I was pretty stoked to see this film, generally 1950's films about giant beasts tended to hail from the US and this was one of the handful of British counterparts, along with superior classic The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms and Gorgo, which I've not yet seen. All are directed by Eugène Lourié and here he proves to be a dab hand with the material, bringing a sincerity and sense of creepy intrigue that not only sustains the film nicely during its slower earlier stages but giving it a frisson of actual shock and disturbance. I'm not sure of the grounding of the science in the film, the basis for problems seeming to be radioactive particles in the sea, ingested by plankton, which are in turn consumed by fish, themselves eaten by sea birds, with the trouble being that the particles are multiplied in concentration at each stage. This may be true, but from my small knowledge of the subject it seems a little iffy. 'Tis of little matter though, whats important is that the radiation has woken up a prehistoric reptilian beast, multiplied it to awesome size and gifted it with the power of deadly radioactive waves that can fry onlookers. The first half of the film is all building creeps, burns and radioactive study, low key tension and regional accents, set around the the Cornish coast, captured rich in atmosphere by the chilly cinematography of Desmond Davis and Ken Hodges. Until the monster really begins to strike the film is a very British affair, stiff upper lips and tightly controlled and when the monster does strike the reactions to it are British indeed, making for some chuckle worthy lines of dialogue. The monster is a tad patchy in its appearance, at first looking pretty shabby, when it properly emerges it is an effectively fearsome force, and the final effects work of the great Willis O'Brien (King Kong). Though sadly it doesn't get to eat anyone it wreaks a few scenes of cool havoc, fries a good number of people with its deadly waves and best of all takes out a ferry in the Thames. Though lacking in personality it is an effectively harsh creature, offing folk of all ages and doing so with a certain committed gusto. It makes for a fine final third and given that the film isn't much more than 70 minutes long anyway, things have barely moments in which to slip out of interest. The film has a few problems, its slight and a bit tricky to care about proceedings, it could have done with more havoc, more personality and more of the monster bringing death to individuals, preferably by eating, since the radiation effect looks a little weak in practice even though the burn effects are good. The acting is also mostly a tad non-descript, Gene Evans and André Morell are slightly uninteresting heroes and the most engaging acting comes from a bizarrely enthusiastic yet wryly frozen faced turn from Jack McGowran as a paleontologist. He steals his scenes, but regrettably isn't around for very long. Also, the monster sometimes induces chuckles, whilst some of the earlier ideas of the film aren't best explored. Its the sort of thing that will appeal chiefly to an older fan base and younger folk with a taste for this sort of thing, it has at times a creakiness a hokeyness that it isn't quite classy enough to fully hold up against, but its still good fun. Well, I liked it quite a bit anyhow, recommended to monster enthusiasts but there are better out there.