Warlords of the Deep (1978)

Searching for the lost world of Atlantis, Prof. Aitken, his son Charles and Greg Collinson are betrayed by the crew of their expedition's ship, attracted by the fabulous treasures of ... See full summary »

Director:

Kevin Connor

Writer:

Brian Hayles (screenplay)

Stars:

Doug McClure, Peter Gilmore, Shane Rimmer

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Doug McClure	...	Greg Collinson
Peter Gilmore	...	Charles Aitken
Shane Rimmer	...	Captain Daniels
Lea Brodie	...	Delphine
Michael Gothard	...	Atmir
Hal Galili	...	Grogan
John Ratzenberger	...	Fenn
Derry Power	...	Jacko
Donald Bisset	...	Professor Aitken
Ashley Knight	...	Sandy
Robert Brown	...	Briggs
Cyd Charisse	...	Atsil
Daniel Massey	...	Atraxon

Storyline

Searching for the lost world of Atlantis, Prof. Aitken, his son Charles and Greg Collinson are betrayed by the crew of their expedition's ship, attracted by the fabulous treasures of Atlantis. The diving bell destroyed, a deep sea monster attacks the boat. They are all dragged to the bottom of the sea where they meet the inhabitants of the lost continent, an advance alien race makes slaves of the ship-wrecked sailors. The aliens want to rule the human world to create a nazi state. Due to his high IQ, they think that Charles may join them. Greg and the team will need the help of Delphine, the daughter of a slave, to escape the city surrounded by evil creatures...

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Plot Keywords:

alien | sea | atlantis | escape | boat | 

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Taglines:

From the depth of space they came to vanish beneath the sea...

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Genres:

Fantasy | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

May 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

Warlords of the Deep

Filming Locations:

Gozo Island, Malta

Company Credits

Production Co:

EMI Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Colour by) (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lea Brodie receives an "introducing" credit. She was previously known as Lea Dregorn under which name she had previously received an "introducing" credit for the 1975 film "The Lifetaker".

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Goofs

Charles is happy to go down in his diving bell with a large hole in it because it has an "emergency back-up system". When there is an emergency, he just rides it out.

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Quotes

Charles Aitken: [Seeing visions in the Crystal Helmet] Science creating Utopia. Perfect society...

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Connections

Referenced in X-Rated: The Greatest Adult Movies of All Time (2015)

User Reviews

Cheese with your monster sandwich Mr Connor?

In 1973, British director Kevin Connor made the tidy and undervalued horror film, From Beyond the Grave with Peter Cushing. But it was the film that he made in 1975 that would signal the start of four Z grade creature features that would make him known to the discerning creature feature fan. That film was The Land That Time Forgot, where he was paired with American beefcake actor Doug McClure, and the marker that culminated with Warlords of Atlantis in 1978 was well and truly set.

Here with this, in terms of fun arguably the second best film of the four after At The Earths Core, Connor and screenplay writer Brian Hayles send McClure, Peter Gilmore and a few rough neck sailor types under the ocean, to where the lost cities of Atlantis be. All of which is a plot perfectly designed to create monster mayhem and meetings with an unknown race that speak perfect English! Into the fray comes giant octopus, various reptilian sea monsters, The Mogdaan, Zaargs and an attack by flying piranha critters. Sure the effects are up and down, even shoddy and befitting the Z grade budget, but oh what fun it is.

The cast also contains John Ratzenberger, who would go on to be a household name playing Cliff Clavin in the long running show, Cheers. Another notable name on the cast list is Cyd Charisse who earlier in her career had appeared in Singing In The Rain and Brigadoon. But it's McClure who is always the main attraction in these pictures. Obviously brought in to keep the American audience in mind, it's somewhat inspiring watching Dougie manfully work thru the movie as if it's a masterpiece of the genre. That none of the Connor/McClure collaborations are genre high points is irrelevant, no amount of dopey effects and string assisted creatures can detract from the fact that ridiculous can sometimes be hugely entertaining. And that is exactly what Warlords Of Atlantis is. Now, where did I put my jar of pickles ? 7/10