La ciudad bajo el agua

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed and Produced by Irwin Allen. Warner Brothers telefilm for NBC broadcast. Screenplay by John Meredyth Lucas, from Irwin Allen's story; Photography by Kenneth Peach; Edited by James Baiotto; Music by Richard LaSalle. Starring: Stuart Whitman, Rosemary Forsyth, Robert Wagner, Richard Basehart, Robert Colbert, James Darren, Edward G. Robinson Junior, Whit Bissell, Joseph Cotten, Sugar Ray Robinson, Burr DeBenning, Paul Stewart and Charles Dierkop.

TV movie provides paychecks for innumerable TV has-beens. A highly improbable science-fiction adventure concerning a planetoid hurtling toward the Earth. Safekeeping of gold and H128 reserves are jeopardized at a 21st Century underwater community.

This was one of the few flops that Irwin Allen had during his days in television. This film was supposed to be the latest of Allen's science fiction series. Unfortunately, it didn't work. However, it was a good premise. People moving to a city under the Pacific Ocean to not only do research, but to create a whole new society. It also was a nice little caper film due to the sub plot of the gold heist in the backdrop of the main story of the title city's impending doom from the onrushing planetoid. This truly was a lost gem of television. Too bad it never made it as a series.

Also, isn't it ironic that Richard Basehart is playing the president in this film? Of course, he played Admiral Nelson on Allen's biggest hit series, the similarly themed "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea".

Set in 21 st century where a group of colonists live at an underwarter city called Pacifica under command of Admiral Matthews : Stuart Whitman , formerly it was an underwater scientist installation become a location inhabitable . The commander : Stuart Whitman is assigned by USA President : Richard Bashart to custody gold bars from Fort Knox as well as a powerful new radiaoactive stuff and some nuclear missiles. But then things go wrong when an asteroid heads towards Earth , threatening an imminent and total destruction . Theirs was the most dangerous mission in history ...to save the World from total destruction!

Irwin Allen typical movie with usual elements as fantastic submarines , World conflicts , catastrophes and spectacular intrigue . It results to be a pilot episode of a series set in 2053 and that didn't follow due to no much success of this telefilm. This time dealing with the attempt to rob the Fort Knox treasure custodied in a city beneath the sea named Pacifica and to eliminate the World threat of a meteor heading for Earth to destroy it . City beneath the sea 1971 benefits itself of a fine cast but is marred by taking stock-shots , flying subs , scale models , atrezzo and several props from the earlier shows , with stock-footage from Irwin Allen films and TV series , especially from Voyage to the bottom of the Sea and Lost in space . Here stands out a good main and support cast , some of them Irwin Allen's regular and with plenty of familiar faces , such as : Rosemary Forsyth , Burt DeBenning , Richard Basehart , Robert Wagner , James Darren , Whit Bissell, Paul Stewart , Charles Dierkop, Tom Drake ,and special guest star for Robert Wagner among others .

The motion picture was professional but regularly directed by Irwin Allen in his usual style . This great producer/writer/director made a number of successful TV series and movies and considered to be the original father of the disaster genre . As Irwin made the following ones : "Poseídon", "Beyond the Poseídon" , "Five Weeks in baloon" , "Voyage to the bottom of the sea" , "Towering Inferno" and his main flops : "The Swarm" and "When time ran out" . And outstanding with his popular TV series as "Land of Giants" , "Lost in space" , "Voyage to the bottom of the Sea" , and "The Time Tunnel" , the latter starred by James Darren , Robert Colbert and Whit Bissell who also performed thus City beneath the sea 1971 .

This movie came out when I was twelve years old. Although the effects are now cheesy compared to modern technology, at the time I loved it; it was perfect for a 12 year old. I remember at school the next day everyone saying how cool the movie was. It was perfect after having previously experiencing Lost in Space, Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, etc... Irwin Allen knew how to entertain kids of that era.

About a fantastic city beneath the sea.

Everything about this film, the effects, the sets, the casting, the actors, are all fine, but with the one tiny problem area of Robert Colbert and the terrible lines he has and the terrible acting he gives.

An early character building scene in this film has Colbert respond to Stu Whitman by saying "that's right we all take orders ... just like Bill Holmes did". It sounded terrible!

But having said that. This is pure Irwin Allen showmanship of the best kind. As others have pointed out, Richard Basehart and the flying sub make this feel like an up-dated Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and who could blame Irwin for wanting to bring back Voyage?

But non-Voyage things such as Stu Whitman and Robert Wagner (Beneath The 12 Mile Reef and The Towering Inferno) make this great entertainment. Also the Richard LaSalle score and big sets with blinking light Time Tunnel computers. I have actually made about 30 viewings of this film over the years.

One of my very favourite movies ever (despite Robert Colbert).