kevinolzak Review of The Beast of Hollow Mountain

The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956)

Seen on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater in 1963

[4/10 · 31 March 2019]

1956's "The Beast of Hollow Mountain" was a US-Mexican coproduction in color from the Nassour brothers, their previous claim to fame Abbott and Costello's 1949 "Africa Screams." Edward and William had acquired the rights to not one but two script ideas from "King Kong" creator Willis O'Brien, but Edward Nassour (who did some uncredited effects work on 1951's "Lost Continent") used his own animation process for anamorphic Cinemascope, combining O'Brien's usual technique of stop motion with replacement animation (several different models utilized to depict each position), providing a nice contrast in styles and a swift moving menace (they also built a huge pair of dinosaur feet worn by a stuntman). For unwary viewers who tuned in right after the opening credits, they could be forgiven for thinking they were watching a straight up color Western set in Mexico, as for the first hour we hear about a cursed mountain where bad things happen but it all seems to be the work of an unscrupulous cattle baron trying to drive out a Texas rancher back across the border by stampeding his herd. Guy Madison, already a star as TV's Wild Bill Hickok, makes for a stalwart hero, in love with the rustler's intended bride (Patricia Medina), both of whom are forced to head for Hollow Mountain in search of the boy whose father was the Beast's most recent meal. Finally at the one hour mark we get to see it in all its bright color splendor, described as an allosaur/tyrannosaur, quicker than the typical animated creature. From this point on it's all action and though the Beast does bleed from several shots fired it's not enough to kill it, so Madison and his trusty rope are the only hope to lure it to its doom. Ray Harryhausen made a more elaborate version of O'Brien's 'cowboys and dinosaurs' story with 1969's "The Valley of Gwangi," and in both cases one can't help but feel pity for the poor Beast in its dying throes. Edward Nassour was listed as codirector with Mexico's Ismael Rodriguez, the latter working with Lon Chaney on 1955's "Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer," and helming Basil Rathbone's final film in 1967, "Autopsia de un Fantasma" (also starring John Carradine and Cameron Mitchell).