Saw The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, the American precursor to Japan's Godzilla. The film was a standard giant-creature special-effects film from the 50s. I was very surprised however to learn that the first pre-historic monster awoken by atom bomb tests seems to have been filmed in the US, and I kind of suspect that there is nationalist-tinged controversy over this (ala who discovered the number 0 first, or paper, or stuffed cabbage: which brave nation dared to dream of giant nuclear lizards?)
The plot is that a giant lizard is woken by nuclear tests in the north pole. After a few high-intensity lizard scenes, the meat of the film consists of a scientist trying to prove that his lizard-visions are legit, and trying to prove he's not crazy. In the style of early Hollywood, the film must also be everything to all people. So, it has romance, thrills, mystery, lizards.
I didn't really dig the film. Here were the interesting bits: the lizard was animated by stop-motion pioneer Ray Harryhausen, and although the technique looks simple by modern standards, some scenes really stand out, such as when the lizard attacks a lighthouse. Also of course, the broader context of post-world-war America coming to grips with its world-ending nuclear capabilities. Outside of that, there's the novelty of this being the first Godzilla-ish movie.
So, the film was not great, but solidly okay and at lest brief, so it didn't wear out its welcome. The special effects are pretty good for its time, and the plot is ridiculous. There are square jaws and army men using peculiar slang and pretty lady-scientists and a big lizard. What more do you ask from this film?
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