It Came From Beneath The Sea

A gigantic radioactive octopus makes a bee-line for San Francisco. Meanwhile, rugged Navy Captain Pete Matthews (well played by the always dependable Kenneth Tobey) has to find some way to stop the beast before it’s too late. Director Robert Gordon, working from a compact script by George Worthing Yates, relates the engrossing story at a steady pace, maintains a serious tone throughout, and stages the monster attack scenes with aplomb (the sequence with the big creature destroying the Golden Gate Bridge rates as the definite exciting highlight). The solid acting from the competent cast helps a lot: Tobey does well in one of his customary stalwart hero roles, the lovely Faith Domergue holds her own as the feisty Professor Lesley Joyce, and Donald Curtis contributes a sturdy turn as the esteemed Dr. John Carter. Ray Harryhausen’s typically fine and fluid stop-motion animation does an ace job of bringing the slimy behemoth to life. Moreover, there’s a surprisingly radical and progressive subtext concerning Professor Joyce, there’s an earnest quality to this picture that’s impossible to dislike, and the inevitable romance between Matthews and Joyce provides a good deal of sweet charm thanks to the strong chemistry between Tobey and Domergue. Both Henry Freulich’s stark black and white cinematography and Mischa Bakaleinikoff’s robust’n’rousing score are up to snuff. An immensely entertaining giant monster movie.