It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
The Beach Girls and the Monster (1965) – Musical #786

Studio:
American Academy Productions

Director:
Jon Hall

Starring:
Jon Hall, Sue Casey, Walker Edmiston, Elaine DuPont, Arnold Lessing, Read Morgan, Carolyn Williamson, Gloria Neil, Kal Roberts, Clyde Adler, Dale Davis, Margo Lynn Sweet

Plot:
While a group is dancing and surfing on the beach, a girl is killed by a sea monster. As more teens are killed, oceanographer Dr. Otto Lindsay (Hall) is brought in on the case, though police just feel it’s a murderer. At the same time, Dr. Lindsay’s son Richard (Lessing) is reluctant to settle down into a career with his dad, wanting to surf and have fun, and Dr. Lindsay’s wife, Vicky (Casey), is being unfaithful.

Trivia:
• Directorial debut of actor Jon Hall and his last feature film role.
• The surfing footage watched by Richard and Mark was footage filmed by Dale Davis, who made surfing documentaries.
• Music composed by Frank Sinatra, Jr.
• Working title is “Surf Terror” and “Monster from the Surf.”
• Final film of Elaine DuPont.
• The songs were written by those who performed them, including Arnold Lessing and Elaine DuPont.
• The dancing girls in the movie were advertised as being “The Watusi Dancing Girls” from the nightclub, Whiskey-a-Go-Go.
• Produced by Edward Janis with a screenplay written by Janis’s wife, Joan Gardner.
• Actor Walker Edmiston created puppets for a children’s show he was on, so he created the head for the monster costume and the sculpture of Sue Casey’s head, according to a book by Thomas Lisanti.
• Walker Edmiston is the actor in the fake beard and the lion head for the “There’s a Monster in the Surf,” which was written 15 minutes for the scene, according to Thomas Lisanti’s book.

Highlights:
• The surfing footage montage, which plays while Richard is watching surf films shot at Waikiki.

Notable Songs:
• “Dance, Baby Dance”
• “More Than Wanting You” performed by Arnold Lessing
• “There’s a Monster in the Surf” performed by Elaine DuPont and a lion puppet controlled by Walker Edmiston

My review:
If you watch the 1937 film, THE HURRICANE, its stars Dorothy Lamour and Jon Hal seem poised for greatness. Lamour went on to be successful in Paramount films, known as the Sarong Girl. While Hall worked steadily, he wasn’t as successful, and unfortunately his career ended on a the note of THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTERS.

To be fair, Lamour also made a cameo in PAJAMA PARTY around this same time, but that was an Academy Award-winning film compared to THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTERS.

In the film, while a group is dancing and surfing on the beach, a girl is killed by a sea monster. As more teens are killed, oceanographer Dr. Otto Lindsay (Hall) is brought in on the case, though police just feel it’s a murderer. At the same time, Dr. Lindsay’s son Richard (Lessing) is reluctant to settle down into a career with his dad, wanting to surf and have fun, and Dr. Lindsay’s wife, Vicky (Casey), is being unfaithful.

There are other characters woven in, such as Mark (Edminston), a friend (I think?) that was injured in a wreck that Richard was responsible for, leaving him disabled. Mark lives with the Lindsays, but he’s introduced very randomly and discussed like we already know who he is. Overall, characters like Mark and Vicky are poorly introduced.

I wouldn’t go as far to say that this film is so “bad it’s good,” but it’s also not the worst movie I’ve ever seen.

However, if you feel the American International Pictures (AIP) beach films are low budget, this film takes the cake. The girls dancing at the beginning is perhaps some of the worst dancing I’ve ever seen in a beach movie. Truly, better dancing is in an AIP movie. And evidently the girls who are dancing did this for their job at the Hollywood night club, Whiskey-a-Go-Go. Yikes.

Sure, as many reviews note, the monster looks low like a rubber costume, but honestly, that is the least of the problems of this film.

I think the worst part of the film is the weird song “Monster in the Surf,” which is performed by a puppet, Walker Edmiston in a beard so we think he’s a different actor, and Elaine DuPont, using a Betty Boop-like voice. Edmiston wrote the song 15-minutes before the scene and it shows, according to an interview with Edmiston and film historian, Tom Lisanti.

Actress Sue Casey said the film was so low budget that she did her own hair and makeup an supplied her own clothing, according to an interview she had with Lisanti.
However, there are some odd and bright points of this low budget horror beach film:
– The characters randomly watch a film of surfers and the real surf footage is outstanding. The footage was taken by Dale Davis.
– Actor Walker Edmiston seemed to be a Jack-of-all-trades on this film set. An addition to acting and songwriting, Edmiston also had a children’s show with puppets at this time, so he helped create the monster head and some of the sculptures on set.
– Frank Sinatra, Jr. randomly wrote some of the music.

And then there is Jon Hall. Hall is one of few of the capable actors in this film, and it’s also his directorial debut. I’m frankly fascinated that he directed this and was involved with the film.

While the film is overall not great, the ending is an interesting twist.

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