'IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA'.....HARRYHAUSEN'S OCTOPUSSY

 It Came From Beneath The Sea (1955).......marked the beginning of over a quarter century collaboration between special effects genius Ray Harryhausen and producer Charles H Schneer....

           Schneer learned well how to squeeze maximum impact out of the miniscule budgets that studios allotted to science fiction and horror films.......since his co-producer on "It Came.." was the legendary master of cheapo-cheeseball movies, Sam Katzman.

          So for the next 26 years, the amazing Harryhausen single handedly created his wondrous menagerie of stop-motion creatures under the tight budgets negotiated by Schneer........the partnership finally got to enjoy the luxury of working on the lavish scale of a  major studio film with the last epic they made together, 1981's "Clash Of The Titans"......

           Back in the black-and-white 1950's, however, no penny spent on a monster movie went un-pinched.... .......therefore the Harryhausen giant octopus that lays waste to San Francisco had to cut corners to save some bucks.....and lose a couple of tentacles, knocking it down to six.

            Fortunately for Harryhausen and Schneer, nobody who sent to see a movie about a giant octopus tearing down the Golden Gate bridge and squishing fleeing pedestrians would notice the monster's actually a Hexapus......(we just love typing out Hexapus......it sounds like a pet Harry Potter kept at Hogwarts....)

             Take it from the BQ, as a child watching this, we sat riveted, scared and thrilled out of our little mind as Ray's tentacled wonder hugged an atomic sub, gobbled up a merchant ship and poked its six appendages into the streets of San Francisco.........

              And let's salute the mighty trio who do battle with the "It"........ that stalwart, veteran monster-basher Kenneth Tobey ("The Thing From Another World" and "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms
.......that sultry-eyed girlfriend of Howard Hughes, Faith Domergue (who's presented as a feisty independent scientist until she shrieks her head off at the sight of the first tentacle)......and lastly, providing the third part of a romantic triangle that the film never really explores, Donald Curtis, playing Faith's fellow scientist who behaves like a Clark Kent still searching for his Lois Lane. 

              After this film, Ray Harryhausen and Charles H. Schneer never looked back and pumped out a lifetime of classic films that dazzled the eyes and captured the imagination of multiple generations....(many of whom were inspired to pursue careers in fantasy filmmaking. .....

               And imagine this......unlike the sci-fi films of today, they did it all with painfully modest amounts of money and technical resources........

               Watching "It Came From Beneath The Sea", you won't have to sit through a 15 minute credit crawl of 987 CGI artists.  All of its special effects come from the meticulous craft and creativity of one man, Ray Harryhausen.  

                 And that, for us, makes the movie a forever 5 star (*****) FIND OF FINDS.