a restaurant, where Mathews makes an impromptu proposal, and Joyce accepts. Cast Kenneth Tobey as Commander Pete Mathews Faith Domergue as Professor Lesley Joyce Donald Curtis as Dr. John Carter Ian Keith as Admiral Burns Dean Maddox Jr. as Admiral Norman Chuck Griffiths as Lieutenant Griff Harry Lauter as Deputy Bill Nash Richard W. Peterson as Capt. Stacy Production Development The film was made by producer Charles Schneer under the supervision of Sam Katzman who had a B picture unit at Columbia. Schneer said the idea for the film was inspired by the first explosion of the hydrogen bomb in the Marshall Islands, saying he felt if some creature came out of the deep "and then destroyed the Golden Gate Bridge, that would be a hell of a film." The title was inspired by Universal's science fiction hit It Came from Outer Space. Schneer had been impressed by the effects for The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and hired Ray Harryhausen. "I don't think I would have made that type of picture if I hadn't been able to get Ray to do the FX," Schneer said later. Shooting Much of the filming was done at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, including scenes aboard a submarine, and several naval personnel were given supporting roles. To keep shooting costs low, director Robert Gordon shot inside an actual submarine, both above and under water, using handheld cameras. For a scene that takes place on a stretch of Pacific coastline, Gordon and his crew dumped several truckloads of sand onto a sound stage at Columbia, which they backed with a rear projection screen. During their scene together, Kenneth Tobey found himself sinking through the sand to the point of appearing shorter than Faith Domergue on camera, forcing him to dig himself out of the hole between every take. A more extensive love scene had been written for the characters but was literally torn out of the shooting script by Sam Katzman, to keep principal photography from going over schedule. When animator Ray Harryhausens special effects were budgeted, studio head Sam Katzman allowed Harryhausen only enough money for animating six of the octopus' eight tentacles; two were eliminated on the final shooting miniature. Harryhausen jokingly named his giant octopus "the sixtopus". For the scenes where a single tentacle is seen moving on screen, Harryhausen used a large model tentacle instead of employing the complete stop-motion animation