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| Harryhausen delivers --- as always! (by horrorfilmx) |
| 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. <more> |
| Excellent Film (by mz4392) |
| In 1957 this was state of the art technology. The film is about a returning probe from the planet Venus although, only the commander survived. Landing near a small fishing village near Italy a small boy recovers a capsule front the sinking probe.The capsule contained an embryo of a Venusians inhabitant which resembled a lizard sort of creature, the creature was by default adopted by a circus show. In travel it was provoked and escaped. After many reports pf a creature the commander caught up with the creature and captured it. The creature's main staple was super and it was captured at a <more> |
| Ahhhh....Ray Harryhausen (by venuschick64) |
| This movie is one of my all time favorites.I am a huge admirer of Ray Harryhausen and this gem doesn't disappoint.Some here say the acting and script are weak and to see this movie only for the creature.I agree that the Ymir is the show stealer here,but the acting is par for the course 50's monster fare.William Hopper is always sexy and fun to watch in all of his 50ish creature/sci fi flicks he made.He is also in another of my favorites , The Deadly Mantis 1957 ..he is always a pleasure to see.The other actors in my opinion weren't too bad either,I especially like Frank <more> |
| A Time Capsule (by princeton67-1) |
| Excellent in the way a classic car is excellent: The accepted standards of the past. Col. Calder Paul Drake of Perry Mason fame is always lighting a cigarette; every speaking actor wears a coat and tie or a uniform; the women, dresses. Except for the one Japanese scientist, everyone is white; the Italians speak English with an Italian accent, even to each other. The supporting actors are memorable. Commissioner Chiara is voluble and excitable; Pepe,clever and fixated on his Texas hat and horse. Paying Pepe his half-million lira, the officer utters a classic line: "I have to see a man <more> |
| King Kong? (by littlenemo) |
| Although this may be viewed by many as an alien "king kong", it still was an above average sci-fi movie for its time. Ray Harryhausen's effects and design of the "Ymir" the name he gave to the creature but wasn't used in the film, makes this a very entertaining film from start to finish. I give it a 9!! |
| "Fascinating! Horrible, But Fascinating!"... (by azathothpwiggins) |
| Another glorious example of Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion monstrosities, 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH features everyone's favorite monster from Venus, the Ymir- a reptilian creature, released from an egg, that grows from pint-size to economy-size at an astounding rate! The monster is caught, only to escape and go on an obligatory rampage of deadly destruction! The best thing about 20MMTE is that the Ymir gets a lot of screen time, making it one of the stars of the movie, as opposed to being just another rarely-shown threat. William Hopper, having just matched wits w/ THE DEADLY MANTIS, <more> |
| Excellent example of the work of Ray Harryhausen (by spamaramma) |
| This movie is a prime example of the work of one of the masters of stop-motion animation, a form of art that is rapidly being supplanted by CGI. Ray Harryhausen was the ultimate master of this technique, having trained under the likes of Willis O'Brian. His work is still the inspiration for many of the special effects wizards today. Granted, the movies of the 1950's do seem stilted and silly, but quite frankly, the worst of them are probably still superior to most of the direct-to-video drek produced today, and likely better than most of the films produced by major studios. I was <more> |
| Fast-Moving & Fun Flick From The Fifties (by ccthemovieman-1) |
| I think the best thing about this movie is that it's fast-moving. The filmmakers don't waste a lot of time with unnecessary dialog or a sappy romance. They get right to it and stay on track for almost all of the 82 minutes.Thus, if you like somewhat-hokey 1950s science-fiction movies dealing with space or monsters, or in this case both of them, you should enjoy this little film. Most of it involves trying to cope with a specimen from Venus which quickly grows into a Godzilla-like monster but smaller .It seems a space ship had gone to Venus, but crashed on the way home. Only good-guy <more> |
| See it for the monster (by McGonigle) |
| Let's state the obvious right off the bat. If it weren't for the stop-motion animation in this film, it would be simply awful. Awful acting, awful script, mediocre direction, this film has it all. But once the monster appears on screen, none of that matters. Ray Harryhausen's animation is, as always, simply spellbinding, giving the monster, paradoxically, both a heightened reality as it really is a physical object photographed in "real life" and a dreamlike quality. It's easy to see how Harryhausen's work set the standards for monster special effects until Star <more> |