I saw this film when I was younger, as an audience member when it premiered in the movie theatres in Ontario in 1973. Having a Canadian production, with a substantial production value, open in major theatres with a talented cast was a breath of fresh air. It was the only film I had ever been to where the audience rose to their feet, cheered, applauded and sang "Oh, Canada" when the Pisces class submarine (built in Vancouver, British Columbia) was hoisted overhead by a crane for launching and the Canadian flag was visible. There were numerous instances where there wasn't an attempt to hide the fact that the location for the story was set in Canada (Air Canada plane at the airport, the Canadian Navy). In a film culture where streets in Toronto are often made to look like downtown New York or other American locales, this was a refreshing change. In 1973 the close up macro-photography was excellent, colourful and detailed for its time. It's also interesting to note that only a few years later, in 1977, the deep sea submersible Alvin found gigantic tube worms, clams and other bizarre organisms 8,000 feet down on the Galapagos Rift surviving alongside hydrothermal vents. I liked that the creatures they found mirrored actual living organisms and not the boring, standard Hollywood deep sea monster fare. A lot of thought was put into detail. The lab scenes (reaching into a fridge full of bottled marine specimens for coffee cream; using a plastic board to pick up a fish to put into a dip net; the gas chromatography) showed what a lab is actually like (instead of the stereotypical Hollywood bubbling test tubes of multi coloured dyed water). It was a fun adventure, nicely written with a hint of realism and genuine dialogue.
Review of The Neptune Factor
