It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)

Director:

Robert Gordon

Writers:

George Worthing Yates (screenplay) &
Harold Jacob Smith (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

July 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

IT CRUSHES! KILLS! DESTROYS! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

A Giant Octopus, whose feeding habits have been affected by radiation from H-Bomb tests, rises from the Mindanao Deep to terrorize the California Coast.

Plot Keywords:

Octopus | Scientist | Golden Gate Bridge | Giant Octopus | Radiation

Cast

Kenneth Tobey	...	Cmdr. Pete Mathews
Faith Domergue	...	Prof. Lesley Joyce
Donald Curtis	...	Dr. John Carter
Ian Keith	...	Adm. Burns
Dean Maddox Jr.	...	Adm. Norman
Chuck Griffiths	...	Lt. Griff, USN
Harry Lauter	...	Deputy Bill Nash
Richard W. Peterson	...	Capt. Stacy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tol Avery	...	Navy intern (uncredited)
William Bryant	...	Helicopter Pilot (uncredited)
Del Courtney	...	Asst. Secretary of the Navy Robert David Chase (uncredited)
Roy Engel	...	Officer in control room giving orders to drop nets (uncredited)
Eddie Fisher	...	McLeod (uncredited)
Sam Hayes	...	Himself (radio newscaster) (uncredited)
Jules Irving	...	King (uncredited)
Jack Littlefield	...	Aston (uncredited)
Rudy Puteska	...	Seaman Hall (uncredited)
Ray Storey	...	Reporter (uncredited)
William Woodson	...	Opening Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Robert Gordon

Writing credits
George Worthing Yates		(screenplay) &
Harold Jacob Smith		(screenplay) (as Hal Smith)
George Worthing Yates		(story)

Produced by
Sam Katzman	....	executive producer
Charles H. Schneer	....	producer

Original Music by
Mischa Bakaleinikoff		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Henry Freulich		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Jerome Thoms

Art Direction by
Paul Palmentola

Set Decoration by
Sidney Clifford

Production Management
Leon Chooluck	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Leonard Katzman	....	assistant director

Sound Department
J.S. Westmoreland	....	sound (as Josh Westmoreland)

Special Effects by
Jack Erickson	....	special effects
Ray Harryhausen	....	technical effects creator

Visual Effects by
Ray Harryhausen	....	visual effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Richard H. Kline	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Music Department
Mischa Bakaleinikoff	....	conductor
Daniele Amfitheatrof	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Ross DiMaggio	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Herschel Burke Gilbert	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Werner R. Heymann	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Heinz Roemheld	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Clover Productions

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1955) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1994) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (1985) (USA) (VHS)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #17332) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Long Beach, California, USA

Company:

Clover Productions

Trivia:

Ray Harryhausen purchased the model for the ship that the octopus sinks from a five and dime store.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the authorities are detonating undersea mines to discourage the giant octopus, explosions are shown in S.F. Bay. Those explosions are actually taking place on the surface of the water, since the surface shock-wave is clearly visible and no water spout is created.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator:From her beginnings on a Navy drawing board, through the months of secret field experiments out on the Western desert, then through the desperate search for new metals with the properties she needed, she was designed to be the nation's greatest weapon of the seas - the atom-powered submarine...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in "MonsterQuest: Giant Squid Found (#1.3)" (2007)

Giving a Big Octopus a Hot Foot

It Came From Beneath the Sea was one of the better monster films from the Fifties as Hollywood cinema was desperately trying to compete with the small picture box gradually invading American homes. One of the answers was large screen special effects and this film was one of the best in that department.

Ray Harryhausen's name so far is still the only special effects man that I know who's name will actually encourage people to buy a movie ticket. He created some marvelous film monsters and this was one of his best.

The octopus we are told comes from the Mindinao Deep, a spot on our planet still not totally explored because it is the deepest part of our ocean's bottoms. Presumably there are a whole lot more like him around and in point of fact to this day we don't know all the creatures of the sea.

That perennial villain of Fifties Science fiction, atomic testing and/or radiation has made this big guy move out of the depths and try to capture Captain Kenneth Tobey's submarine. He barely gets away and Tobey's is the first of several incidents involving the creature. Scientists Faith Domergue and Donald Curtis are also on the job and the creature ends up in San Francisco Bay. He does a number on the Golden Gate bridge and then tries to beach himself at the Embarcadero. Army flame throwers see that doesn't happen.

Faith Domergue was a really beautiful woman who became known again through the Howard Hughes biographical film, The Aviator. She was at one time Hughes's main squeeze. This is probably the film she's most known for though. There's one scene where Domergue uses her best asset to convince a merchant seaman whose ship has been sunk by the octopus, but is afraid of being given a section 8, to fess up about the monster. Kind of campy, but fun.

The monster's no villain here as in some films. He's just a creature whose habitat man has disturbed that's trying to survive. Unfortunately we can't have him roaming the Pacific destroying all kinds of civilian and military activity. So he has to be killed. For me it was a bit sad seeing the outcome. I think other viewers will feel the same way.