Not a great movie but it has the distinction of being the first film produced by Roger Corman; it was Corman's experience in making this movie that led him to choose movie making as a career, and it also sowed the seeds for what to become American International Pictures (AIP).
There is some disagreement as to the cost of making the film. The budget was $30,000, Corman said it cost $12,000 and was shot in six days; Corman's brother estimated the budget to be $35,000, while Variety pegged the actual cost at $15,000. Wyott Ordung, who previously had a few television roles, including playing BB-Eyes on Dick Tracy, was cast as the minor character Pablo, but ceded part of his salary in order top direct the film -- a career that did not work out for him, although twelve years later he served as assistant direct in The Navy vs. the Night Monsters. Ordung later said that he sold his apartment and hocked his life insurance to raise $15,000 to pay for the film; Corman said that Ordung contributed just $4000 of the film's budget. The box office receipts totaled either $850,000 or $150,000 -- depending on who you ask.
Anyway, the film was made and the reviews ranged from interesting-for-what-it-is to "slow, dull, and prosaic."
Julie Blair (Anne Kimbell, Girls at Sea, The Bob Mathias Story, and at least thirty uncredited roles from 1945 to 1952) is an artist vacationing in a Mexican seaside town. There are rumors of a man-eating sea monster lurking in the cove and she decides to investigate. Marine biologist Steve Dunning (Stuart Wade, Teenage Monster, two episodes of Death Valley Days, and at least eight uncredited roles, including as the father in Tammy Tell Me True as Scobie in the Robert Bloch-scripted The Couch) poo-poos the idea, but plucky Julie comes up with a tissue sample from the monster to convince him. So off he goes in an electric-powered one-man submarine to confront the monster. (The submarine used was a recent invention from Aerojet General, and Corman was able to use it in the film in exchange for free publicity and on-screen credit; actually, the submarine may be the coolest part of the film.)
Corman himself had an uncredited role as "Tommy." The film also featured actor Jonathan Haze, who go on to appear in many of Corman's films, including his starring turn in The Little Shop of Horrors.
Scripted by Bill Danch, who mainly worked in animated television programs, including Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Spider-Man, and The Alvin Show.
Interesting historically?, perhaps; interesting aesthetically?, you decide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPlvIpgCv4c
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