Le monstre vient de la mer

1950s sci-fi monster movie about a giant octopus attacking ships and submarines. The Navy doesn't like it one bit. Slow-going with the monster octopus not fully showing up until three-quarters into the picture. Far too much focus in the first half on the nauseating romantic drama involving Kenneth Tobey's sub commander and scientists Faith Domergue and Donald Curtis. There is some fun to be had with the clichéd characters and some of their corny lines ("When you're driving that atomic submarine of yours, do you have time for romance?"). All of the octopus scenes are fun and the last quarter of the movie is the most interesting, due to the stop-motion effects from the legendary Ray Harryhausen. I normally love movies like this and would rate it higher, but it's just so talky and the romance makes me want to puke.

In the 1950s and 60s, there were practically zillions of giant radioactive monster films. Giant shrews, ants, spiders, dinosaurs and whatnot scared audiences and were immensely popular throughout the world. For example, THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (1953) clearly led to Japanese films such as Godzilla (1954) and its many spin-offs. In general, these films were super-cheesy--having pretty second-rate special effects (even for the time) and lousy dialog. Godzilla was a guy in a reptile suit, TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE used a lobster and THE KILLER SHREWS used hairy costumes placed on dogs--all very high on the "cheese-o-meter". However, a very small number of these films did have decent special effects for the time period and tried to be serious entertainment--and IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA is one of them.

Unlike many giant monster films, IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA looked like it had a larger budget. Much of this was because they had the cooperation of the navy and because they used GOOD stock footage--not the usual grainy and irrelevant filler used in many of these films. It also looked big budget because of the work of Ray Harryhausen. Now, in the 21st century, his work appears rather crude and old fashioned, but for the mid-1950s it was state of the art and still holds up reasonably well if you aren't an idiot who expects CG and state of the art effects. Sure, the giant octopus looks a bit odd and is obviously controlled through stop-motion, but it is very well integrated into the scenes and still impresses. It's obvious that they really cared and wanted to make a quality picture.

As far as the romance and dialog goes, I will admit it has a lot of clichés--such as the brainy but sexy female scientist. However, it was handled a bit better than usual and at least Faith Domergue (a perennial in 50s sci-fi) was pleasant looking. I know it's weird, but I really get turned on by the "brainy scientists" in these film. In fact, I married one myself--though she has no experience, so far, with giant monsters! Don't worry folks--I showed this review to my wife and I am NOT in the dog house!

For lovers of the genre, this film is a must. For those who think giant monsters attacking mankind are stupid, then at least one is better than most of the rest!!

This was a pretty decent effort by the master of stop motion animation, Ray Harryhausen. The scenes with the giant octopus helped to add a lot of thrills to this film. The only negative aspect to are the scenes without the monster. There is basically no human chemistry between the human characters and it probably would have made the film a lot better. Also, Faith Domergue's character of Professor Joyce was hard to figure out. At first it seems as if her character wants to be taken seriously, but as the film goes on she seems to act as the typical pretty face that screams whenever danger approaches. However, the real star of the film is the monster, who was probably one of Harryhausen's finest creations.

Also, one of the more interesting things about this film was the fact that they mentioned that the monster first appeared off the coast of Japan. Of course, this film was released about a year after another monster appeared off the coast of Japan, Gojira (aka. Godzilla).

Despite all of its flaws, this was still a good effort by the master.

Having already starred in 'The Thing from Another World' (1951) and 'The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms' (1953), Kenneth Tobey completed a memorable treble of classic Sci-Fi films with this offering.

Make no mistake, 'It Came from Beneath the Sea' is one of the classics of the genre and as such is above the mundane criticism about poor script, narrative, performances etc. We all know that these monster-flicks from the 50's and 60's had their shortcomings, but they were made to a formula for a target audience and in this respect there is little to fault and much to commend.

Here we have a giant octopus, disturbed from it's Pacific lair by atomic testing, heading for San Francisco in a foul mood. The Harryhausen effects are great, the narrative follows a course of some scientific logic and Faith Domergue, if a little too old, looks good enough in her tight blouse.

Director Robert Gordon did little else of note which is surprising - he did a good enough job here and whilst not up to the standard of '20 Million Miles to Earth' (1957), 'It Came from Beneath the Sea' is still superior for its type.

BEST SCENE - no contest; the octopus trashing the Golden Gate Bridge.

A nuclear sub is taking its' shakedown cruise when the Captain puts on Swing music on the stereo. The monster disapproves of his music choice and pins down the sub. The sub eventually gets free, but there is unidentifiable matter stuck to it. Eventually scientist Faith Domergue figures out it belongs to a giant octopus.

Director Robert Gordon does a good job of not letting the film get bogged down in talk. Domergue and the Navy argue about whether sea monsters actually exist. The film is worth watching for the stop-motion animation Harryhausen did on a limited budget. The monster is marvelously realistic looking as it wreaks havoc upon the countryside.