THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS

The rhedosaurus surfaces in Manhattan

THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (1953). Director: Eugene Lourie. Colorized. 

When Dr. Tom Nesbitt (Paul Christian, aka Paul Hubschmid of The Day the Sky Exploded) of the Atomic Energy Commission is nearly killed by a revivified dinosaur after an atomic test in the Arctic, he has trouble getting anyone to believe his story. Only the testimony of an independent witness from a shipwreck, as well as several bizarre incidents of death and destruction, alert the authorities -- and paleontologist Professor Elson (Cecil Kellaway) -- that Nesbitt may be on to something. Elson spots the enormous creature in a diving bell, which is gulped by the monster. Then the rhedosaurus, as it is called, pops up in New York Harbor and lays waste to Manhattan ... 

The beast swallows a brave police officer (Lee Phelps) 

A big hit for Warner Brothers, Beast was the first time a prehistoric creature stomped across Manhattan since King Kong twenty years earlier. Ray Harryhausen did the stop-motion effects for the film and they are still excellent, with the rhedosaurus being rather beautiful in its own bizarre way. The success of Beast not only inspired Godzilla but engendered a whole slew of monster/creature movies (Warner Brothers followed up Beast with the first giant insect feature, Them!). The sequence when the beast picks up a police officer (Lee Phelps) in its teeth and swallows him whole -- reportedly excised in theaters but shown on television -- is still quite horrifying and very well-handled. 

Paul Christian and Paula Raymond

The actors in this come in second after the monster, but they are professional and convincing, with Christian a solid lead and some fine support from Paula Raymond as Elson's assistant and Kellaway as the ill-fated doctor. (When you go down in a diving bell to look for a monster, you know it won't end well -- this is another very well-handled sequence.) Others in the cast include Kenneth Tobey [It Came from Beneath the Sea] as Colonel Evans; Ross Elliott as the beast's first Arctic victim; King Donovan as a shrink; James Best as a radar operator; Donald Woods as Captain Jackson; Michael Fox as a doctor who determines that the rhedosaurus carries a plague; Lee Van Cleef as the sharpshooter who brings down the beast with a radioactive isotope at Coney Island; Merv Griffin as an (unseen) radio announcer; among others. David Buttolph has contributed an exciting and highly effective score. As usual, the colorizing process adds a new dimension, although this version is very imperfect and a bit fuzzy at times. Eugene Lourie later directed Gorgo and Behemoth the Sea Monster. 

Verdict: Classic monster movie still remains one of the very best. ***1/2.