Professor Leslie Joyce tells Commander Mathews, "You underestimate my ability to help in a crisis." Then seconds later the monster appears and the first thing out of her mouth is a blood curdling scream.
Good grief.
I loved it too - laughed out loud!
shareYeah, way to help out ina crisis there Dr.
shareWell, that was the role of women in 50's Sci-Fi: Assist the hero (even if the woman has her own college degree), serve as a Love Interest for the hero and run into his arms and kiss him at opportune moments, have spotless make-up, hair and nice dresses all the time, and let out really good Screams when the monster shows up.
So, in those respects, I think she filled out her role during the Crisis very well.
:-)
Wouldn't fly with today's audiences, but this was the 50's don't forget.
She sure filled-out that skirt nicely, too!
shareThat's right. Nowadays the woman is the monster.
shareYou're telling me most women wouldn't act like that when faced with a giant monster?? You need to get out more.
shareEarly on, the narrator informs us that ”the Defense Department found itself confronted with a problem beyond the scope of Navy Manuals.” By implication, if the authors of said Navy Manuals had had the foresight to include a section on “Play-Doh Octopus, Six-Armed, size large, Strategy, defensive, and Tactics, evasive” 80 minutes of aggravation could have been avoided. But that wouldn’t have been any fun at all.
Ha ha- I'm watching it right now and read your post mere seconds before the scene.
It is hilarious. Of course, the deputy screaming for "help" was pretty funny, too.
I mean, a giant octo arm is crashing down on him- just what did he expect somebody to do?
So, to sum it up in legal terminology: Get lost, you bum.
I thought it was really funny when John explained how the octopus moved quickly with the help of a balloon... He let's it fly, and then it goes off-screen and you can hear it land and go *pthh* on the ground.
I don't know why, it was just such a serious scene until the balloon came up.
www.myspace.com/bendyspoons
I cracked up when I heard the balloon hit the floor.
shareMy first choice —
The narration intended to give it a newsreel flavor… or something.
My second choice —
The question and answer session held in the lab about 20 minutes into the movie. The one where they’re all dress in those lab suits that look like something a bee-keeper would wear.
My third choice —
Cmdr. Pete Mathews (PM): “For the record — Are you tied up?”
Dr. Leslie Joyce (LJ): “I see what you mean.”
PM: “Does that mean you’re not?”
LJ: “A girl’s gotta have some secrets doesn’t she?”
verrrry kinky!
My fourth choice —
During a board meeting they receive a cable informing them that a man, his wife and child have gone missing from some place called Harper’s Cove (or something like that). The message goes on to tell us that the family vehicle has been found at a nearby beach.
We are thus informed that the monster came onto land, killed and car-jacked a family… then used their car to drive home.
My fifth choice —
Despite verifying the remaining presence of the monster, including not a single fish to be found, Mathews and Joyce go swimming at the very same beach.
Oh heck … The entire movie is about as hokey as they come.
“Your thinking is untidy, like most so-called thinking today.” (Murder, My Sweet)
Oh, come now, gang! There is only ONE possible winner for the most hilarious moment:
The balloon at the meeting.
I laughed out loud for two minutes.
I think the scream was extremely helpful - it gave the others advance warning of the monster's appearance.
shareLOL, I notice that too. The film does alternate between misogyny and women's lib.
shareSpeaking of a ship he was on: "She went down with all hands, except me and a few others."
I know it's not hysterical, but it made me chuckle. I'm watching this for the first time right now.
Cmdr. Pete Matthews is killing time in the lab, while Dr. Leslie Joyce and the male scientist analyze the chunk of octopus. Matthews is trying to get Leslie to loosen up, and he lights up a cigarette and walks into the next room -- and he stands there smoking, in a lab, directly under a "No Smoking" sign.
shareI don't see the sign. Why would there be one in 1955 unless there were explosives in the vicinity?
I just now watched it and didn't spot a sign anywhere.
I agree that it would be funny, but...
*** The trouble with reality is there is no background music. ***
People are wrong! They keep saying she screams when she sees the creature, but she screams because she sees the man being killed by that tentacle. She does NOT scream immediately, just in shock of the death of a man they had been talking to.
Over and over, I see this error being repeated.
Even if she did scream earlier: Do you ever think that females might have been the Distant Early Warning system in the past? Men are shown screaming when killed though not in every scene in which they die. Women are sort of alarm systems, and their higher-pitched scream might serve to kickstart the adrenaline so males can leap into action. Maybe females' screams developed for that reason. Generally, when men emit loud sounds when not meeting their demise, they seem to be during types of combat, particularly martial arts.
Or, maybe I'm just meandering as I often do.
*** The trouble with reality is there is no background music. ***
People are wrong about it, of course, but I still think the scene is funny. She's been portrayed all along as "a new breed of woman" - intelligent, well-educated, and competent in spite of her gender. (Hey, it's the Fifties!) Then when she thinks Lover Boy got squashed by a tentacle, she gets hysterical and faints. So like a woman, right?
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"Oh, well" said Zanoni, "to pour pure water in the muddy well does but disturb the mud !"
The movie was on twice recently, including last week for Halloween, and I laughed hard each time. The scene starts out with the woman and her guy in a rather erotic moment, with her sliding down into his arms in their bathing suits. Later the one character screams and gets killed and what she sees causes her to shriek. It just sounds FUNNY.
Tried to find this scene to send to my brother but someone has the movie on YouTube in parts and some are missing.
Of course the best screams in a movie ever are the men getting killed by King Kong.