) went into TV soon after this.

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