Atlantis, der verlorene Kontinent

I thought this film would be a bit of a turkey but it turned out to be very entertaining. There are echoes of the same director's The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds in it. It combines sci-fi with Greek mythology very well. Although it is very much a fantasy film the pre-title sequence where the narrator talks about the things in the Old World and the New whose similarity which must be more than coincidental is quite thought provoking and you wonder what the real reason was for there being cave paintings of elephants in America and paintings of witches being similar on both sides of the Atlantic. It was made in the early sixties and it seems also to be making a statement about nuclear power with one crystal being used for lighting and heat and another being used for destruction. That scene seems to be a veiled warning about controlling our technology and not letting it run away. The rulers of Atlantis seem also to be a metaphor for the Nazis with their ideas of racial superiority and their desire to conquer the world together with their use of slave labour. A good film for all the family.

I first saw this film when I was a child. My friends and I were enamored of it, and played "Atlantis" for weeks after. Watching the movie with adult eyes, however, reveals that it is not George Pal's best work. Even so, it continues to have sentimental value for me and I do watch it occasionally. I still believe it to be a "fun" movie, real Saturday Matinee, popcorn and juju beads, sticky floor fun. Just turn off the brain, drop your expectations, and enjoy.

Anyone else notice that Paul Frees, the worlds greatest voice, doesn't just do the narration. He is doing the voice for Demetrius' father. Weird accent and all. And the Princess' father as well! Which is strange since the actor playing him has such a distinctive, tired old man delivery that goes with his appearance much better than Frees voice. There can't be any argument Frees sounds more like a King. Pal obviously loved the guy. He's in every film Pal made from '53 on.

Yes, yes. Actually, I encountered this movie first as a "comic book based on the movie" when I was 11 years old (in 1961). That comic book really made an impression on me! (Money well-spent from my paper route). Anyway, the part I like best is where the Atlanteans are making men into beasts by grafting snouts and horns onto them. Impressive! I can't work out whether its "Island of Dr Moreau meets Ulysses" or "Pinochhio meets Jason and the Argonauts". However, all of that doesn't really matter. Let's just say they don't make em like this no more. Stiff, Biblical-epic-style acting abounds.

Three cheers for George Pal!

At the age of 14 I liked Atlantis, The Lost Continent because I had 14 year old tastes at the time it was in theater. George Pal produced a really neat show for juveniles and it came out at a time when Italian studios were turning out dozens of these films based on classical ancient times.

Looking at it more than five decades later I can now appreciate the great cast of character players brought in to support a pair of less than charismatic leads. Any film that has John Dall, Edward Platt, Berry Kroeger, Frank DeKova, Jay Novello, and Edgar Stehli should not be missed.

Our leads are Anthony Hall as Demetrios a poor but humble Greek fisherman who catches Joyce Taylor a princess from a far away land. She's run away because she doesn't want to marry Dall and considering he's more than a bit off kilter who could blame her. She still insists on royal prerogatives in dealing even with her rescuer.

In the end Hall takes his little fishing boat beyond those Pillars of Hercules at the mouth of the Mediterranean and they find Atlantis or Atlantis actually finds them in a metallic submarine that Dall is captaining. After that Hall is taken to the island of Atlantis where Edgar Stehli is the king, Taylor his daughter, Kroeger a mad scientist physician who has created a race of mutants, DeKova the court astrologer and Platt a priest. Each one of these people gets to strut the stuff that we expect from them. Pal gave them all their heads and they run with it. As an adult this is what I love this picture for.

Especially Dall working that death ray machine. The man is truly achieving orgasm as he zaps people into non-existence with a phaser like device. The Atlanteans all dress in classical Peplum style, but have made some really far advances.

Juveniles will still love it, many adults will too. But as Atlantis falls, didn't someone think to save that submarine. Whoever did would be ruling the planet.