It Came from Beneath the Sea

This is not a creature you'll rub elbows with at Sea World, to say the least. Not after it's done a number on San Francisco and without a wrecking ball in sight. But then if Godzilla can take Tokyo, why not an octopus taking out an American city in big time stop-motion fashion. Okay, it's archaic special effects by today's digital standards, but cutting edge for its time and still a lot of movie fun.

Tobey's a fine underrated actor, perfect as a military type. And Domergue-- Howard Hughes' big squeeze— shows her dewy-eyed stuff as a "women are as good as men" feminist. Actually, it's Curtis, a man, who states that case for the "new woman", though Domergue's aggressive scientist makes a convincing case all by herself. Surprisingly for this type movie, the three share equal time on screen, and it's pretty clear director Gordon's instructions to them are to low-key it, which they do to good effect.

The first atomic submarine, the Nautilus, sailed in mid-1954 to a lot of public interest. No doubt, the producers here were well aware, and wove a crowd-pleasing story around the film version. Then too, mutant monsters had not yet taken over movie screens as they would a few years later. No doubt, the success of this film was parent to many of those creature offspring. Anyway, as these movies go, this is definitely one of the better ones in all departments, (though a couple of romantic scenes could have been easily economized).

In passing—I really like that last scene where our three musketeers get no recognition for their heroics. It's a nice ironic touch. And see if you agree—looks to me like they're about to "break character" at fade-out.

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!!

I've been a fan of Ray Harryhausen since I was old enough to appreciate movies, so I bought the DVD of "It Came From Beneath the Sea" even though I hadn't seen the film in many years. Having rewatched it, I have to admit that it's perhaps the least of his film accomplishments.

Once again, the atomic bomb provides the justification for another giant monster, though, despite what has been inaccurately reported elsewhere, the octopus in the film has not been mutated by radiation. It's simply a very large example of its kind that was living at the bottom of a deep ocean trench. When atomic testing made it radioactive, it couldn't effectively hunt because other sea creatures could somehow sense its presence. Therefore, it came to the surface in search of food.

One of the major problems with this film is that while an octopus makes a decent giant monster, it completely lacks the personality of some of Harryhausen's other creatures. Furthermore, it is confined to the sea--and, by extension, the shoreline--limiting its ability to go on a proper rampage.

Even at 79 minutes, the film moves very slowly until the climax. The opening sequence, in which the beast attacks a submarine captained by Kenneth Tobey's character, goes on for several very long minutes of inconsequential naval dialogue.

The lethargic pacing extends to the plot as well. The team of scientists assigned to determine what attacked the sub take a full two weeks to identify it as an octopus.

An odd love triangle of sorts pads the running time. Faith Domergue--who is presented as a modern feminist despite her tendency to scream on cue--seems just as interested in Tobey's navy man as she does in her fellow scientist. The two men acknowledge the triangle, but neither seems at all competitive about it.

Domergue is one of the best things about the film. She's credible as both scientist and sweater gal, and is a good example of the increasing role of female characters in science-fiction films of the period.

Once the octopus attacks in earnest, things pick up quite a bit, and Harryhausen's effects--including stop-motion-animated building demolition--are quite effective. While this is definitely a lesser effort for him, he still shows what he can do with a small budget and a relatively uninteresting monster.

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.

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.