Producer: Roger Corman.Copyright 7 September 1954 by Palo Alto Productions, inc. A Lippert Pictures release. No New York opening. U.S. release: 21 May 1954 (sic). U.K. release through Exclusive in March 1956, in a version cut to 51 minutes. Never theatrically released in Australia. 64 minutes.Alternative titles: IT STALKED THE OCEAN FLOOR; MONSTER MAKER.SYNOPSIS: A Mexican coastal village is threatened by a sea monster, but two visiting Americans (a beautiful advertising artist and a husky marine biologist) save the day. NOTES: First films for producer Roger Corman, director Wyott Ordung, and players Kimbell, Wade and Haze. Corman went on to produce over a hundred more pictures, Ordung wrote a couple of scripts, Kimbell starred in "Girls at Sea" (1958), Haze in "The Little Shop of Horrors", "Invasion of the Star Creatures", etc.VIEWER'S GUIDE: Extraordinarily, the Australian censor in the year 2000 awarded the film an "MA" certificate — Mature Adults Only, with children excluded from cinema admissions unless accompanied by a responsible parent or guardian. This, despite the fact that the British Board of Film Censors way back in 1956, awarded the much faster- paced yet uncensored version a Universal Exhibition certificate! It's good to know that — despite all appearances to the contrary — Australia's space-age, computer kids are so shy and sensitive that a couple of tawdry shots of the tamest monster ever made will scare them witless. American and British kids of yesteryear were certainly made of sterner stuff.COMMENT: Produced by Roger Corman, this is a very efficiently made, little sci-fi thriller. Script and dialogue maintain the interest, the little-known principals are attractive, and the movie seems to have been lensed wholly on location by the resourceful Floyd "High Noon" Crosby. Actually, the photographic quality tends to be a bit variable, but this and some extremely long (but well-composed) takes are the only evidences of what was undoubtedly a very short shooting schedule. (The film was reportedly shot in a week and budgeted at only $12,000). Sci-fi fans will undoubtedly be disappointed that they see so little of the long-awaited "monster", though I found the delay more suspenseful than his actual appearance. The pace could be improved still further (this is a review of the British version, not the over-talky and rather static full-length movie currently being aired on cable) by slightly trimming the scenes with the miniature sub, which out-stays its welcome. The support cast is capable, whilst production values — aside from the tame special effects — are more than fair.

Julie Blair (Anne Kimbell) is an American vacationing at a sea-side village in Mexico. She hears stories about a man-eating creature dwelling in the cove.This film is a low budget science fiction film in every sense of the term low budget. Director Wyott Ordung (1922–2005) doubled as an actor (playing Pablo), and this was his first of only two times in the director's chair. In fact, his only real experience before this was a writer on another low budget flick, "Robot Monster".Most notable is the producing credit of Roger Corman, who took a modest $30,000 budget and earned more than ten times that back at the box office. No small feat, especially from someone just starting out in the business. This also marks a collaboration between Corman and cinematographer Floyd Crosby; Crosby had been making films over twenty years, but would be possibly best known later on for shooting Corman's finest films.This was also the debut of Jonathan Haze, a gas station attendant that filled the small role of Joe. He must have done something right, because Corman hired him for numerous productions over the next decade, including the starring role of Seymour in "Little Shop of Horrors".As for the film itself, there are things to like and things that could have been improved. The monster is actually rather cool looking, and when revealed is no disappointment. To use him sparingly, they also have a shark and an octopus, which may cause a few people to jump. The film is also rather short -- only 64 minutes -- so there is little time for the pace to slow down. Variety praised the film, calling it an "oddity" but "well-done", noting that "Corman's production supervision has packed the footage with commercial values without going overboard."The negatives are few, but worth pointing out. The forced romance was a bad idea, though probably almost necessary for a film of its day. This is somewhat compensated for by having the main character be a heroine rather than a hero -- not the strongest female lead, but a female lead nonetheless. The biggest issue is the sound. Clearly they had not invested in a boom mike, because scenes were either overdubbed, or the conversations were drowned out by the ocean waves...While not the best film of 1954, it has its historical merits and is fun in its own way. For a low budget film now sixty years old, I think it holds up respectably well.

Notable perhaps only because it was the producing debut of the B-movie king Roger Corman, Monster From the Ocean Floor is one of hundreds of dirt-cheap monster movies produced in the U.S. in the 1950's. Atomic testing had opened the floodgates for many a wannabe film-maker to throw someone in a rubber suit, and build a generic story around it for exploitation purposes. Many of Corman's films were about unknown dangers lurking in the vast and unexplored ocean, and produced/directed many profitable pre and post-Jaws (1975) horrors, and here, the beastie is a giant one-eyed octopus skulking amongst a coastline in Mexico.While holidaying in Mexico, Julie Blair (Anne Kimbell) learns about a mysterious monster who has eaten various residents of the sea-side town. The only clues it leaves behinds are massive drag marks that resident Pablo (director Wyott Ordung) describes as "not a seal." Marine biologist Steve Dunning (Stuart Wade) picks her up in his mini-submarine and the two hit it off, only Steve is unconvinced by Julie's concerns about the mythical creature. With Steve moving on for further exploration, Julie is left on her own, with one of the local residents whispering in Pablo's ear that a human sacrifice may cause the creature to go back into hibernation.At only 64 minutes, Corman's beginning to what would become an extraordinary career (he's still going), is a massively dull affair. There are long moments of exposition that drags the film along while it struggles to come with anything remotely inventive or entertaining. The misleading poster that depicts the monster bursting out of the ocean is laughable given we only glimpse the creature twice throughout the whole movie (though this wasn't anything new - dazzling posters brought the audience in under false pretences). The film doesn't look half bad given its obviously modest budget, but even a giant rubber octopus can't save this film from becoming a damp squib.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Monster From the Ocean Floor (1954) * 1/2 (out of 4) Silly and cheap science fiction about a squid like sea monster at the bottom of the ocean and the two folks who keep running into it. The special effects are poor, the acting wooden and the direction; well, there doesn't seem to have been a director. The 66-minute running time is way too slow going. Notable only for being Roger Corman's first producer credit.With that said, Corman's directed Creature from the Haunted Sea is even worse.