Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)

Director:

Irwin Allen

Writers:

Irwin Allen (screenplay) and
Charles Bennett (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

12 July 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Admiral Nelson takes a brand new atomic submarine through its paces. When the Van Allen radiation belt catches fire...

Plot Keywords:

Admiral | Submarine | Missile | Heat | Scientist

US TV Schedule:

Fri. Dec. 4

8:15 AM

AMC

Cast

Walter Pidgeon	...	Adm. Harriman Nelson
Joan Fontaine	...	Dr. Susan Hiller
Barbara Eden	...	Lt Cathy Connors
Peter Lorre	...	Comm. Lucius Emery
Robert Sterling	...	Capt. Lee Crane
Michael Ansara	...	Miguel Alvarez
Frankie Avalon	...	Lt (j.g.) Danny Romano
Regis Toomey	...	Dr. Jamieson
John Litel	...	Vice-Adm. B.J. Crawford
Howard McNear	...	Congressman Parker
Henry Daniell	...	Dr. Zucco
Skip Ward	...	Crew member
Mark Slade	...	Seaman Jimmy 'Red' Smith
Charles Tannen	...	CPO Gleason
Del Monroe	...	Kowski (as Delbert Monroe)

Also Known As:

Journey to the Bottom of the Sea (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some perilous situations.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | West Germany:12 (nf) | USA:Approved (certificate #19888) (original rating) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Australia:G | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | UK:U | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Windsor Productions

Trivia:

Director's Trademark: The voice-over for the newscasts that crew members watch, detailing the burning forests, etc., is done by director Irwin Allen.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the UN sub is attacking the Seaview, the same shot of two torpedoes missing the Seaview and exploding on an adjacent underwater mountainside is used twice.

Quotes:

Comm. Lucius Emery: Impossible? You sound like Zucco. Nothing is impossible.

Movie Connections:

Edited into "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Submarine Sunk Here (#1.10)" (1964)

Soundtrack:

Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea

In the Wake of the Nautilus, the U.S.S. Seaview

I still remember seeing this film at movie theaters way back when I was a lad. Of course I didn't hear very much of it due to all the shrieks and squeals from the teenage girls in the audience over Frankie Avalon. That curiously enough didn't matter because Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a very visual film.

It might seem a little old hat today, but we've been through two more generations that have seen the United States Navy become an atomic fleet of submarines and surface carriers. It was only seven years earlier, in 1955 that the U.S.S. Nautilus was launched as our first atomic submarine. In homage to that wonderful visionary Jules Verne who foresaw atomic power one hundred years earlier the Navy named it after that famous undersea ship of Verne's great novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The nuclear submarine was a wondrous thing in 1961.

The idea of a nuclear power submarine was the brainchild of Admiral Hyman Rickover. Rickover was a tough minded s.o.b. who usually got whatever he wanted by any mean necessary including bullying. Hard to believe that the gentlemanly Walter Pigeon could play him, but he did and well as Admiral Harry Nelson, the ersatz Rickover.

What's happened here is that the Van Allen radiation belt that surrounds the Earth has caught fire and temperatures are climbing all over the world. The planet is doomed, but Walter Pigeon's got an idea to save it. Fire a missile and seed the belt with more radiation, kind of a nuclear backfire and the blaze will end.

A lot of people are telling him it won't work, but Pigeon brushes them all aside. The only two who have faith in him are his assistants played by Peter Lorre and Barbara Eden. But our intrepid admiral pushes through.

Of course the U.S.S. Seaview encounters all kinds of obstacles along the way, but that's the rest of the story.

The cast does very well for itself and young Frankie Avalon as a junior officer comes off rather nicely. Frankie sings over the title credits, but during the movie plays a trumpet. Avalon in fact was a trumpet virtuoso and a singing career was an afterthought. The fickle finger of fate.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea still a nice science fiction adventure even though it is dated.