Line #7 Film/TheGiantBehemoth


1	[[quoteright:334:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/51U82ZTXvFL__SX500__8316.jpg]]
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3	'''''Behemoth, the Sea Monster''''' as it is called in the United Kingdom or '''''The Giant Behemoth''''' in the United States is a 1959 American-British science-fiction [[BMovie B-movie]] directed by Douglas Hickow and Eugène Lourié, starring Creator/GeneEvans and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Morell André Morell]].
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5	Originally a story about [[WhatCouldHaveBeen an amorphous blob of radiation]], the script was changed at [[ExecutiveMeddling the distributor’s insistence]] to a pastiche of ''Film/TheBeastFromTwentyThousandFathoms'', though elements of original concepts remains in the early parts of the film and the titular monster’s nuclear breathing power. One remnant of the blob plot remains when a character finds a glowing blob of radioactive protoplasm on the beach.
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7	Basically, the movie’s about the resurrection of a dormant dinosaur called the ''Paleosaurus'' caused by the dumping of radioactive waste in the ocean by the marines, the dangerous blobs of radiation giving said monster the power to project electric shocks and radioactive beams. After said behemoth terrorizes the English coast, the realization of destroying the creature with conventional weaponry would spread a dangerous amount of radioactive contamination over the entire country thus preventing them from attacking the monster as it threatens London.
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11	!!Tropes associated with this movie:
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13	* AbsentmindedProfessor: Dr. Sampson.
14	* AdvertisedExtra: Jean's actress gets rather substantial billing despite her tiny role. Ditto John.
15	* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: There is an actual genus called ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeosaurus Palaeosaurus]]'', but it's indeterminate because it's only known from a couple of teeth. The ''Paleosaurus'' in this movie, however, is an entirely fictional dinosaur.
16	* ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics: Radiation poisoning does ''not'' give you the ability to emit powerful bursts of concentrated radiation.
17	* BodyHorror: The tumors and radiation burns on the people hit with the ''Paleosaurus''' DeathRay are pretty nasty, even if they do just look like they smeared the actors with lumpy oatmeal.
18	* CallAPegasusAHippogriff: The title suggests that the monster is based on the Behemoth. It actually looks more like a different Biblical monster, the Leviathan.
19	* CuriosityKilledTheCast: Narrowly avoided with John. His brush with the mysterious radioactive ooze on the beach could've been a lot nastier.
20	* DeathOfAChild: Played straight, rather cruelly for a movie of this vintage. [[spoiler:Not only is the farmer's son burned to death along with his dad, but there are numerous children aboard the ferry the ''Paleosaurus'' sinks.]]
21	* DeathRay: The ''Paleosaurus''' preferred method of dispatching its victims. The ray's effects either blow the target up entirely (like with Sampson's helicopter) or just give them a lethal dose of radiation. It isn't quite [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} Godzilla]], but it's similar.
22	* DecoyProtagonist: Jean. After her father's death, she disappears from the story.
23	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: ''The Giant Behemoth''! So, ''The Huge Big Thing''?
24	* DumbDinos: The ''Paleosaurus'' is very sick from radiation poisoning, and it's suggested that its goal is to migrate to shallow water. However, it makes no effort to avoid populated areas or trouble with humans.
25	* DyingClue: Tom's last words to his daughter and [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg John the barfly]]. The only problem is, it was broad daylight when the ''Paleosaurus'' attacked him, and so he should've identified his attacker as "a huge sea serpent thing that emitted a burning hot white light" (or Cornish words to that effect). Instead he merely gasps, "From the sea! Burning like fire! Behemoth!"
26	* EmpathyDollShot: Used in the sinking of the ferry scene.
27	* EnemyDetectingRadar: Averted. The ''Paleosaurus'' is invisible to radar.
28	* GreenAesop: At the beginning of the movie, Steve Karnes hosts a lecture explaining why you don’t dump radioactive waste in the ocean. [[IgnoredExpert While nobody believes in him]], the ''Palaeosaurus'' and its radiation sickness prove him right. While this may come off as a bit of a SpaceWhaleAesop, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_disposal_of_radioactive_waste dropping radioactive waste into the sea is a real practice]], and although the effects so far have been negligible (especially compared to the events of this movie), [[https://www.tampabay.com/news/military/effects-of-dumping-radioactive-waste-in-ocean-need-more-study-scientists/2157923/ it's likely that marine ecosystems will become contaminated anyway should the practice continue]].
29	* HellishCopter: Poor Dr. Sampson finds out about the ''Paleosaurus''' DeathRay the hard way. The critter blasts his helicopter out of the sky with it.
30	* IgnoredExpert: Basically ''nobody'' listens to Steve Karnes. Admittedly, there isn't a lot of immediate evidence to back up his theories, but the manner in which he is dismissed as a crank by everyone except Bickford fits this trope.
31	* ImmuneToBullets: Par for the course for a 50s monster movie. It doesn't help that the British Army seems hellbent on attacking it solely with infantry assault weapons.
32	* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Scientist Steve Karnes is at the firing controls of the mini-sub at the climax, instead of a more capable naval man, simply because he's the hero.
33	* MyCarHatesMe: Two men get killed because their car won't start, allowing the ''Paleosaurus'' to pick the car up and throw it into the Thames with them still inside.
34	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Namely by dumping radioactive waste into the ocean and resurrecting a dinosaur.
35	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Professor Bickford, one of the only people who gives Karnes the time of day.
36	* RecycledPremise: From both ''Film/TheBeastFromTwentyThousandFathoms'' and ''Film/TheLostWorld'' (1925).
37	* SecretlyDying: The ''Paleosaurus'' turns out to be dying from the radiation poisoning it.
38	* SensorSuspense: During the scene with the helicopter.
39	* StockScream: The screams from the log scene in ''Film/KingKong1933'' are used.
40	* TheEndOrIsIt: The Behemoth is finally destroyed, but over in the United States irradiated fish start washing up on shore, the same sign which heralded the Behemoth's arrival.
41	* TitleDrop: A couple of times, notably the ominous opening narration, as well as Tom Trevethan's dying words.
42	* TooDumbToLive:
43	** During the London rampage, a bunch of onlookers for some reason insist on standing on a street corner and gawking at the dinosaur instead of joining the others in fleeing. They wind up getting a good ol' blast from the ''Paleosaurus''' DeathRay for their tardiness.
44	** Then there are the two guys who sneak out onto a bridge to get a closer look at the ''Paleosaurus'', and then try and escape in a car which [[MyCarHatesMe won't start]]. The noise of the engine trying to turn over attracts the dinosaur's attention, and he promptly picks the car up (with the two men inside) and chucks the entire vehicle into the Thames.
45	** And finally we have John the barfly. Yes, John, ''touch'' the mysterious glob of glowing protoplasm...
46	* {{Whateversaurus}}: The ''Paleosaurus'' is an entirely fictional species looking like a weird hybrid of a sauropod and a theropod.

Context Film / TheGiantBehemoth