Panic in New York

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Movie
German title Panic in New York
Original title The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1953
length 80 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Eugène Lourié
script Fred Freiberger
Lou Morheim
production Hal E. Chester
Jack Dietz
Warner Bros.
music David Buttolph
camera John L. Russell
cut Bernard W. Burton
occupation

Panic in New York (Original title: The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms ) is an American monster film by Eugène Lourié from 1953 . The film is based on the short story The Foghorn by Ray Bradbury , which appeared in the Golden Apples of the Sun collection .

action

Scientist Tom Nesbitt believes he saw a living dinosaur after a nuclear weapon test in the Arctic. In fact, while no one believes Nesbitt, a giant dinosaur that was thawed by the gun test is on its way to New York City . When the dinosaur stomps through the street canyons of Manhattan, leaving a trail of devastation without being stopped, it is clear that Nesbitt was not hallucinating. Feverish attempts are made to stop the monster, but the weapons of the police and the military remain ineffective.

In the meantime, Tom Nesbitt is also in New York and is trying to find out what creature he saw in the Arctic. In the museum he finds a picture of the dinosaur, which actually became extinct 100 million years ago, a Rhedosaurus whose only surviving skeleton was found in the Hudson River. Nesbitt is convinced that the beast can only be destroyed by the same means with which it was awakened. He manages to convince the military of his idea to fight the beast. The final showdown takes place on Coney Island .

Reviews

"Technically interesting little horror film."

- Lexicon of international film .

"[...]; with impressive trick technique by the specialist Lourié. "

- Lexicon films on television. Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 .

"Blooming nonsense, touched on sensational and trick technology almost youthful (from 14)."

- 6000 films. Critical notes from the cinema years 1945 to 1958. Düsseldorf 1963.

background

  • Ray Harryhausen was given the opportunity to carry out the special effects under his sole responsibility for the first time. He convinced the producers to use the stop-motion technique. Due to the low budget, he used a specially developed process for the stop-motion sequences. With the so-called split-screen technique, he was able to combine the very detailed moving Rhedosaurus model with the background and the actors in the foreground after the shooting.
  • The original film title was The Monster From Under the Sea . The plot was similar to The Fog Horn , a short story by Ray Bradbury that appeared in 1951. To avoid legal problems, the producers bought the story from Bradbury and changed the title to the name used today. When the German DVD was released, the film was renamed Dinosaur in New York .
  • The Swiss actor Paul Hubschmid , completely unknown in the USA, played the lead role under the stage name Paul Christian. Actress Vera Miles was seen in the film trailer , but her film scenes fell victim to the scissors. Despite the rather unknown cast, the film brought back the cost of $ 250,000 at no less than $ 5 million. The film was the start of a series of other monster films in the US and Japan.
  • A fathom is a depth measurement with a length of about 1.8 meters. So 20,000 Fathoms correspond to a depth of about 36 kilometers. The Rhedosaurus was an invented dinosaur. In reality he didn't exist. It later appeared in a similar form in When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth and Planet of Monsters .
  • World premieres
  • USA: June 13, 1953
  • Germany: November 6, 1953
  • Austria: July 16, 1954

Awards

  • 2004: Retro Hugo Award nomination, Best Dramatic Presentation

Trivia

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Panic in New York. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ World premieres according to IMDb