The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) & Mighty Joe Young (1949) - October 6, 2015

[Akijama]

Coming separately and as a part of the Special Effects collection (thread here).

The sea's master-beast of the ages - raging up from the bottom of time!

Near the Arctic Circle, an atomic bomb is detonated. This fearsome experiment disturbs the sleep of a giant rhedosaurus encased in ice over 100-million years and sends it southward on a destructive, deadly rampage!

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is a film of firsts. It spawned a new era of atomic-age creature features. It was the first screen adaptation of a work by fantasy fiction titan Ray Bradbury. And it marked the first time Ray Harryhausen had total control over special effects. He came up with a fantastic creature (constructed at full scale, all 50 tons of it) that swims down from the north to run amok through New York City before being conquered in a spectacular Coney Island roller coaster finale. Take a classic ride. Unleash The Beast.

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms - Trailer - YouTube

Lightning struck again when the team behind King Kong reunited to create another towering ape: Mr. Joseph Young. This time the simian is shorter and the jokes tongue-in-cheekier, but the Oscar®-winning Best Special Effects are just as Kong-sized.

A slick nightclub owner (King Kong veteran Robert Armstrong) discovers the giant ape frolicking in Africa as the beloved pet of a young girl (Terry Moore). He brings both to Hollywood as a floor-show sensation, until some no-goods ply Joe with booze and the blitzed behemoth goes bonkers. Highlights such as Armstrong's henchmen trying to lasso Joe cowpoke style, Joe playing tug-of-war with musclemen and plenty of Joe-to-the-rescue action make Mighty Joe Young mighty fine entertainment.

Mighty Joe Young Trailer, 1949 - YouTube

Source: WB Press

[Al_The_Strange]

Beast From 20,000 Fathoms is day one for me. I remember it being a blast.

[The Great Owl]

Yes! These are both awesome movies that I grew up watching.

[Akijama]

[DetroitSportsFan]

Mighty Joe Young for me.

[javi92]

Will be picking up the box set for sure. I hope we see a resurgence of the box set (without overlapping existing titles) like the DVD years, but that's probably wishful thinking on my part.

[deltatauhobbit]

Both of these for me. Getting closer to completing the Harryhausen collection each year!

[Bluyoda]

Hell yeah!

[RobertLuketic]

Nice! I'll be buying both

[Akijama]

Amazon pre-order:

http://www.amazon.com/Beast-20-000-F...n%3A2650305011

http://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Joe-You...n%3A2650305011

[steev210]

I'm down for both along with Son of Kong. I wish Disney would license out (maybe to Mill Creek) their 1998 remake of Mighty Joe Young with Bill Paxton and Charlize Theron. That was a worthy remake IMO.

[MechaGodzilla]

Originally Posted by steev210

I'm down for both along with Son of Kong. I wish Disney would license out (maybe to Mill Creek) their 1998 remake of Mighty Joe Young with Bill Paxton and Charlize Theron. That was a worthy remake IMO.

I remember the remake being fairly entertaining, great special effects if nothing else. Would be cool to have it on Blu-ray.

[Mystic]

I'm very happy to hear the news about the upcoming release of the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, in addition to the release of Them. It's about time.

[RalphoR]

This is fabulous news for me. So much thanks to Akijama. Does this mean my favorite Harryhausen movie of all time is around the corner? I'm praying for The Valley of Gwangi to be next.....and soon!

Any word on the audio options for Beast? I love the 5.1 hd master audio Twilight Time has on their Harryhausen releases.

[Barnbaby]

Amazon's pre-order page:

Product Details

Actors: Paul Christian, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, Kenneth Tobey, Jack Pennick
Directors: Eugène Lourié
Producers: Jack Dietz
Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Color, NTSC
Language: English
Region: Region A/1 (Read more about DVD/Blu-ray formats.)
Number of discs: 1
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Brothers
DVD Release Date: October 6, 2015
Run Time: 80 minutes

The DVD of the film is Black and White; Amazon is showing the Blu-ray as Color. What's the deal with that, anyone know?

[goathunter]

Amazon made a mistake. It's not color. They do that a lot when pre-orders first go live.

[Abouna]

But when are we going to get The Thing from Another World?!

[jimknut]

In his autobiography, An Animated Life, Ray Harryhausen wrote that the original release prints of The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms were processed in sepia tone, with some prints employing a green tint for the underwater sequences. Alas, the otherwise excellent DVD release is in straight black and white.

It is my guess that the blu-ray release of Mighty Joe Young will have the red tinting in its orphanage fire finale. But what of The Beast? Will we see that restored with its sepia and green tinting for blu-ray? If it isn't then I might decline to buy it.

[MifuneFan]

Back cover for The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

[MifuneFan]

Back cover for Mighty Joe Young