An atomic blast in the arctic awakens a prehistoric dinosaur. It makes it's way underwater down to the East Coast and attacks New York city. Prof. Tom Nesbitt (played by Swedish film actor Paul Christian), his obligatory love interest (Paula Raymond) and Prof. Thurgood Elson (Cecil Kellaway) try to figure out how to destroy it.
The first of the "giant creature awakened by an atom bomb" movie of the 1950s. It was a big hit but doesn't look too good today. The special effects are still impressive but the monster itself is hardly in the movie. Out of the 80 minute running time he's in maybe a grand total of 20! Still it isn't a total washout. I do like the fact that it's made clear that the monster is radioactive and that a drop of its blood could kill a human (this was totally ignored in later pictures). All the acting is good--Raymond plays a very strong intelligent woman (unusual for an 1950s film), old pro Kellaway gives his small role depth and Swedish actor Christian is tall, handsome and dynamic in his role (although I admit his accent was a little distracting). Also the monster itself is just great--one of the first jobs by the legendary Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen somehow gave the monster a personality and I felt a little sad when the big guy got killed at the end (I really don't think that's a big plot spoiler). Still there's a LOT of time wasting dialogue that no actor could make interesting. I can only give this a 5. Look for a then unknown Lee Van Cleef and Kenneth Tobey (from "The Thing").
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