20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Nathan Juran

Writers:

Robert Creighton Williams (screenplay) &
Christopher Knopf (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

June 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Monster from outerspace runs wild!

Plot:

The first U.S. spaceship to Venus crash-lands off the coast of Sicily on its return trip. A dangerous, lizard-like creature comes with it and quickly grows gigantic.

Plot Keywords:

Venus | Military | Sicily | Alien | Young Boy

Cast

William Hopper	...	Colonel Robert Calder
Joan Taylor	...	Marisa Leonardo
Frank Puglia	...	Dr. Leonardo
John Zaremba	...	Dr. Judson Uhl
Thomas Browne Henry	...	Major General A.D. McIntosh (as Thomas B. Henry)
Tito Vuolo	...	Police Commissioner Charra
Jan Arvan	...	Contino - Government Official
Arthur Space	...	Dr. Sharman
Bart Braverman	...	Pepe (as Bart Bradley)

Also Known As:

The Beast from Space
The Giant Ymir (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Finland:K-15 (2000) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | South Korea:All | South Korea:All (2008) | Australia:PG | UK:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #18428) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Ponte St. Angelo, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Morningside Productions

Trivia:

Since he planned to use a real elephant for some of the footage in the zoo, Ray Harryhausen asked for one that was 15 feet tall, but the film was only able to procure an eight-foot-tall one for him. In order to make the elephant look much bigger, a 4'6" actor was cast to play the zookeeper.

Goofs:

Continuity: Near the beginning of the film, William Hopper has obviously been in the hospital for a few days but when he finally wakes up and jumps out of bed, he is wearing a perfectly-pressed uniform.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mondello: Pepe! Is it your desire that the fishes, they swim away? Come on! Pull up on the net, here.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Deadly Spawn (1983)

Harryhausen delivers --- as always!

The thing that distinguished Ray Harryhausen's movies from other '50s science fiction pictures was truth in advertising. Other producers crammed their posters with all kinds of things you knew you were never going to see on the screen, but with Harryhausen you got what was advertised and then some, whether it was flying saucers decimating Washington or (as in this case) a giant Venusian reptile terrorizing Rome. This movie is fast-paced, well-made, and intelligently crafted. The scene in the barn is a gem. And enough of this crap about the special effects being old fashioned. We're not talking about fashion here, children, we're talking about art. Stop-motion is an art form in itself and it may only appeal to minority tastes but so what. To slam Haryhausen's work for not looking like CGI graphics is like criticizing Rembrandt for creating pictures with a brush and paint instead of using a digital camera. Fashions change, art endures. That's your lesson for today.