The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms - Whitley Bay Film Festival

I took another trip out to the Lighthouse as part of The Whitley Bay Film Festival, this time to see The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. Another well chosen film (and another Harryhausen masterpiece) after last years screening of It Came From Beneath the Sea.

Tonight’s film was much better attended than last years which was nice to see. The intros and supporting material were overlong and rather dull, and the film didn’t actually start until 45 minutes after the advertised time. Then, ten minutes after it started, the food orders that had been taken at the door arrived and were distributed, which was a bit distracting. Thankfully that happened during the talky bit of the film, and this film isn’t about the talking!

Once the distractions were over we could settle down and watch the Rhedosaurus wreck a lighthouse, rampage through New York, before finally getting its comeuppance among the rollercoasters of Coney Island. Harryhausen wasn’t just a master of stop-motion, he was better than that, he couldn’t just make you believe, he was able to make you emotionally attached to his creatures. So, while Tom and Lee and the military were celebrating its destruction we were mourning the beast who technology had awoken and was now destroying. Genius.

The leads were mostly forgettable, although I do love how fond 50s sci-fi was of women scientists and experts. Cecil Kellaway was the one bright light in amongst the dull humans.

• Lee Hunter (The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms) - Palaentologist
• Kay Lawrence (The Creature from the Black Lagoon) - Marine scientist
• Professor Lesley Joyce (It Came From Beneath the Sea) - Marine biologist
• Marissa Leonardo (20 Million Miles to Earth) - Medical student
• Helen Dobson (Revenge of The Creature) - Marine biologist
• Dr Ruth Adams (This Island Earth) - Atomic scientist