Transatlantic Tunnel

Richard McAllan (Richard Dix) is an engineer with an idea. After the construction of a tunnel in the English Chanel, he proposes a tunnel between Britain and America to a group of wealthy industrialists. They agree after some hesitation. This movie follows the long struggle to build the tunnel over many years.

This is 30's sci-fi futurism. I don't really care about the story. I barely care about the construction project. This is like making a drama about the Big Dig in Boston. I do like some of the futurism in this movie. It is a time capsule of this era's sci-fi ideas. That has some entertainment value.

An interesting futuristic film on the premise of building a tunnel under the Atlantic ocean to link Britian and the USA. Richard Dix is his usual stalwart presence as McAllan, an engineer who has in this scenario already created a tunnel under the English Channel, uniting France and England as of 1940, five years in the future from when the film was released.

There are the usual disasters, delays and money problems. The crux of the film though rises from the tragic flaw of hubris (pride), which causes tragedy within the family of McAllan due to his dogged determination to put his job/his vision above all else.

A slight problem results from casting both leading women (Madge Evans and Helen Vinson) since they resemble each other so closely, one has trouble following who is on screen. The best moment is the meeting of the two late in the film and the touching and illuminating scene that results.

Leslie Banks is excellent as the best friend. Henry Oscar is a marvelous villain, self-assured and wickedly serene.

Arliss and Huston have two back to back scenes, beginning at 43 minutes in and one hour and fifteen minutes in. They are quite short and constitute cameos.

The real star here is the art direction of the tunnel itself.

It is kept vague as to exactly how the USA and the UK are going to benefit from this tunnel, however. Seems more problematic than somewhat as opposed to sea or air travel.

It's quite gripping and quite enjoyable. Recommended.

THE TRANSATLANTIC TUNNEL is a sci-fi film set in the near future. The story is about a joint American-British effort to build this tunnel. Additionally, the toll this takes on the men (in particular the chief engineer) and the behind the scenes machinations are explored.

This is a really neat sci-fi movie in many ways. While the idea of a transatlantic tunnel is ridiculously far-fetched, the special effects for this British film are amazingly realistic and well executed. It's really too bad, then, that the soap opera built around it is poor. However, because the film is so astounding to look at, it's still well worth a look.

The British film makers enlisted Richard Dix for the lead in this film. He was a big name for the time and he would presumably bring American audiences to see this film. Whether or not this worked, I have no idea, but although I like Dix in other films, here he isn't particularly distinguished. This would be more obvious had it not been that many of the British cast were pretty dreadful. And, because the dialog was so poor, it only made this seem worse.

As I said, this is all pretty sad, as the special effects were great. Seeing giant television sets, videophones, cool futuristic cars and the tunnel itself were all absolutely amazing. In fact, it's one of the best sci-fi films of the time and this aspect of the film alone merit a 9 or 10--not bad for a relatively low budget film.

Overall, it's a great curio that you can enjoy provided you can wade through the soapy story.

A grimly realistic story, set in the future (as visualized in 1935), about the building of an undersea tunnel between England and America. The opening scene (a meeting of millionaires and engineers discussing the project) is reminiscent of a similar scene in `Destination Moon', though it lacks the patriotic enthusiasm.

The movie's basic message is also similar to `Destination Moon': determined men doing a big job despite colossal odds. The special effects are remarkable, the `futuristic' production designs are gorgeous, and the music is effective. There are some truly gripping moments in this fine motion picture. Especially memorable is the huge mechanism that drills the tunnel beneath the ocean.

Modern day tunneling machines are amazingly similar to the one portrayed in this 67-year-old movie. Watch the Discovery Channel's `Extreme Machines' episode about tunneling machines if you'd like to compare for yourself.

The final scene, showing cars entering the English entrance to the completed tunnel, is impressive when compared to the `chunnel' which now bridges England and Europe. `Transatlantic Tunnel' makes a great second feature for `Things to Come'.

The concept of the movie is very basic: the building of a tunnel connecting the eastern United States with the island of Great Britain. If this were actually possible, it would probably have been done long before now -- but this film is an excellent portrayal of the possibilities. It's quite entertaining for not only fans of old movies, but for history buffs as well -- and even students of transportation should enjoy it!