Reviews of 20 Million Miles to Earth 1957
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i remember this being good
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Everything I expect a 50s sci-fi film to be and I mean that in a good way.
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finally managed to finish it, watched it for days and kept falling asleep.
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Aside from Ray Harryhausen’s groundbreaking visual effects, 20 Million Miles to Earth lacks any of the originality or imagination that the science fiction genre is renowned for. From the moment it begins the audience are bombarded with painful dialogue, stock characters, stale performances and monotonous exposition. The whole project, it seems, is nothing more than a platform in which the legendary visual effects master can showcase his talents, and maybe that’s the way this film should be approached. While the…
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"The scientists here believe that the earth's atmosphere has upset its metabolic rate. The more air it breathes, the more tissue it builds, the bigger it gets."
Yeah, it's one of those kinds of scripts, lacking the somewhat nuanced sexual brutality & alcoholism-tinged meanness of Juran's ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN and, to my senses, lacking the nuclear weapon allegory value of other sci-fi disaster films of the era, but your mileage may vary on the latter.
Maybe there's something…
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Not really bad enough to be good (although bits of the film are desperately awful) this is the story of a Venusian monster that is brought beck to earth by US space mission. The Americans are responsible for that and the Italians play unwilling hosts to a rapidly growing very large monster which runs riot through their country. Sci-fi nonsense done in a great 1950s style
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Okay so I'll be honest, 30 minutes in & the only thing that could make this film re-watchable to me - after half an hour of suffering through bad Italian accents and stereotypes - was a miracle (in Milan, hoho!). But that miracle arrives when Ray Harryhausen's magnificent creature opens it's eyes & runs wild all over Italy. All the while being a true main character in the movie & a heart-breaker, the type of spirit that will fill you with as much…
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Ray Harryhausen!
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[B] Harryhausen's the main attraction, and his animation is in fine form, generating pathos for its poor stranded creature, and amply used. Plot and characterization is stock Fifties sci-fi (though competently done), and the Italian setting gives it just a touch of arthouse flair, the matinee version of MY VOYAGE IN ITALY.
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I enjoy watching one of these movies every month or do and though this would be a good one and it was just average with the special effects not looking so well since so much time has passed. It's not the films fault rather just time itself that is not kind to the film.
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I'd underrated this in the past but I have no idea why. Surely it has to rank among the greatest monster movies of all time. In any case, the Ymir is definitely my pick for Cinema's Most Sympathetic Monster. Harryhausen's effects work is perfect as always - it's too bad the human characters are non-entities for the most part. The lead guy especially seems like a member of the Romney clan - all the more reason to root for the monster.