“The creature has to be taken alive!”
There really isn’t much of a plot to 1957’s 20 Million Miles To Earth. When a top secret U.S. Air Force spaceship crashes in the Mediterranean Sea, a young boy unwittingly frees a small creature from a protective case and sells it to a local doctor. The creature grows at a quick rate and in no time is larger than an elephant! It goes on a rampage across Rome while the U.S. military and local Italian police officials attempt to capture it. Sure, there’s some mention of studying the creature’s biological makeup in order to create a breathing apparatus for explorers on Venus, but that’s not why we watch a film like this. We watch it to see the creature destroy things and, boy, it definitely destroys things!
The film stars William Hopper as Colonel Robert Calder, the only survivor of the mission to Venus. He is patched up after crash landing by Marisa Leonardo (Joan Taylor), a medical student who is staying with her uncle, Dr. Leonardo (Frank Puglia), who initially purchases the creature from a little boy named Pepe (Bart Braverman, credited as Bart Bradley). Calder, the local commissario (Tito Vuolo), and others team up to catch the beast and do so on a number of occasions, only for the creature to escape and go on yet another rampage. Each rampage is worse than the last as the creature continues to grow.
While the story itself is pretty thin, it’s the special effects work of the legendary Ray Harryhausen that make this film so much better than it really is. Harryhausen lets us watch the creature battle a dog and a farmer. Then we see it have an epic battle in the streets of Rome with an elephant. All of the action reaches a pinnacle as the beast takes out legendary parts of Rome and makes its final stand at the Colosseum. Does the beast win? Watch 20 Million Miles To Earth in order to find out what happens!
Two versions of the film exist. The original released in 1957 was shot in black and white despite Harryhausen hoping for a color film. In 2007, in celebration of the movie’s fiftieth anniversary, Harryhausen teamed up with Legend Films in order to release a colorized version. There are only minor differences in the two films, but both can be purchased together or watched separately on a number of streaming services.
The film really is just okay. The only reason to watch it is to see some of Harryhausen’s best work on the screen. Harryhausen has often cited this film as his personal favorite, and it’s easy to understand why: Ymir is a beautiful creation and it was cool to see how Harryhausen created human, dog, and elephant stop motion creatures as well. The final battle alone is worth watching this film.
Have you seen 20 Million Miles To Earth? Let me know in the comments. As always, thanks for checking out my post. See you at a convention real soon!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 