Mr. Harryhausen confessed that he suffers from claustrophobia so he wasn't able to dive in, although he said he watched the action from the surface with a snorkel!

The Cephalopod

Creator: Ray Harryhausen

Film: The Mysterious Island 1961

Any of a class (Cephalopoda) of marine mollusks including the squids, cuttlefishes, and octopuses that move by expelling water from a tubular siphon under the head and that have a group of muscular usually sucker-bearing arms around the front of the head, highly developed eyes, and usually a sac containing ink which is ejected for defense or concealment (Webster's Dictionary)

As the crew investigate the underwater city looking for the sunken ship, they are attacked by this very huge creature. It grabs Pencroft in its giant tentacle, the rest try to hit it with their javelins but to no help. Until Harding uses the laser gun that was given to them by Nemo to shoot the creature, finally after two shots the creature releases Pencroft and they are able to un-sink the pirate ship.

This creation is available as part of the chess pieces also.

Cephalopod Facts

• All the live action for the sequence where the creature fights with the men was filmed by underwater photographer Egil Woxholt who later filmed the underwater sequences for Clash of the Titans.

• Originally the Cephalopod was supposed to have more tentacles but the budget would not allow it.

• Mr. Harryhausen had to move each tentacle less than a millimeter a frame so that it would give out the illusion that the creature was underwater.

• The waves and water distortion seen in the sequence were added after the initial shooting.

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Ray Harryhausen

on the Cephalopod

"At various stages of the script development the creature was to have been a octopus, then a clam or a giant oyster protecting a huge pearl, but all of these were thought to be a little too clichéd. In the end we settled for a sea creature I based on a pink fossilized shell, over 6 feet in diameter, in the Cologne Museum."

"To introduce the creature to the audience, the underwater mariners walk by a dark crevice; the camera holds on the threatening darkness, then zooms in, followed by a dissolve to the miniature as the cephalopod opens its gigantic red eye."