Lobby Card Collection - 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)

Dir: ROBERT GORDON
Country: USA

AKA:
Monster from Beneath the Sea

It Came from Beneath the Sea marked the first occasion that producer Charles H. Schneer and visual effects wizard Ray Harryhausen collaborated. The two filmmakers would establish a partnership that would survive throughout the 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s finally coming to rest with Clash of the Titans (1981). This alone provides the movie with historical importance, even if the content was highly derivative and presented in a somewhat staid and lifeless fashion. Harryhausen’s art was still very much in its infancy at this point, the animated effects he provided for The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) marked him out as a rare and special talent, and here he gets an opportunity too expand his scope with the creation of a giant Octopus. The earlier film is an important reference point because Beneath the Sea is virtually a carbon copy, and adds very little to what was presented in 20,000 Fathoms. It also lacks the charm and dynamism of the earlier picture and a comparison between the two sees Beneath the Sea come off significantly worse. It is possible the film was also influenced by the success of Gojira (1954), itself hugely indebted to 20,000 Fathoms, but important for continuing to prove their was an eager market for giant radioactive creatures from the ocean depths.

20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

Dir: NATHAN JURAN

Country: USA

20 Million Miles to Earth is an interesting if largely forgettable science-fiction film from the heyday of the genre in the 1950’s. However the film has one or two noteworthy aspects to it that separates it from other examples of the time. The first of these is an Italian setting. The film opens in a fishing village off the coast of Sicily. The calm heat of a Mediterranean afternoon is shattered when a rocket suddenly appears in the sky and crashes into the sea. The bewildered fisherman scatter like a shoal of fish, but fortunately a couple of brave fellows are on hand to investigate the possibility of survivors. We later discover that the rocket was returning from an expedition to Venus and the only survivor Colonel Robert Calder (William Hopper) is keen to get his hands on a cylinder brought back from the mysterious planet. Pretty soon the might of the US military led by Major General McIntosh (Thomas Browne Henry) has descended on the sleepy village. Urgency is the order of the day as the cylinder which contains the egg of a weird lizard like creature from Venus has found its way into the hands of the zoologist Dr. Leonardo (Frank Puglia) and his daughter Marisa (Joan Taylor). The creatures adaptation to the atmosphere is terrifying and unique as it starts to grow to massive proportions. Eventually the creature is caught and chained up in a zoo in Rome, but he soon escapes to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting Italian populace.