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38 reviews in total

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19 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
Low-budget thriller with some interesting concepts, 29 May 2003
Author: henri sauvage from nashville, tn

Something about this movie makes me believe it was inspired by some article in an old Popular Science magazine about giant atomic-powered cargo subs of the near future plying the short route to the Pacific under the polar ice cap. (I must have missed that development while I was commuting by hovercar to my all-plastic cabin in the mountains, where a home breeder reactor supplies me with power too cheap to meter.)

The actors are (mostly) competent, with B-movie stalwart Arthur Franz in the lead. The script is serviceable, containing some creepy moments as well as an occasionally interesting clash of ideologies between military tough guy Franz and the peacenik scientist son (Brett Halsey) of his revered mentor. Though they despise each other at first, they find they can agree on the need to kick some alien booty.

The sfx team of Jack Rabin, Irving Block and Louis DeWitt collaborated on quite a few low-budget sci-fi's in the 50's -- the most notable example being "Kronos", with its bizarre, energy-sucking giant cubist robot -- and manage to achieve a few interesting effects in this one, too.

The most unusual thing about this film is that I believe it's the first sci-fi movie to use the concept of a "living" spaceship. And I'm willing to bet money that the film's slime-dripping, tentacled alien Cyclops is the direct inspiration for The Simpsons' Kang and Kodos. Even the voice is similar.

If you're willing to forgive its obvious limitations, "Atomic Submarine" is an entertaining little low-budget romp.

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18 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
One of the Sci Fi Mill Classics, 9 March 2003
Author: teuthis (Teuthis@knology.net) from Columbus, Georgia

"Atomic Submarine" has two things to recommend it to viewers. It is adventure, with all sorts of dangerous situations, and a desperate battle against an undersea alien. And, it is unintentionally funny. Not hilarious mind you; but certainly funny enough for a few laughs as you enjoy its clumsy attempts at plot, acting and logic. Still, I like it, and I always watch it if it comes on cable. Its the adventure I guess. I get caught up in the idea of the powerful submarine; the crew at odds with each other; the "science-on-the-fly" they use to fight the monster. Its fun overall. I would venture to say that it is one of the classics of the 50's-60's low budget sci fi era.

This film is also notable for a brief appearance by Joi Lansing; the last, and prettiest, of the Hollywood "blonde bombshells". It's certainly worth watching if you're a guy, and a sci-fi fan. With a little imagination, "Atomic Submarine" is entertaining escapism.

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11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
A nice, creepy low budget movie., 11 January 2002
Author: Chris Gaskin from Derby, England

The Atomic Submarine is atmospheric and creepy, especially when out in the frozen wastes of the North Pole.

A lot of stock footage didn't spoil my enjoyment, although we see different submarines. Good performances from 50s B movie regulars like Arthur Franz and Tom Conway keep the movie going. The monster in the flying saucer has to be seen to be believed. Great stuff, considering the low budget.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5.

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11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Science-Fiction Gold, 24 April 2001

Author: ronnie from United States

Yet another interesting, small-budget, black-and-white thriller gem from the 1950s. These pictures are being continually (and successfully) released to DVD, much more than the genre films from the 1960s through 1990s. Why? In these post Atomic, Cold War years, imagination ran rampant with so many new ideas that were fresh and innovative. They're charming in their antiquated way. Using inexpensive special effects, with a generally serviceable, attractive cast working with scripts that moved the action along, these sci-fi drama infused sex (tame for the time) and violence with effective results. "Atomic Submarine" tells the story of an alien spacecraft destroying subs in the Arctic. When Arthur Franz finally meets the creature, a giant cyclopean octopus-style thing, it states (via telepathic communication) "We finally meet face to face. Franz replies: "That's a face?" Later Franz relates to extraordinarily handsome hunk Brett Halsey, that he left his little black book on the alien spacecraft, which included the number of buxom blonde (Joi Lansing) that he had a rendezvous with earlier. Most enjoyable.

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10 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Charming Fun, 24 September 2002

Author: Space_Mafune from Newfoundland, Canada

Which so many familiar Sci-Fi/Horror Genre faces in the cast and with a really cool monster at the end, I feel this 1959 film is loads of fun to watch. I recommend it mainly to those fans of 1950s/60s style Sci-Fi and submarine adventure tales(such as IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA, SUBMARINE SEAHAWK, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, etc.).

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11 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Definitely the blueprint for VOYAGE's The Seaview, 3 October 2004

Author: davidemartin (davidemartin@cs.com) from Milwaukee, Wisconsin

What a difference the three years separating ATOMIC SUBMARINE and VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA made! Of course, Allen's much larger budget sure helped too. Still, one can see The Tigershark as being the direct parent of The Seaview.

We have an advanced nuclear sub capable of firing missiles or torpedoes and equipped with a secondary submarine. The Seaview originally carried a small fleet of 2-man submersibles but they got eclipsed by the flashier Flying Sub. And of course you have the senior officer, the younger guy who actually handles the action scenes, and a couple onboard scientists just for the heck of it.

The plot itself is pretty much the model for many of the Voyages to the Bottom of the Sea. The hidden mystery at the heart of an otherwise normal mission, the unexpected monster.... Yeah, this could have been a VOYAGE episode. And in fact, eventually IT WAS! VOYAGE did an episode that adapted ATOMIC SUBMARINE pretty much straight, just changing the sub, the crew names, and a few details (and ditching Joi Lansing's character, alas!).

While ATOMIC SUBMARINE does look frightfully low budget compared to VOYAGE, let alone today's super-bloated budget busters, it works pretty well for a product of its time. And the minimalist, barely illuminated alien saucer interior is surprising effect. I know it creeped me out when I first saw this late one night in '66!

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7 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Cyclopic Submarine, 23 December 2006

Author: bobtheplanet from United States

8 out of 10 for effort in the category of lo-budget Sci-Fi Tomfoolery.

What can I say… old "B" grade sci-fi films from the 50's and 60's are really fun to watch. This one is favorite of mine; I'll watch it over and over again. Somehow these movies re-ignite childhood memories of Saturday afternoons at the show or late night TV popcorn fests. Sure they're stinkers, but the odor they emit is as evocative as an exotic fragrance that stimulates half-forgotten memories.

Lots of stock footage; voice-over narration; maps with squiggly chase routes; a solid cast of character actors; cheap, but eerie and imaginative effects… all earmarks of the trashy Drive-in and Matinée fare. Remember "Double Features" or "Triple Features"? Movies like "Atomic Submarine" were the Chinese takeout menu of the 50's cinema scene – quick and filling, but not much else!

If you like ATOMIC SUBMARINE, you'll also like KRONOS; IT, THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE; TARGET EARTH; THE CRAWLING EYE; FIEND WITHOUT A FACE; I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE; THE BRAIN EATERS; THE CURSE OF THE FLY along with many others too numerous to mention. All flawed by their cheapness, but remembered for a few minutes of imaginative storytelling.

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8 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Any film featuring a one-eyed hairy octopus has to deserve some credit., 29 June 2000

Author: Wilbur-10 from London

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

'B' grade Sci-Fi which attains, for the first half at least, the heights of a reasonable thriller, as a submarine is dispatched to the arctic circle to investigate the cause of shipping accidents and disappearances.

While the effects are never up to much, the plot and script are more than adequate. The climax of the film is a glorious return to B-movie hokum as an underwater flying saucer is discovered to be the cause of the problems. The scientists reason that the saucer returns to the pole for magnetic energy and they decide to lie in wait in the sub to ram it !! In doing this however, the sub becomes stuck in the saucer and some crew members are dispatched to go inside the saucer and dislodge it.

There is the usual character tension between the young inexperienced scientist on the mission, and the older, wiser navy man, who just happens to be friends with the younger man's father etc. etc. The inside of the spaceship is a lesson in minimalism - simply illuminated gangways in a sea of darkness. These scenes lead to the creature in the saucer which is an octopus-type figure, with one huge eye on a stalk. The creature speaks ( in Queens English ) through thought and turns out to be looking for suitable planets as homes for its advanced race of bug-eyed-hairy-octopi.

Saucer is blasted by a ballistic missile, contradicting the 1950's sci-fi theme of warning against the nuclear arms race. A difficult film to dislike, but a few leagues below 'It Came from Beneath the Sea'.

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7 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
down to the sea in shticks, 10 April 2004
Author: march9hare from sparks nv

A series of unexplained maritime disasters (no, not necessarily this film) prompts the US Government to dispatch its latest and greatest atomic sub to investigate and, if possible, neutralize whatever it finds - in this case, a malevolent monocular alien and his (it's?) living UFO. The cast consists of the usual characters: a hard-nosed, two-fisted manly man Executive Officer (played by Arthur Franz), the level-headed Captain (played by the barely seen Dick Foran), and the vaguely condescending scientist Sir Ian Hunt (played by the for-once-in-his-life-sober Tom Conway). Rounding out the crew are: the crusty CPO, a couple of UDT frogmen (you just KNOW they're gonna get snuffed), a wonderfully discombobulated Sid Melton (a part he plays SO well), a snivelling antiwar oceanographer, and the jaw-droppingly gorgeous girlfriend/flavor-of-the-week (played with impeccable style and subtlety by Joi Lansing, last of the Hollywood Blonde Bombshells. Awright: so who cares if she can't act?). Plotwise, the movie is very similar to "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", except it's shot in glorious black and white, with cheap sets, not-so-special effects, hambone acting, and models that, while very imaginative, look like models. Some of the dialogue is pretty shaky too, especially the exchange between Franz and the colossal, one-eyed alien. Still, this movie has a certain quaint quality about it, and remains one of our favorites. It's one of those "At least it's better than. . ." films. Better than what? Well, "Santa Claus Conquers The Martians", for one; "Murdercycle", for another. Bottom line: it's a good rainy Saturday popcorn movie.

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3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
I only have ice for you, 3 August 2008

Author: sol from Brooklyn NY USA

**SPOLIERS** After some half dozen US Navy subs have been destroyed in the Arctic Ocean within 200-from 87 to 90 degrees North latitude-miles of the North Pole it's decided by the US Military to send it's most advanced atomic submarine The "Tiger Shark" there to see what's causing all this destruction.

With Camdr. Reef Holloway, Arthur Franz, and his second in command Capt. Dan Wendover, Dick Foran, put in charge of the nuclear sub "Tiger Shark" in a top secret mission to the North Pole things get a bit sticky when Dr.Carl Neilson joins the sub's crew. Despite his youth, he's in his late 20's, Dr. Neilson is one of the top oceanographers in the world.

Dr. Neilson is also an unashamed peace-nick who had his old man, Reef's mentor the top naval war tactician in Annapolis,and the person whom Reef worshiped the very ground he walks on,end up hospitalized with a career ending nervous breakdown! That resulted in Dr. Neilson insinuating to the press that his father is a warmonger in his obsession with the use of nuclear submarines- and their payload of Polaris nuclear missiles-in the defense of freedom.

This tension between Reef and Dr. Neilson goes on unabatedly during the entire trip to the North Pole until it's realized that what's been sinking US military vessels up there is a hostile 300 foot in diameter flying saucer!

This UFO identified as the Cyclops, because of its flashing blue light, is using the magnetic pull of the earth, centered at the poles, to regenerate itself with magnetic energy. At the same time the UFO in order to keep it's existence secret zaps any ship or underwater sub that's unfortunate enough to get in its way!

It's also later found out straight from the UFO's pilot's-a hairy one eyed alien- mouth, or subconscious, that it's planing to have it's fellow one eyed monsters colonize the world and enslave the earth's human population!

It takes a while, with a number of the "Tiger Sharks" crew members getting killed, to figure out how to handle this alien, or aliens, from space. But later with the help of the now, he finally saw the light, kill em first and don't ask questions later ex-pacifist Dr. Neilson the human race in the end prevailed.

The problem now, after destroying the Cyclops, is just how many more of these one eyed monsters are still out there in space watching and monitoring us! And also will we have the both strength and fortitude, as well as the military hardware, to combat and defeat them in the not so far off distance future?

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