The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

After a long career as an art director, Eugène Lourié made his directing debut with this loose adaptation of “The Fog Horn” (1951), a short story by the legendary Ray Bradbury.

That marked the birth of a great little cult film, whose main points of interest lie in the story’s pioneering structure (the continuous approach of the monstrous menace, the formulation of a strategy capable of dealing with the extraordinary event, the decisive military intervention – these elements all became “de rigueur” in sci-fi films throughout the decade), as well as the entertaining stop-motion animation sequences done by Ray Harryhausen early in his career.

Taking a closer look at the content, despite a diffuse, overarching atmosphere of naïveté, miscellaneous scientific themes are touched upon: the historical and (crypto)zoological front is handled by likeable paleontologist Thurgood Elson, while the debate over the risks vs. benefits of the atomic era is voiced by physicist Tom Nesbitt. This debate was commonplace after World War II, and the film weighs in with an intrinsically contradictory position. On one hand, it raises fears and doubts (“When energy of that magnitude is released, it’s never over. What the cumulative effects of these atomic explosions and tests will be, only time can tell“), on the other hand, it expresses utopian hopes for the future (‘How uncomplicated the past was’. ‘And how bright the future can be’). In that regard, it’s significant to note the fact that it takes a radioactive missile to neutralize the creature and the deadly germs it’s found to be carrying.

All things considered, “The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms” holds up as a lively and visually entertaining film, and we would be remiss if we didn’t mention at least a couple of truly memorable scenes: the destruction of the lighthouse and the final clash at the Coney Island amusement park.

The director returns to the killer-reptile theme with “Behemoth the Sea Monster” (1959) and “Gorgo” (1961).