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Movie number 67: City Beneath the Sea (Irwin Allen, 1971)
Originally made for US TV, City Beneath the Sea is an underwater sci-fi adventure from producer/director Irwin Allen, initially pitched as a weekly TV series in 1969. At first unsuccessful, Irwin was able to secure support for a TV movie based upon the idea and City Beneath the Sea duly premiered on the NBC network in January 1971, fulfilling its duel purpose as both a 'Movie of the Week' and as a pilot for a proposed series.
Set in the year 2053, City Beneath the Sea stars Stuart Whitman as commander of underwater city Pacifica. As storage for both the US gold reserve and the valuable yet highly unstable explosive H128, Pacifica is the target of an inside robbery from certain unsavory officials. However, this problem pales in significance to the imminent threat posed by an asteroid (or rather 'planetoid') on a direct collision course with the sub-aquatic metropolis!
A fairly impressive cast was assembled for the movie; joining the likeable, square-jawed Whitman are TV regulars Robert Wagner and Richard Basehart. A little extra cachet is added by blink-and-you-miss-them cameos from Joseph Cotton and boxer Sugar Ray Robinson. Of course it betrays its TV origins; the effects, largely utilising model work, are obvious but appealingly and in no way detract from ones enjoyment of the film. The colourful set design and costumes exhibit a nice 1970's futurist chic. Where the movie fails is in its narrative. The premise, while inherently silly, is a fairly strong one. But the screenplay, by John Meredyth Lucas, suffers from too much exposition and too little action. This, perhaps more than anything, sealed the fate of the property as NBC did not commission any further episodes. It did, however, secure release in UK cinemas retitled One Hour to Doomsday.
Over time City Beneath the Sea has attained a significant and deserved cult following and remains an entertaining kitsch treat, especially for fans of vintage TV sci-fi and of the Allen oeuvre in particular.
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME to read a longer, more in-depth review of CITY BENEATH THE SEA! Link below.
FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON (Dir: Irwin Allen, 1962).
A longer, more in-depth version of the following review can be found on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME! Link below.
Loosely based on Jules Verne's 1863 novel of the same name, Five Weeks in a Balloon finds an unlikely crew of adventurers, including explorer Fergusson (Cedric Hardwicke), his youthful assistant (popstar Fabian) and US newspaper hack Donald O'Shay (Red Buttons), set sail for Africa in a hot air balloon with a gondola inexplicably shaped like a unicorn! Picking up kidnapped teacher Susan (Barbara Eden) and slave trader Ahmed (Peter Lorre) en route. Getting into scrapes involving various tribes-people, the odd slave and a pipe-smoking chimp, expect some outdated racial stereotypes and some decidedly pre-feminist representations of women. Nothing overtly offensive, however, be warned it is very much a product of its time!
Five Weeks in a Balloon was a conscious attempt by 20th Century Fox to repeat the success of their adaptation of Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth (Henry Levin, 1959). Irwin Allen would seem a natural choice for director, having previously helmed the hit adventure movies The Lost World (1960) and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961), both for Fox. Sadly, Five weeks in a Balloon would prove to be a disappointment, both artistically and commercially. It certainly isn't terrible, but it lacks the scope and grandeur of Journey to the Center of the Earth and even the more modest The Lost World. A smaller budget is evident; while there is nothing essentially wrong with the effects, the balloon for example is impressive, it just seems light on spectacle compared to earlier Verne adaptations.
Ultimately, Five Weeks in a Balloon is too slight a movie to be considered the epic adventure is promises to be. Neither is it the schlocky fun that so much of the Allen oeuvre is. It is lightweight entertainment, but perhaps a little too lightweight. As adventure and comedy it never quite takes flight and the end result is fun but a bit bland.
