20 Million Miles to Earth
| 20 Million Miles to Earth. | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Nathan H. Juran |
| Produced by | Charles H. Schneer |
| Written by | Charlotte Knight Ray Harryhausen |
| Screenplay by | Bob Williams Christopher Knopf |
| Starring |
William Hopper Joan Taylor Frank Puglia |
| Narrated by | William Woodson |
| Music by | Mischa Bakaleinikoff |
| Cinematography | Irving Lippman Carlo Ventimiglia |
| Edited by | Edwin Bryant |
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Production
company |
Morningside Productions
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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82 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
20 Million Miles to Earth is a 1957 American black-and-white science fiction giant monster film, produced by Charles H. Schneer's Morningside Productions for Columbia Pictures, directed by Nathan H. Juran, that stars William Hopper, Joan Taylor, and Frank Puglia. The screenplay was written by Bob Williams and Christopher Knopf from an original treatment by Charlotte Knight. As with several other Schneer-Columbia collaborations, the film was developed to showcase the stop-motion animation of Ray Harryhausen.
Off the coast of Sperlonga, Italy, two fishermen, Mondello and Verrico, watch as a spaceship crashes into the sea. They row out to the site and pull two spaceman from the nose-down craft before it completely sinks into the sea.
Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., Major General A.D. McIntosh discovers that the missing spaceship, piloted by Colonel Bob Calder, has been located off the coast of Italy. As McIntosh flies to the site, Pepe, a little boy, finds a metal capsule on the beach. Opening it, he finds a jelly-like mass inside, so he offers it to Dr. Leonardo, a zoologist studying sea creatures. Meanwhile, Leonardo's medical-student granddaughter, Marisa is summoned to take care of the injured spacemen. When Calder regains consciousness, he finds his crew mate, Dr. Sharman, in the last throes of the fatal disease that killed his crew.
After Marisa returns to the trailer she shares with her grandfather, a small creature hatches from the jelly-like mass, and Leonardo locks it in a cage. By morning, the creature has tripled in size. McIntosh arrives, accompanied by scientist Dr. Justin Uhl, and meets with Calder and Signore Contino of the Italian government. Leonardo and Marisa hitch the trailer to their truck and head for Rome. McIntosh informs the astonished Contini that Calder has just returned from Venus. Calder's crippled spacecraft carried a sealed metal container bearing an unborn species from the planet. As police divers begin to search for it, McIntosh offers a reward for the capsule's recovery, prompting Pepe to lead them to the empty container. When Pepe tells them that he sold its contents to Dr. Leonardo, now on his way to Rome, McIntosh and Calder pursue him.
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