20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

As you get older, you tend to see things in a different light. You very often do, trust me. For example, as a teenager, you normally would empathize more with the people in distress in a horror film, whereas when you get older, you often develop some sympathy for the killer, finally getting rid of those annoying kids because they usually are the reason why everything goes to hell.

With monsters, it's very often different. I have always had a soft spot for the monsters, especially the ones in those classic films. More often than not, they are not to blame for everything and it is the people that in point of fact are the true monsters. This certainly applies for '20 Million Miles to Earth', which is supposed to show heroic people but does nothing short of making you loathe these miserable humans.

A rocketship crashes in the sea near Sicily. Turns out this was an experimental mission to Venus, with only two survivors on board, but soon, only colonel Calder is left. He is tough, gruff and not really nice to the one lady in this film, but you need to have a romantic entanglement, so by the end they will be all lovey-dovey even though that honestly makes less sense than closed off trouserlegs. But I digress.

A canister is found, containing a bizarre blob. This is sold off to a doctor linked to the Zoo of Rome, who discovers that a small, humanoid creature hatches from this blob. He plans to take it to Rome for study but also soon finds that the creature grows at an alarming rate. It is also harmless. But then... Then the proverbial poop hits the proverbial air dispersing unit.

You see, the people start to mistreat the poor thing and never stop, and then they're surprised it becomes aggressive. A farmer and his dog attack the creature and it beats them up in self defense. Calder gets one (just one!) redeeming line in, where he states that the creature is harmless unless provoked. After that, he starts poking it with a stick.

Good job there, buddy.

They electrocute the creature and take it back to Rome for further study. That would include poking, yes. Are you seeing a pattern here?

Naturally, it escapes and because people shoot at it and an elephant attacks it, the creature becomes more and more scared and angry. It runs and hides in the Colosseum, where soldiers continue to attack it for no reason. In the end, the wretched beast dies and the characters are so relieved that a disaster has been averted.

You know, you really want to hit each and every one of these people, because even though the film tries to make the creature the bad guy, nothing it ever does is wicked or evil and the humans are clearly at fault here.

You don't want to see this because of the storyline or the acting. You need to see this because this once again is some of Ray Harryhausen's most excellent work. He imbues the Ymir (that is the creature's name, even though it is never mentioned) with so much character development and sympathy, you can't help but feel sorry for the poor thing. Not only is it by far the best actor in the film, it looks fantastic and it's cries will pluck at your heartstrings, even though it hardly ever shuts up.

I always feel like crying every time I see the poor Ymir die at the end, after such a horrendous series of mistreatment.

It is not the best of the Schneer-produced vehicles with Harryhausen's work, but at less than 80 minutes runtime, it is worth a watch.

Poor Ymir.