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Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea / Fantastic VoyageRating:
Release Date: 04 March, 2003 Retail Price: $14.98 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: Complete Cast (15 total) |
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea / Fantastic Voyage Reviews
Two historic benchmarks in sci-fi and special effects....
Irwin Allen may never be recognized as one of the USA's greatest film directors a la Kazan, Welles, Stevens, Coppola, or Kubrick, but he has given us some fine and truly imaginative science fiction over the 60's-70's. "Fantastic Voyage" is a case in point.
A trip thru "inner-space"--the human body--this film's premise, although strictly fantasy, was an absorbing and fascinating glimpse into the the true potential of science fiction. Despite these limitations, and the lack of drama to sustain a viable narrative, one reponds to "Fantastic Voyage" both visually and aesthetically.
While the plot is rather thin and somewhat silly, reflecting the era's cold war overtones, the film works magnificently on a purely visual level with special effects that are convincing and awe-inspiring. Richard Fleischer, a well-established director for TV at the time, bathed the sets with pulsating and multi-colored lights, giving the giant reproductions of the heart, lungs, and brain a greater sense of reality, fluidity, and movement.
As a production note, MD's inspected the sets and were consultants during the filming of the picture. Perhaps the most impressive set was that of the human heart--40 by 30 feet--with the actors suspended by "invisible wires" as they make their journey thru the human body. And one wonders how many potential doctors this film may have inspired!
As for "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea," lacking both the imagination and the creativity of the former, was the inspiration for the long-running series starring Richard Basehart and David Hedison. Walter Pidgeon offers a commanding presence in the film, Frankie Avalon sings, and supporting actors (including a young and lovely Barbara Eden)also manage to keep the plot moving along nicely.
Despite a wordy and rather mundane script, there is enough action to sustain most audiences. Like in "Fantastic Voyage," the special effects--especially the $400,000 (yes, it was that expensive!) model of the submarine Seaview--are both noteworthy and impressive.
Two Really Great Oldies
Fantastic Voyage and Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea are two masterpieces of early science fiction that are just full of adventure and excitement; the kind of movies that you would sit down with your popcorn and happily kill a Saturday afternoon with.
I was especially impressed with the Fantastic Voyage. Younger folks would now consider the special effects of this movie to be "cheesey" but for 1968 they were cutting edge and you can see the influence they had in other movies of that era such as the Andromeda Strain and the Forbin Project. Whereas Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was another one of Irwin Allen's great creations loaded with action and suspense; from the movie later came the TV show and you can easily see why the television show is almost unchanged from the movie; only the lead actors are different becuse you can't improve on perfection.
I only wonder why do they always have to have such great movies in the letterbox format for DVDs. They don't do it to the videotape versions, so why do it here?
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