Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954)

Having grown up in the fifty's and loving SCI-FI movies produced back then for me they offer an hour or two of pure escape to a much simpler time, before computers, cell phones and even terrorists. Yes, Monster from the Ocean Floor I found to be most entertaining with actors who conveyed a sense of reality and a solid music score that fit this film like a glove. I think those who dislike this film do not understand the Era from which it came. Roger Corman was not out to get an Academy award but to provide us with an entertaining adventure that would temporarily transport you from realty to fantasy and in Monster from the Ocean Floor with me he succeeds. So if you are looking for state of the art special effects or some deep meaning message, look elsewhere and save those critical remarks for a film that deserves them, this one doesn't.

"Monster from the Ocean Floor" is historically important as the very first film produced by a young Roger Corman, so it's a shame it's not more entertaining than it is. It does have some schlocky charm, but owing to an obviously very low budget, it gets bogged down in talk and becomes fairly dull. It's not even that much fun on the "so bad it's good" level. It's too bad, because if you're a B movie enthusiast you'd certainly *want* to like it. It does have its moments, but they're spread too far apart.There is some enjoyment to be had from watching the amateurish acting. The pretty Anne Kimbell plays Julie Blair, an American artist on vacation in Mexico. She hears stories of locals disappearing from the waters and learns that there's a legend believed by the natives. She meets a handsome marine biologist named Steve Dunning (Stuart Wade) - their initial encounter is amusing, to say the least - and while he's a practical, hard headed kind of guy, she becomes convinced some sort of mysterious beast is the culprit - and she's right, of course.It's naturally a good thing that the monster in this film - resembling an octopus with one great big red eye - is seen so little. Our anticipation is built up, and the payoff isn't bad. I can believe that people who'd seen this movie as little children would have been frightened. The problem is that for a movie running only one hour and five minutes, there's too much padding on this thing. Still, "Monster from the Ocean Floor" isn't without its assets. Corman works with ace cinematographer Floyd Crosby - who shot his colourful, widescreen Edgar Allan Poe adaptations - and Crosby creates good atmosphere. The underwater photography is likewise well done. Kimbell has one harrowing scene with a shark. And the original music by Andre Brummer is enjoyable.Cormans' stock company player Jonathan Haze (billed as Jack Hayes) makes his film debut as the character Joe, director Wyott Ordung plays the key supporting role of Pablo, and Corman himself makes an uncredited on-screen appearance as Tommy.This does have high curiosity value just to see the humble beginnings of one of the great independent filmmakers of all time.Four out of 10.

Corman produced this one (instead of directing it), but his stamp is all over this minor, dull effort. I would be willing to bet that the actual director (Ordung) had maybe $20 grand and a couple of weeks to make this little lump of a film, and the results show in almost every aspect of it - from the special effect of the monster itself to the way the hero disposes of it.(Seriously, if YOU were a giant octopus with one giant eye, don't you think that Nature would have let you learn to, I don't know...BLINK?!?!)As always with Corman derived films, there is just enough interest and quality to it to keep you from setting your TV on fire - dull and talky though the movie is, it's still way, way better than celluloid disasters like "Mesa Of Lost Women". In this case, the film has an assertive and (mostly) dynamic heroine who persists in her altruistic attempts to aid a remote village when no one else believes there is a real problem. And she does fight off a shark with a knife at one point (even if the scene itself is badly staged and executed, it's impressive when you think about it). The movie actually builds up to the first appearance of the monster with some patience and instills a nice sense of menace and remoteness to the sea side village where the action takes place. Also, some nice underwater photography and some decent Debussy inspired piano music on the soundtrack add a bit of enjoyment to some of the ocean scenes. On the other hand, the actress herself comes off as brittle and grumpy, there is no chemistry between her and the leading man, and some of the lines of dialog would make Uta Hagen herself despair. And the whole thing is so dark and the voices mixed so low into the soundtrack (although this might be a function of the print I saw) that it's hard to maintain even the slightest interest in the proceedings.For what it's worth, you could kill 80 minutes watching this and not want to kill yourself when it was over. That's about the best recommendation I ever give a Corman production.

A low key monster movie from producer Roger Corman (his first) and director Wyott Ordung. What struck me as creepy were the rules the monster played by -- werewolf rules. He only came out at night and he only came into his own when the moon was full. He didn't rush about like one of those "humanoids from the deep" (another Corman production) and he didn't eat flesh (cow excepted). He simply menaced and eliminated his enemies off-screen. I liked that. I could handle that.I was always very impressed by the pedal-powered submarine. It was like something the Professor from "Gilligan's Island" might have pieced together. I wanted one of those. It reeked of adventure. I was also impressed by the film's title, an evocative title if ever there was one. I loved the title "Monster From The Surf", too, but after suffering through that one, I was happy to stick to the ocean floor.The score, as mentioned by another reviewer, really is effective and plain eerie, and the film's cinematography never betrays its poverty row budget.Corman knew, from the beginning, that good characters are the foundation of any good movie, whatever its genre, and this, his first, is a tinpot classic with charm and presence.