The Beast of Hollow Mountain

It is amazing what inertia can compel one to sit through.

In this film, set in northern Mexico and released in 1956, an American and Mexican cattle rancher compete for business in a small country town. The American rancher is about to make a big sale, and the Mexican rancher is jealous. His pretty fiancé is attracted to the American, which doesn't help matters. As a result he plots to run the American out of business and out of town. As a complication, a tyrannosaur lives in the nearby swamp and emerges in times of drought to eat cattle and people who happen to be in the way. Frankly, the tyrannosaur is the most interesting element in the film, which is too bad since the tyrannosaur is really a bore.

The beast is a combination of floppy rubber feet and stop-action photography. The film was billed as the first to combine color photography and stop-action special effects. Unfortunately, the special effects are fairly primitive and not up to the standards set in the 1950s by Ray Harryhausen. (It Came from Beneath the Sea, 1955, is a much better film). They're not even up to the standards of the Godzilla movies. These filmmakers didn't know how to integrate special effects and live photography. The creature seems constantly to shift in size against the background. There is a lot of dead time as it walks back and forth and as the live actors appear to stare at it with no particular concern.

Although everyone seems to agree the creature has to be killed, no one seems surprised that it is there.

The film portrays the usual Mexican stereotypes and at the same time portrays some strong Mexican characters. Stereotypes are a source of comedy (a bumbling old drunkard, for instance) and of pathos (the little boy whose father--the bumbling drunkard--happens to become the tyrannosaur's first victim). There are some efforts to show Mexican culture--a colorful festival is taking place in the town. Unfortunately, a cattle stampede interrupts it. And then there is the quicksand.

The mountainous background scenery is beautiful. Scenery isn't enough. Because the story and acting are weak (Guy Madison, later to star in the Lost in Space television series, is a lead actor), and the creature is laughable, there are no real redeeming values in this film.