It Came from Beneath the Sea

The acting and directing are a step-up from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms in It Came from Beneath the Sea, but its Ray Harryhausen’s quirky effects work that’s the real charm here. Another run through “giant radiated creature destroys the city,” It Came from Beneath the Sea is another fast-moving piece of cinematic junk food. I don’t mean that as a criticism, I mean it as a sincere piece of positive criticism.

Ray Harryhausen’s films are memorable for his various creatures; no one watches them as challenging or deep-thinking cinematic exercises. They’re fun, they’re ridiculous, they’re equal parts fantasy and theme-park attraction. So if the plots are riddled with logical holes and the dialog is pure pulp, then they’re all the better. The more propulsive they are, the more entertaining they become.

It Came from Beneath the Sea is still working out the problems of consistent pacing that something like The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad has worked out, so that keeps it from reaching the loftiest heights in Harryhausen’s canon. Doesn’t mean that the final attack on the city, and the gigantic octopus doing the attacking aren’t memorable. In fact, much like The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, It Came from Beneath the Sea is best when it drops these special-effects heavy scenes at more frequently intervals.

The budgetary constraints do show here, and they trickle down to Harryhausen’s main attraction. A certain jerkiness is evident, and a few sequences feel rushed in order to keep the time and budget under control. At least Donald Curtis, Kenneth Tobey, and Faith Domergue are on-hand to play this purple material with a straight face. Domergue’s brainy-but-sexy professor is a refreshing heroine in that it’s her smarts that frequently save the day. There’s plenty to admire and like in It Came from Beneath the Sea, even if the entire package is a bit sloppy by even the admittedly loose standards of a B-movie.