The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms / Them! (Double Feature) Review
When one compiles a list of the great sci-fi films of the fifties, that list must include "Them!" and "Beast from 20,000 Fathoms." Besides being made during the same decade, the two films have so much in common:
1) They were both produced and released by Warner Brothers.
2) Both feature actors in supporting roles as the "old scientist," Edmund Gwenn in "Them" and Cecil Kellaway in "Beast", respectively.
3) Both films have then-state-of-the-art special effects, though "Beast" sports the best with the handiwork of the legendary Ray Harryhausen on his first "solo" project.
4) The "monsters" in both films were the result of atomic bomb testing, a plot device stemmed from the fear fostered in many following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
5) Both films have the necessary female "expert" to "equal things out, Joan Weldon ("Them!") and Paula Raymond ("Beast"). Weldon even gets to do the required scream when saved from the marauding ant hordes.
What's fun about both is that viewers get to see some novice performers who would later make their mark on television or the big screen. "Them!" stars future-Matt-Dillon James Arness and in supporting roles future-Davy-Crockett-and-Daniel Boone Fess Parker as well as Leonard Nimoy would would later don pointed eyes as the legendary Mr. Spock. ""Beast" has future movie star Lee Van Cleef as a marksman that brings down the monster.
Still-going-strong-at-87 character actor William Schallert has a small part in "Them!", also.
The picture and sound is very good for films that are fifty-plus years old.
The extras include a fascinating conversation between Harryhausen and longtime friend Ray Bradbury whose "The Fog" was the inspiration for "Beast."
The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms / Them! (Double Feature) Feature
- Humanity has split the atom, unleashing a new era of science - an era that would also unleash monstrous celluloid rampages. An A-bomb test in the Arctic awakens The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and it makes New York City its stomping ground in the movie (based on a story by Ray Bradbury) that launched a string of Atomic Age creature features. One of the best of those cautionary yarns is Them! Radiat
The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms / Them! (Double Feature) Overview
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Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: UN
Release Date: 22-AUG-2006
Media Type: DVD
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