It Came from Beneath the Sea

It Came from Beneath the Sea
Theatrical release title lobby card
Directed by	Robert Gordon
Produced by	Charles H. Schneer
Written by	Hal Smith George Worthing Yates
Starring	Kenneth Tobey Faith Domergue Donald Curtis
Narrated by	William Woodson
Music by	Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Cinematography	Henry Freulich
Edited by	Jerome Thoms
Production company	Clover Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	July 1955 (U.S. release)
Running time	79 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$150,000
Box office	$1.7 million (US)

It Came from Beneath the Sea is a 1955 American black-and-white science fiction giant monster film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Sam Katzman and Charles Schneer, directed by Robert Gordon, that stars Kenneth Tobey, Faith Domergue, and Donald Curtis. The script by George Worthing Yates was designed to showcase the stop motion animation effects of Ray Harryhausen.

A nuclear submarine on maneuvers in the Pacific Ocean, captained by Commander Pete Mathews (Kenneth Tobey), comes into contact with a massive sonar return. The boat is disabled but manages to free itself and return to Pearl Harbor. Tissue from a huge sea creature is discovered jammed in the submarine's dive planes. A man-and-woman team of marine biologists, Lesley Joyce (Faith Domergue) and John Carter (Donald Curtis), is called in; they identify the tissue as being a small part of a gigantic octopus. The military authorities scoff, but are finally persuaded after receiving reports of missing swimmers and ships at sea being pulled under by a large animal. Both scientists conclude the sea beast is from the Mindanao Deep, having been forced from its natural habitat by hydrogen bomb testing in the area, which has made the giant creature radioactive, driving off its natural food supply.