Long swaths of genial Fifties hokum, punctuated by too few genius Ray Harryhausen effects. Pays off in the end, but for monster geeks the interesting scenes add up to less than ten minutes. Freder remembers Faith Dommergue as quite the dish in THIS ISLAND EARTH, but her appeal here is limited.

Harryhausen's effects are remarkable even if they're mostly relegated to a single tentacle. The 50's love story is cheesy but watchable, while the Navy handing all operations over to a couple of scientist and a sub commander seems highly improbable.

Good monster, but Harryhausen should have animated the actors, too. His beastie looks more alive than they do