20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

	Director: Nathan Juran
	Starring: William Hopper, Joan Taylor, Frank Puglia, John Zaremba
	Run Time: 82 mins
	Certificate: PG
	Rating:

Plot
The first spaceship to Venus crash-lands off the coast of Sicily on its return trip but the crew have unknowingly brought an egg back with them that hatches and the small creature escapes. It no time at all it grows to enormous size and only asserts its physical presence when threatened, which naturally occurs when the military try to stop it from destroying Rome.

Review
One of special effects legend Ray Harryhausen's earlier films, 20 Million Miles to Earth would just be any other 50s "monster-on-the-loose" science fiction B-movie if it wasn't for the presence of his magic. The plot is nothing new and the film runs like clockwork. In fact most of these sci-fi films have no hidden meanings about atomic testing or space travel, they're simply special effects vehicles where a film has been constructed around set pieces. Harryhausen's films are no exception and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone to argue against that. I don't know of any other artist in Hollywood who has ever dwarfed the rest of the film in such a way as Harryhausen did. Audiences didn't care for the director or the cast - they're simply playing second fiddle in these films. They were there to see the master at work and bring to life whatever creatures he had to.

20 Million Miles to Earth is bogged down with the same sort of wobbly scripts, laughable acting and sci-fi jargon that the rest of it's brethren were hindered by. Take away Harryhausen's special effects and you've got a rather lackluster affair which

The Ymir, the Venusian creature, is more like-like and believable than all of the humans involved. It has something about it which makes you root for the creature - a real sense of humanity about it. He gave all of his creations little characteristics which make them stand head and shoulders above anything else. Marvel at the sight of the small creature hatching out of from its shell and then rubbing it's eyes as it struggles to adjust itself to Earth's atmosphere. Little touches like this make all of the difference. Part of the reason for sympathising with the creature is that the human cast are so dull.

Not only does the creature come alive but it partakes in some impressive set pieces. There's an engrossing fight between it and an elephant in the streets of Rome and the finale inside the Colosseum is outstanding for it's time. It's sort of an alien version of the finale of King Kong where a frightened creature,

Unfortunately all of this happens too late in the film and although the monster is fleetingly glimpsed early on, it's only the second half of the film in which it really springs to life. Before that time, be prepared to endure a never-ending assault of clichéd characters cheesy dialogue,

It's one of those typical sci-fi B-movies from the 50s obsessed with aliens and giant monsters but Ray Harryhausen's special effects are once again there to be marvelled at. He manages to make the Ymir (the monster) more life-like and believable than all of the actors involved! It has something about it, which makes you root for the creature, instead of the 'evil' humans trying to kill it. You could compare it with Frankenstein in the way that the creature is made out to be innocent. But part of the reason for sympathising with the creature is because the human cast is so dull. Only when the creature is on screen is the film any good. The fight with the elephant in the streets of Rome is highly impressive as is the finale inside the Colosseum. But all of this happens far too late in the film. Almost nothing happens early on and the monster is only fleetingly glimpsed in it's early stages. This is the 50s so be prepared for some really cheesy dialogue (no doubt you'll have heard practically the same lines in the other b-movies around at the time) and clichéd characters, tepid love plots, army generals who run out of ideas to defeat the monster, plenty of soldiers firing at the first thing they see, etc. It's run-of-the-mill barring the FX.

Verdict
This a decent film for fans of this genre but nothing more. Harryhausen's special effects deserve better and thankfully he did with his next film - the eternally superb The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.