Fantastic Voyage / Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Two of the best Sci - fi films made
Disadvantages:	None

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This double feature is well suited to each other. Both made in the 1960's the quality of the production and the visual effects are still excellent by today's standards. Each on a separate disc with the theatrical trailers and interactive menus.

Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea (1961)

Director Richard Fleischer (Barabbas, The Vikings)
Irwin Allen (Towering Inferno, Swarm)

Admiral Harriman Nelson (Walter Pidgeon) is the Scientific genius who designs and oversees the building of the 'Sea View' a nuclear powered super submarine that can dive to depths previously not possible to attain. He goes to sea with Captain Crane (Robert Sterling), amongst the cast is a part played by Frankie Avalon, of course playing a horn.....and an array of guests including a retired Admiral and a scientist studying stress and pressure amongst the men, and a Congressman looking at the public expense to build her.

They inform Washington that they are going to dive under the ice cap and will be off air for 96 hours. In this time the Sea View is put through her paces.

As they are travelling under the ice, large chunks of ice comes crashing down on to the submarine causing them to surface. As they open the hatch they see the sky is on fire. They immediately contact Washington to discover that 50 hours ago the Van Allen Belt ignited as a result of a meteor hit. In the meantime they rescue a civilian scientist Miguel Alvarez and his terrier from the ice.

For a while Admiral Nelson and his colleagues discuss ways of stopping the fire and immediately rush to the UN Security Council meeting to unveil their plan. An atomic bomb launched at the right time from as set location will cause the atomic bomb to explode in the area of the Van Allen Belt that will extinguish the fire. The council do not listen and this forces Nelson to return to the Sea View and continue his plan anyway.

I won't spoil all of the film by explaining what happens throughout, but an attack by a large squid, diving through an underwater mine field and sabotage of the Sea View, plus much more.

The film is great family fun and started the hit series of the same name, some of the actors in the original film was kept for the series with Richard Basehart replacing Walter Pidgeon as Admiral Nelson.

Running time 105mins in colour.

Quality and sound have been restored and transferred brilliantly. Photograph and animation is good also, although there are some very cheesy bits, where you see the odd occasional wire, but nothing more. A good film, well written and excellent story.

Fantastic Voyage (1966)

Director Richard Fleischer (Barabbas, The Vikings)

This film could have been made today as the Special Effects would have been just as good today. Of course this was remade in 1987 under the title Innerspace, although the story was mutilated, the idea was the same but the story wasn't.

A Russian scientist is smuggled in to America by Grant (Stephen Boyd), this scientist has crucial knowledge wanted by CMDF (Combined Miniature Defence Force). Whilst on route to CMDF an assassination attempt is made and the scientist receives a knock to the head which causes him to receive a blood clot on the brain rendering him unconscious.

Grant is then brought in and told the CMDF is going to shrink a nuclear submarine (Proteus) with a crew and inject this in to the body of the scientist. The crew being comprised of Dr Michaels (Donald Pleasance) who will navigate them, Dr Duval (Arthur Kennedy), the surgeon, Cora Peterson (Raquel Welsh), Dr. Duval's assistant and laser expert; and Captain Bill Owens (William Redfield), the pilot of the Proteus.
One of the crew aboard is there with the intention to sabotage the expedition and if possible kill the scientist they are trying to operate on.
The films plot is excellent and full of special effects that I consider to be excellent for a film of the age. The film also won Oscars for best Art Direction and Best Visual Effects.

Running time 1 hour 40 minutes, Colour Cert PG

In conclusion both films in one box is excellent value for money (I bought mine for £9.99), I still remember watching both these films on re-runs when I was a kid and used Fantastic Voyage to prompt me in to making a project for my Art class at school.
I would recommend these films if you like a good plot, good film and Sci-fi