It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)

      During the 1950's, monster movies had exploded onto the silver screen. Ranging from massive insects to radioactive beings, this was surely the age of creature features. Either it be in the genre of horror or science fiction, these black-and-white films had created a huge fandom over the years. Nothing beats the classics in the creature features game. Them!; The Killer Shrews, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and It Came from Outer Space are just a handful of these types of films that had influenced American culture and the future for the film industry. Even though monochrome (black-and-white) films tend to have a tendency for making me fall asleep (due to the lack of color); they shouldn't be put aside to make room for "new age horror". I enjoy these types of films because, even though some are really cheesy; they're a lot more entertaining to watch. It Came from Beneath the Sea is one of those films that is just enjoyable to watch. Either it be in color or black-and-white, the film has potential and has already inspired newer films especially with ones that involve giant 'octopi' (i.e. Mega Shark versus Giant Octopus, Tentacles, and Octopus). It Came from Beneath the Sea is solely about the Untied States Navy taking on an enormous, radioactive cephalopod, whom had to change its diet; after being driven out of its abyssal home in the Pacific.

     The three characters in the film weren't uncommon in 1950's monster flicks. Kenneth Tobey (whom also starred in The Thing from Another World) played Commander Pete Matthews, whom had his first run-in with the gigantic octopus while inside an atomic submarine. The attractive Faith Domergue (This Island Earth) portrayed marine biologist Professor Lesley Joyce; the love choice as well as the strong female type in the film. Last but not least, Donald Curtis (Earth vs. the Flying Saucers) played Dr. John Carter, a Harvard marine professor. These three did an amazing job not just in their acting but, keeping the flow of the film in check. Amazing cast alongside their secondary characters (which mainly were Naval personnel). The love triangle between the three was as entertaining as you have her like him but, he likes her. Eventually though, not to ruin the film; the Professor and Commander do fall in love. Though these three were the center pieces in this creature feature, the true star has to be the giant octopus portrayed by the sadly deceased Ray Harryhausen. Before moving on, I would like to say a few words about Harryhausen. His techniques will always be inspiring against today's computer generating software. He truly did amazing things throughout his career, ranging from his works on Clash of the Titans, Jason and the Argonauts, The Valley of Gwangi, Mighty Joe Young, and more. I was devastated to hear that we lost him in 2013 but, I always wanted to thank him for all his hard work for bringing stop motion monsters to life. Rest in Peace.

    Aside from that heartwarming speech, the octopus that Harryhausen used was quite unique. In the colored version of the film (which I'm basing this review on), it was green and had a total of six tentacles. Though octopuses have a total of eight in reality, the reason for It Came from Beneath the Sea's octopus having six was probably due to two possibilities: radiation probably caused the enormous sea monster to mutate into having six, or the creature ate its own arms to survive. Though these two are just theories on what happened in the film, the real reason why the octopus only had six was due to the prop's size since it didn't have enough room for eight. Aside from that observation, the scenes involving the octopus were, in my opinion, well done. CGI has either ruined or succeeded in films today but, stop motion animation proved to be more successful back then. Films that had used Ray Harryhausen's methods are ten times better than crappy done computer generation. Stop motion brings biological life into its films like how the original King Kong or The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms accomplished in so doing. The film's story has an easy flow to it and includes plenty of times for the audience to be at the edge of their seats.

    My favorite scenes primarily focused on the giant octopus. Even though it was quick-on-its-feet, well written, and had an amazing flow; the main focus in It Came from Beneath the Sea was the true star. Whenever you have a creature feature or a monster movie, the main character has to be the monster since its primarily about them. From its emergence to its explosive death, the octopus had some outstanding scenes that are highly memorable (i.e. when the giant octopus attack the Golden Gate Bridge which inspired both American Godzilla films). If I had to choose out of all the scenes in the film, I would have to go with the sinking of the ship, and when the radioactive octopus attacked Sans Francisco's Ferry Station. These scenes were the highlights in the film (besides the attack on the Golden Gate).

    My rating for It Came from Beneath the Sea (in color) is a 4.5 out of 5. My reasoning isn't because, like everyone; I'm spoiled due to CGI or that the slow parts in the films were boring. No, its mainly focuses around the true essence of 1950 monster movies for being in monochrome. Color was invented in film before this creature feature was ever produced yet, black-and-white was more popular during this time. Personally, I've never watched It Came from Beneath the Sea in monochrome so giving it a higher score is saying that "its better in color than in its original monochrome". To fully experience 1950 films (especially monster movies), watching in black-and-white is more beneficial than in color since you feel as though you're watching it during the time of its release. My score for the original is a true 5 out of 5. As a whole, It Came from Beneath the Sea is an outstanding monster movie and it should be viewed either in color or monochrome. Do not pass down an opportunity to watch this film. You are losing out on a great story and legendary special effects.

"The next time I cruise in these waters I'm going to have torpedoes with warheads on them."