It Came From Beneath the Sea was the first collaboration between special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen and producer Charles H. Schneer. Directed by Robert Gordon (Tarzan and The Jungle Boy), the newly colorized film, depi... more »cting a giant octopus attacking San Francisco, stars Kenneth Tobey (The Thing From Another World), Faith Domergue (This Island Earth), Donald Curtis (Earth vs. The Flying Saucers) and Ian Keith (The Ten Commandments).« less
An amazing movie for its day -- imagine, a woman who is a respected professional in her field of marine biology, and she's not a junior assistant, she is the leader of the science team. People listen to her and seek out her opinion. She is pretty, but that's not all people see. She's smart and people like her anyway.
When I saw this movie as a young girl, I was stunned. All around me people were saying that it was impossible, radioactive octopuses could never attack San Francisco. I wanted to say, you morons, the impossible part is that you'd ever let a woman be anything.
Some kids got their inspiration from Star Trek. I got mine from Faith Domergue. I owe her, bigtime, for showing me possibilities I didn't see around me.
1 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.
Damian M. (ratchet) Reviewed on 3/11/2009...
A middle-of-the-road effort from FX wizard Ray Harryhausen. Of course his portion was top notch, but the story wasnt as good as some of his later works. A giant octopus is attacking ships at sea and is eventually tracked to the San Fran bay. Why they didnt just let attack the city I will never know. But they dont.
Movie Reviews
I left my tentacles in San Francisco.
Robert S. Clay Jr. | St. Louis, MO., USA | 04/17/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Good Grade B '50s sci-fi flick. An atomic size octopus from the deepest realms of the Pacific threatens the world. Seeking adequate levels of food supply, not excluding humans, the creature attacks San Francisco. The real star of this movie is the razzle-dazzle special effects of Ray Harryhausen. The quality of the stop-motion animation exceeds the constraints of the B&W photography and the modest budget. The first part of the film tells of the mysterious ship sinking and other unexplained marine mayhem caused by the great sea beast. Navy Captain Pete Mathews (Kenneth Tobey) and two expert marine-biologists, John Carter (Donald Curtis) and Lesley Joyce (Faith Domergue), work around the clock tracking down clues to identify the source of the mysterious events at sea. The simple plot moves right along and doesn't waste time. As seems obligatory in many '50s sci-fi flicks, the heroes endure the "I'm telling you, there's a monster!" phase followed by the "Yeah, right!" response from the authorities. Happily, that particular cliche is kept to a minimum. Things really start to go snap, crackle, and pop as the monstrous octopus tries to pull itself up on the Golden Gate Bridge. And check out the giant eye that opens as the submarine approaches the submerged creature in the San Francisco harbor. This is solid Saturday afternoon at the movies fun for 12 year-olds of all ages. They really don't make them like this anymore."
My Favorite Movie
Leslie B. Franson | Ellicott City, MD | 12/31/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"My Dad was a young and handsome Naval submarine officer stationed in San Francisco at the time the movie was being made, and he was asked to play the part of the executive officer, Lt. Griff. It was his one and only movie. My family and I got to visit the set and meet the stars, including the real octopus. (Very small).
Dad was presented with an electric dishwasher as a gift for his part in the film since the Navy would not let him accept money and my mother felt we really needed a dishwasher. My brother and I were in elementary school when the movie finally made it to the local theater in Kailua, Oahu two years later and we got to see out dad's name up on the big screen. None of the other children sitting in the audience for that Saturday matinee believed us. The movie is still a hit at Griffiths family reunions. Dad is now 82, and retired from the Navy with the rank of Vice Admiral.
"
A Columbia 50's Monster Flick in Color at Last!
C. Courtney Joyner | L.A. | 02/26/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Excellent DVD for Harryhausen fans, monster geeks and film historians that treats us to a great example of how far colorization technology has come since its introduction years ago, and not on a washed-out public domain title. Supervised by R.H. himself - as are 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH and EARTH VS. FLYING SAUCERS - IT CAME benefits from a more interesting and LIVING color spectrum for its monster, instead of the constant, solid green of the Ymir in the new version of 20 MILLION. The Golden Gate bridge sequence looks especially good, with the hues of the tentacles contrasted with the red of the bridge, as well as the water tones. Another terrific highlight is the flamethrowers vs. the octopus scene, which again, really sparks in its colorized form. A few of the optical mattes are more noticeable in the color transfer, but there is always the beautiful, crisp black and white version to go back to. Both are included in this package, and you can even toggle between the two for comparisons. The extras are solid, with R.H. revealing more details about this film than he has previously. IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA has always been a 50's monster staple, thanks to its wonderfully animated star (and Ken Tobey!), and with this new, finely rendered color version it looks better than ever."
If you lived in San Francisco.....
Leslie B. Franson | 09/05/1999
(3 out of 5 stars)
"and were about 5 years old (as I did and was) when this movie originally came out you never traveled across the S.F. Bay Bridge without holding your breath for as long as you could praying that you'd make it across BEFORE the Beast through it tentacle over the exact spot you were at on the bridge! By today's movie standards, it a simple "B" movie -- very lotech and maybe even cheesy, but way be fore it became fashionable, it had a lot to say about what the nuclear tests and waste products of the day could do to living things --"
MORE HARRYHAUSEN WIZARDRY
Tim Janson | Michigan | 06/16/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Yet another Ray Harryhausen film from the 1950's has just been released on DVD in a two disc special edition. It Came from Beneath the Sea comes in between The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers. It's probably the least of those three films but I always liked this one even more than "Earth Vs..." This is such a product of the 1950's when the paranoia over nuclear testing was at its highest. The result was a plethora of films featuring all manner of radioactive-spawned giant monsters: spiders, ants, grasshoppers, and other beasties. In this film the threat comes from a giant octopus, driven out of its deep sea home by atomic bombs tested at sea.
The first to encounter the creature is a U.S. Navy nuclear sub, commanded by Pete Matthews (Tobey). The sub doesn't know exactly what they've encountered but a piece of the creature was caught in the Sub's propellers. The hunk of octopus is taken to be analyzed by two marine biologists, Prof. Lesley Joyce (Domergue) and Prof. John Carter (Curtis). They determine that the piece belongs to an octopus but one that has grown to enormous proportions.
The creature soon makes attacks on other vessels, sinking an entire merchant ship, and leaving only a handful of shocked survivors. While the Navy at first dismisses the professor's findings, they soon cannot deny the truth and decide to take action. The film's climax comes with the memorable octopus attack destroying the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
Like all of these films, it's the masterful stop-motion effects that are the real star. While the film itself took only a few weeks to shoot, Harryhausen worked on the effects for months afterwards, painstakingly filming the creature's movement's one frame at a time. Yes, perhaps it looks dated next to today's slick CGI effects but there's a certain admiration you have to have for Harryhausen's work. He knew these were low-budget B features but that never stopped him from delivering 100% effort.
It Came from Beneath the Sea is slower than the other films I mentioned. It takes a good 25 minutes or so before we even get a good look at the creature for the first time and the film only runs about 79 minutes. There is a melodramatic love triangle going on between the three leads. Matthews is the tough captain while Carter is the somewhat sheepish scientist. When Professor Joyce tells carter that Matthews kissed her, all he can manage is, "Did you enjoy it?"
That said, I enjoyed the cast. Tobey was a great character actor who made over 300 film and TV appearances in his fifty year career. He was a regular in the 1950's TV show "Whirlybirds" and also appeared in such shows as I Spy, Lassie, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Ironside, and Emergency, usually playing some sort of authority figure. His final role was in an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in 1994. He was a strong, macho leading man. Domergue's Prof. Joyce was every bit as tough as Matthews. Domergue was no stranger to Sci-Fi roles, seemingly always playing the role of a scientist. She also starred in This Island Earth and Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet.
Extras: The film comes in either the original black & white or new colorized format. This new Chroma-Color process is vastly improved over the old colorizing process of 10 or 20 years ago and while purists might object, Harryhausen himself approves of the look.
The film comes with Audio Commentary with Ray Harryhausen, Arnold Kunert, Randy Cook and John Bruno
Remembering It Came From Beneath the Sea, is Harryhausen's own recollections about making the film and runs 22:00
A Present Day Look at Stop-Motion takes a look at film students learning the art of stop motion. 11:36
Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray Harryhausen. Director Tim Burton interviews Harryhausen as ray discusses how the saucers were made and other interesting tidbits about the film. Great segment but it's almost ruined by Burton who babbles almost incoherently and uses the words "you know" and "amazing" about a hundred times during the 27:09 minute interview.
Original Ad Artwork Producer Arnold Kunert looks at the film's ad materials including rare posters and lobby cards from Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers and other films. 17:30
David Schecter on Film Music's Unsung Hero Is a retrospective on the career of composer Misha Bakaleinikoff 22:32
Sneak Peek of Digital Comic Book Flying Saucers vs. the Earth