Guest Author - Kirsten Olsen-Keyser

The screenplay for The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is loosely based on a short story by Ray Bradbury that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post under the title The Fog Horn. When nuclear testing in the North Pole wakes a fictional carnivorous dinosaur known as the Rhedosaurus, the beast heads toward its familiar mating grounds near New York City and begins a rampage.

Directed by Eugène Lourié, the film cost roughly $200,000 to make, was sold to Warner Brothers for about $400,000 and went on to gross $5 million. The film is one of Lourié’s finest of the four Monster/Sci-Fi movies he directed in the 1950’s including The Giant Behemoth , Gorgo and The Colossus of New York . Along with Them!, The Beast… marked the beginning of the nuclear-manufactured creature model that would become extremely popular in the 50’s.

Paul Hubschmid stars as the Professor Tom Nesbitt, a nuclear scientist who barely escapes his encounter with the deadly dinosaur just after it is awoken from its slumber. Hubschmid would later appear in two Fritz Lang movies of the 50’s, The Indian Tomb and The Tiger of Eschnapur . Horror maven Paula Raymond as the character of Dr. Lee Hunter is one of a handful of people that are convinced early on of the beast’s existence. She persuades Nesbitt to examine an assortment of drawings to help identify the beast. The drawings are those of celebrated American artist Charles R. Knight who was admired for his lavish depictions of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. Creature designer and special effects guru for The Beast… Ray Harryhausen was a huge fan of Knight’s work and stated on many occasions that his drawings were an inspiration for much of his own work.

The Beast… is one of the more fast paced, better written and directed monster movies of the 1950’s. Though many tried to imitate its success few came close to beating out the sheer excitement and awe of Harryhausen’s Rhedosaurus. Even Tonka and Honda admitted to stealing a few elements for Godzilla.

The Beast… served as Harryhausen’s first solo feature film endeavor after working with Willis O’Brien on Mighty Joe Young . Harryhausen continues to be a household name due to his creature work that has spanned some thirty years culminating in such classics as The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans.


Director: Eugène Lourié

Writers: Ray Bradbury (original Story)
Fred Freiberger
Eugène Lourié

MPAA Rating: G with some moments of terror no suitable for small children

Trivia: During the shoot of this film, Harryhausen perfected his technique of splitting the background and foreground of pre-shot live action footage into two separate pieces of film so that it would seem that the creature was walking among the buildings of New York City.