Book-To-Movie: Ray Bradbury's 'The Fog Horn'

Credit: Pixabay

It's the fourth weekend of the month and so time for another Book-To-Movie review! In a Book-To-Movie, we review a work of prose fiction and its movie adaptation. 

When he was a kid, Ray Bradbury was greatly inspired by the giant monsters of mythology and science fiction. His stories reflect this inspiration. One of these is his short work, "The Fog Horn". This story was adapted to film in the 1950s which was titled "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms". This was actually the original name of Bradbury’s short story. So why the name changes? I’ll explain that in a bit. First, I want to go over the differences in plot between the short story and the movie, one of the biggest being the degree of sympathy for the monster. 

'The Fog Horn'

In “The Fog Horn”, an assistant to a lighthouse keeper who is also the story's narrator discovers that a prehistoric sea monster annually comes to the lighthouse mistaking it for one of its own kind. Even though the assistant is terrified of it when it first shows up, he, like the lighthouse keeper, learns to sympathise with it. The lighthouse keeper tells him that the monster has most likely been the last of its species for millions of years. 

The setting goes really good with the story’s pervading theme of loneliness. The lighthouse is not only at the edge of a vast ocean but it’s miles away from any town. The fact that it takes place at night enhances the isolated feeling. Although the monster is a tragic character in this story, it becomes a terror in the end especially when it seems to finally realise that, what it thinks is, its fellow creature does not answer its responding call which is very similar to the noise that the lighthouse's fog horn makes. Like with many of his stories, Bradbury tells this one with poetic description and images that create the sensation of isolation, fear of the unknown, and tragic destruction.

'The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'

"The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" was directed by Eugene Lourie and released in 1953. It's notable for its special visual effects done by Ray Harryhausen, a big name in science fiction and fantasy cinema of the 1950s. Speaking about names, let’s look at the reason for the change in titles between the movie and the short story it’s loosely based on. According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), the name change was a result of a coincidence between the movie and the short story. The script for the movie was at one point titled "Monster from the Sea". When Harryhausen showed the script to Bradbury, who he was good friends with, Bradbury pointed out that a scene where the monster demolishes a lighthouse was very similar to his short story which was, at that time, titled "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms". In other words, interestingly, this movie didn't start out, in the script process, as an adaptation of Bradbury's short story but happened to have a scene similar to it. Then later the studio offered to purchase the short story’s film rights. Bradbury accepted the offer and the script was retitled "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms". In turn, Bradbury retitled his short story “The Fog Horn” when it was reprinted later. 

The story to "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" (the movie) starts out with an atomic bomb test waking a dinosaur from its million-year frozen state in the North Pole. The creature makes its way by ocean to New York City and does a rampage on it. This movie is good in its own right. I say “in its own right” because, until Bradbury noticed the similarity between the lighthouse scene and his short story, the movie was its own story and mostly still is. The only recognisable elements from the short story in the movie are the gargantuan monster attacking the lighthouse, of course, and its migration by water. 

There isn't even much indication that the monster itself is an aquatic creature. In the short story, it’s described as coming from the ocean depths, not from the arctic, and has characteristics of water-dwelling creatures such as its serpentine neck, fish skin and webbed feet. The monster in the movie looks like a regular land dinosaur, somewhat like a Tyrannasaurus Rex. But Harryhausen does a top job on his work with the dinosaur. Stop-and-go animation was the state-of-the-arts special effects of that time like CGI is now.

The other difference in this movie from the short story is that the humans show almost no sympathy for the monster. The monster is a total terror for them, one that "needs" to be slayed immediately. (But don't worry, the fun doesn't end too quickly because they have a hell of a time slaying it.) The creature’s rampage is the result of an atomic blast and is basically being blamed by humanity for its own mistake. The movie is born out of the atomic era and is a manifestation of the fears of the people of that time, fears that concerned the dangers of atomic technology. The science replaces the poetics of Bradbury's storytelling and so the story in the movie is less mythic and less folksy. 

Bradbury's "The Fog Horn" and its very loose movie adaptation, "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" are two very different stories. Yet they both do a great job of conveying the awe and terror of a gargantuan prehistoric beast even if they do so in different ways due to differences in media (print and film) and story origin. "The Fog Horn" was Ray Bradbury's own, while "The Beast" was its own that was similar to the former by only a single scene. Because of this, I really can't say that I like one better than the other. They are each in many ways their own thing. However, "The Fog Horn" is worth a read as much as "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" is worth a viewing. 

Upcoming

I regularly come out with a newsletter once a month. However, as I said last post, I've been behind on it. Thanksgiving weekend has thrown me off a bit. That said, I don't think I'll be able to get the newsletter out before the month is out. What I will do though is merge what would have been this month's content with that of next month's newsletter. So, expect at least a slightly larger issue of “Night Creatures’ Call”, a Holiday one to be exact, next month. I'll have it out by the middle of the month if not before. If you haven’t subscribed to “Night Creatures’ Call” then you can do so here. It’s free and you’ll get detailed updates on my latest projects such as my upcoming book, “Bad Apps”. Then this Wednesday is the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop, so tune in here then! 

Have you read Ray Bradbury's "The Fog Horn" or seen "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms"?

Until next time . . .