8 / 10
20 Million Miles to Earth is the Harryhausen film set in Italy. Nathan Juran directed it. William Hopper plays Colonel Robert Calder, an astronaut returning from the first manned mission to Venus. The American spacecraft crashes off the coast of Sicily. The only thing recovered from the wreck is a small alien creature called the Ymir, which has been brought back deliberately as a specimen. The Ymir grows rapidly in Earth’s atmosphere and goes from house-pet sized to building-sized over the course of the film. Joan Taylor plays Marisa, the medical student who helps capture and study the creature. The climax is the Ymir destroying the Colosseum.
The film is the best of Harryhausen’s 1950s creature features. The Roman setting is the differentiating element. Harryhausen and producer Charles H. Schneer scouted locations in Sicily and Rome, and the production benefits enormously from the actual European backgrounds. The Colosseum sequence required permission from Italian authorities and was filmed with the cooperation of the Italian government.
The Ymir
The Ymir is one of Harryhausen’s best creature designs. The creature has reptilian features, but its body language and reactions are mammalian. The audience reads it as terrified, then aggressive, then exhausted, then desperate. The third-act Colosseum sequence ends with the Ymir wounded and dying, which the film treats with appropriate weight. The audience leaves having watched a creature, not a monster.
Harryhausen later wrote that the Ymir was his favorite creature design from his early career. The animation work is consistent across the film. The Ymir’s growth between scenes required Harryhausen to rebuild the puppet at multiple scales, with the largest version standing approximately six feet tall on the animation table.
For Writers
A creature that grows across the runtime has built-in dramatic escalation. The Ymir’s increasing size raises the stakes without requiring the script to do additional work. The lesson is that visual or physical changes to a character or creature across the runtime can substitute for plot escalation. If your protagonist is changing in ways the reader can see, the change carries dramatic momentum even when nothing else is happening.
The Italy Setting
The Sicilian opening sequences and the Roman third act give the film a different texture from the standard 1950s American creature feature. The local extras are real Italians. The architecture is real Italian architecture. The Colosseum is the actual Roman Colosseum. The cooperation with Italian authorities allowed Harryhausen to composite the Ymir into shots of the genuine landmark.
The film’s relationship with its Italian setting is respectful rather than tourist-oriented. The Italian characters are competent and the Italian government is portrayed as functional. The American astronaut is the foreigner here, and the script treats him as a guest rather than as a savior. The choice elevates the film above the standard American-centric science fiction of the period.
For Writers
A setting outside the dominant Hollywood landscape gives a film texture that local backlots cannot provide. The Italian setting in 20 Million Miles to Earth is part of what makes the film memorable forty years after release. The lesson is that locations have inherent character. A story set in a specific real place benefits from the place’s specific qualities. If you can write a story set somewhere with cultural and visual identity, the identity contributes to the work without requiring additional pages.
The Colosseum Sequence
The climactic Colosseum sequence is one of the best Harryhausen action sequences of the 1950s. The Ymir, now approximately twenty feet tall, has fled into the ancient ruin. The Italian and American forces converge on the structure. The fight involves elephants from a nearby zoo, a tank, and the Ymir’s eventual death after a sustained tank assault. The animation work integrates the creature into the real Colosseum so convincingly that subsequent viewers have remembered the shots as if the Ymir had genuinely been there.
The sequence is the high point of the production. The film could not match it in the rest of the runtime. Harryhausen later regretted that the Colosseum climax cost so much animation labor that the earlier creature sequences had to be shorter than he had originally planned.
For Writers
Spending production resources on a strong climax can mean cutting elsewhere. Harryhausen prioritized the Colosseum sequence and accepted that other parts of the film would be less developed. The choice was correct. The audience remembers the climax. The lesson is that resources are finite and you should know where you want the resources to land. If the climax is the heart of your story, build the climax fully and accept that other scenes will be smaller. Spreading resources evenly produces a uniform mediocrity. Concentrating produces peaks.
Craft Note
Nathan Juran directed. Bob Williams and Christopher Knopf wrote, story by Charlott Knight. Ray Harryhausen animated. Charles H. Schneer produced. William Hopper as Colonel Robert Calder. Joan Taylor as Marisa Leonardo. Frank Puglia as Dr. Leonardo. Released June 1957. Columbia Pictures. Mischa Bakaleinikoff composed the score. Filmed on location in Sicily, Rome, and various studios. Approximately three hundred thousand dollar budget. The Ymir was a personal favorite of Harryhausen’s across his entire career.
The Verdict
8/10. The best of Harryhausen’s pure creature features of the 1950s. The Ymir is one of his best designs. The Italian setting is the differentiator. The Colosseum sequence is iconic. The script around the creature is standard 1950s science fiction, but the creature work elevates everything around it. Watch it for the Ymir.
FAQ
Was it really filmed in Italy?
Yes. Substantial location filming in Sicily and Rome. The Colosseum scenes are composites of stop-motion animation with real Colosseum footage shot by the second unit.
What is the Ymir?
The fictional name for the alien creature from Venus. The name is never actually used in the film itself. Harryhausen used it in production notes and in subsequent interviews.
How does it compare to other 1950s Harryhausen films?
Better than It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955) and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956). Approximately equal to The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958), which immediately followed.
Is there a colorized version?
Yes. The 2007 DVD release includes a colorization that Harryhausen personally supervised. He believed the film had been intended to be released in color and the budget had not allowed it.
Did the film influence later monster movies?
Yes, particularly in the depiction of monsters destroying iconic landmarks. The Colosseum sequence is one of the early templates for the monster-attacks-monument trope.
Who is Nathan Juran?
American director who collaborated with Harryhausen on several films including this one, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, and Jack the Giant Killer.
Should I watch this?
Yes, especially if you have seen the other major Harryhausen creature features and want to extend your knowledge of his work.