MovieChat Forums > The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) Discussion > The fathom 'goof'

The fathom 'goof'

posted 19 years ago by agentmaxsmart
5 replies | jump to latest

There's a goof listed here at IMDB that a fathom is 6 feet, thus 20,000 fathoms would mean the creature came from 23 miles down, which is impossible since the deepest part of the ocean is only 7 miles deep. But, I've heard that the title doesn't necessarily mean 20,000 fathoms deep. It could be 20,000 fathoms away. Plus, this measure is never given in the movie itself, just the title. And you have to admit, the title is cool.
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[–] STEVE-1559 19 years ago

The title is obviously mean to sound poetic, and also to sound like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It's not meant to be taken literally - especially when you consider that the beast emerges not from the bottom of the ocean but from an ice berg.

[–] philipshepp 19 years ago

personally i never figured out how it survived both underwater and on land, but the title does sound good even if it is neither true or makes sense.

[–] obit1 18 years ago

The title comes from the original title Ray Bradbury had on his short story . The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. All of this purple poetry is due to the way Bradbury wrote.

When the film came out, he was so disappointed with the movie (not the effects by Harryhausen, he liked them just fine,) Bradbury changed the name of his short story to The Fog Horn to distance his story from the film.

Originally though, Bradbury had nothing to do with the film. When he heard about the lighthouse scene as the film was going into production, he remarked..."Gee, this reminds me of something I wrote recently...and had published."

Seeing lawsuits dance like sugar plumbs in his head, producer Hal Chester gave Ray Bradbury $2000.00 for the rights to the short story. Then the movie continued on, eventually using Bradbury's name in the credits and advertising.

It's all kinda much ado about nothing really.

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[–] sevenlilxenos 9 years ago

The same way an alligator can breathe underwater. The one picture which the hot chick shows the main character and he identifies as looking like what he saw did appear to me a bit like a huge alligator, maybe a distant big cousin.

[–] gary_overman 17 years ago

<There's a goof listed here at IMDB that a fathom is 6 feet, thus 20,000 fathoms would mean the creature came from 23 miles down, which is impossible since the deepest part of the ocean is only 7 miles deep. But, I've heard that the title doesn't necessarily mean 20,000 fathoms deep. It could be 20,000 fathoms away. Plus, this measure is never given in the movie itself, just the title. And you have to admit, the title is cool.>

I am going to quibble a little here. You are correct that a fathom is six feet. However, my understanding is that fathoms are measures of depth, not distance.
The only time that I have ever heard the term used was to describe how deep water was. I have never heard it used to describe distance.

C&P from an on-line dictionary:

n. Abbr. fth. or fm.
A unit of length equal to 6 feet (1.83 meters), used principally in the measurement and specification of marine depths.