the giant behemoth (cinema history class)

Session: Giant Monster Month, week 3
Movie: The Giant Behemoth (1959)
Directed by Eugene Laurie
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
A giant behemoth (clever title -- get it?) that can shoot radioactivity rampages through London. Hilarity ensues.

Reaction:
I'm having a bear of a time figuring out whether I like Giant Behemoth better than 20 Million Miles to Earth, or vice versa. Maybe I shouldn't try to hard. Either I'll figure it out, or I won't.

GiBe has a lot of buildup. There's a lot of talk and a lot of strategizing before you actually see the monster. And even more before you get a good view it. But once the action really gets going and the carnage starts, it's full of action and excitement in a way that 20MMtE never was. The effects -- mostly stop-motion animation -- are often cheesy, but it's really fun to watch.

ON the downside, I actually found the ending to be kind of anticlamactic. I'm not entirely sure why; the story wrapped up. But it just seemed...I don't know...unsatisfying.

One interesting thing about this movie is that a lot of the conventions of movie storytelling were thrown out the window. I'm not sure if I'd have consciously noticed that if Joe hadn't pointed it out. Early on we meet this attractive young couple who get embroiled in the situation. In most movies their chracters would have stayed central to the plot, even after the monster has moved on from their fishing village to London. It wouldn't make sense, but it would have happened in most movies. Here, the action moved on to London and the various military, scientific and civil personnel. In some ways, that was good. The extra realism is nice to have. But there really wasn't much in the way of a personal story to follow. I think the movie would have benefited from one.

The ratings:

• Joe: 9.9
• Sean 2 (on a scale of 1 - 4)
• Scott: 9
• Ethan: 6
• Me: 9.3

The Giant Behemoth fails the Bechdel Test.