Atomic submarine crew under Commander Pete Mathews(the always reliable Kenneth Tobey, a veteran of classic B movie sci-fi horror), unequipped cruising supposedly uninhabited Pacific waters, encounters massive object on sonar which damages their X-ray equipment leaving tissue embedded in the diving planes. The Navy call on the knowledge of marine scientists/biologists Professor John Carter(Donald Curtis), renowned as the essential mind in his field, and Professor Lesley Joyce(Faith Domergue, whose sex appeal is well established in this flick)an up and coming authority in the study of aquatic life, to study the tissue so that an answer can be provided as to what the submarine encountered. They soon discover, as missing fisherman have already, that an enormous octopus, living in the extreme depths of the ocean, was disturbed by H-bomb testing with the radioactivity breeding an insatiable hunger for human or large animal life, leading to it's submerging to the surface in search of food. The scientists will assist Mathews and the Navy in a search for the octopus after it attacks a steamer in Canadian waters and a family driving along an Oregon beach. Closing the North Pacific in search for the marine monster, the Navy will race against time in the hopes of finding it as other countries in the surrounding areas grow restless with the secrecy of why their businesses are being effected. But, matters will only grow worse as the octopus sets it's sights on San Francisco..
Despite the love-triangle melodrama between Mathews, Joyce and Carter which develops as they seek the monster, and a narrative device used to spoon-feed the viewer(..as was often the case in the 50's), this is quite an entertaining little creature feature thanks to Harryhausen magic. The aquatic beast exposes it's massive tentacles as it destroys a portion of Golden Gate Bridge, ripping to shreds a clock tower, breaking into a store window, reaching into the streets as frightened civilians scurry for escape, grappling a steamer before pulling it underwater, and getting it's skin penetrated by a specially made warhead(patterned after a harpoon is encased in the nose;instead of exploding on contact it is designed to penetrate the flesh, by means of spreading barbs, the warhead will be set off electronically). The monster even surfaces on the coast of an Oregon embankment to grab a victim and holds Mathews' submarine hostage before he and Carter attempt to hurt it with explosives. Harryhausen's monster is the real star, but the leads have good chemistry and the screenplay plucks from the topic of the time, a villain of our own creation being the H-bombs we experiment with through explosions, to give the audience a reason for why it is attacking us(..not to mention making a statement about the dangers of radiation). Good fun. Tobey is always a welcome presence as the heroic, no-nonsense, man-in-charge, who you find believable as the one others trust as a leader when facing a crisis, needing the type of commander who can think on his feet. It's hard, though, to compete with those Harryhausen tentacles which rise from the watery depths to snatch terrified on-lookers..
Despite the love-triangle melodrama between Mathews, Joyce and Carter which develops as they seek the monster, and a narrative device used to spoon-feed the viewer(..as was often the case in the 50's), this is quite an entertaining little creature feature thanks to Harryhausen magic. The aquatic beast exposes it's massive tentacles as it destroys a portion of Golden Gate Bridge, ripping to shreds a clock tower, breaking into a store window, reaching into the streets as frightened civilians scurry for escape, grappling a steamer before pulling it underwater, and getting it's skin penetrated by a specially made warhead(patterned after a harpoon is encased in the nose;instead of exploding on contact it is designed to penetrate the flesh, by means of spreading barbs, the warhead will be set off electronically). The monster even surfaces on the coast of an Oregon embankment to grab a victim and holds Mathews' submarine hostage before he and Carter attempt to hurt it with explosives. Harryhausen's monster is the real star, but the leads have good chemistry and the screenplay plucks from the topic of the time, a villain of our own creation being the H-bombs we experiment with through explosions, to give the audience a reason for why it is attacking us(..not to mention making a statement about the dangers of radiation). Good fun. Tobey is always a welcome presence as the heroic, no-nonsense, man-in-charge, who you find believable as the one others trust as a leader when facing a crisis, needing the type of commander who can think on his feet. It's hard, though, to compete with those Harryhausen tentacles which rise from the watery depths to snatch terrified on-lookers..