It Came from Beneath the Sea

In all the shots of the monster sprawled across the Embarcadero, cars can be seen driving normally along the street, even right under its tentacles.

It is highly unlikely that motorists would continue to calmly drive past a giant octopus attempting to come ashore, let alone beneath its tentacles.

A normal octopus has 8 tentacles.

This one just has six.

This was intentionally done to save money in the limited special effects budget Near the end of the film, when fear of the giant octopus is at its most frenzied, there is a highway scene purportedly showing people fleeing San Francisco in their cars.

However, this shot actually shows traffic coming INTO the city.

The shot is of I-80 west and the cars are just entering San Francisco from the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

It is evident that the traffic is flowing into San Francisco and not away from it because one of the bridge's two towers can clearly be seen in the background perpendicular to the road.

The "Bay Bridge" (as it appeared in 1955 and still appears today - a new bridge is currently under construction) consists of two spans connecting San Francisco and Oakland via a small island in the middle of San Francisco Bay.

The western span connecting the island to San Francisco is a "double-deck" suspension bridge with traffic flowing into San Francisco on the top deck and traffic flowing out of the city on the bottom deck.

If this were a shot of cars traveling out of the city (with the camera placed at a similar angle showing the on-coming traffic), it would be impossible to see either of the towers because they would be obstructed by the top deck.

In the final scene, Commander Mathews' uniform does not have the star above the three stripes on his sleeve.

This designation is worn by unrestricted line officers (those who command naval warships).

When the helicopter carrying Carter lands, he gets into a police car, which drives off with the Golden Gate Bridge in full view in the background.

This is right after the octopus has begun pulling itself up on the bridge's south tower, yet in the shot the octopus is plainly not on the bridge.

Soon after, Carter drives that same police car out onto the bridge, but when he arrives in mid-span, the car is a different make, model and year, matching the (miniature) police car subsequently crushed by the octopus's tentacle.

In most shots of the octopus's tentacles wrapping around the clock tower, the clocks read 5:35.

But in a couple of shots the hands show 9:25.

When the octopus's tentacles are waving behind and over one of the buildings near the Embarcadero, the tentacles cannot be seen through the building's open windows.

When the octopus's tentacle is smashing the entrance to the ferry terminal, people are seen running away along the sidewalk on the right side of the screen.

In a close-up of the fleeing people, the last stragglers, including several policemen, are shown running away.

When the shot cuts back to the full scene, again showing the tentacle, there are suddenly many more people running along the sidewalk, and those stragglers appear once again at the very end of the scene.

Faith Domergue says toward the end of the movie that another giant octopus attacked in the 12th Century as a result of the eruption of Mt.

Vesuvius.

The AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius is the most famous, but in the 12th century it erupted in both 1139 and 1150.

When the authorities are detonating undersea mines to discourage the giant octopus, explosions are shown in S.

Those explosions are actually taking place on the surface of the water, since the surface shock-wave is clearly visible and no water spout is created.

After Carter leaves the submarine to fire a harpoon in the octopus's eye, the octopus can been seen through Carter's whole body.

When the search plane is shown, it is a Martin PBM Mariner patrol bomber, but when the pilot is shown in a closeup, he is in a small, general aviation airplane - appears to be a Beechcraft Bonanza.

The octopus makes a gurgling/growling sound, even when only the tip of a tentacle is above the water.

Early in the film, the submarine is a SST-1 Mackerel class nuclear training and experimental sub.

Subsequent shots of the sub diving and underwater are WWII diesel submarines.

In the conference room while discussing what to do a U.

Marine comes in to deliver a message wearing his cover (hat).

Marines do not wear their covers indoors.

"IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA" (1955, Gordon) is much like other Harryhausen films from this time: all about his magical effects. Besides the wonderful octopus brought to life by King Ray this is a badly acted film with no story and not a care in the world for one.

It's One of My Favourite Movies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kenneth Tobey stars as Commander Pete Mathews, who is in charge of a nuclear submarine that encounters something very large and mysterious on a deep sea mission. Later, it is discovered that a giant octopus has been awakened by H-bomb testing, and makes its way to California, attacking San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Despite the many narrative and general failings of this low-budget sci-fi horror, one thing that struck me while watching was the focus on feminism. I'm by no means an expert on the subject, but I couldn't help but feel that the empowerment of Faith Domergue's character was very interesting and possibly the best thing about the film.

Believe me - "It Came From Beneath The Sea" is, without a doubt, yet another one of those old-school SyFy/Monster movies (from the 1950s) that the viewer is gonna have to be willing to cut it some serious slack in order to get any real entertainment value out of watching it.And, yes, once you have forgiven this film for all of its obvious inadequacies, then, you can sit back and fully enjoy all of the unintentionally hilarious moments that certainly prevail throughout its story-line.

I've heard of many of the classic monster movies from the 1950s, this was one of those, I knew the monster featuring and some of what to expect, I just hoped for a good film. Basically a nuclear submarine captained by Commander Pete Mathews (The Thing from Another World's Kenneth Tobey) is caught by something strange beneath the sea, but it is able to escape and return to Pearl Harbor.

This was the first time producer Charles H. Schneer and visual effects artist Ray Harryhausen teamed together for a movie-a teaming that would mostly last till 1981.

I can't tell you how many times I tried to catch this flick over a span of years but was always stymied in the attempt. Chalk it up to bad timing, falling asleep or missing it in the cable listings.

*Spoiler/plot- It came from Beneath the Sea, 1955. Several unexplained sea disasters occur and are investigated by the Navy.