20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

"Let me guess, you first learned of this from Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies." If that was your first thought upon seeing this, you've definitely been with me for a long time. Yep, this is yet another movie that that videotape introduced me to, its trailer following the one for Tarantula. Hate to repeat myself but, yet again, the clips I saw vividly stuck in my young mind, such as the Ymir breaking out of his cage and screaming at the top of his lungs, recoiling from a flamethrower, advancing on a group of people shooting at him, breaking through a wall, grabbing a man in his hand and swinging him back and forth, attacking an elephant, getting netted by a helicopter, and so on. I also remembered the hyperbolic captions that flashed onscreen, proclaiming, "FIRST U.S. ROCKET SHIP TO REACH VENUS CRASHES ON RETURN!," "CAPTIVE VENUS-MONSTER ESCAPES!", and, "DOUBLES IN SIZE EVERY NIGHT!" This was also yet another movie that I wouldn't actually see until I was much, much older, specifically in 2011, when I was 24, and bought that Ray Harryhausen DVD set that also came with Earth vs. The Flying Saucers and It Came from Beneath the Sea. And let me tell you, there's a reason why they showed so much of the Ymir in that trailer, as he's most definitely the best thing about this film. He's the character you come to see, not only to watch him go on a rampage and tear things up, but also because he's very sympathetic, much more so than any of the human characters, who are either complete cardboard or not as likable as they'd want you to think. Fortunately, the Ymir has a lot of screentime and is a consistent presence throughout the film once he's first introduced, so you never have to wait too long through some boring expository scenes or the pathetic attempt at a romance between the two leads to get back to him. Unfortunately, while Harryhausen's stop-motion work is awesome, as usual, the movie's low budget is often painfully apparent, with constant rear-screen projection work for scenes that don't involve visual effects, and some not so good compositing during the third act.

A huge rocket-ship crashes just offshore from Gerra, a small fishing village in Sicily, and near a small group of fishing boats. While the others head for shore, one of the boats heads towards the rocket to rescue any survivors. Two men, Verrico and Mondello, go onboard and are able to save two of the passengers before the ship sinks to the bottom of the ocean. At the Pentagon, Maj. Gen. McIntosh of the Air Force learns of the crash and promptly heads to the site, along with Dr. Judson Uhl. The two survivors are brought ashore, while unbeknownst to the adults, a young boy named Pepe finds a metal cylinder marked U.S.A.F. on the beach. Opening it, he finds it contains a gelatinous mass, and later takes it to Dr. Leonardo, a zoologist from Rome who's camped nearby in a trailer, selling it to him for 200 lire. At the same time, Leonardo's granddaughter, Marisa, a third-year medical student, is called on to see to the two men, as the local doctor is currently tied up with other cases. While under her care, one of the men, Colonel Bob Calder, regains consciousness in time to see his comrade, Dr. Sharman, die from a hideous disease that killed the rest of the crew. Before he expires, Sharman pleads with Calder to find an "animal specimen" they brought with them. That night, when Marisa returns to the trailer she shares with Leonardo, the two of them discover that a small creature has hatched from the mass Pepe gave him. They put it in a cage for the night, only to discover the next morning that it's now grown much bigger. Ecstatic about this discovery, Leonardo intends to take the creature back to Rome for study. Meanwhile, McIntosh and Uhl arrive and meet up with Calder, as well as Unte, the Commissario of Police, and Contino of the Italian Department of State. McIntosh explains to them that Calder was commander of the first interplanetary expedition to the planet Venus, and the ship was downed by a meteor while returning to Earth. Calder also tells them of the metal container, which housed an unborn specimen of Venusian animal life. Little do they know that the now-hatched and rapidly growing creature has escaped from Dr. Leonardo and is rampaging across the countryside. Now, they must find it before it gets too big to control.

20 Million Miles to Earth marks a major turning point in Ray Harryhausen's career in many ways, notably in that it was the first movie where the initial concept was his own idea that managed to get made. He also had enough clout to change the setting from Chicago to Italy, as he'd always wanted to vacation there but could never afford to (he has a cameo in an exterior shot of the Rome Zoo, throwing peanuts to an elephant). Though he wanted the movie to be shot in color, the budget wouldn't allow for it, although this would be his last black-and-white feature (he would have a major hand in the creation of a colorized version in 2007; I've seen some clips from that and, while I prefer the black-and-white version, it's not that bad). Most significantly, this would be Harryhausen's last modern day, science fiction film, as he'd grown tired after doing four of them in a row. His next film would be The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, the first of the many fantasy movies, like The 3 World of Gulliver, Mysterious Island, and Jason and the Argonauts, that would make him a true movie legend.

This was also the first of three films where Harryhausen would work with director Nathan Juran, the other two being The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and First Men in the Moon. These movies definitely make up the higher points of Juran's career, which also includes B-movie favorites like The Deadly Mantis and The Brain from Planet Arous, and just plain awful crap like Attack of the 50-Foot Woman. But, like many of the actual directors of Harryhausen's films, Juran's contributions to 20 Million Miles to Earth tend to be overlooked, especially since Harryhausen and producer Charles Schneer directed everything that was shot in Italy, where filming began, while Juran only took over when the production returned to the United States.

William Hopper, who also starred in The Deadly Mantis that same year, plays the nominal lead of Colonel Bob Calder. He's comatose for much of the first act, awaking briefly in the infirmary after being rescued, in time to see his colleague, Dr. Sharman, die from the Venusian disease that killed the rest of the crew. Once Maj. Gen. McIntosh arrives, Calder manages to get back on his feet, despite his arm being in a sling, and is particularly eager to find the metal cylinder containing the "unborn" Ymir. But he soon learns of how Pepe sold the cylinder's contents to Dr. Leonardo, and when he catches up to Leonardo and Marisa, he's told that the creature has hatched and is growing at a large rate. Though he wants to take the Ymir alive, and knows the species isn't aggressive unless provoked, it's rather hard to root for Calder with how he jabs at the clearly frightened creature with a pole, trying to get him down from a hayloft and into a cage-like cart. Then, when the Ymir, rightfully, attacks a farmer who sticks him in the back with a pitchfork, Calder repeatedly whacks him in the back with a shovel. And after the Ymir escapes into the countryside, Calder, determined to take him alive before Commissario Unte can find him first and kill him, devises a plan to drop an electrically-charged net onto him and knock him unconscious with a shock, which he's very vulnerable against. His plan works, and the Ymir is taken to Rome for study. Naturally, the Ymir, after growing to an enormous size, escapes and rampages throughout the city, with Calder chasing after him. Though he, more than likely, would prefer to recapture him, it's obvious that he now feels he has no choice but to take him down, which he and the military eventually manage to do.

Even among the already typically forced romances between the male and female leads of sci-fi/monster flicks, the one between Calder and Marisa Leonardo (Joan Taylor) is one of the worst, especially since Marisa's role is very insignificant. A third-year medical student, she's forced to look after Calder and Dr. Sharman since Gerra's main doctor is too busy, and her first interactions with Calder are hardly harmonious. He angrily snaps at her when she tries to stop him from rousing the dying Sharman, telling her to stay out of his way and referring to her as either "nurse" or "almost a doctor" when he learns she's still a student. Upon returning to the trailer she shares with her grandfather, she's the first to come upon the newly hatched Ymir, whom Leonardo excitedly puts in a cage and intends to take back to Rome. En route, the human-sized Ymir breaks out of his cage, freaking Marisa out when he grabs her arm, before running off into the countryside. They're then met by Calder and the military officials, with the Colonel, again, referring to Marisa as "almost a doctor," and refusing to allow them to join in their search for the creature. Later, after their first unsuccessful attempt to catch him, Marisa, despite still being irked about Calder's attitude, changes the bandage on his arm. Seeing the pressure he's under, she thinks she's been inconsiderate towards him, while he admits that he's the one who should apologize. He then offers to make it up to her, "Over a table for two in a dark cafe." Despite how pathetic and sudden this come-on is, Marisa, naturally, is all for it. In the third act, when the Ymir is captured and held at the Rome Zoo, Marisa assists her grandfather in keeping the creature nourished. She takes time out to talk with Calder about that "dark cafe," but that has to wait when the Ymir breaks loose and goes on the rampage. At the end of the movie, Marisa, despite having referred to the Ymir as ugly before, does seem to feel sympathy for him after he's killed, then promptly runs to Calder's arms, as if promptly forgetting it.

Sadly, the rest of the human cast is mostly made up of complete archetypes. Marisa's grandfather, Dr. Leonardo (Frank Puglia), a Roman zoologist, is a friendly older man who typically always has a smile on his face, and is willing to humor the young boy, Pepe, despite the useless things he tends to sell to him. He pays him the 200 lire he wants for the gelatinous mass that turns out to be the Ymir's egg, and is immediately intrigued by it. He's even more ecstatic when the Ymir hatches that night, having never seen such a creature, and puts him in a covered cage outside. The next morning, when he sees that the Ymir has grown overnight, Leonardo intends on taking him back to Rome. However, the creature escapes en route, and though Leonardo desperately wants to accompany Colonel Calder and the others in recapturing him, he and Marisa are initially told to stay out of it. But after the first attempt to capture the Ymir fails, Leonardo not only helps Calder in pinpointing where he might be heading but also offers the facilities of the giardino zoologico in Rome to house and study him. Sure enough, when the Ymir is taken to the Rome Zoo, Leonardo aids in seeing to his care, giving him a compound of sulfur to feed on while he's kept under sedation. However, he and the others have to quickly run for it when things go haywire and the Ymir gets loose.

Calder's superior, Maj. Gen. McIntosh (Thomas B. Henry), is a refreshingly reasonable authority figure, very accommodating towards the Italian authorities, appreciating their cooperation, and acts more like a friend to Calder, congratulating him on his successful return from Venus, while also acknowledging the tragedy of everyone else's deaths. He mainly exists to serve as exposition for those not in the know of what's going on, namely the Italian authorities and the press corps at the

American Embassy in Rome after the Ymir has been captured and sent there, taking part in the action only during the third act. The same goes for Dr. Uhl (John Zaremba), who joins McIntosh in Italy, and aids Calder in tracking and capturing the Ymir before Commissario Unte is able to destroy him. Speaking of Unte (Tito Vuolo), he's more than willing to cooperate with the Americans initially, but that changes after the first attempt to capture the Ymir fails and he sees how potentially dangerous the creature is. Saying that his duty is to

protect his people, Unte declares that the Ymir must be destroyed, going as far as to tell Signor Contino (Jan Arvan) of the Italian State Department that he can replace him afterward if he so wishes. Though McIntosh and the others have no choice but to allow him to perform his duties as he sees fit, Unte himself has to go along with Contino's decision to allow Calder and Uhl to simultaneously try to capture the Ymir alive. And while Unte leads a group of men wielding flamethrowers to hunt down the creature, Calder and Uhl successfully bait him with the sulfur and incapacitate him with the electrically charged net.

One character who is quite memorable is Pepe (Bart Bradley), a young boy who's with the fishermen when the rocket-ship crashes into the sea. Obsessed with American cowboys from all of the westerns he's seen, Pepe, upon finding the cylinder containing the unborn Ymir, proves to be quite the opportunist. He takes its contents to Dr. Leonardo, whom he's done "business" with before, and charges 200 lire for it, wanting to buy an authentic cowboy hat. After he gets his money and buys the hat, we later see him wearing it and playing cowboy, acting like he's taking cover behind a crate and shooting with some toy revolvers. He hides when Leonardo comes looking for him, thinking he intends to get his money back, but when he later overhears McIntosh talking with the fishermen about the missing container, for which he offers a reward of 500,000 lire, he tells the general and Calder all about it, as he's now interested in buying an actual horse with the reward money. After he points them in the direction of Leonardo, he actually gets his money, thanks to McIntosh.

There was a fair amount of location shooting done for the film, most notably in Rome, where Ray Harryhausen and Charles Schneer shot material of the city's most notable spots and landmarks, like the River Tiber, the Ponte Sant'Angelo, Castel Sant'Angelo, and the Colosseum, where the Ymir meets his end. They also used the coastal town of Sperlonga for the scenes set at Gerra, although William Hopper was the only one of the main actors who actually flew to Italy for this shooting. Most of the footage shot in Italy was used as rear-

projection footage, both for Harryhausen's stop-motion and for a lot of the exterior scenes involving the actors. Like I mentioned in the introduction, there are numerous instances of obvious rear-screen work with the actors, much more than you would normally have, attesting to just how low-budget the film was, along with some instances of day-for-night photography and stock footage during the latter half. There was also some location-work done in California, such as at the Iverson Ranch, likely for the scenes at the barn and

when the Ymir is roaming the Italian  countryside, and the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant, possibly for the interiors of the Ymir's holding facility at the Rome Zoo, as well as the inside of Calder's rocket-ship after it first crashes in the sea. In these scenes, the actors are clearly there, for the most part, with the only rear-screen and matting work coming when they're combined with the stop-motion. Most of the rest of the interiors were filmed on sets and among them, the most notable are the wrecked, leaking, smoke-filled insides of

Calder's ship, which Verrico and Mondello climb through in order to reach and rescue Calder and Dr. Sharman; the Pentagon laboratory where McIntire and Uhl are first introduced, full of electronic equipment, planet models, and a large map on the back wall; the little infirmary where Calder is treated after being rescued; and the facility at the zoo where the Ymir is kept sedated on a large platform. There's also an obvious bit of set meant to represent a rocky awning near the shore at Gerra, which is where Pepe first opens the metal container and later brings Calder and the others to show them he once had it.

Make no mistake, the Ymir is the real star of this movie, and is the most likable and three-dimensional character, despite being a special effect. He's definitely Ray Harryhausen's most expressive and fully-realized creation since Mighty Joe Young, and is just as sympathetic. From the moment he hatches from the gelatinous egg in Dr. Leonardo's trailer, he finds himself in a strange, unfamiliar place, and is frightened by the, initially, huge humans that tower over him. He's then grabbed by Leonardo, placed inside a cage covered by a tarp, and driven towards Rome, where Leonardo intends to turn him into a scientific experiment. All the while, the Earth's atmosphere causes him to grow much larger and faster than normal, and when they stop to readjust the tarp, he uses his newfound strength to break free and escape into the countryside. As Colonel Calder later notes, the Ymir is not an overly aggressive creature, as when he wanders into a farmyard, he looks curiously at the frightened animals, rather than attacking them. It's only when he's attacked by a dog that he has to defend himself, and he then has to contend with Calder and the authorities attempting to capture him, with Calder prodding at him to force him down from a hayloft and then into a cage, as he screams in fear and growing anger. When the farmer stabs him in the back with a pitchfork, the Ymir reaches his breaking point and brutally maims him, then advances on the others as they shoot at him. He breaks out of the barn and heads back into the countryside, where he's then blasted by flamethrowers, lured into a trap by sulfur, his preferred food source, and has an electric net dropped on him. Then, just like King Kong, he's whisked away to a major city and, in a way, put on display in a manner to benefit his captors. Also like Kong, the now enormous Ymir breaks loose and, after getting attacked by an elephant in the zoo, rampages through Rome, causing a lot of damage and killing many, as the authorities try to stop him. Ultimately, he climbs atop a famous structure and makes his last stand, before meeting his tragic end.

The Ymir's design is a very iconic one, as he has an overall reptilian appearance, with a long, dragging tail akin to the old-fashioned depiction of dinosaurs, three clawed fingers on his hands, three toes on his feet, and a lizard-like head. But at the same time, there are other details that hint at his alien nature, such as a patch of skin similar to a walrus mustache on his face, the tip of his tail being forked, and some of his proportions, like his torso and arms, being humanoid in shape. His diet consists of sulfur, and he's found to have no heart

or lungs but rather, a network of tubes running throughout his body (this is used as an explanation for why gunfire has no effect on him), and his respiratory system is able to filter out the poisons in Venus' atmosphere. And his rapid rate of growth, where he goes from being small enough to pick up to large enough to grab a grown man in his own hands, is said to be the effect of the Earth's atmosphere on his metabolism, as he builds up more tissue as he breathes in more oxygen (I

seriously doubt that's scientifically accurate but, it's the 50's). His vocalizations, which start out as small and delicate when he's tiny but grow more ferocious and angry, as well as screeching and frightened, as he gets bigger, are actually distorted recordings of elephants. And while I've been referring to him as the "Ymir" and will continue to do so, as he's often called that in writings on the movie and publicity materials, the name is never said in the movie itself, as Harryhausen didn't want audiences to think the monster had the Arabic name of "Emir."

This should go without saying, but Harryhausen's stop-motion animation is just awesome and the best he'd done up to this point (little did we know that this was nothing compared to what he'd do in the years to come). As I've already described, he makes the Ymir come off as a living, breathing character, one whose fear, confusion, and rage come right off the screen. He also puts in nicely detailed little touches, like the newly-hatched Ymir shielding his eyes from the light when Marisa turns them on in the trailer, waving at the air, and then

rubbing his eyes; his cautious side-to-side movements whenever he's cornered or feels threatened; his scooping up and munching on the sulfur he comes across; and his constant breathing. Harryhausen also creates stop-motion versions of some of the threats the Ymir runs into, like the dog that attacks him in the barn, the farmer when he attacks and brutalizes him, and most notably the elephant at the Rome Zoo, who engages in battle with the Ymir when he escapes. There are also some intriguing instances of shadow work in the

film, particularly in the Ymir's fight with the dog, which is done almost entirely in silhouette. The combination of the live-action elements with the visual effects is, for the most part, achieved through obvious rear-screen projection, but there are some instances where it's so done well that it's virtually seamless, such as when Calder tries to force the Ymir into the cage, when he's confronted with the flamethrowers out in the countryside, and in the big, expansive shots of him lying

unconscious at the Rome Zoo, with a lot of people milling around both behind him and in the foreground. Similarly, the combination of the live-action fishermen with the half-submerged, smoking miniature rocket-ship is a real knockout. And there are even some effective physical effects, like the Ymir's jelly-like egg, the prop of his hand that grabs Marisa while he's tearing his way out of his cage, and the nasty-looking makeup on Arthur Space as Dr. Sharman, depicting the effects of the 

Venusian disease. There are some occasional not so good effects, like the awkwardly animated and composited rocket-ship when it crashes at the beginning, the obviously immobile prop Ymir for when Dr. Leonardo picks him up, and some lackluster matting of soldiers with debris that falls on them during the third act, but otherwise, this is great stuff all-around.

For the fourth and final time in a Ray Harryhausen movie, we have a narration that starts near the beginning, delivered by William Woodson. Fortunately, this is the least intrusive of them, as he delivers only one paragraph of dialogue at the very beginning: "Great scientific advances are oftentimes sudden accomplished facts before most of us are even 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..." And then, he says the title, as it pops up onto the screen. Also like a lot of these movies, it doesn't take long to get into the action, as after the opening credits, we start offshore from Gerra, with the two fishermen, Verrico and Mondello, out in a boat, along with the young boy, Pepe, and a group of other boats. Everyone stops what they're doing when they hear something, and they look up at the sky as the

sound, a low whine, gets louder and louder. They then see the rocket-ship emerge from the clouds and come down right at the water, before the tip of its nose hits the surface and the impact causes it to tilt straight up. After crossing themselves upon seeing this, everyone prepares to head back, but Verrico decides to row towards the ship and see if they can help anyone who might be onboard. Rowing around to the side, they spot a large hole in the hull and row towards it. Hooking their boat

onto the rocket, Verrico climbs aboard and has Mondello come with him (despite his claims to be the bravest man in Sicily, Mondello has to be coaxed into coming aboard). They walk across the lop-sided floor inside and Verrico opens a door, getting blasted by steam when he does. They head further into the ship, down a flight of stairs and through a large room, which is clearly the control center. While they find one man dead, they then come across the unconscious Colonel Calder. Unstrapping him from his seat, they prepare to take

him to the boat, when he awakens briefly and tells them to take the man next to him as well. While Mondello takes Calder back to the boat, Verrico goes over to the other man, Dr. Sharman, but is shocked by his diseased condition. As the ship begins to rock from continued blasts up near the damaged engines, he unstraps Sharman, throws him over his shoulders, and carries him out to the boat with the others. Telling Mondello to row, Verrico initially attempts to go back and search for any other survivors, despite Mondello's warnings,

but when he does, the ship shakes very violently, blasting steam all around him. With no other recourse, he jumps into the water and swims towards the boat, climbing aboard with Mondello's help, as the ship slowly sinks beneath the waves.

Things go at a leisurely pace for a while, but after Pepe finds the container with the Ymir's gelatinous egg inside and sells it to Dr. Leonardo, they start to pick back up that night, when Marisa returns to the trailer after seeing to Calder and witnessing Sharman's death. At that very moment, the Ymir hatches, and both Marisa and her grandfather get quite a shock when they see him. And then, after Leonardo puts him in a cage for the night, they're even more surprised when, the next morning, they

find he's doubled in size overnight. That night, they're taking him to Rome, unaware that Calder, Dr. Uhl, Commissario Unte, and others are following them in jeeps. They stop to re-secure the canvas covering the cage when it comes loose, but while doing so, the Ymir, who's now grown even larger, suddenly rips through and grabs Marisa's arm. As they both recoil away from him, he rips the canvas off and tears his way out of the cage, roaring angrily. He jumps to the ground, walks back and forth in front of them, screeching a

warning, before walking off into the countryside. Calder and the others then catch up to them, and after Leonardo points them in the direction of where the Ymir went, the Colonel and the others chase after the creature, declining Leonardo's request for him to join them.

The Ymir wanders onto a farmstead, sending some horses and a bunch of sheep running at the sight of him, although one lone lamb in a field approaches him out of curiosity. Hearing the sound of a dog barking, he walks by the farmhouse and enters the barn, sending some more horses and some chickens running out of there. Finding some bags of fertilizer in the back, he rips open one and begins feeding on the sulfur. However, the dog he heard comes down from the house and enters the barn.

Seeing him, the dog snarls, then runs and jumps at him. As the two of them fight behind the bags of fertilizer, the farmer, hearing the commotion, comes out of the house and heads to the barn. At that moment, the Ymir bashes the dog with his fist, making his cries abruptly stop. The farmer grabs a rifle and walks inside, calling for his dog. Heading into the back, he finds him, maimed but alive, and backs up, looking for what injured him. Calder shows up, telling the man not to move and to back

away, as they spot the Ymir up in the hayloft. Joining the others in the barn's doorway, Calder has Commissario Unte tell the others to bring in a cage-like cart from outside, as well as a long, wooden pole. Calder and Uhl keep their eyes on the Ymir as the cart is brought in and the farmer brings him a pole. He and Uhl approach the front of the cart, which is placed in front of the hayloft, and Calder tells Uhl his plan to bait the Ymir down and into the cart. Calder jabs up at the creature, yelling at him to come down. At first, he walks

back and forth across the loft, swiping at the pole, but eventually jumps down and faces Calder. Calder manages to make him walk in a circle until his back is to the cart, then tries to push him towards it, making him angrier as he does. When he's close to it, Uhl tries to close the door and push him in, but the Ymir pushes back, knocking him, Unte, and the farmer to the ground. Calder prods him in the back and, again, tries to force him into the cart, but the Ymir knocks the pole out of his hand. One of the men aims with his rifle when the Ymir runs from the cart but Calder stops him.

The farmer, however, grabs a pitchfork when the Ymir walks by and stabs him. After screaming in pain, when he removes the blades, the Ymir swings around and tackles the farmer to the ground. He punches him, throws him across the ground, and ferociously bites into his arms (the man, no joke, starts screaming like a girl). Calder grabs a shovel and hits him repeatedly in the back. At first, he doesn't react at all, as he's so focused on attacking the farmer, but when he gets hit again and again, he

swings around and knocks Calder away. He resumes his attack on the farmer, forcing Calder to take a rifle and shoot. Both he and Unte fire on the Ymir, who's not injured at all by the shots. They do, however, make him turn his fury at them. He stomps towards them, roaring angrily, and forces them out of the barn, as they fire on him, again with no effect. Once they're outside, they shut the door on him and try to keep him contained. At first, he pushes back against them, but when he's unable

to make the door budge, he smashes his way through the barn's wall and escapes. The next day, Calder manages to arrange for a pair of helicopters for use in his plan to trap the Ymir: while Uhl pilots the helicopter carrying the electrified net, the other copter is loaded with sulfur to feed the creature once captured. At the same time, Unte is leading a group of men across the countryside near Mount Etna to find and kill him. Near a small waterfall, the Ymir is getting a drink when he hears the men approaching. He tries to run, when they

spot and fire upon him, forcing him to climb up the side of the fall. However, they take another route and manage to cut him off. He charges at them, only for them to blast a flamethrower at him, sending him in retreat. They blast at him again, setting a bush on fire, and forcing him to run for it around the corner of some large rocks. The helicopters arrive and spot him near one of the volcano's bubbling sulfur pits. But when he sees them, he heads for an alcove in the rocks.

Since they don't yet have a clear angle to drop the net on him, Calder decides to dump the sulfur in order to bait him into position. The Ymir watches as the helicopter circles around, when a bag of the sulfur drops and breaks open on the ground. Seeing this, as well as another one that drops seconds later, he moves over towards them. Calder informs Uhl of this and he opts to stand by, as the Ymir munches on the sulfur, watching as Calder's helicopter circles around. Calder lands nearby and

the troops inside disembark and get into position, setting up the electronic equipment for the net. Using a walkie-talkie, Calder directs Uhl into position above the Ymir. When the net drops, it lands perfectly on top of him. As he struggles beneath it, Calder and the troops rush in and secure the net, staking it into the ground. Uhl lands nearby, disembarks, and rushes over to operate the equipment. Everyone gets clear and Uhl throws the switch, electrocuting the Ymir, to the point where sparks flash on his torso. He promptly collapses and everyone breathes a sigh of relief, with Calder taking time to light up a cigarette.

At the Rome Zoo, Calder gives three journalists from the press corps a tour of the facility housing the Ymir, introducing them to the man keeping the creature unconscious, as well as to Dr. Leonardo and Marisa as they feed him a compound of sulfur, and Uhl, who explains his findings concerning the creature's physiology. But things go south when some equipment is raised above the platform where the Ymir is chained and it slams into a light, sending down sparks and shorting out the equipment. Calder tells everyone to get off the

platform, as the Ymir begins to awaken. They try to reactivate the electricity keeping him unconscious, but the power is completely gone and they're forced to evacuate, as he begins breaking free of his chains. When everyone is outside, he rips himself completely free, gets off the platform, and begins smashing his way out of the lab. Calder yells for a handler to move an elephant away from the building, but when the Ymir breaks through the wall, the elephant trumpets and charges at him. The Ymir grabs the elephant by his head and pushes

him back, causing him to fall onto and crush his handler and a reporter who tried to go in close for a picture. He then backs away, but the elephant gets back up and charges at him again. The entire zoo is evacuated, and while everyone flees in a panic, the two battling beasts end up in the streets outside. While Calder calls Maj. Gen. McIntosh to tell him what's happened and ask for the heavy artillery, the battle continues further down the street and into the heart of the city. At one point, the Ymir grabs the 

elephant and forces him on top of a car, but the elephant, again, gets back up and continues the fight, pushing him near an enormous arch that people are running through. The elephant, momentarily, has the upper-hand, flooring the Ymir when he grabs him, but the monster then grabs one of his tusks and pushes him back. He bites the base of his trunk when he snags his hand and puts him in a headlock, forcing him down and punching the side of his head. When the elephant

tries to get back up yet again, the Ymir forces him back down and bites into the side of his big, thick neck, going deep enough to draw blood. With that, the battle is over, and the Ymir moves on. Calder arrives in his car, and is told that Ymir is heading down one of the side-streets. He decides to continue tracking him and drives past the onlookers and the badly wounded elephant.

He quickly comes upon the Ymir as he grabs and knocks over a streetlamp with one hand, while swinging an unlucky pedestrian back and forth in the other. Once everyone else has fled off the corner, he drops the man and walks into the street. Calder drives right at him and rams into the side of his leg, knocking him off his feet. Calder quickly abandons his car and runs for cover behind a nearby column, as the Ymir gets up and stomps past him. Once he's gone further down the street, Calder chases after him, only to come to a big,

wide open area near the River Tiber and find no sign of him. Running to a nearby phone-booth, Calder calls McIntosh and informs him of this. McIntosh tells him to meet up with a nearby artillery unit and blast into the river to flush the creature out. We then see some soldiers tossing grenades into the water from the Ponte Sant'Angelo, and when Calder talks with McIntosh, who's supervising the blasting of another spot, on a walkie-talkie, it turns out that they've been going about this for hours without any luck. Suddenly,

Calder and his soldiers hear something that makes them stop in their tracks. The Ymir then rises up in front of the bridge, sending them all in retreat. He dives back down and bursts up through the middle of it, and Calder tells McIntosh where the monster is before he's forced to flee with the others. Upon breaking completely through, the Ymir storms off, while Calder joins McIntosh in his car and they follow him to the Colosseum, along with the troops. The Ymir first arrives at the ruins of the

Temple of Saturn, chasing off a squad of soldiers stationed there, before he's then faced with a flame-shooting tank. Upon taking several blasts head on, he charges through a part of the temple, crushing some soldiers beneath the rubble. He then storms through the ruins and crosses the street, approaching the Colosseum. Seeing tanks and trucks loaded with troops approaching from either side, he quickly climbs up the structure. Everyone gathers at the base of the Colosseum, and Calder

leads some troops into the center of it. Once again, the Ymir has somehow managed to hide from them, and Calder has a sergeant with him deploy his men. Things get ominously quiet as they search both sides of the Colosseum, specifically the very top of it, but for a little bit, they're unable to find the Ymir.

Then, he throws some large chunks of rock down at some soldiers from above and retreats. Calder, joined by some men wielding a bazooka, rushes after him, and once they're on the same ledge as he is, Calder fires the bazooka himself. The Ymir dodges the rocket, and another squad moves in and fires but, like before, he dodges it. While the sergeant leads some other soldiers up a stairway elsewhere, the bazooka squadron continues chasing the Ymir, forcing to climb up to the very top of the Colosseum to avoid their shots. When he gets up

there, he sees that he's completely surrounded from down on the ground. He continues to act defiant, however, as he swipes at them and throws a chunk of stone, crushing two soldiers within the Colosseum (there was a third guy there but I guess he ran for it, as he's nowhere to be seen in the next cut). Calder comes upon them and takes their bazooka, while one of the tanks on the street fires up at the Ymir, blasting around the ledge where he's standing. Down below in the Colosseum,

Calder takes position and fires with the bazooka, managing to score a hit right in the gut. The Ymir collapses onto the ledge, and though he attempts to get back up, it's clear he's seriously wounded. He slumps over the side, hanging by his claws, and Leonardo and Marisa arrive in time to see the tank fire and destroy the ledge, sending the Ymir falling to his death. Onlookers immediately gather around the body, while Calder emerges from the Colosseum, clearly not happy about this turn of

events. While he and Marisa reunite and then go off together, Uhl, standing with McIntosh, looks at the dead Ymir and ends the movie with an attempt at philosophical food for thought: "Why is it always, always so costly for man to move from the present to the future?"

I may sound like I'm just being lazy and want to get through these reviews as quickly as possible, but it's the God's honest truth: the music score, again the work of Mischa Bakaleinikoff, is typical of the genre and probably the least memorable thing about the movie. Starting with The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Ray Harryhausen's films would benefit from scores by the legendary Bernard Herrmann but we're definitely not there yet here. I'm sure a good portion of this music was reused in other Columbia B-monster flicks, like The Giant Claw (for that matter, there may be some recycled material here as well), but taken by itself, it leaves no impression at all, save for maybe the opening fanfare when the Columbia Pictures logo is first seen and the surprisingly subtle, atmospheric piece that plays during the opening credits.

If you love King Kong and want to see another movie about a really cool monster running around, wreaking havoc, while also playing for sympathy, you need look no further than 20 Million Miles to Earth. The Ymir more than fits that bill, managing to be an expressive, sympathetic, dangerous, and fully-realized character that, also like Kong, is actually just a special effect. Of course, being a Ray Harryhausen creation, you shouldn't be surprised that the stop-motion used to bring him to life is truly excellent, and the same goes for much of the techniques used to marry the live-action elements with the effects work. However, other than some great location work in Italy, there's little else here to grab your attention, as the human characters are mostly either uninteresting or unintentionally unsympathetic, the film's low budget nature is often on full display, and the music score is totally forgettable. Fortunately, the brisk, 82-minute running time and the Ymir's considerable screentime balance things out nicely, so it's more than worth it.