Hitchcoc
This is a bit talkie but overall it fulfills the Cold War fear of radiation and its implications. The monster here seems determined to destroy. Animals, generally have two things on their minds, food and reproduction. This big lizard apparently has a third thing: it enjoys rampaging. Why it feels the need to crush cars and chase people down the street seems to imply motivations that are more punitive. It also seems to have the ability to disperse radiation when it wants to, frying people who confront it. The film is strongest in the action leading to the discovery of the creature. The science is valid and interesting. Some say it's a rip off of "The Best from 20,000 Fathoms." I guess in many ways it is, but it has a good story to tell and leaves us guessing at the end.
pyrocitor
While the 1950s giant monster movie genre remains almost exclusively dominated by American cinema, The Giant Behemoth marks a rare (and welcome) caper set in Britain. The unconventional setting is what largely helps the film stand out from the ranks of its competitors of the time, as, apart from allowing for some wry tongue-in-cheek quips at the Americanization of the genre (particularly a witty 'ending twist'), the film benefits from an infusion of more (relatively) serious and classy sensibilities, as if leaning more towards breaking ground as opposed to rehashing ground oft-tread. In actuality, the film emerges as a thinly veiled remake of director Eugene Lourie's prior genre staple, 1953's The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. However, the comparison is not a negative one. Like 20,000 Fathoms, Behemoth boasts comparatively superb production values for the genre, including gorgeous, highly photogenic location shooting, particularly in the film's Cornwall-set seaside opening, as well as impressively gruesome burn prosthetics administered to the titular Behemoth's victims. Additionally, like 20,000 Fathoms, Behemoth devotes particular care to the 'scientific research procedural' aspect of tracking and classifying the creature and determining means of stopping it. This 'science-babble', delivered fast and furious from under a succession of grimly furrowed brows, is largely convincing, even if the film's attempts to seemingly trump all genre competitors sometimes overstretch the limits of plausibility – the 'Behemoth', effectively a radiation-saturated dinosaur, proved surprisingly 'sellable', until the abrupt and never-explained revelation that it is electric as well ("like an eel!"). Conversely, the film's focus on radiation and its unanticipated environmental effects on all aspects of the ecosystem proves in many ways grimly insightful and prophetic for an entry in a genre normally dismissed as escapism. Indeed, the film, particularly in an opening didactic address, proves chock full of facts about radiation and its varying concerns, almost suggesting it as a strange kind of educational film on the possible outcomes of atomic warfare for a Cold War anxiety- riddled culture. With this in mind, it is interesting to note the thematic effect of the Behemoth itself, being somewhat of a fusion of 'old' and 'new' threats – a dinosaur mixed with the very modern threat of radiation – as if conflating the two to further stress the dire seriousness of atomic power as just as menacing as any primal fears. Nonetheless, the construction of the Behemoth itself is somewhat of a mixed bag. When brought to life through masterful work by stop-motion icon, King Kong's Willis O'Brien, the Behemoth, particularly in a climactic sequence rampaging through London, its impressively textured trunk-like dinosaur legs flattening cars, teeth bared and tongue sweeping back and forth like a murderous serpent, the Behemoth is a delightfully foreboding and captivating adversary. Nonetheless, the creature itself is more often than not betrayed by the film's evidently low budget, with instances of laughably poor continuity (the Behemoth fluctuates in size and shape, occasionally undulating, serpent-like, despite having the physicality of a stocky dinosaur, and in one laughable instance a ship with a deck one second filled with screaming passengers suddenly empty when the Behemoth sinks it in the following shot) and some overly obvious work with miniatures (when the Behemoth sinks into the sea, the water droplets that fly up are curiously nearly as large as its head) undercutting the usual veneer of sustained tension. Cast-wise, while the film does retain the seemingly inescapable (yet unintentionally entertaining) genre staple of wooden acting, it is, again, in general several cuts above many of its contemporaries, as the acting remains largely credible enough to maintain suspension of disbelief. Gene Evans and André Morell offer a satisfyingly sturdy one-two protagonist act as grim scientists from America and Britain respectively. In addition, particularly worth noting is the scene-stealing performance of Jack MacGowran as a loopy, bug-eyed paleontologist, whose (all too brief) presence greatly enhances the film's entertainment factor. All in all, while the film hardly revolutionizes the template for the giant monster genre (it falls particularly prey to the frequent complaint of substantial pre-climax lagging), The Giant Behemoth does prove an unconventionally fun and smart monster camper, and unquestionably a cut above most contemporaries. Indeed, for all monster enthusiasts, the film, whether for the sheer number of antagonistic tropes amalgamated into a single foe, its comparative class or its generally substantial stop motion work, is definitely worth a watch. -6/10
ebiros2
This, what appears to be British version of The Beast From 20000 Fathoms is a classic that's been around for many years.Nuclear test awakens a monster from the deep. A 200 ft long dinosaur like creature that terrorizes first the beaches of Scotland, then it makes a land fall.The story is very derivative, reminiscent of Beast from 20000 fathoms, and Godzilla. The production is lot lower budget than either, and story isn't as compelling. The movie that looked okay in the '60s didn't age well as the two movies, and looks dated. It's a classic, and not a bad movie to watch. The camps are divided for this movie. For people who've watched it as kids, it's a classic they'll never forget. As for the new viewers, there are better movies of this type available now, and they might be better time spent watching.
