It Came from Beneath the Sea
by Richard Schickel, Robert Gordon
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Dean Maddox Jr., Donald Curtis, Faith Domergue, Ian Keith, Kenneth TobeyDirector: Richard Schickel, Robert Gordon
Writer: Richard Schickel
Producer: Anna Sofroniou
Producer: Charles H. Schneer
Producer: Douglas Freeman
Writer: George Worthing Yates
Writer: Harold Jacob Smith
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 78 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-05-06
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of It Came from Beneath the Sea
Movie Review: Excellent, forward-moving drama.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an excellent sci-fi film. I first saw it in the late 1950s. My school was going to take us to see Old Yeller, but that film was sold out, so instead we went to see It Came From Beneath the Sea. Bobby Moore's mother was taking us. That was about 45 years ago. The film starts with a tense episode in a submarine, and introduces kids to all sorts of interesting gizmos, such as sonar, Geiger counters, and periscopes. The film gets off to a humorous start, as there is a slight disagreement among submarine personnel as to whether the music played on board should be Hawaiian music or big band. Without devoting much further time to character development, or to establishing the historical context, we are introduced to the giant octopus. It ensnares a ship and takes it down. What follows is an excellent course in psychology, where a surviving sailor is so shocked that he cannot describe the octopus, but merely points to the examining physician's stethoscope. The doctor makes some subtle pronouncements, indicating that he believes the sailor to be nuts. The other sailors, waiting their examination, agree amongst each other to pretend that they saw nothing (to avoid being diagnosed as nuts). Another scene takes place in a marine biology lab, where there is a prominent sign reading NO SMOKING, but the sub commander, in speaking with the marine biologists, proves to be a chain smoker. Kids will love observing this discrepency on their own, as the contradiction is not discussed by any of the actors. As if the film was not dramatic enough, the octopus attacks San Francisco, tears down the Golden Gate Bridge, and extends its tentacles along the Embarcadero, near the area now named after journalist Herb Caen. "Woman's liberation" plays a surprisingly prominent role in this film, the female marine biologist is a university professor. Other films from this era would not have dared to do this, and would have given the woman a master's degree, at most. From time to time, there are hints of romance in this film, and the film director is to be commended for infusing the romantic episode with ambiguity (is the woman involved with the other marine biologist or not?). But there is not enough romance to dampen a kid's enthusiasm for the plot. The special effects are more than adequate. Unlike other sci-fi films from this era, and thereafter, the dialogue does NOT bog down in pseudo-scientific gibberish. After watching this movie, one wishes that more sci-fi films were in black'n'white. The quality of the images is excellent (not blurry at all) on my new liquid crystal T.V.
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