20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	DVD

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ARRIVIDERCI ROMA

Above-average creature feature boasting superior animation from Ray Harryhausen and, like King Kong before it, focusing on the xenophobic inadequacy of White culture when confronted with the unknown. The so-called monster here is sympathetically presented - so much so that its performance is more Oscar-worthy than the living actors. Its violent reaction to mankind is shown as an inevitable result of attempts to cage it.

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The screenplay veers from a childlike simplicity - coming from a lack of basic scientific knowledge - to a sly romance between an Air Force colonel and the inevitably-beautiful daughter of the head of zoology at Rome Zoo. And it does make a nice change not to see familiar US landmarks being reduced to rubble - and Rome is so much more attractive in its Old World, European charm.

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There is an elegant analogy here between the poor communications and resulting distrust between the various cultures of Earth, its nations and their conflicting political ideologies. Needless to say, the inability of all sides to communicate in a civilised fashion leads to death, mayhem and the impressively-mounted terrorization of Rome.

(Image: http://www.cinemasquid.com/)

Copyright © 2012 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com/) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.