This is one of the last films on which Willis O'Brien worked. If his name isn't familiar, he's the guy who brought King Kong to life through the miracle of stop-motion cinematography. His work led to the likes of Ray Harryhausen and it's quite enjoyable to watch his creatures come to life. However, I must point out that technically speaking, this is far from O'Brien's best work. In fact, I think the story is far better than the stop-motion special effects.

The story is about a giant marine dinosaur that seems to have been created through the typical menace in 50s films--nuclear radiation. At first, the monster appears in an isolated fishing village and its radioactivity kills or maims. Some (especially Evans) take this very seriously. Everyone does after it attacks London! Will the Brits be okay or are they all destined to be gobbled up like a stack of freshly baked scones?!

This film stars a rather unlikely actor--Gene Evans. Evans was hardly the handsome leading man type and is probably most famous for his gritty sergeant character from Sam Fuller's "Steel Helmet" as well as appearing in Fuller's "Shock Corridor". So, seeing him playing the intellectual scientist was a bit odd but it worked well enough. In fact, the acting all around was very good--no complaints. However, the special effects, at times, looked pretty bad--such as when the creatures is swimming underwater.

By the way, the ending was rather clever. Make sure not to miss it.

If one analyzes The Giant Behemoth closely you'll realize you are watching a version of Godzilla set on the other side of the world. And in this film the prehistoric monster's origins are definitely from the sea. It looks very much like the ancient marine creature the Plesiosaurus and such a creature has long been held to be the fabled Loch Ness monster.

Like Godzilla radiation is held to be the villain and the Behemoth so named by his first victim for an ancient sea beast mentioned in the Bible. But this guy is much bigger than one of those fossils and he's both electric like an eel and radioactive like Godzilla. He does a lot of damage to the south English coast from Cornwall to London.

American character actor Gene Evans and British player Andre Morrell play the scientist given the task of killing the beast without making the whole south of England a radioactive disaster. As they always do, these guys come up with a way.

Best in the film for me was Abbey Theater player Jack McGowran best known for being Victor McLaglen's factotum in The Quiet Man. He plays a paleontologist who gets his wish to finally see a live creature instead of just fossils.

Special Effects master Willis O'Brien best known for giving us King Kong and his descendants Son of Kong and Mighty Joe Young headed the team that gave us the Behemoth. Not up to today's standards, still his Behemoth is quite the frightening monster. The Giant Behemoth holds up well and is a science fiction drive-in classic.

BEHEMOTH THE SEA MONSTER is a British version of the classic GODZILLA story, although it's more closely linked to THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS with whom it shares a director in the Russian-born Frenchman, Eugene Lourie. A youthful Douglas Hickox (THEATRE OF BLOOD) is also credited as co-director in British prints.

I always find British monster movies to be a lot of fun and this one is no exception; the cast is full of decent, stiff upper lipped types who instantly band together to tackle whatever great menace is coming their way. And BEHEMOTH THE SEA MONSTER tells a very typical storyline for its era, following a specific template that sees a slow and gradual build-up in the first half lead into some all-out monster action in the second.

The film features a likable imported American star in Gene Evans, backed up by some heavyweight British talent in the form of a tough Andre Morell and the likes of Jack MacGowran. Film fans will be delighted to see some brief snippets of stop motion effects contributed by the one and only Willis O'Brien at the tail-end of his career, although a cheesy model also bolsters the action. And I enjoyed the way the action plays out in a particularly grim fashion, with the monster readily offing men, women, and children thanks to that radioactive death ray.