It Came From Beneath The Sea (1955)

Starring Kenneth Tobey, Faith Domergue, Donald Curtis, Ian Keith, Dean Maddox Jr.
Directed by Robert Gordon
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After an atomic submarine encounters an underwater creature that nearly cripples the ship, its commander teams up with a pair of scientists who discover the creature is a giant octopus.

Stop-motion effects wizard Ray Harryhausen begins a long partnership with Columbia Pictures and producer Charles H. Schneer with this film, in which Harryhausen convincingly animates the giant creature, bringing real menace to its tremendously long tentacles, and making it seem real with its fluid movements.  The monster's attack on San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge is a definite highlight and impressive movie moment.  Kenneth Tobey, already familiar to fans of science fiction pictures for his roles in The Thing From Another World and The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, makes a fine lead as the sub commander with a friendly demeanor, although George Worthing Yates' story and screenplay shows his character has a lot to learn about contemporary women.  This development and Faith Domergue's importance to the storyline is refreshing in the light of sexism in the other films of the day, although clearly there was still a long way to go.  It's a fun picture, and Harryhausen's work is really first-rate, although he would admit his octopus only had six legs to animate, unlike the real sea creature.  Although Harryhausen would later dazzle us with multiple and varied creations in films to come, I think this movie is still a key component of his filmography.