Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

Saw 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea' as somebody who considers the cast very talented and who has liked some of Irwin Allen's other films (i.e. 'The Towering Inferno' and 'The Poseidon Adventure' that he produced). The premise was great also.

'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea' unfortunately is not one of Allen's better efforts though and doesn't live up to its great premise. It's one of the more famous submarine films but for me not one of the best ones. This saddens me to say that, absolutely no vindictiveness here, because there was a lot of talent on board, who can go wrong with Walter Pidgeon, Peter Lorre and Joan Fontaine. Can see why some people find it entertaining and why others find it underwhelming, but it generally didn't do much for me.

Starting with the positives, the submarine is quite rightly the star here and a very big one it is too. It is aided by some colourful and atmospheric cinematography. The lively music score also adds a lot and the theme song is a memorable one and a deserving one.

The film's underwater sequences look pretty good still and while ridiculous the climax is entertaining. Generally the cast are not used to their full potential, but Walter Pidgeon is good in the lead, while Michael Ansara and Barbara Eden add some charm to the proceedings.

Peter Lorre on the other hand is criminally underutilised and looked like he was in ill health. Like Joan Fontaine a lot, but she was out of her depth and out of place while the rest of the cast were better off not being there. While the underwater sequences don't look too bad, they generally lack excitement and go on far longer than they needed to, also not placed very well. Some of the effects, like the octopus, look really hokey now.

Furthermore, the pace tends to be ponderous, trimming the underwater sequences would have helped, the film is too long and the direction is stodgy. Add to that a silly and too talky script and a story that lacks suspense, surprises and excitement and falls on the wrong side of daft and nonsensical constantly and you have a far from terrible but very problematic film.

Recommended for a one-time watch, but there is not enough to make me want to see it on repeat viewings. 5/10 Bethany Cox

This film was a good science fiction film for the era it was made in. I know a lot of people talk about the fact that it has a lot of scientific inaccuracies, but I prefer to take it for what it is, a great adventure film. Also, the characters may be stock but I like them for what they are. This definitely is a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

I had ordered Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea on DVD and at 3:00 in the morning I found myself watching it. Okay, the idea of the Van Allen radiation belt catching on fire is silly, but it's just the premise for a really good sci-fi adventure film that I wish I could've seen in the theaters on a wide screen. But the rich colors on the DVD and Dolby sound is a good substitute for the real thing.

In looking at it, I can't help but compare the movie with the series that followed as there are some of the actors from the movie who ended up in the show. Seeing this Lee Crane constantly arguing and second-guessing Admiral Nelson is a little disturbing, yet the movie inspired one of the best sci-fi series of the '60s. And the movie itself, like Fantastic Voyage, shows great creativity. Irwin Allen is always being underestimated by people with 60 second attention spans, but this movie shows how much of a creative artist that Allen was.

I gladly give this movie 8/10

Walter Pidgeon leads fellow iconoclasts aboard a giant, futuristic (for 1961) submarine in a desperate race to save the world from firey oblivion. Another reviewer once commented that there was plenty of action but precious little logic in this film, but so what? If one views it as escapist nonsense, it's pretty enjoyable, even if the plot does get a little overheated (sorry, we couldn't resist) toward the end. Van Allen belt catching fire? Absurd. Three thousand foot crush depth for a Thresher-class attack sub? Ridiculous. But again, so what? The effects hold up pretty well, there's a solid cast including Peter Lorre (not his last film but clearly his days were numbered), Michael Ansara, and Frankie Avalon, who was thrown into the mix to attract a younger audience, and, of course, the giant octopus. The octopus scene was actually shot in reverse, since octopi are quite timid and this one could not be coaxed into attaching itself to the submarine for any usable length of time. Seriously though, in spite of bad science and stupendous leaps of questionable logic, "Voyage" is a better than average vintage sci-fi flick. Make a big bowl of popcorn and enjoy the ride!

As the trailer movie explains ¨In all the world of fact and fiction..There has never been an adventure like Irwin Allen's Voyage to the bottom of the sea . Prepare for the most exciting experience , you have ever a motion picture theatre¡ ¨ . This is a Sci-fi thriller in which Admiral Harriman Nelson (Walter Pidgeon) as the commander of an experimental, extraordinarily designed US sea sub called ¨Seaview¨ and as second-in-command captain Lee Crane (Robert Sterling) take on several hazards and risks that are threatening all life on Earth . They encounter in the Arctic that suffers from melting iceberg caused by a burning radiation belt called Van Allen . Nelson is called into rescue a castaway (Michael Ansara) trapped on the remaining of an ice floe . Later on , there appears a saboteur aboard and the atomic submarine sit races to set off the torpedoes which Adm. Harriman knows will explode the dangerous radiation.

Acceptable submarine movie blends adventure , action, intrigue , disaster spectacle, hokey fun ,suspense and emotional happenings with romance included . Our heroes incarnated by a throughly believable casting of the splendid character players get stuck in the ship before the world explodes , undertaking numerous adventures and suffering innumerable perils .It includes a series of interesting ideas that benefit from a decent screenplay and nice special effects to make regular-size Octopus seem like deep-sea giant. There are also mine fields, large squids and attacking sub courtesy of the flamboyant FX team . The protagonists spend most of their time devising intelligent ways for avoid to die from solar radiation . The underwater scenes , burning skies, explosion , pyrotechnics, floods are spectacular but the film is just another usual Hollywood product . High level all star cast as it stars Walter Pidgeon as efficient Nelson , Peter Lorre as his scientific assistant and Robert Sterling and Barbara Eden as intimate couple , plus the singer Frankie Avalon and the fanatic religious Michael Ansara and of course the attractive Joan Fontaine . Lively score musical fitting to action by Paul Sawtell and colorful cinematography by Winton C Hoch . Lavishly produced and directed by Irwin Allen who would go on filmmaking millionaire products as ¨The Poseidon adventure¨, ¨The towering inferno¨¨ and ¨Beyond of Poseidon¨ this picture is one of the last Allen's flops along with ¨Swarm¨and ¨When the time ran out¨ . It's followed by a successful and long running series , a TV show with the well known characters starred by Richard Basehart as Nelson and David Hedison as captain. Rating : Good family fare , acceptable and passable Sci-fi movie ; kids and teenagers will have a fine time.