City Beneath the Sea (1971)

A group of 21st-century colonists inhabit an underwater city called Pacifica. They find that they must defend their city against hostile alien forces.

Director:

Irwin Allen

Writers:

Irwin Allen (story), John Meredyth Lucas (screenplay)

Stars:

Stuart Whitman, Robert Wagner, Rosemary Forsyth

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Stuart Whitman	...	Adm. Michael Matthews
Robert Wagner	...	Brett
Rosemary Forsyth	...	Lia Holmes
Robert Colbert	...	Cmdr. Woody Patterson
Burr DeBenning	...	Aguila (as Burr De Benning)
Susana Miranda	...	Elena
Richard Basehart	...	The President
Joseph Cotten	...	Dr. Ziegler
James Darren	...	Dr. Talty
Paul Stewart	...	Barton
Sugar Ray Robinson	...	Capt. Hunter
Whit Bissell	...	Prof. Holmes
Larry Pennell	...	Bill Holmes
Tom Drake	...	Gen. Putnam
Sheila Allen	...	Blonde Woman (as Sheila Mathews)

Storyline

A group of 21st-century colonists inhabit an underwater city called Pacifica. Originally intended as a purely scientific installation, the U. S. government wants to stash all its gold reserves from Fort Knox there, along with a fantastic new radioactive element. The brother of Pacifica's returning former commander plans to steal the gold and on top of that, the city faces destruction by an asteroid from outer space.

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Plot Keywords:

underwater city | underwater | unsold tv series pilot | environmental issues | terrorist | 

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Taglines:

Theirs was the most dangerous mission in history . . . to save the world from total destruction!

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 January 1971 (USA)

Also Known As:

Um 9 Uhr geht die Erde unter

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kent Productions, Motion Pictures International, Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Aquafoils are originally the Flying Sub Models from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Stock footage of the ship in flight is the same that was used in the series.

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Goofs

In the fight scene between Adm. Mathews and Brett in the vault. Brett is thrown against a pile of gold bars but the entire pile can be seen to start tipping over. Solid gold bars would be too heavy to be pushed over this way. Also the pile tips without any individual blocks moving out of place, revealing this to be a prop wall probably made of wood. All the other piles did not topple when pushed against.

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Connections

Remake of City Beneath the Sea (1969)

User Reviews

Irwin Allen series recycling extravaganza

This is Irwin Allen at his Irwin Allen-est. This whole show while entertaining is a recycling of a failed pilot and a bevy of canceled sci-fi series.

The failed pilot starred Glen Corbett and Lloyd Bochner. This was made in 1967. The TV movie came out in 1971.

The first thing you notice in the movie is the Flying Sub from "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea". The next thing is Robert Colbert from "The Time Tunnel". Looking closely at Pacifica, this city beneath the sea, you will see the Jupiter II from "Lost in Space" as a dome sitting on top of a tower. The submarine "Seaview" is seen prowling the depths of the underwater streets of the city. Later we see Richard Basehart as the President of the US (VTBOS), Whit Bissel (TT) and Jame Darren as a scientist(TT). And the props -- computers, laser guns, radios, video telephones -- all recycled from his series from the '60s. The sound effects are familiar ones. The costumes are too.

Some throw away cameos were added -- boxer Sugar Ray Robinson and veteran actor Joseph Cotten (he was in "Citizen Kane" for god's sake). Even Edward G. Robinson's son is added for good measure.

The plot is cross between "Armageddon" (an asteroid is headed toward impact on the earth) and "Ocean's 11" (a heist of the vault containing the US's Fort Knox gold reserve and the "highly fissionable H128"). It is fairly pedestrian. The fun in this movie is seeing all of Irwin's old shows being brought back in some form. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants were all canceled by the time this movie came out. Watch this one if you can find it.