dont even call your self a monster fan if this is not
on your list.comes just behind beast from 20000 fathoms.
gene evans is great as the hero one of few he has played
and monster is pretty good though not as good as beast.SEE IT!!!!
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I would have to go with the first user's comment. Behemoth is right behind The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953) because of Willis O'Brien & Pete Peterson's Top notch Stop-Motion Animation Effects! It has it's flaws though like the above water shots didn't use Stop-Motion they couldn't afford it because of the budget. Gojira (1954) a.k.a. Godzilla is a Classic 50's Sci-Fi Atomic Dinosaur on the loose film. Behemoth is far better because of it's excellent painstaking Stop-Motion Motion work by O'Bie & Peterson which, Peterson had MS & he did such an awsome job! Don't get me wrong Gojira the original Japenese Version of course, is one of the best that doesn't use Stop-Motion, Eiji Tsuburaya did the best Model Effects work on previous Japanese Films. That's why the models & miniatures in Godzilla are so awsome & realistic because of him. He was actually Chief on the Monster & Model Effects for Original 1954 Japanese Version & 1956 Americanized Version too I think. He wanted to use Stop-Motion after seeing the work of Willis O'Brien. But they didn't have time to use that technique so Tsuburaya had to come up with another technique. U need to see The "Giant Behemoth" (1959) though.
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While the bulk of "Godzilla -- King of the Mosnters" utilized a "man-in-a-suit" and some minatures, I believe there was ONE sequence that was filmed using stop-motion animation. A brief shot of Godzilla's tail flicking around.
I haven't seen this title in a long time, but I believe my memory serves me well on this detail.
And, in my opinion, "The Giant Behemoth" is a wonderfully terrific film!
just about to watch this movie now hope i am not disappointed
shareWhether a viewer is disappointed or not depends on their expectations.
This is an old, fairly low-budget affair that helped create the genre.
Some of it may seem old hat by now but this was one of the originals and movies have built on it since.
I haven't seen it in years, but I enjoyed it as a youngster. I'd be interesting in reading your impressions of this title.
I really enjoyed it and i thought the acting and most of the sfx were quite good for the time .I sort of knew what to expect as i have quite a few 50s sci-fi movies incl. beast ,it came from beneath the sea,earth vs flying saucers,20 million miles to earth,tarantula,black scorpion,thing from another world,gorgo and my fav sci-fi of them all,although their is no real monster in it,the day the earth stood still.
shareI am glad that you can enjoy something for what it is.
Being an early effort some people think that movies like these have no value. But that's like saying the music of Chuck Berry has no value or relevance because there are better poets or greater guitar heroes today. Or so we would be led to believe.
Now, that sounds like a wonderful collection you have there. Great Saturday morning stuff or a movie for a Sunday afternoon.
I'll have to dig around for a copy of "The Giant Behemoth".
"Just let me hear some of that Rock and Roll music..."
"The Giant Behemoth" may not be the best of the 50's sci-fi giant monster films; I'm not going to go out on a limb about that, but for me it's at least the quintessential one. All the elements are there. Giant dormant monster awakened by an atomic blast starts destroying a city. Not 'state of the art' but perfectly reasonable special effects and a soundtrack that for some reason just seems to perfectly evoke, for me at least, 50's giant reptile sci-fi. I've got many fond memories of this one.
cinefreak
I just ordered this from Amazon for a ridiculously low price. I'm glad to hear it's thought of highly amongst the old school monster movie fans. If it's even half as good as 'The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms' and 'It Came From Beneath The Sea', I'm sure I'm in for a real treat. :)
shareIf it's even half as good as 'The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms' and 'It Came From Beneath The Sea', I'm sure I'm in for a real treat. - CaptainDeadbeat
Does that make me a bad person? Perhaps undiscriminating.
shareThis was one of my favorites growing up. My all time faves are Them!, Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, The Blob, Creature from The Black Lagoon & Gojira.
I did watch Behemoth about week ago and I was a little disappointed. It was pretty slow for the first 45 minutes or so. Yes the acting is good, but it's just kinda boring until the creature finally appears.
I thought the head shots of the monster, that were not stop motion, were ok. It's just that the film makers insisted on using shots where you see the mechanics underneath to show above water a few times. It happens during the ferry sequence. It looks like they didn't give good direction to the operators.
The stop motion creature, while animated nicely, looks way to stiff in it's design. Maybe it's cause the legs are so freakin long? Also, the creature looks totally dry having just emerged out of the harbor. You also see reflections or something on the screen when the beast is in the same shots as the fleeing people.
Overall it's fun once the dino starts to tear things up.
I was disappointed also. The Beast was always #1, and Godzilla, Kong, and Gorgo are right up there. This was the worst Lourie pic by far. The idea was ok, but the lack of cash really didn't do the movie any justice. Almost every scene was shown 2-3 times. Just imagine how good it could have been with a few more legit scenes and the money for 2 behemoth models so both O'brien and Petterson could have put something really good on screen.
shareYes, of Lourie's three dinosaur films TGB was by far the worst. But then the other two (The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms and Gorgo) were very good, so it suffers more by comparison than it might do alone.
But you're right, O'Brien needed more money. Plus there were accidents, such as a technician breaking the movable head used in the water scenes (sinking the ferry, etc.). Unable to afford the time or money to fix it, they had to use the now-immobile head in those scenes, which didn't help.
The repeated shots you spoke of (the monster crushing the same car three times and so on) are actually only in the US film. The British film, which is 7 minutes shorter and has several differences, only used such shots once. They were repeated in the American version to help extend the running time here (79 minutes, vs. 72 in the UK).
My all time faves are Them!, Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, The Blob, Creature from The Black Lagoon & Gojira. - prbronx5