Le monstre vient de la mer

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.

It Came From Beneath the Sea was one of the better monster films from the Fifties as Hollywood cinema was desperately trying to compete with the small picture box gradually invading American homes. One of the answers was large screen special effects and this film was one of the best in that department.

Ray Harryhausen's name so far is still the only special effects man that I know who's name will actually encourage people to buy a movie ticket. He created some marvelous film monsters and this was one of his best.

The octopus we are told comes from the Mindinao Deep, a spot on our planet still not totally explored because it is the deepest part of our ocean's bottoms. Presumably there are a whole lot more like him around and in point of fact to this day we don't know all the creatures of the sea.

That perennial villain of Fifties Science fiction, atomic testing and/or radiation has made this big guy move out of the depths and try to capture Captain Kenneth Tobey's submarine. He barely gets away and Tobey's is the first of several incidents involving the creature. Scientists Faith Domergue and Donald Curtis are also on the job and the creature ends up in San Francisco Bay. He does a number on the Golden Gate bridge and then tries to beach himself at the Embarcadero. Army flame throwers see that doesn't happen.

Faith Domergue was a really beautiful woman who became known again through the Howard Hughes biographical film, The Aviator. She was at one time Hughes's main squeeze. This is probably the film she's most known for though. There's one scene where Domergue uses her best asset to convince a merchant seaman whose ship has been sunk by the octopus, but is afraid of being given a section 8, to fess up about the monster. Kind of campy, but fun.

The monster's no villain here as in some films. He's just a creature whose habitat man has disturbed that's trying to survive. Unfortunately we can't have him roaming the Pacific destroying all kinds of civilian and military activity. So he has to be killed. For me it was a bit sad seeing the outcome. I think other viewers will feel the same way.

In the 1950s cinema was subjected to (graciously in my case) a number of things that came to wreak havoc on mankind. Be it nuclear enhanced spiders and ants marching forth from the desert or various beings from outer space come to deliver alien fury. Hell we even had giant water snails laying slimy waste to all in their way. But what of the ocean? So much potential down there. Rhedosaurus and Gojira had come from the sea to lay a marker down for the big lizard, but what of the natural creatures? Sharks? Well Spielberg's genre daddy was some 20 years away. Whales? Crabs? Squids? Ah what about a giant Octopus? Now there is scope for a riot. Lets make him a product of atomic blasting, awoken from the Mindanao Deep, keep it sympathetic 9it's just being natural after all), set up an attack on a bastion landmark of Americana and get stop-mo genius Ray Harryhausen to work his wonders.

So they did. It Came from Beneath the Sea, if you pardon the pun, holds its head above water in the creature feature, sci-fi schlockers genre. Starring Faith Domergue (This Island Earth), Kenneth Tobey (The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms) and Donald Curtis (Earth vs. The Flying Saucers), it has safe and solid genre credentials. Though guilty of being over talky, in that the science being offered up isn't worthy of such meanderings, the script does allow for a feminism angle that should be applauded for the time it was made. Even if it's almost smothered by the love tryst shenanigans of our three central players that is. Filmed on location in San Francisco to add some level of authenticity to the story and having a running time that doesn't let it outstay its welcome. It Came from Beneath the Sea is a fine genre piece worthy of yearly revisits. 7/10

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.

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.