20 Million Miles To Earth (1957)

Harryhausen makes the most from the least

20 Million Miles To Earth is visual effects wizard Ray Harryhausen's 1957 black and white interplanetary King Kong remake, as well as a tribute to his stop motion photography mentor Willis O'Brien. No, it's not a direct analogy, but there are so many scene for scene knockoffs from Kong that one must believe that only Harryhausen could have gotten away with so much theft (read that as `homage') from his mentor without facing a lawsuit. Yes, technically, the film was directed by noted B film maven Nathan Juran (The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad), but it's a very standard film, wholly carried into the memory by Harryhausen's skills.
That stated, it's also a very enjoyable film....The film also features a classic 1950s era opening narrative about `SCIENCE!': `Great scientific advances are often times sudden accomplished facts before most of us are dimly aware of them. Breathtakingly unexpected, for example, was the searing flash that announced the atomic age. Equally unexpected was the next gigantic stride, when man moved out of his very orbit to a point more than 20 Million Miles To Earth!' Cue the start of the film! And the end is just as priceless. Didacticism is always good for a guffaw in sci fi films.
But, 20 Million Miles To Earth offers more than a few condescending chuckles; it offers a glimpse into a not too long ago time when wonder was still enough to propel a film. Nowadays, too many people ruin films by asking questions that the films acknowledge as givens, and need far too many special effects, as they are too lazy to imbue, and actively participate in art. Ray Harryhausen and Nathan Juran's film does more with less than many films that came later, and even if that sentiment is trite, it's also true. And 20 Million Miles To Earth is a highly enjoyable film, no matter how cookie cutter it is. After all, what determines the success of a cookie is not its shape, but its taste, and that comes from its ingredients, not its mold. What Harryhausen had in his best films was a good recipe, and alot of talent, to fit into some very old and familiar molds. Thus why they are still savored to this day, no matter how many times the hand has held such before.
September 4, 2008

Great DVD set!

The extras on disc 2 (already pointed out in other reviews) are excellent. The colorization is superb. I compared the color version to other color sci-fi or horror movies made at around the same time and this colorized version holds up great. I, for one, feel so fortunate that Harryhausen is still alive to supervise this colorization and to offer his commentary to this DVD set. This is a must-have for a Harryhausen fan. August 16, 2008

Black and White Blu-ray

Above average sci-fi 50's film and shows how great black and white can look on Blu-ray. Highly recommended to fans of this genre. July 8, 2008

Venus Schmenus...this thing is pretty neat even at 50 yrs old.

Well, while this is another level of brilliance by Ray Harryhausen, it is not one of my favorite movies but I grabbed it because I enjoy watching it from time to time. Basically this movie got the same treatment that IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA got (see my other review) as far as the colorization and features. This time, our feature critter crash lands in the sea off Rome and a boy finds a capsule contain a gel like substance, which turns out to be protection for.......our critter, once hatched, our critter begins to grow rapidly because of earth's air supply and soon becomes large enough to be a real pain in the butt and starts wreaking havoc all over Rome. While entertaining to watch, there are others in the Harryhausen series that are better but that's just a personal opinion. It is definitely good enough to add to your Sci-Fi Library for sure. May 5, 2008

Good nostalgic fun

Great example of Science fiction B movies of the 50's. If you love that kind of stuff, you will love this. If not, don't bother. April 5, 2008

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