Customer Reviews

It Came from Beneath the Sea

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Legendary producer Charles H. Schneer, the man behind such films as Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956), 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), and Clash of the Titans (1981), and technical effects master Ray Harryhausen (back in the day they were called technical effects, not special effects), the man behind the eye popping effects of all the movies listed above, comes It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955), a rousing tale of scary sea beast from the greatest depths of the ocean floor rising to satisfy its' insatiable hunger on us tasty humans. The film stars Tobey Keith, who many may remember from the quintessential sci-fi thriller The Thing From Another World (1951) and Faith Domergue from This Island Earth (1955) as Cmdr. Pete Mathews and Professor Lesley Joyce, respectively.

The movie opens on the maiden voyage, or shake down cruise, of the United States newest, most advanced, and spiffiest atomic submarine, with Cmdr. Pete Mathews in charge. Things seem to be going well, that is, until a large object is appears on the ping ping machine, sonar I think they called it, making a beeline for the sub. What is it? What could it be? If you've seen the front of the DVD case, then you probably know it's a giant octopus, so I don't feel I am giving anything away here. Why does a giant octopus attack the submarine? It's actually explained pretty well further into the movie, so I will leave it to that. After some tactical maneuvering, the submarine gets free with the crew unable to determine what actually happened. Once in port for repairs, a huge piece of organic material is found caught in the flaps or something of the submarine, and some specialists are called in to investigate. Enter Professor Joyce and some other dude (actually, it's Donald Curtis, an actor who appeared in more movie than I care to count throughout the 40's and into the 50's). Commander Pete gets the google eyes for Professor Joyce, but is unsure of her relationship with the other scientist dude, and thus sets up the screwy romantical subplot someone thought needed to be in the film. Finally, after weeks of intensive research, the scientists believe they have identified the organic material to be from a humongous cephalopod (octopus to you and I...yeah, those scientist types have odd names for everything. They need to learn to speak English good like you and me). The military big wigs are skeptical, which infuriates Professor Joyce, but their reaction seemed the right one as not to run around starting a panic and go off half-cocked. Anyway, the octopus starts tearing into shipping lanes, thus confirming the fact that it is real, and the hunt is on. The United States Navy vs. the giant, grabby octopus...get your tickets now, as they are going fast.

The special effects by Harryhausen look great, with the octopus attacking a ship for the soft, chewy occupants, dragging itself on to coastal areas to grab a few landlubbers, and ripping up the Golden Gate Bridge. I had read that the octopus only has six arms, as budgetary constraints did not allow for the extra expense of animating all eight limbs, so it was proposed that the two limbs we don't see are always submerged. The action during the scenes with the octopus is pretty fast and intense, so I didn't even notice this minor issue. The acting was pretty good, for the most part, and there is copious amount of stock footage, some of which the quality was pretty poor, making it stand out against the really good-looking picture quality. At least the footage used was relevant and pretty exciting stuff, most dealing with naval ships and depth charges being set off in the water...BOOOOOM!!! The idea of a giant octopus dragging itself on land to feed on the puny humans (the cephalopod was HUGE) seemed pretty `out there', but allowed for some cool scenes of the creature trashing buildings and such. Maybe next time those civilians will heed the civil defense sirens, those that didn't get all squished or ate up...hee hee...I will admit, the movie was a bit campy at times, but it's a lot of fun, and fairly fast paced at a run time of 79 minutes.

The quality of the print is really nice and clean, and presented in wide screen anamorphic. Special features include a trailer for the film and other Harryhausen movies, along with one for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The featurette `This is Dynamation' is here, along with documentary `The Harryhausen Chronicles', both of which I've seen on other releases.

Cookieman108

I had never seen the film until this past week when I picked it up at a local Borders store for $15. To tell you the truth, I had some high hopes for the films, but like most monster films of the era, the monster's time was limited and short. So I wasn't expecting too much.
The film starts out pretty slow with Ken Tobey and his sub crew trying to figure out what they got themselves caught up in (the octopus).
The human parts of the film are like any other monster film where a man falls in love with a beautiful woman and they love each other in the end. The acting is pretty decent but seems to drag on for FAR too long! Plus the monster scenes were much shorter in this one compared to other Harryhausen films which was disappointing.
Overall, the film does deliver and is an enjoyment. But the overdone human drama and very few scenes of the octopus make this movie somewhat dull. A good film, but not one of Harryhausen's best as far as entertainment value.

Finally Kenneth Tobey's Sci-Fi movies are coming out on DVD. I'm waiting for the Beast from 20,000 fathoms and The Thing from another World. I would like to see all 3 colorized. I think all three movies are great, especially The Thing from Another World. I would definitely buy them all. The thing is 5 stars and 4 stars for The Beast from 20,000 fathoms. These were 3 of my favorites as a young boy.

"For centuries the mind of man has learned comparative little of the mysteries of the heavens above - or the seas below"

"Since the coming of the atomic age, man's knowledge has so increased that an upheaval of nature would not be beyond his belief."

It is 1955 and the atom sub looks just like a ww2 diesel (at least it does not look like a cardboard mockup.) The latest sub is being chased by thing or things unknown; let's just say that "It Came from Beneath the Sea".

Standard sci-fi for the time we have the obligatory romance between the captain, Cmdr. Pete Mathews (Kenneth Tobey) from "The Thing From Another World" (1951), and Prof. Lesleyl Joyce (Faith Domergue) from "This Island Earth" (1955). What a ménage à trios and Prof. John Carter (Donald Curtis) from several "Science Fiction Theater" (1955-1957) TV episodes.

I just love sci-fi from this time because they inevitably depend of flame throwers to do the trick as in "The deadly Mantis" and "Them!"

Naturally no one believes them until they get eaten. Others think they have the situation in hand. Will we be able to handle "IT"? And will there be a next time?

Six tentacle monster by Ray Harryhausen; "Clash of the Titans" (1981).
Screen play by Hal Smith, and George Worthing Yates.
Faith Domergue, by God.

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (Color Special Edition)

Right at the start you have to wonder how I could rate a mediocre movie 3 stars. Well, it is not for the plot, which is weak at best. Certainly it is not for the acting, which is on the weaker side of B-movie. Setting aside the other various possibilities, we arrive at Ray Harryhausen's stellar special effects.

The plot is classic 50s. A recurring theme in B-science fiction movies was that regardless of how great our technology, the unknown can always spring up and bite you in the behind. If you think about it, that same theme continues on today in movies like Predator and Alien. Anyway, the newest atomic submarine (it seemed atomic something was a staple of 50s science fiction movies) was going through various trials when suddenly the sonar picks up a (gasp) rapidly moving unknown object. The unknown object temporarily impedes the progress of the submarine.

Once back in dock, it turns out there is something organic stuck on the submarine. The organic is part of a creature related to octopi. Of course, it cannot be an octopus because octopi of such great size are unknown. Ah yes, but we are in B-science fiction movie land, where there are giant everything, and even though we know today that squid grow much larger than octopi, the producers picked on the highly intelligent octopus to be the victim of this movie.

Anyway, the various characters meander around the movie, speaking in pseudoscientific terms, occasionally getting a facial expression to at least give a nod to the term acting. What the wonderful prelude is leading up to is the real action with the octopus. When the octopus finally shows up the fun really begins, though the poor acting continues.

The octopus decides mines can be mostly ignored until it reaches the Golden Gate Bridge. The mines drive the octopus up onto Golden Gate Bridge, wreaking havoc on a bridge that in the 50s was still relatively new. The last thing the city of San Francisco wanted was for someone to suggest the Golden Gate Bridge could be destroyed by anything, even something as far fetched as a giant octopus, so they would not give the producer permission to film on the bridge. Thus, the film makers had to film out the back of a truck driving back and forth across the bridge when no one was looking. It matters not, because the scenes of the octopus climbing onto and taking apart Golden Gate Bridge are phenomenal special effects for any era, even with today's digital special effects.

After a while the octopus gets bored with taking apart the Golden Gate Bridge and heads for the Embarcadero area. The scenes of the octopus once again make this portion of the movie. The shots of the octopus's legs moving about and doing various things, including crushing the odd pedestrian, are wonderfully detailed. Harryhausen's stop-action photography makes the octopus extremely realistic, down to the texture of the skin and the eyes. There is only one real flaw to the octopus. Due to budget limitations the octopus had to be limited to six legs. Unless you know that it is quite possible that you would not notice.

The octopus is driven back into the bay by flame thrower wielding soldiers. Once again Harryhausen's special effects make these scenes. The octopus flinches in a most convincing way. Once the octopus is back into the bay the inevitable follows and we know who must win in any movie of this type. I was rooting for the octopus.

This movie is one of the weaker movies in which Harryhausen's special effects appear. The wooden acting and weak script make this film a real snoozer for most of the scenes except for those in which the octopus appears. However, when the octopus appears this movie becomes magic. Perhaps the biggest flaw in this movie is that the octopus appeared in so few scenes.

The interesting thing about this movie is that every time I think about watching it, all I really remember are the scenes with the octopus; maybe that is for the best.

This is an excellent sci-fi film. I first saw it in the late 1950s. My school was going to take us to see Old Yeller, but that film was sold out, so instead we went to see It Came From Beneath the Sea. Bobby Moore's mother was taking us. That was about 45 years ago. The film starts with a tense episode in a submarine, and introduces kids to all sorts of interesting gizmos, such as sonar, Geiger counters, and periscopes. The film gets off to a humorous start, as there is a slight disagreement among submarine personnel as to whether the music played on board should be Hawaiian music or big band. Without devoting much further time to character development, or to establishing the historical context, we are introduced to the giant octopus. It ensnares a ship and takes it down. What follows is an excellent course in psychology, where a surviving sailor is so shocked that he cannot describe the octopus, but merely points to the examining physician's stethoscope. The doctor makes some subtle pronouncements, indicating that he believes the sailor to be nuts. The other sailors, waiting their examination, agree amongst each other to pretend that they saw nothing (to avoid being diagnosed as nuts). Another scene takes place in a marine biology lab, where there is a prominent sign reading NO SMOKING, but the sub commander, in speaking with the marine biologists, proves to be a chain smoker. Kids will love observing this discrepency on their own, as the contradiction is not discussed by any of the actors. As if the film was not dramatic enough, the octopus attacks San Francisco, tears down the Golden Gate Bridge, and extends its tentacles along the Embarcadero, near the area now named after journalist Herb Caen. "Woman's liberation" plays a surprisingly prominent role in this film, the female marine biologist is a university professor. Other films from this era would not have dared to do this, and would have given the woman a master's degree, at most. From time to time, there are hints of romance in this film, and the film director is to be commended for infusing the romantic episode with ambiguity (is the woman involved with the other marine biologist or not?). But there is not enough romance to dampen a kid's enthusiasm for the plot. The special effects are more than adequate. Unlike other sci-fi films from this era, and thereafter, the dialogue does NOT bog down in pseudo-scientific gibberish. After watching this movie, one wishes that more sci-fi films were in black'n'white. The quality of the images is excellent (not blurry at all) on my new liquid crystal T.V.

If Ray Harryhausen had the buget they have for FX today,who knows what he would have been able to do! The story from what I've read was that the producers of the movie didn't have enough funds to make a 8 armed Octopus. You would never really know this unless told,as the Master Harryhausen was very clever in hiding the beast's missing tentacles. One of my favorites as a kid and it still holds up. The DVD transfer is good with some very cool extras.

A giant octopus coming out of the ocean depths to crush ships and eat their sailors! Wow, what a concept. Fun classic movie -- typical black and white classic monster movie that is entertaining, although corny by todays' standards. I think they are the best though - no matter what the movie industry can do today with special effects -- these old black and white classic monster movies are the best!

this is a terrific example of harryhausen magic. missing appendages notwithstanding (and, let's face it, who would honestly notice if they hadn't been told?), the creature is a wonderful piece of animated model work.

i'm surprise that noone else has caught (or mentioned, at least) the blatant sexual innuendo! the initial flirtation scene, when the captain corners the female scientist in the lab, is a riot -- check out how she's handling that test tube! then he proceeds to light up a cigarette (despite the "no smoking" sign right behind him)... hrmm...

Another great science fiction classic from the '50s, this film is one "not-so guilty pleasure." The stop motion animation was excellent. However, sometimes you can tell that the octopus is made of rubber. There's not very much of the monster in this film, it mostly consists of drama. A must see for all fans of b-movies.