Review of It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955) by Jonathan B — 27 Jan 2016

It is fairly standard 1950s B movie stuff with all the usual clichés. We have the gruff, military man, the female scientist, the clipped voice over to explain huge chunks of plot, the bubbling test-tubes to show something scientific is going on, tiny, wooden sets and the musical stings that announce the appearance of the monster.

Being the 50s, the sexism is pretty rife but It Came From Beneath the Sea does at least have the plucky Faith Domergue as Professor Lesley Joyce who manages to make some tentative forays into the world of feminism.

So, the plot sees San Francisco terrorised by a giant radioactive octopus. It's down to the US Navy and a marine biologist to, firstly find out what has been attacking their ships, then convince the authorities that they are dealing with a monster and finally come up with a way of killing with the damnned thing.

It's not complicated and whips along at a fair old pace. Where this film scores is the involvement of Ray Harryhausen who provides one of his trademark stop-motion creatures. The octopus is great, despite being a few tentacles short.

There area number of classic, stand out scenes where some creature feature staples are firmly established for the future. Namely, when the octopus attacks the Golden Gate Bridge and one where it slaps it's tentacles along the street and drags off some unfortunate victims.

This is a movie that has to be viewed for what it is. It is from a bygone age and would have formed one part of a double feature at the drive-in. It has a great creature and helped cement the conventions of giant monster films that we all still enjoy today.

For that, it is worth watching and has much to commend.