Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)

When the Earth is threatened by a burning Van Allen Radiation Belt, U.S. Navy Admiral Harriman Nelson plans to shoot a nuclear missile at the Belt, using his experimental atomic submarine, the Seaview.

Director:

Irwin Allen

Writers:

Irwin Allen (screenplay), Charles Bennett (screenplay)

Stars:

Walter Pidgeon, Joan Fontaine, Barbara Eden

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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 Llewellyn Parker
Henry Daniell	...	Dr. Zucco
Skip Ward	...	Crew member
Mark Slade	...	Seaman Jimmy 'Red' Smith
Charles Tannen	...	CPO Gleason
Del Monroe	...	Seaman Kowski (as Delbert Monroe)

Storyline

Admiral Nelson takes a brand new atomic submarine through its paces. When the Van Allen radiation belt catches fire, the admiral must find a way to beat the heat or watch the world go up in smoke.

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Plot Keywords:

killing an animal | watching tv | admiral | fire | radiation | 

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Taglines:

Race from outer space to seven miles below the sea ... with amazing aquanauts of the deep !

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some perilous situations

Did You Know?

Trivia

The design of the "Seaview" model took full advantage of hydrodynamics. In the the underwater scenes, it was simply pushed into frame by an off camera diver and allowed to glide freely by itself. This made the scenes quite realistic, although in one it can be seen losing momentum and arcing downward a tiny bit just as the scene cuts. In surface scenes, it was pulled by thin wires.

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Goofs

When the derelict yacht is sighted, Captain Crane says "On the ship" over a bullhorn. A Navy career man would have said "Ship ahoy."

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Quotes

Admiral Nelson: Well, Lee, it's been a long, tough haul from conception to execution, but, my boy, we've done it.
Capt. Lee Crane: *You've* done it, sir. You know, it bears out what you taught us at Annapolis: that "The wild dreams of today are the practical realities of tomorrow."
Admiral Nelson: I'm glad you remembered one of my more temperate quotes. Some of our colleagues haven't been quite so diplomatic.

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Connections

Featured in Troldspejlet: Troldspejlet julespecial (2013)

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Soundtracks

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Sung by Frankie Avalon
Written by Russell Faith

User Reviews

Lots of fun

Ever wonder where "Star Trek" and all the other Sci-Fi series got there starts?

I used to watch the series as a kid back when the UK only had 3 television channels, and they were offline more than online back in the 1960s when this was the State-Of-The-Art.

Now, over 40 years after it was made and most of the cast are either dead or retired, this movie is still standing the test of Time.

The plot is a little silly, with glaring holes that submarines could be driven through, and the acting is a little on the hammy-side sometimes, but for an entertaining look at how movie-makers in the 50s/60s thought the future might look, this is an excellent peek into how Hollywood was thinking at the time.

The cast seem to mesh well together around stilted dialogue ("Military Police swim like fish - it's part of their training"), and the prodigious talents of the likes of Joan Fontaine and Peter Lorre are somewhat reined-in, but overall this movie is still great to watch over four decades after they made it.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

12 July 1961 (USA)

Also Known As:

Journey to the Bottom of the Sea

Filming Locations:

Stage 3, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,580,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Irwin Allen Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1