A Big Beast

 

 (imdb)

THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN-1956-If you are looking for a good giant monster flick, you might be disappointed. Nearly half of this movie is a love triangle between Mexico based American rancher Jim (Guy Madison), local jealous trouble making rancher Enrique (Eduardo Noriega) and his fiancée Sarita (Patricia Medina) under the shadow of the haunted Hollow Mountain. Town big shot Don Pedro (Julio Villarreal) tries to smooth things over but is no help. 

After comical drunk Pancho (Garcia Pena) disappears into the mountain, a giant (badly animated) dinosaur shows up to munch cattle and start a stampede just as Sarita goes looking for Pancho's son, Panchito (Mario Navarro; also a pest in THE BLACK SCORPION the next year). Jim and his partner Felipe (Carlos Rivas; later in THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN (1968)) try to stop the stampede from heading to town where a huge wedding festival is taking place. They are unsuccessful but Enrique's treachery is revealed. Sarita and Panchito encounter the monster while looking for dad. It's Jim vs. Dyno in the finale with Jim only using a pistol and knife to stave off the prehistoric attack when he and Enrique are trapped in a cave. After Enrique becomes dyno meat, Jim lures the dino into quicksand to save the day. The rear projection effects are terrible. 

Two directors are credited, American Edward Nassour and Mexican Ismael Rodriguez. It was the first full length giant dinosaur movie filmed in color (Toho's RODAN would be second). The legendary Willis O'Brien is credited as one of the writers but the sfx are by someone else. O'Brien worked on a similar story for several years after until his death. It was eventually filmed as THE VALLEY OF THE GWANGI.

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More Harryhausen

 

 (themoviedb)

THE CLASH OF THE TITANS-1981-Baby Perseus and his mom are sacrificed to the sea by evil king, Acrisius (Donald Houston). But Perseus is actually the Son of Zeus who had a dalliance with mom Danae. Zeus orders Poseidon (Jack Gwillin) to release the Kraken and destroy the king's city. He also makes sure mom & son are safe on an island. Later when Perseus (Harry Hamlin) has grown, the goddess Thetis (Maggie Smith), mad that Zeus (Sir Lawrence Olivier) has condemned her son Calibos (Neil McCarthy), transports Perseus to the cursed city Joppa where he meets playwright Ammon (Burgess Meredith). The gods send him a sword, shield and helmet that makes him invisible. In the city, he uses the helmet to gain access to visit the princess, Andromeda (Judi Bowker), former fiancé to Calibos. He watches while her soul is carried off in a cage by a huge vulture. He captures the winged horse Pegasus so he can follow the vulture. Trailing the giant bird leads him to the swamp of Calibos, who has laid the curse on Joppa, because of his love for the princess. When A's mother, the queen (Sian Phillips) offers up her daughter, Perseus wins her and makes Calibos break the curse. Later Thetis demands Andromeda be sacrificed to the Kraken or Joppa will be destroyed. Ammon figures 3 witches (Freda Jackson, Anna Mahanan & Flora Robeson) will know how to stop the Kraken so Perseus, Andromeda and Ammon go to find them after Pegasus is kidnapped by Calibos. Perseus loses his helmet but that's replaced by Bubo, a mechanical owl! The witches tell him to go to the isle of the dead and slay the Medusa. Her head will turn the Kraken to stone. They encounter a skeleton ferry man, a two headed dog and bow and arrow wielding serpents. Then giant scorpions created by Medusa’s blood (thanks to Colicos). After Perseus and Colicos have a showdown, with Bubo's help, Perseus gets Pegasus back and saves the day and Andromeda. Also with Claire Bloom as Hera, Ursula Andress and pro-wrestler Pat Roach. 

This of course features wonderful stop action sfx by the legendary Ray Harryhausen which is the highlight of this ok all-star production. Directed by Desmond Daves and written by Beverley Cross who earlier had penned JASON AND THE ARGONAUNTS (1963) and SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER (1977).

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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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