Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

(1961, U.S.) color 105 minutes
Twentieth-Century Fox / Irwin Allen Productions
Story: Irwin Allen
Screenplay: Irwin Allen, Charles Bennett
Music: Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter
Cinematography: Winton C. Hoch
Editing: George Boemler
Produced by Irwin Allen
Directed by Irwin Allen

With: 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 Parker), Henry Daniell (Dr. Zucco), Skip Ward (Crew member), Mark Slade (Seaman Jimmy 'Red' Smith), Charles Tannen (CPO Gleason), Del Monroe (Kowski Anthony Monaco (Cookie), Michael Ford (Crew member), Robert Easton (Sparks), Jonathan Gilmore (George Young)

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In 1961, producer Irwin Allen created an undersea sci-fi film that has since become a cult classic: Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea . The story opens with newspaper headlines revealing the latest accomplishment of U.S. Naval officer and scientist/inventor, Admiral Harriman Nelson (Walter Pidgeon, best remembered as the sinister scientist/inventor in MGM's classic “Forbidden Planet”) who at that moment is testing his super submarine, The Seaview, in the frozen waters of The Arctic North. Admiral Nelson is watching a news report on the Seaview's TV monitor with his junior officer, Capt. Lee Crane (played by Robert Sterling who, a decade earlier, had played George Kerby in the TV version of “Topper” ) and some of his men. The two men head for the stern of the ship where they meet their guests, Admiral B.J. Crawford , Congressman Llewellen (Howard McNear, who would go on to greater TV fame as Floyd The Barber on “The Andy Griffith Show” ) and Dr. Susan Hiller (Joan Fontaine). Admiral Nelson and Capt. Crane give their guests a guided tour of the ship and all of it's functions.

But soon, large ice flows bombard the sub and an intense heat wave creates an unhealthy atmosphere. Turning on the sub's outer TV cameras, the crew watches the ice bergs melt and crash into the water and they see an eerie red light fill the arctic skies. Sensing that something is wrong, Admiral Nelson has the sub's communications officer Sparks (played by character actor and dialectician Robert Easton) send an urgent radio message to US Naval Inspector Bergen. Inspector Bergen alerts Nelson to the horrifying fact that The Van Allen Belt has created a super nova which exploded a meteor shower, which has placed a large ring of fiery debris around the earth, and is creating an intense radioactive field. The heat is building to a dangerous level, and all of the world's scientists are called to an emergency meeting at The UN Building in to try and find a means of stopping this deadly situation.

Inspector Bergen orders Nelson and his crew to head for the UN to attend the meeting. Just before the Seaview gets underway, Capt. Crane sees the figure of a man on a floating ice drift. Summoning the rescue team they rush to the ice flow and save Dr. Miguel Alvarez (Michael Ansara, best remembered for playing Cochese on the ABC TV/FOX TV version of the movie western “Broken Arrow “), who was a scientist who was on expedition with some others explorers. While being checked out in the infirmary, Alvarez speaks of his comrades being trapped out in the arctic. Crane calls for the rescue to team stop and search for other survivors.

Admiral Nelson countermands the order and asks that the ship maintain it's course for The UN. Angered by his superior's refusal to try and locate the other survivors, the captain heads for the control room to check out the terrain on the periscope. Sensing his rage, Lt. Cathy Collins (Barbara Eden, who would also go onto TV fame on “I Dream Of Jeanie”) tells the captain the chances are there are no other survivors. Sternly, the captain tells his junior officer, “He was able to survive, didn't he?” Lt. Collins gives a reluctant nod. The atmosphere within the halls of the United Nations is tense and on edge as Admiral Nelson, Lt. Collins , Congressman Llewellen , Admiral Crawford and Commander Lucas Emory (played by movie villain Peter Lorre) enter the meeting room with their notes.

The Admiral explains that the heat from the Van Allen Belt is increasing several hundreds of degrees and that unless he fires an atomic missile from his sub to blast the radiation belt away from the earth, the heat will increase to 175 degrees and thus destroy the human race within a matters of weeks. Nelson's plans is rejected by the members of both the UN and the scientific community, especially Dr.Zuko (played by Henry Daniel) who believe that the fire from The Van Allen Belt will burn itself out at 173 degrees and that the idea of sending an atomic missile will only create a deadly nuclear fallout that will hasten the destruction of mankind. Undeterred, Admiral Nelson makes it clear that only the word of the President of the USA will prevent him from firing the missile. But the outraged UN members chase after them, and capture Admiral Crawford and Congressman Llewellen. Admiral Nelson, Emory, Collins and a junior officer manage to return to the sub. Several UN guards try to stop the sub from departing, but Nelson orders the sub to crash dive, much to Capt. Crane’s horror. He asks the admiral to reconsider such a dangerous order. Nelson tells the captain to send a message via the ships' PA system, that the sub is going to dive and have the UN MP's get off the sub or they'll have to swim their way back to shore. The MP's refuse to leave the deck and they're forced to swim back to the docks.

The sub heads for the Marianas Islands, where Admiral Nelson plans to fire his missile into the belt on the 29th of August. His plans are not shared by the crew or by Dr. Hiller and Dr. Alvarez, who also see the admiral's plan as insane! During their trek to the south seas, Nelson tries to contact the US President for approval of his plan – unfortunately, the high levels of static caused by the radiation from the belt prevent any attempts at radio communication. An attempt to contact the president via a tapping of the international telephone lines is also thwarted by the static. Having no other choice, Admiral Nelson decides to fire the missile without the approval of anyone. In the interim, the Seaview is forced to escape a mine field via their mini-sub and a special torch, which results in two mines being cut loose from their cables, creating a deadly explosion that kills CPO Gleason and Seaman Jimmy Smith (who are guiding the sub). A fire in the admiral's cabin almost kills Nelson, but he is saved by his crew.

A few days later someone tampers with the sub's power source and it takes forever to restore the controls. Then gas fills the sub's airlocks, forcing the Seaview to go to the surface and clear it's air ducts. As the sub reaches the surface, the lookout sees a yacht on the horizon. Crane grabs a bullhorn and calls to the ship, but no one replies. The rescue team heads for the ship to locate survivors, but all that they find are dead bodies and a recent newspaper. By now the crew is enraged and one of the sailors, Kawalski, demands that Admiral Nelson and Capt. Crane take them back home. Crane reminds his crew that such a demand will only result in the crew members being arrested and court-marshaled for mutiny. Admiral Nelson sways the captain as he explains that he has just read the newspaper found on the derelict ship, which states that The USA and UN officals have orders to stop the Seaview via the military at all costs. Hence, they have sent the entire naval forces against them.

Nelson also mentions that someone has been sabotaging their mission and that it's better to split up the members of the crew who maybe encouraging sabotage and possibly attempting to kill off the Admiral and several loyal members of the crew. The disgruntled members of the crew leave with Dr. Jamison while Dr. Hiller, Dr. Alverez, Commander Emory and the other crew members remain with Nelson, Crane and Collins. Nelson's encouragement of the desertion of the crew only intensifies the Captain's rage over his superior officer's actions and he checks out the Navy manual on the proper procedures regarding taking over the ship - in the advent of the admiral doing anything that can be seen as irresponsible.

On the afternoon of August 29, Capt. Crane sees Admiral Nelson slapping Lt. Romano (Frankie Avalon) who claims that the Admiral unjustly hit him. (Actually Lt. Romano made a stupid remark about the Admiral's questionable judgment which resulted in his superior giving him a well earned slap in the mouth). Regardless of what caused the slap, consulting with Dr. Hiller, Capt. Crane calls for the Sgt.-At-Arms and they go to the stern to relieve the admiral of his command. Just as Capt. Crane and his men prevent the admiral from firing the missile, Sparks alerts them that UN and US Subs are seen several feet away and they're ready to open fire on the Seaview.

Capt. Crane is about ready to send torpedoes at the subs, but Admiral Nelson warns him that such an action is dangerous and he advises the captain to make a run for it. As the torpedoes from the opposing subs are launched the captain takes the admiral's advice and the sub dives to the lowest depths that any submarine has ever gone. Before long the UN and US navel subs are destroyed by their own torpedoes only to awaken a giant squid, which grabs the Seaview in it's massive tentacles. The captain orders the crew to send an electrical charge to fend off the squid. The charge gets rid of the squid and Sparks sends out a message that the heat level has gone to 175 degrees and the heat is intensifying – thus, Dr. Zuko's theory that the Van Allen Belt burns itself out is wrong and Capt. Crane finally believes in the Admiral's plan. He heads to the control room to fire the missile but another power outage occurs. He soon finds Dr. Hiller outside of the power room thus Dr.Hiller is revealed to be the saboteur.

A fight begins on the deck of the underwater lab which ends when Dr. Hiller falls into the tank and is eaten alive by shark. Admiral Nelson asks the control room to get the missile ready but Dr. Alverez grabs a bomb and tells the admiral not to fire the missile and that the destruction of mankind must not be stopped. He also grabs the mike and calls on the ship's PA system, warning Capt. Crane not to interfere. Crane hears the threat and quickly he heads for the diving area. He quickly changes into his scuba gear and getting one of the automatic bomb primers, swims to the deck of the sub and after opening the forward hatch, attaches the primer to the top of the missile and sends it into the skies, which not only blasts the fiery Van Allen belt away from the earth, but the shock waves from the explosion forces Dr. Alverez to let go of the bomb which is safely caught by Lt. Romano and Alvarez is easily captured. With their mission completed, the Seaview returns home to a happy ending.

The film was not well received by the critics, who panned it, but the film became a hit with the Saturday Matinee set and it has since become a popular movie classic on TV and on the home video market. In 1965, “Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea” was spun off as an equally successful TV series on ABC. David Hedison and Richard Basehart took over the roles of Capt. Crane and Admiral Nelson. Ironically, Irwin Allen wanted Hedison to play the role of Crane in the movie version, but Hedison turned down the role. When “Voyage” was being prepared for its TV debut Hedison was offered the role again this time he accepted the part, when he found out that Basehart was signed on to play the admiral on the series.

- Kevin S. Butler