i don't have a nose: Monster Month Review: It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955)

Columbia Pictures’ vintage science-fiction feature sees Commander Pete Mathews (Kenneth Tobey) of the Navy in hot pursuit of a giant octopus creature after having detected it on his submarine. As developments unfold, Mathews falls for Professor Joyce (Faith Domergue), a scientist investigating the presence of the unexplained creature. Eventually, news emerges that a tramp steamer has been lost at sea, and the monster, upon its emergence from the waves, threatens to destroy San Francisco. It’s up to Mathews and Joyce to stop the creature before it wreaks any more havoc.

First off, after the first few minutes of the film, it becomes instantly clear that the special effects are to be its predominant appeal, if the title didn’t initially give it away, mostly due to the fact that the narrative otherwise showcases little of any originality. And for Harryhausen’s second feature, the effects are surprisingly convincing – at least in the context of the film and the era it was first distributed. For its time, scenes in which the tentacled creature is seen alongside live action actors are outstanding, despite the notable limitations Harryhausen was burdened with. Most impressive, inarguably, is the monster movie’s most memorable scene which sees the destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge. Technologically, the film does not fail to impress, and represents one of Harryhausen’s earliest theatrical feature film successes.

With that in mind, the effects are nonetheless rather minimal compared to some of Harryhausen’s subsequent efforts. Of course, this is a consequence not only of Harryhausen’s own personal and budgetary limitations, but also of the film’s pacing, and its building suspense in its attempting to provide reason for the phenomena that has San Francisco in a frenzy. Ordinarily, this would represent no severe detriment to the film’s plot, were it more absorbing otherwise. In that sense, the acting isn’t particularly *bad* but the characters are altogether rather flat and clichéd. Naturally, with a heavy reliance on Harryhausen’s animation in its climactic scenes, a focus on live action character development was evidently of less importance. This is nothing new – and it’s a sad reality that a large proportion of current films also fall prey to an over-reliance on visual appeal – but Harryhausen’s techniques, while technologically fascinating and innovative in retrospect, are nonetheless dated and fail to sustain a rather bland and forgettable live action narrative.

Contextually, however, in an era when monster movies were relatively modern, and the techniques applied showcased something of an improvement on the monster superimpositions by the likes of Willis O’Brien, the plot served as a mere facilitator of suspense. By today’s standards, it’s rather basic but, to put it bluntly, it does the job. And, as clichéd as the relationship between Joyce and Mathews is, there’s no denying that it’s well-paced and that they do have onscreen chemistry. That said, it most definitely *is* clichéd, not to mention predictable. Even so, such formulaic expositions and relationships have paved the way for a great number of subsequent parodies and homages. In that respect, this film is a seldom-seen classic monster flick, albeit one of many.

In all, casual sexism and bland characterisation aside, this is a solid monster flick, at least contemporarily. By today’s standards, it maintains very little merit in terms of being a suspenseful monster thriller; in fact, you’re more likely to recoil at the pungent cheesiness of the occasional hammy delivery and effects than at the monster in question. Regardless, it nonetheless represents one of the early quintessential monster movies and, technologically, one of Harryhausen’s earliest rousing theatrical successes. It’s hardly a monster of a movie, but its formula has since become one of the most repetitious, lampooned and venerated.