It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

If you enter into an intellectual and emotional contract with something like It Came from Beneath the Sea, don't whine about being disappointed--it's a 1950s giant critter flick, and that's all! I'm not whining.This was a very stupid movie, and infuriating, to boot. The concept itself--giant octopus attacks--gets a great treatment at the start of the 80 very long minutes. We never see the thing as it tries to get up close and personal with the first nuclear-powered submarine. We just see the officers and men trying to stay alive. For about 10 minutes it appears that the movie-makers know what they're doing. When the Nautilus escapes the critter, and she puts into Pearl Harbor for repairs, all competence flies home to the mainland, and we're left with what seems like days of REM-sleep-inducing boredom.Since I was a kid I've enjoyed Ray Harryhausen's work. The octopus--and most everything else--shows what happens when a good story is sacrificed at the altar of SFX. Harryhausen was so clearly not up to the task here--8 years away from the wonderfully scary Jason and the Argonauts and 26 years before Clash of the Titans. If there had been less SFX and more tension, this thing would have been forever a classic. What we got instead was a big, inky suckfest.

I can't tell you how many times I tried to catch this flick over a span of years but was always stymied in the attempt. Chalk it up to bad timing, falling asleep or missing it in the cable listings. I might have blown this one too but thanks to DVR, even nodding off would have had a remedy.The first thing I noticed here was that the black and white transfer I viewed on Turner Classics was phenomenally crisp and offered a first rate viewing experience. Ray Harryhausen's monster effects and the film makers' stop motion wizardry really brought a level of sophistication to this otherwise B grade sci-fi/horror film. Granted, the action isn't what modern day viewers would expect given the prevalence of CGI, but for the mid-Fifties, this was pretty cool.But you know, the picture had it's share of goofs too, and it's the kind of stuff I live for with these old pictures. Remember when the airplane pilot spotted the pair of survivors in the rubber dinghy after the sailors abandoned ship during the first attack? When the scene transitions to the naval hospital, there are four men brought in! Then this next scene, I had to wonder whether it was intentional or not because it was just so ironic. In the lab where the scientists and Commander Pete Matthews (Kenneth Tobey) are working, there's a prominently displayed sign that says 'No Smoking', but the commander spends his entire time taking drags on his cigarette.But the one that really doubled me over was when Commander Matthews and Professor Joyce (Faith Domergue) are on the beach investigating the latest missing person headline, and the professor explains to the Admiral that the potential sea monster probably hasn't gone away from the area. Yet she and the commander are out in the ocean swimming!Well if you can take your sci-fi with a grain of sea salt, this is probably one of the better giant mutant due to atomic radiation flicks you're likely to come up with from the era. The octopus attack on the Golden Gate Bridge was a pretty creative affair, and if you're going to make a stand for humanity, you might as well have the movie heroes blow the monster all to hell with an explosive torpedo. It sure does rule out a sequel though.

Unfortunately, time has not been in the least bit kind to this creaky, badly-dated Sci-Fi/Monster Flick from 1955.Rugged Submarine commander Pete Mathews, along with diligent scientists Lesley Joyce and John Carter, battle an understandably peed-off monster-octopus who has been driven up from the darkest depths of the ocean by an H-Bomb explosion.In search of non-contaminated food, this tentacled tyrant of the sea counts among its victims a fishing trawler and its passengers, a family sunning at the beach, several San Francisco skyscrapers, and even the Golden Gate Bridge.With a daring attempt to destroy the monster, while at the same time trying to save themselves, IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA features some incredibly fake-looking "back-projection" visual effects and a corny, out-of-place romance that somehow transpires between Commander Pete and Scientist Lesley Joyce. -

Kenneth Tobey stars as Commander Pete Mathews, who is in charge of a nuclear submarine that encounters something very large and mysterious on a deep sea mission. Later, it is discovered that a giant octopus has been awakened by H-bomb testing, and makes its way to California, attacking San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Donald Curtis and Faith Domergue play two scientists who identify and try to stop the rampaging creature before it wrecks all coastal communities across the country. The F/X by Ray Harryhausen are fine, though limited, and the clichéd story lacks any depth itself. Only Kenneth Tobey seems really involved with his role, but it isn't enough.