Behemoth, the Sea Monster

Infobox Film | name = The Giant Behemoth


caption = Poster for the film's theatrical release in the United States
director = Eugène Lourié/Douglas Hickox
producer = David Diamond/Ted Lloyd
writer = Robert Abel (story)/Alan J. Adler (story)/Eugene Lourie (screenplay)/Daniel James(screenplay)
starring = Gene Evans/André Morell
music = Edwin Astley
cinematography = Desmond Davis/Ken Hodges
editing = Lee Doig
distributor = Allied Artists Pictures (USA)
released = October 1959
runtime = 80 min.
language = English
amg_id = 1:153634
imdb_id = 0052611

"Behemoth, the Sea Monster" (1959) is an American-English science-fiction film co-production, which is an unacknowledged remake of Ray Bradbury's "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" (1953), also co-scripted and directed by Eugène Lourié. Released in the United States as "The Giant Behemoth", the film starred Gene Evans and André Morell. It was distributed by Allied Artists Pictures.

Plot

Dead fish by the thousands begin washing up on the shores of Cornwall, and finally an old fisherman is killed by something which has left him covered with radiation burns, his dying word being "behemoth". An Anglo-American team of scientists are dispatched from London to investigate, and discover the dead fish are also radioactive. Further investigation reveals a large, glowing animal swimming below the surface of the sea, and on another night it comes out and "burns" a farmhouse and its occupants, leaving footprints the length of a police car. From a picture of one print, a paleontologist determines the animal is a "Brachiosaurus" that can project electric shocks and is saturated with radiation. The dinosaur enters the Thames River and surfaces and attacks the city of London. The scientists realize that if it is destroyed by conventional military weaponry, a large amount of radioactive contamination will be released. The military then concludes to use a mini-submarine capable of firing a torpedo with enough additional radioactivity in its warhead to "overdose" the behemoth and kill it. The American scientist and one of the younger Cornish fishermen, boyfriend of the daughter of the first man killed, take the mini-sub out and successfully kill the behemoth.

Production

The live-action scenes were filmed in Great Britain, including London. The model-animation special effects were shot in a Los Angeles studio, where they were also optically integrated with live-action footage. Due to budget restraints the scene of the monster smashing a model car was used three times in the film.

The stop-motion animation in the film was the work of Master Effects man Willis O'Brien and his assistant Pete Peterson. Peterson did most of the animation on this film, which is remarkably fluid, considering that Peterson was suffering from multiple sclerosis at the time. This film marked the last time that Willis O'Brian designs and animation would be seen by the public.

References