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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Taglines:

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

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some perilous situations

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)

Gross USA:

$7,000,000

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Some of the sub's equipment and sound effects were recycled from The Fly (1958).

---

Goofs

The sub is docked, yet a crash dive is ordered. A sub can't crash dive at a dock, it's too shallow. Crash dives can only happen in deep water.

---

Quotes

Admiral Nelson: Alvarez... are you saying that Man must accept destruction even though it's in his power to prevent it?
Alvarez: It's not for us to judge, Admiral.
Admiral Nelson: Not to judge, maybe; but we can reason. If God ordains that Man should die without a fight, then why does He give us the will to live?

---

Connections

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

---

Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

Sci-Fi & Disaster

A fantastic submarine encounters dangers.

Voyage/Sea might not be perfect but, to me, it is the official start of the Irwin Allen I know and love.

Voyage is a sci-fic movie, a disaster movie about a fire, an end-of-the-world movie, a movie with striking sets/miniature effects, and finally, the very first Irwin show to highlight the need of a top (and loud) musical score, thanks to composer Paul Sawtell.

This epic begins with Frankie Avalon singing - "Come with me, come with me, on a Voyage, to the Bottom, of the Sea" - and this totally under-rated song (it compares with the best of Sinatra!) should have been re-used in the Voyage/Sea TV series...as everything else in this picture was lifted into the series.

Shortly after, the film then moves into Admiral Nelson giving us a tour of the submarine Seaview, which resembles the opening minutes of the Irwin Allen directed Time Tunnel pilot (1966) when we were also given a Tunnel complex tour.

The Paul Sawtell scored footage of the icebergs pounding on the Seaview and the footage of the Seaview surfacing in a red sea would rank as some of the most striking bits of footage in Irwin's long history of film/TV making! Outstanding!

The cast of this motion picture is fine but I know this cast from other quality productions (Forbidden Planet, I Dream Of Jeannie) and am not all together comfortable seeing this cast on the Seaview. Give me Richard Basehart (and the flying sub!).

Some fans will put down this film because it features no Richard Basehart or David Hedison, but remember this, without this film there would have been no Voyage/Sea (1964-68) TV series. That is recorded fact! The budget for all of these sets, props and effects was HUGE, too huge for a TV series of the 1960s. The series happened because it could lift everything from the film.