70s Sci-fi - Tumblr Posts
Movie number 59: The Neptune Factor aka The Neptune Disaster (Daniel Petrie, 1973). Bearing an uncanny resemblance to Hanna-Barbera’s 1972 animated tv series Sealab 2020, The Neptune Factor is a underwater adventure with an all star(ish) cast.
Subsurface research base Oceanlab is hit by an undersea earthquake, damaging the lab and leaving crew members stranded. Project head Walter Pidgeon enlists the help of submarine captain Ben Gazzara and chief diver Ernest Borgnine along with scientist Yvette Mimieux to survey for damage and rescue any survivors. However, the Oceanlab now lies at the bottom of an ocean trench and all manner of menacing sea creatures stand (swim?) between it and the rescue team.
Although partly filmed in the sea off Nova Scotia and in the Caribbean, it would appear that most of the trick photography was achieved in a studio; the effects are a mix of obvious model work and blown up footage of marine life. Edited in such a way that it is never completely convincing that men and monsters inhabit the same plane, as such, any sense of excitement that these sequences should have generated is lost.
Despite which, I feel it would be unfair to label the movie a total wreck. The earthquake scenes are impressive and Ernest Borgnine is always worth watching. As a whole, I did enjoy it but found parts of it rather dull, largely due to Daniel Petrie’s uninspired direction and a Jack DeWitt script which is short on thrills. This, more than anything, proves to be the movie’s undoing.
In an attempt to cash in on the then current craze for disaster movies the film was retitled The Neptune Disaster in some territories. However, it feels much closer to schlocky 70’s sci-fi than to the disaster genre. Sadly, The Neptune Factor is one of those movies where the poster art is more impressive than the actual movie; an ambitious underwater sci-fi ultimately waterlogged by a pedestrian screenplay and average special effects.
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Originally made for US TV, City Beneath the Sea is an underwater sci-fi adventure from producer/director Irwin Allen, initially pitched as a weekly TV series in 1969.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.
Boo
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