Welshrogue

Onboard an experimental submarine underneath the Arctic ice, Admiral Nelson and his crew surface to find that the sky is on fire. The Van Allen belt is set alight and begins to raise the temperature of the Earth, threatening every living creature in the world.

Starring such great actors as Walter Pidgeon, Barbara Eden (I dream of Jeannie) and Peter Lorre, Voyage is a science fiction thriller about trying to avert the end of the world. For once the end is not caused by humans and the feel of the movie, while obviously tense is not as dark as it perhaps could have been.

One note is Robert Easton who plays the radio man ‘Sparks’. He has a distinctive accent and after playing ‘Sparks’ in Voyage in 1961 went on to voice ‘Phones’ in Gerry Anderson‘s Stingray 3 years later. ‘Phones’ being a radio man on a submarine!

Of course, one can not talk about Voyage without mentioning the classic style of shaking the camera while the actors fall one way and then the other. Often ridiculed, in the days before expensive sets on gimbals or special effects, it was the only way to portray turbulance on the set.

Another part of Voyage that is pretty imfamous is the giant squid that looks as if it is made of cloth. Its colourful, with long tentacles and about as scary as a rubber ducky.

Voyage is cheap and cheerful but it inspired a TV show of the same name and should be considered the grandfather of shows such as SeaQuest DSV, Stingray, and various movies. Obviously the original story of a submarine with a huge viewing window was Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, and while it does borrow from that tale, it is far from being an updated tale.

Did I mention that Frankie Avalon is also onboard? Del Monroe who plays Kowski also returned to feature in the tv show with the slightly different name of Kowalski.

Made in 1961, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea is a great adventure story that is based on a submarine trying to save the world. It hasn’t aged gracefully but it is still a blast!

Tags: 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916 film), Barbara Eden, Gerry Anderson, Peter Lorre, Robert Easton, Television program, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Walter Pidgeon

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 1st, 2007 at 1:00 am and is filed under Movies, Sci Fi, Sci Fi September. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.