Alternating between grinding boredom and thrilling monster packed action, It Came from Beneath the Sea is worth the slog for the special effects genius of Ray Harryhausen.
A start-of-the-art submarine goes out of action in mysterious circumstances. Fishing boats disappear in Japan and Siberia. The evidence starts to point to a massive creature, disturbed from it's deep sea slumber by atomic testing. Can it be stopped before it destroys San Francisco?
There is far too much talking, whether is exposition, or typical 1950s sexist leering. There's a subplot of a relationship between the submarine commander Pete Mathews (Kenneth Tobey, largely reprising his turn in The Thing From Outer Space) and the lead scientist Professor Lesley Joyce. According to her colleague, Joyce is one of those new breed of women "who feel they're just as smart and courageous as men".
But these quibbles are soon forgotten once the creature itself appears. Harryhausen shows his usual attention to detail and fluidity of movement. His creations are as lifelike as the humans on screen.
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