Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN: 0043396226203
Format: Anamorphic
Label: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
MPN: COLD22620D
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Region Code: 99
Release Date: 2008-01-15
Running Time: 79
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Theatrical Release Date: 1955

It Came From Beneath the Sea was the first collaboration between special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen and producer Charles H. Schneer. Directed by Robert Gordon (Tarzan and The Jungle Boy), the newly colorized film, depicting a giant octopus attacking San Francisco, stars Kenneth Tobey (The Thing From Another World), Faith Domergue (This Island Earth), Donald Curtis (Earth vs. The Flying Saucers) and Ian Keith (The Ten Commandments).

Customer Rating:
Summary: MORE HARRYHAUSEN WIZARDRY
Comment: Yet another Ray Harryhausen film from the 1950's has just been released on DVD in a two disc special edition. It Came from Beneath the Sea comes in between The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers. It's probably the least of those three films but I always liked this one even more than "Earth Vs..." This is such a product of the 1950's when the paranoia over nuclear testing was at its highest. The result was a plethora of films featuring all manner of radioactive-spawned giant monsters: spiders, ants, grasshoppers, and other beasties. In this film the threat comes from a giant octopus, driven out of its deep sea home by atomic bombs tested at sea.

The first to encounter the creature is a U.S. Navy nuclear sub, commanded by Pete Matthews (Tobey). The sub doesn't know exactly what they've encountered but a piece of the creature was caught in the Sub's propellers. The hunk of octopus is taken to be analyzed by two marine biologists, Prof. Lesley Joyce (Domergue) and Prof. John Carter (Curtis). They determine that the piece belongs to an octopus but one that has grown to enormous proportions.

The creature soon makes attacks on other vessels, sinking an entire merchant ship, and leaving only a handful of shocked survivors. While the Navy at first dismisses the professor's findings, they soon cannot deny the truth and decide to take action. The film's climax comes with the memorable octopus attack destroying the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Like all of these films, it's the masterful stop-motion effects that are the real star. While the film itself took only a few weeks to shoot, Harryhausen worked on the effects for months afterwards, painstakingly filming the creature's movement's one frame at a time. Yes, perhaps it looks dated next to today's slick CGI effects but there's a certain admiration you have to have for Harryhausen's work. He knew these were low-budget B features but that never stopped him from delivering 100% effort.

It Came from Beneath the Sea is slower than the other films I mentioned. It takes a good 25 minutes or so before we even get a good look at the creature for the first time and the film only runs about 79 minutes. There is a melodramatic love triangle going on between the three leads. Matthews is the tough captain while Carter is the somewhat sheepish scientist. When Professor Joyce tells carter that Matthews kissed her, all he can manage is, "Did you enjoy it?"

That said, I enjoyed the cast. Tobey was a great character actor who made over 300 film and TV appearances in his fifty year career. He was a regular in the 1950's TV show "Whirlybirds" and also appeared in such shows as I Spy, Lassie, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Ironside, and Emergency, usually playing some sort of authority figure. His final role was in an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in 1994. He was a strong, macho leading man. Domergue's Prof. Joyce was every bit as tough as Matthews. Domergue was no stranger to Sci-Fi roles, seemingly always playing the role of a scientist. She also starred in This Island Earth and Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet.

Extras: The film comes in either the original black & white or new colorized format. This new Chroma-Color process is vastly improved over the old colorizing process of 10 or 20 years ago and while purists might object, Harryhausen himself approves of the look.

The film comes with Audio Commentary with Ray Harryhausen, Arnold Kunert, Randy Cook and John Bruno

Remembering It Came From Beneath the Sea, is Harryhausen's own recollections about making the film and runs 22:00

A Present Day Look at Stop-Motion takes a look at film students learning the art of stop motion. 11:36

Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray Harryhausen. Director Tim Burton interviews Harryhausen as ray discusses how the saucers were made and other interesting tidbits about the film. Great segment but it's almost ruined by Burton who babbles almost incoherently and uses the words "you know" and "amazing" about a hundred times during the 27:09 minute interview.

Original Ad Artwork Producer Arnold Kunert looks at the film's ad materials including rare posters and lobby cards from Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers and other films. 17:30

David Schecter on Film Music's Unsung Hero Is a retrospective on the career of composer Misha Bakaleinikoff 22:32

Sneak Peek of Digital Comic Book Flying Saucers vs. the Earth

Video Photo Galleries.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: More is Lesss
Comment: Well, it's nice to have the color and the HH voiceover but it's really a pretty cheesy movie and can barely hold your attention throughout. This is sophomoric at best. HH can barely remember anything about it as it was so long ago but at least he is given the reverence he is due. So, all in all, an improvement on the original but it has only made the old cheddar slightly more palatable than before. The fact that it sells for such a low price anyway pretty much illustrates the minor target audience of the last gasp purist for HH.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: earth vs the flying saucers
Comment: Another great sci fi from the 50's.. I can remember hidding behind the seat at the theater everytime the aliens showed up . Great old classic!!! Plus a very excellant job with the colorization process.!!!!

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: It came from beneath the colorization process
Comment: Anything by Ray Harryhausen's stop motion effects is worthy of praise, this is another one of those films my mother told me me about when I was younger and I appreciated the sheer coolness of a giant octopus attacking San Fransisco, it's cool in B&W and just as cool in color but it just takes a tad away from it when you colorize these old B&W movies but what makes this version really cool is that you can switch between B&W/Color while the movie is playing or you can watch one or the other as both versions or included on the discs so you can't go wrong here and you certainly can't beat the price, I tried buying this in the store and they wanted $25 bucks for it so I said "forget it" and came home and ordered it online here. It's a cool movie, don't miss it.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: WWII Philosophy: Search and Destroy
Comment: By the time IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA was released in 1955, the Second World War had been over only for 10 years, and America had not forgotten the lessons so harshly learned--find the enemy, engage the enemy, and destroy the enemy. Hollywood was in the early phases of releasing a series of films that dealt with Bug Eyed Monsters of various sorts, and this one is typical of the genre. H bomb explosions cause an oversized octopus to rise from the deepest recesses of the Marianas Trench to seek the food that its now radioactive body render impossible. Since its normal marine diet of fish are warned away by its radioactivity (the film does not explain how fish can sense X-ray radiation), the huge creature seeks human nourishment. There are scenes that introduce the creature in a manner that was soon to become familiar to fans of THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD, RODAN, and GODZILLA. Innocent victims usually vessels are attacked while the world panics and calls for help. Enter Kenneth Tobey and Faith Domergue as this help, with Tobey as a sub skipper and Domergue as a world reknown marine biologist. One of the film's more interesting but less publicized aspects has less to do with the creature and more to do with the sociological subtext that dealt with the changing vision of women During Moments of Crisis. Tobey is attracted to Domergue (Howard Hughes' real life one time girlfriend) and she to him, with the clearly understood subtext that all gorgeous women regardless of their brains were supposed to fall for handsome uniformed macho types like Tobey. As much as he lusts after her in a manner that must be painful to view to politically correct feminist types today, he still can't view her as little more than eye candy that must be dispensed with when The Going Gets Tough. Most of the latter part of the film shows the magic that FX magician Ray Harryhausen created with his stop-action camera work even if the background effects also evince the cheesiness and phoniness that result when even geniuses like Harryhausen had to operate on a shoe string budget. Behind the forced romance of Tobey/Domergue and the FX of Harryhausen lies yet another subtext--this time political. Much of ICFBTS consists of various scenes of the military reacting to the menace of the creature. You see soldiers in trucks, destroyers dropping depth charges, and jets searching for survivors. It is pretty clear that the America of 1955 was a pre-politically correct nation that still retained a world view that the United States was a force for good and when an enemy were to appear (creatures from the sea, aliens from space, human terrorists), it would be patriotic types like Kenneth Tobey we would call upon to save us--even if he still managed to find time for romance with Faith Domergue.

---