REVIEW: It Came From Beneath the Sea (Robert Gordon, 1955)

It's too bad the octopus keeps interrupting It Came From Beneath the Sea.  Otherwise we'd have a funny, unexpected look at the sexual politics of the fifties.  In this story, hard-headed Commander Pete Mathews (Kenneth Tobey) must unravel the cause of multiple ship disasters, and the government enlists biologists Lesley Joyce (Faith Domergue) and John Carter (Donald Curtis) to help determine the cause.  Ever irascible, Mathews's attraction to the female biologist stops whenever the sleepy-eyed Joyce and her damned ovaries insist on joining the action.  Her friend Carter helpfully explains that women nowadays can be useful, you know, like men.  Still, Mathews's anger subsides long enough for some forceful flirting, as when he corners her in a science lab.  Joyce avoids his gaze, but she coyly handles a test tube that sits between them, which suggests that, on some level, she's receptive to his rapey come-ons.

Oh, and there's also an octopus in the movie, which was obviously the source of financing, given the success of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.  However, the producers didn't put up enough money for the creature to have eight working arms, so Harryhausen had to settle for six.  As far as his creations go, the monster is a dull disappointment, lacking the personality of the Ymir from 20 Million Miles to Earth or even the weird movement of the UFO's from Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.  Here, it's only in the final sequences that the creature is fully visible, and its attack on the Golden Gate Bridge is as depressing as it is derivative.  King Kong this is not.

Harryhausen's features from the 1950's are a mixed bag.  They will fascinate special effects artisans and acolytes, who will enjoy tracking Harry's progress from a competent technician into a formalist emphasizing the personality of his creations - his fantasy films set his imagination free.  It Came From Beneath the Sea has its pleasures, but they're tangential to Harryhausen.  The question arises: is a film a disappointment when its pleasures, though genuine, are most likely unintentional, and its chief draw is its most uninteresting element?  Or is it fairer to say that It Came From Beneath the Sea will entertain you in ways you won't expect?  There's a good movie in here.  You just have to ignore the six-armed octopus.

RATING: B-