Attack of the Sunn Classic documentaries!!! For those who don't know Sunn Classics used to release films on Bigfoot, UFOs, life after death and assorted other subjects to hundreds of theaters for brief stays and then flood the TV stations with commercials for their sensational fare. The films were usually Brad Crandall doing narration and acting as on screen host as we saw lots of recreations of supposedly true events. As a kid we ate this stuff up. Here Sunn Classics give the once over to Charles Berlitz's book on the strange disappearances that happened in and around the supposed Bermuda Triangle. Of course since the ships and planes disappeared we simply get lots of questions and lots of recreations. I've read the source book and its reasonable enough to make you wonder if perhaps something is going on. I can't say I fully buy the premise but its full of good yarns. unfortunately the stories don't always play out so well when recreated. Part of the problem is that seeing the events makes them seem sillier than they are and partly the cheap special effects make the whole affair seem cheap. (I won't even get into the liberties the film takes with the material from the book). As a serious film you won't believe a word of it. As a throw back to a simpler time before the likes of the Discovery Channel this is a blast. Its entertaining in a silly sort of away. Watching it again for the first time in a decade or so I can't believe that this film scared some of my friends. Recommended if you're in the right frame of mind.
12 Reviews
I thought it was a fun movie!
otto89725 March 2007
I watched this when I was in high school, and I took it for exactly what it was - a movie presented for fun. Unfortunately, I have no "scientific analysis" to present about it simply because there isn't anything to say. I will say that I vaguely remember going for a burger and fries after leaving the theater! There were a lot of movies about UFO's, Bigfoot, and big sharks back then, and I'm afraid no one really considered this feature to be any different. I found that it filled a need -we had fun watching it. Brad Crandall was at the height of his glory in a huge study full of neat model ships and a behemoth video player (which was amazing in itself back then). The special effects were a little cheesy, and the acting was a little corny, but all in all it was a fun movie. I recommend it for those who find the subject interesting. Please resist the temptation to be overly critical. "Exhaustive scientific research" is not called for.
Vanishings & Strange Occurrences
AaronCapenBanner11 December 2013
A Schick Sunn Classics speculative docudrama directed by Richard Friedenberg based on the popular book by Charles Berlitz concerning the legendary Bermuda Triangle, and the mysterious ship and plane vanishings and strange occurrences that have been reported there for centuries, even as far back as Christopher Columbus who is believed to have seen UFOs in the area in 1492! The famous missing flight 19 from 1945 is also profiled, as are several other reported stories. Brad Crandall presents this quite well, as he had many other films of this type from the 1970's.
Not bad for nostalgic value, certainly entertaining, though also amateurish at times, even a bit outlandish. Only available on VHS, this also deserves an HD release.
Not bad for nostalgic value, certainly entertaining, though also amateurish at times, even a bit outlandish. Only available on VHS, this also deserves an HD release.
Saw this in the cinema Quite Good
tommyuk2 February 2004
I vaguely remeber seeing this in the cinema in 1979 in Northern Ireland when I was Eight or Nine.It was sort of semi-documentary.It was quite good for an afternoon matinee.We went to see it because the TV trailer looked good.It was similar to another film that came out around the same time Sasquatch, the Legend of Bigfoot (1977) Also Semi-Documentary.I remember the Atlantis theory about a crystal firing a beam at passing aircraft.Far Out,I Love the Seventies.
SUNN!
BandSAboutMovies10 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Charles Berlitz's 1974 best-seller - 20 million copies! - The Bermuda Triangle codified the belief that this area in the North Atlantic used to be Atlantis and is now the cause of so many ship and airplane disappearances.
In 1978, Rene Cardonna Jr. used this book to inspire his ridiculous and amazing epic Bermuda Triangle. And somewhere in Utah, the folks at Sunn Classics were ready.
With good old Brad Crandall in his steady role as narrator, this film follows the blueprint of the best of the Sunn Classics docs. And by that, I mean that they throw a neverending torrent of increasingly ridiculous nontruths your way until you say, "Well, yeah, Atlantis is in the bottom of the Bermuda Triangle and oh look, there's a spaceship flying through the streets."
Seriously, the TV commercial for this movie - with said UFO floating down a major metropolitan street - caused me to run screaming in absolute fear, hiding in my grandparent's house in utter years until The Car came on*.
There's a line here that Crandall reads, "The lucky ones were the ones that died." He's talking about the Philadelphia Experiment, which won over low budget filmmakers enough that it shows up here and in The Final Countdown and, yes, The Philadelphia Experiment.
Somewhere in this house, we have a copy of the British Man, Myth and Magic that has smelly old pages but every single one of them is filled with increasingly weirder ideas. This movie is just like that, made by producers who used a computer to try and figure out what movies that low-income families wanted to see. Well, they get me every single time.
As for Berlitz, 1975 saw the publication of Larry Kusche's The Bermuda Triangle Mystery - Solved, which takes Kusche to such task for errors in his reporting of missing ships that this phrase appears: "If Berlitz were to report that a boat were red, the chance of it being some other color is almost a certainty."
*In 1979, I estimate that I watched that movie 400 times.
In 1978, Rene Cardonna Jr. used this book to inspire his ridiculous and amazing epic Bermuda Triangle. And somewhere in Utah, the folks at Sunn Classics were ready.
With good old Brad Crandall in his steady role as narrator, this film follows the blueprint of the best of the Sunn Classics docs. And by that, I mean that they throw a neverending torrent of increasingly ridiculous nontruths your way until you say, "Well, yeah, Atlantis is in the bottom of the Bermuda Triangle and oh look, there's a spaceship flying through the streets."
Seriously, the TV commercial for this movie - with said UFO floating down a major metropolitan street - caused me to run screaming in absolute fear, hiding in my grandparent's house in utter years until The Car came on*.
There's a line here that Crandall reads, "The lucky ones were the ones that died." He's talking about the Philadelphia Experiment, which won over low budget filmmakers enough that it shows up here and in The Final Countdown and, yes, The Philadelphia Experiment.
Somewhere in this house, we have a copy of the British Man, Myth and Magic that has smelly old pages but every single one of them is filled with increasingly weirder ideas. This movie is just like that, made by producers who used a computer to try and figure out what movies that low-income families wanted to see. Well, they get me every single time.
As for Berlitz, 1975 saw the publication of Larry Kusche's The Bermuda Triangle Mystery - Solved, which takes Kusche to such task for errors in his reporting of missing ships that this phrase appears: "If Berlitz were to report that a boat were red, the chance of it being some other color is almost a certainty."
*In 1979, I estimate that I watched that movie 400 times.
Excellent escapism!
Tracy_Terry_Moore12 April 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Very good docu-drama about the world's most famous 'hot-spot'.
Fine film of humanity's past confrontations with strange goings-on in the 'devil's triangle', including true stories like 'Flight 19' where 5 American naval aircraft disappeared in the area of the triangle during a 'routine' training mission and the story of the ship 'Mary Celeste', as well as many other unexplained incidents. Good references to Charles Berlitz' book 'The Bermuda Triangle' and accounts competently documented in author David Group's book of the same name.
Fun on the entertainment level also as narrator Brad Crandall trenchantly states, "Man cannot rest until we find out what is going on here in the Bermuda Triangle."
Fine film of humanity's past confrontations with strange goings-on in the 'devil's triangle', including true stories like 'Flight 19' where 5 American naval aircraft disappeared in the area of the triangle during a 'routine' training mission and the story of the ship 'Mary Celeste', as well as many other unexplained incidents. Good references to Charles Berlitz' book 'The Bermuda Triangle' and accounts competently documented in author David Group's book of the same name.
Fun on the entertainment level also as narrator Brad Crandall trenchantly states, "Man cannot rest until we find out what is going on here in the Bermuda Triangle."
Interesting Docudrama
vicbstard20 September 2001
I watched this as a kid on its original cinema run in the UK. I was nine years old and and the movie left a lasting impression on me- I can still vividly remember the stories (especially Flight 19 and the Philadelphia Experiment).
I've wondered about the film for many years, as it's format was rather strange for a cinema movie- The stories (I believe taken from Charles Berliz books "The Bermuda Triangle" and "The Philadelphia Experiment") were supposably true. The movie takes on dramatised documentary form, complete with overly serious presenter.
I've wondered about the film for many years, as it's format was rather strange for a cinema movie- The stories (I believe taken from Charles Berliz books "The Bermuda Triangle" and "The Philadelphia Experiment") were supposably true. The movie takes on dramatised documentary form, complete with overly serious presenter.
The Good Kind of Scary
tracywinters-4433216 July 2015
Excellent story about the famed 'hot spot'.
Brad Crandall narrates this 1979 film which documents many of the strange disappearances that have occurred in the Triangle. Fine dramatizations make the film more immediate with just enough time spent there before the viewer is returned to Crandall's narrative.
Among the stories reviewed are 'Flight 19', the 'Mary Celeste', the 'Cyclops', and the 'Philadelphia Experiment'. Many frightening moments with solid special-fx.
Well worth the time and much better than many other versions of this phenomena. Recommended.
Brad Crandall narrates this 1979 film which documents many of the strange disappearances that have occurred in the Triangle. Fine dramatizations make the film more immediate with just enough time spent there before the viewer is returned to Crandall's narrative.
Among the stories reviewed are 'Flight 19', the 'Mary Celeste', the 'Cyclops', and the 'Philadelphia Experiment'. Many frightening moments with solid special-fx.
Well worth the time and much better than many other versions of this phenomena. Recommended.
very inaccurate and sensationalized
dtucker868 October 2001
I first saw this movie as a kid, so naturally I was taken in by it. The thing is that its a good time filler, but its almost completely inaccurate. There was a book I read a long time ago called The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved by a man named Larry Kusche who had done extensive research on all of the disappearances and had come up with startling facts. More then a few of the disappearances never happened, they happened away from the Bermuda Triangle, or they were perfectly explainable. They did an investigation once and compared the number of disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle to the number of disappearances in other areas of the ocean that are the same size, they actually said that the Bermuda Triangle is one of the safest areas to travel through! This film claims that no debris was ever found in all the "hundreds" of disappearances in the triangle, Kusche pointed out that there was debris found after some of the disappearances. This film devotes a lot of time to the disappearance of Flight 19. The facts are this, these pilots were not experienced, they were all student pilots except for their flight leader Lieutenant Charles Taylor and he was new to the area. They found out that Taylor's compasses malfunctioned and he thought they were way off course and instead of flying towards their base they were actually going away from their base. The weather got very bad and in this bad weather, in rough weas in the dead of night, the planes ran out of fuel....well you get the idea. There have been a number of Avenger bombers found in the ocean so you cant say conclusively the wreckage of Flight 19 has never been found. Also there was a big PBY that disappeared searching for Flight 19. A ship saw a huge explosion in the air where this PBY was flying and they said later on that some fool was sneaking a cigarette and...well you get the idea. This film plays so fast and loose with the facts that its almost laughable.
Great, lesser known film.
wkozak22120 June 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I watched this when it first came out. I have also read all of Berlitz's books. This was an excellent film IMO. It covers a lot of different unknown phenomena. Some of my favorites: The Philadelphia Experiment, the time tunnel with the small plane, the airliner where all the time pieces are wrong, etc. .
Watch it alone, on a dark stormy night and you might actually get a chill.
Jack the Ripper18889 May 2002
Warning: Spoilers
Now, this is not a horror picture, but it managed to chill me once or twice. But that was probably because I was all alone and I was looking out my window thinking about the possibility of UFO activity. The rest of this film is composed of several segments that are to show what supposedly happened to some of the planes and ships that have disappeared within the Bermuda Triangle.
Based on the book by Charles Berlitz, and narrated by Brad Crandall, this film gives numerous explanations to what could have possibly happened.*Maybe a spoiler* Ranging from everything from UFO's that come from the sky, UFO's from the water, unexplained whirlpools, magnetic warps and even the possibility of the lost continent of Atlantis having to do with some of it.
Now, the special effects were really cheap. But you can't blame them. It was good for the time period. If you want to see an account of some of the events that have taken place within the Bermuda Triangle, then see this film. It really gives some of the facts and tells how all of the many disappearances go unreported or unnoticed. So, all in all, I thought it was okay. THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE: 5/5.
Based on the book by Charles Berlitz, and narrated by Brad Crandall, this film gives numerous explanations to what could have possibly happened.*Maybe a spoiler* Ranging from everything from UFO's that come from the sky, UFO's from the water, unexplained whirlpools, magnetic warps and even the possibility of the lost continent of Atlantis having to do with some of it.
Now, the special effects were really cheap. But you can't blame them. It was good for the time period. If you want to see an account of some of the events that have taken place within the Bermuda Triangle, then see this film. It really gives some of the facts and tells how all of the many disappearances go unreported or unnoticed. So, all in all, I thought it was okay. THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE: 5/5.
In the cinema at the Kelburne as a double bill?
jenzie-jbrewer24 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Imagine
you're an impressionable wee kiddie sitting in the dark looking at a big stonking screen ..... yep you're in the cinema ..... and then you see flying saucers scream across the screen!
and THAT'S where my fascination with science fiction and fact started .....
but this was shown as a double bill too, with another documentary about crashes and i think disasters, would love to know what that was called anyone?
not seen either since but have this favourited on youtube .....along with THE BLACK ANGEL!
you're an impressionable wee kiddie sitting in the dark looking at a big stonking screen ..... yep you're in the cinema ..... and then you see flying saucers scream across the screen!
and THAT'S where my fascination with science fiction and fact started .....
but this was shown as a double bill too, with another documentary about crashes and i think disasters, would love to know what that was called anyone?
not seen either since but have this favourited on youtube .....along with THE BLACK ANGEL!
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