web hosting short URLs photo sharing

20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH has always been my favorite of Ray Harryhausen's black and white films. The creature, though the catalyst from the story, is an innocent victim throughout this movie. Stripped from his own planet, drug to the earth, where it is hunted and confronted until it is finally destroyed. The creature was dubbed YMIR, by Harryhausen, but the name is never uttered during the films exciting 84 minutes. The name is appropriate though since YMIR is the name of the Norse god who gave birth to all the giants on earth.

The story for 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH was actually developed by Ray many years before. Looking for a project after EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, Ray pulled out his scripts for THE GIANT YMIR. Realizing that the story, as he had written it, was filled with flaws, he contacted an old friend, Charlott Knight and they developed a coherent story-line. An interesting note about many of the films Harryhausen worked on is that the story ideas would come from Ray, he would develop the basic outline and then turn the story over to someone else to finish and then give them credit for the whole film. Ray began his process of sketching key scenes to help sell the idea and after being turned down by several studios, Charles Schneer took a look at it and became very interested in the project.

Originally the story was about a giant snow creature but that was changed to make the story more modern and to keep it abreast with the current trend in sci-fi films. After deciding on a creature from Venus, and involving a story that included the expedition to Venus and the capture of the beast, the whole opening sequence was dropped to explore the possibilities of a story that concerned what would happen if we brought an alien life-form back to earth. Besides the fact that this idea was a story in itself, the project would have been much more expensive to create with the Venusian sets.

With Charles Schneer interested in the project, a new production company was started, MORNINGSIDE PRODUCTIONS. Because of the success of Ray's previous ventures, Columbia Pictures provided funding and facilities for the project as well as the major distribution of the film.

Ray, who had been yearning to travel, got his chance here as he and Charles went to Rome to shoot background plates and some of the scenes for the film. In fact, during the crowd panic scenes involving the battle between Ymir and the elephant Ray got a chance to join the crowd on-screen because they needed more people. All of this footage was assembled before director Nathan Juran was brought on to the project.

This footage was brought back to California and Juran was brought it to finish the picture. Juran's sense of style comes from his background in art direction and this became invaluable for this picture. Also the fact that Juran had a reputation for being able to bring in a picture on time and in budget.

Like all the early films, several models of the Ymir were made. There was a small version, to be used in longshots and a larger one for closeups. A third, unmovable creature was also made for the scene involving Doctor Leonard picking up the creature. Also, a full size glove of the creatures arm was created. This can been obviously seen in the sequence when the creature's arm bursts out of the cage and grabs at Marissa.

There has been some criticism of the elephant sequence because the live action elephant and the stop-motion elephant are not the same size. In fact, the stop-motion elephant would have had to have been a giant. In the flow of the story and the excitement of the scene, this goes un-noticed by the average viewer. Ray always jokes about this scene saying that he was still working under the MIGHTY JOE idea of "Make It Bigger!". Trying to hide the monstrous proportions of the elephant, a smaller man was hired to play the elephants keeper to attempt to keep the proportions correct.

The film was released and met with acceptance from the public. Rich in detail and foreign locations the movie offered fun entertainment and an exciting story. As a side note, Charles Schnerr had originally wanted to film this movie in color but Ray resisted because he felt that the new black and white film developed by Kodak was perfect for their picture. Unfortunately Schneer gave in and 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH got a black and white release. Schneer wouldn't give it on the next project though. THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD more be their most ambitious and time consuming project and still remains a favorite of filmgoers today.

| CAST AND CREW | SYNOPSIS | BEHIND THE SCENES |
| POSTERS | IMAGES | SKETCHES | SOUNDS |
| 20 MILLION STORE |