20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

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	...	Commissario Charra
Jan Arvan	...	Signore 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:

One of the reasons the film takes place in Italy is that Ray Harryhausen always wanted to vacation there but could never afford to go on his own.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: The general and scientist consult a wall map of the world to locate the small village in Sicily where the rocket has crashed. At the end of the scene the camera pulls in for a close-up of Sicily, and we see that there are no city names printed on the map - not even major Sicilian cities like Syracuse or Palermo, let alone a tiny fishing village.

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)

This creature scared me in 1957 - love to see it again.

I saw this gem in 1957 at the Vineland Drive In, La Puente, California (which still exists! Saw Hellboy there last night.) The creature was so believable it scared me into peeking from beneath a blanket. I was eleven. I was hooked. Sci-Fi rules. Harryhausen's work is amazing and reason enough to seek it out. I was thrilled to discover it is available on DVD, and disappointed that some TV stations cut the elephant/creature fight scene for fear of upsetting animal rights folks. I will definitely find that DVD - and thanks to someone for noting the Full screen version is best, the "Wide-screen" is actually cropped top and bottom. I wanna see it all!