Opiniones de usuarios

A respectable drive-in flick deserving of its long shelf life. Recommended only to fans of the B-movie genre, Phantom contains all the cheesy elements that make these movies so much fun.

There are a couple of inaccuracies in the title -- 1) for a Phantom, the creature manages to get spotted by everybody who even goes out on the water (all in the same rowboat, by the way; there must have been a 'No motors' sign posted for this ocean), and 2) the only way to go 10,000 Leagues under the ocean is horizontally, not vertically. As it is, this creature was always close enough to the surface to spot that unlucky rowboat every blinkin' time. People always screamed bloody murder whenever that rowboat tipped over, too, as if they knew a monster was doing it. Usually, when I tip my canoe over, I just shout something unprintable here -- but from now on, I'll suspect the Phantom, and scream appropriately.

The sets in this movie show the sad lack of budget that AIP always handed their directors. Lots of ceiling to floor curtains in the background, even hiding the mad professor's Top, Top Secret Death Ray Project. The entire College of Oceanography set consisted of the outer secretary's office (where the professor always took off his suit coat to put on his lab coat), and the professor's locked inner lab (where he always promptly took off the lab coat he had just put on, and changed into his radiation suit, apparently to protect him from rads given off by the Top, Top Secret Death Ray behind the flimsy curtain. When leaving the lab, the professor dutifully put on the lab coat again to walk through the door to the outer office, where he once again changed to his suit coat. I'll bet that lab coat never had to be washed.)

The real bucks were spent on the set of the Professor's beach house, where three doors were required -- one to enter from the outside, one to the Professor's bedroom, and one to the bathroom for the obligatory hubba-hubba shower scene of the Professor's daughter, Lois.

Lois is a bright spot in this picture. Not only does she take showers, but she also falls in love with the dashing scientist-turned-federal investigator, Ted Stevens. Lois listens to a lot of Ted's investigator stuff, and a whole lot of her father's mad scientist deathless dialogue (boy, can that guy mangle metaphors!). But mostly, Lois lounges. She lounges in the cabana chairs in front of her home, and she manages to be the only lounger on a totally deserted beach, but still gets stepped on by Investigator Ted, who happens to be looking the other way, where he just saw the Phantom.

Lois must get pretty tired of listening to Dad, because she doesn't shed a whole lot of tears when Phantom and Daddy pieces come blasting out of the ocean at the climax. Probably, she's wondering how she can get Investigator Ted to go back down there with a tackle box of dynamite, too. Then it'll be no more listening to exposition, and back to the lounging for Lois. As long as she doesn't do it in that snakebit rowboat.

The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues gets a respectable B-Movie 4 out of 10.

While this Science fiction story lacks any real sense of credibility and our monster-The Phantom disappoints due to a lack of action and a rather plain appearance, there's enough inherent strangeness and weirdness going on here to make this an intriguing watch to fans of cult movies - the science fiction variety. Seeing Kent Taylor and Philip Pine is a treat here as always and they , along with Cathy Downs and Michael Whelan do give competent performances. Recommended mainly to those with a lot of patience and a love for Grade-Z movies.

(Some Spoilers) The US Government is concerned about the goings on off shore and on the beaches around the newly opened Collage of Oceanography founded by the renowned expert of nuclear psychics Prof.King, Michael Whalen.

With a number of boats sunk and five people killed, from radiation burns, the US Government sends two of it's operatives FBI agent Bill Grant, Rodney Bell, and famed oceanographer and author Dr. Ted Stevens, Kent Taylor, to find out just whats behind these deaths. Uknown to the US Government there's also a spy ring, from an unnamed country, also at work trying to get the information that Prof. King has come up with in his nuclear research that includes his assistant George Thomas,Philip Pine, and his sexy but not too bright, go-between Wanda, Helene Statnton.

Prof. King had discovered a uranium deposit under the sea just outside the collage and somehow activated it causing this radioactive sea monster to be created.Attacking people sailing off-shore it killed a number of them by capsizing their boats and then exposing them to it's deadly radioactive rays.

The Professor is trying to use his discovery to create a "Death Ray" that can be used by the US military but it seemed to have backfired and caused the deaths of a number of innocent people. Prof. King is also reluctant to destroy the underwater uranium deposit and his creation the creature.

Somewhat better then your average "Monster from the Deep" 1950's sci-fi movie with some good acting on the part of Kent Taylor Michael Whalen & Rodney Bell that lifts this bargain basement monster film up a few notches and makes it more then watchable.

Agent Grant gets Prof. Kings secretary Ethal Hall,Vivi Janiss, the keys to Prof. King's Lab. to find out if he had anything to do with the mysterious deaths off shore, one of which was Ethal's son. This leads to Ethal's murder by Prof. King's assistant and foreign espionage agent George Thomas. Later a freighter is sunk by the underwater uranium mine, when it sailed over it, killing all on deck.

The two spies George Thomas and Wanda are easily caught by the FBI in that their so unprofessional that you wondered who, or what country, would be crazy enough to use them in their espionage activities. Prof. King destroys his personal papers on his experiments so no one would be able to duplicate them and then sails out to sea to the underwater uranium deposit. It's there with a TNT loaded time-bomb Prof. King destroys the uranium mine the creature and himself in a huge underwater explosion.

Prof. King's daughter Lois, Kathy Downs, who at first refused to believe that her father could be responsible for these tragic deaths is shocked into reality with his own cataclysmic demise that prevented more lives from being lost due to his misplaced loyalty to science then to human life.

The vote drop-down menu is not very useful in this case. Of course this movie is awful. What would you expect from a film with this title from the 1950's? But what is note-worthy about the film is really how awful it is. I suppose this grade-Z pic was trying to cash in on the success of The Creature from the Black Lagoon or that Kurk Douglas Disney League jaunt, but I'm sure very few parted ways with their 1950's scratch to see this one. I though have to claim (of few that would make such bold statements) that I purchased this one, and I loved it. On par with Plan 9 and Beast of Yucca Flats this is a gem. Utter half-wittedness, no-budget, bad sound, horrible editing, no continuity, guys shooting each other with harpoons, the gratuitous sexy (which is a stretch) half naked woman, the same one boat used in all the scenes that call for a boat, the same stretch of beach, dumb doctors spouting esoteric formulas while (constantly) running around in suits on the beach...most bad films are just boring, and usually help you fall asleep after the late show, but trust me stay awake for awhile with this one, maybe just long enough to catch the goofy monster.

Most of the cast seems glad to be working if not half snockered in yet another tale of misguided radioactivity that didn't have much extra going for it other than a wide screen format. A world weary scientist finds a common fresh water turtle on the beach where with the use of his new fangled death ray mutates it into a large snapping turtle and then into a man in a hilarious rubber suit that has to be weighted down to keep the actor from floating belly up to the surface.It's a fast 78 minutes and with all of it's cheapness and faux pas it's hard not to like.It's not as good as Creature From The Black Lagoon but not nearly as bad as it's DVD co-feature The Beast With A Million Eyes.

This is a group of horrible mediocre people doing horrible mediocre things.

Boring and uninteresting.

The creature...blah.

Give it a miss unless you can make a drinking game out of it!

The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues is directed by Dan Milner and written by Dorys Lukather and Lou Rusoff. It stars Kent Taylor, Cathy Downs and Michael Whalen. Music is by Ronald Stein and photography by Brydon Baker.

Plot, for what it's worth, sees an amphibian like creature suddenly start killing any unfortunate human being that strays near its lair. And just what is that glowing thing down there? An absolute hack job attempting to cash in on the success of far better films of its ilk that were all the rage in the 1950s. It's the sort of Z grade film that gives the fans of creaky creature features and sci-fi schlockers a bad name. Right off the bat the makers commit a big error by introducing us to the man in the rubber suit straight away, a hopeless creation that's about as scary as the insipid dialogue that litters the production. Dialogue that's delivered by a cast of wooden actors who bring laughs on account of the fact they seem to be taking their roles seriously!

Milner's direction accounts to being a number of similar scenes strung together at different intervals, with the creature's appearances being as rare as any suspense is. While the 10,000 Leagues aspect is rendered a big joke since the creature is in water that's only about 5 fathoms deep! I wonder if the makers realised that just one league is 3 nautical miles?!

Is it in the "so bad it's good" category? Absolutely not! There's a modicum of science interest involving genetic tests and atomic energy dabblings, but this is lost amongst the laborious pacing as the characters do incredibly dumb things. While somewhat surprisingly Ronald Stein's foreboding music is decent and deserves a better movie. It also has a great title, with awesome poster art to match, but all told it's a major "league" clunker and only makes one cherish even more the likes of Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. 2/10

Handsome, stolid Kent Taylor plays Dr. Ted Stevens, a scientist investigating unusual activity in a seaside community. What he discovers is a radioactive light emanating from the ocean floor...and a goofy marine monster guarding the thing. There's no shortage of dubious types involved, as there are those who would seek to profit from this weapon. Ted, a real multi tasker if ever there was one, also finds the time to romance Lois King (Cathy Downs), the daughter of local oceanographer Professor King (Michael Whalen).

One would hope, based on the poster art and that great title, that this would make for tasty schlock movie viewing. Alas, it's not to be, as this is a fairly dull affair, with not much of interest ever happening. Lou Rusoff, the screenwriter, tried to spice things up with the intrigue subplot, but everything is boringly handled. The filmmakers, led by director Dan Milner (who went on to do the more memorably awful "From Hell It Came"), establish their "credentials" by showing off their monster less than a minute into the movie! It's a funny looking beast, to be sure; audience members may be chuckling quite a bit every time it makes an appearance. It does kill a few people, but mostly it just stands there looking silly.

Taylor is a rather stiff but not unlikable hero. Downs is lovely but doesn't have a very good part with which to work. Whalen is passable as our well intentioned antagonist. Phillip Pine is a non-threatening, would be villain. Rodney Bell is not bad as the government agent who collaborates with Dr. Stevens. Vivi Janiss does what she can in the role of Professor Kings' nosey secretary, who's motivated to find out more about what her boss does. The very sexy Helene Stanton has her moments as a conniving woman prodding Pine to produce results for certain interested parties.

Best of all is Ronald Steins' score, which is good enough to deserve to have been in a better movie.

Five out of 10.

Hey, kids! Did you know that a league can vary anywhere from 2.6 to 4.6 statue miles? Neither did I, but apparently this phantom is either so resilient that can withstand being 26,000 miles under water, or the producer couldn't remember the difference between a fathom and a league, or perhaps they wanted to cash in on the Disney movie "20,000 leagues under the sea". Regardless, this movie goes down hard. Think of it as "Horror of Party Beach" without the annoying Del Aires and even *less* action.

Our cinematic Bataan Death March is the story of Professor King, and his research into something that involves exposing turtles to massive amounts of radiation. Somehow, there's a radioactive light source under the ocean which is guarded by the aquatic version of the MGM lion. Kent Taylor stars as Ted Stevens or Ted Baxter (oooooooh, Mr. Grant!), depending on who he's talking to. While Professor Stevens/Baxter isn't working on mysteries without any clues, he's trying to woo Professor King's daughter. There's also the haunting specter of foreign agents who are trying to steal this *ahem* technology.

Of course, what B movie would be complete without the obligatory worship before the stock footage gods. Watch how the skies change from movie to stock footage and back again during the warship scene. Continuity is a problem, too. We see two air tanks being vandalized, and then we see two people going for a dive. They're the ones to be poisoned, right? WRONG, grasshopper! They get killed by the phantom. We have to march several more miles uphill in deep snow with no shoes before we get to the targets of the murder attempt. Finally, just because you *can* shoot film underwater doesn't mean you *should*. All in all, this movie is one big cluster of foxes.

Sterno says cut the air hose on Phantom.

Everyone else in this review section must have been taking a break from their Transformer and Fast and Furious movies to check out this film. What were they expecting?

Here's what I was looking for: fun, enjoyable 50s film with interesting character actors, beautiful black and white photography, a great soundtrack, and an awesome cheesy monster suit, just how I like it.

I'm so sick of modern films and how boringly same-y they are. Watching movies like this take me back to another time when movies were fun, budgets were lower, creativity abounded, and rubber suits were fun.

So turn off your brain, and ignore the rest of the reviews in this section if you want a fun time watching a classic B-monster film. Don't be negative and enjoy the film for what it is.

I really enjoyed this movie, you have a pretty decent plot where a scientist has created some kind of death ray at the bottom of the ocean, to help the military in someway, but instead it backfires on him as his assistant is trying to sell his secrets to some unknown foreign country, also complicating the matter is some kind of giant mutated lizard or reptile guarding the uranium death ray,, two government agents are sent in to figure out what is going on , with so many people being burnt to a crisp along the beach, our main character has to decide what is best for himself and mankind as he struggles to reach a decision once people start dropping dead left and right. all together I found this movie to be very enjoyable.

Perhaps this type of moviemaking was still too new for this lesson to be learned. But I've always felt that - regardless of your budget - if you're gonna try to deliver a message, then don't allow it to be degraded by cheapness and unbelievability. You could certainly extract a moral here, but instead, MY recollection is of the chintziness and unreality of the production, such that it fits into the mold of a 50s, sci-fi, get-'em-with-the-title, Saturday matinee, which the kids'll find boring, if not laughable. The man-in-a-beast-suit hangs out around a radioactive beam (which is probably responsible for it's appearance) on the ocean floor and kills those who ROW into it's neighborhood. (How co-incidental - they and the boat always wash up onto shore TOGETHER and in the SAME PLACE. The unchanging current, I suppose.) Meanwhile, a scientist's research into radioactivity is of surreptitious interest to a female agent from a competing country. Other characters include the professor's daughter, who is romanced by an oceanographer, enlisted by the government to check up on her dad; the father's male assistant; a snoopy gal Friday; and a federal investigator, who hasn't been told that Romeo is also assigned to the case. This flick got a very low number from me.

With a 1950's title like this, what's expected besides drive-in fare. I have to admit, I don't hold these cheapos to the same standards as uptown features. So I really don't care about most cost-cutters, such as using the same boat, or the same stretch of beach, or Jefty's road sign from 1948's noir Road House, or even peripheral logic, for that matter.

What I do expect are a few horror jolts, of which this flick has almost none. For example, the hokey sea monster provides neither scares nor suspense. Also, I expect some sexy skin, which Downs does supply, especially in the upper reaches. Plus, there should be some good action, of which the 82-minutes supplies instead a lot of snorkeled swimming. And lastly, a low-budget story shouldn't be too long since that means padding. So, please tell me what purpose Helene Stanley's drop-in mystery woman serves. My best guess is she's supposed to be a commie connection.

Actually the movie is more a character study than anything else, with wild-hair Whalen managing a nicely calibrated central performance. In fact, his conflicted Prof. King may be the movie's most interesting facet. Good also to see an aging Kent Taylor picking up a payday, even if he's too old for Downs. All in all, the 82-minutes amounts to an odd drive-in feature, as though the producers had a bunch of parts, but real trouble fitting them together. The flick's not bad enough to be funny, or good enough for a B-feature. In short, it's a drive-in dud.

Awful, awful, awful film. I mean, I like B movies as much as the next person but this is just pathetic. This is actually not a B movie. This is a Z movie. It is inept in every way. Scientists try to find a guy in the dorkiest-looking rubber monster suit you will ever see in your life. The whole thing looks like it was shot for about 25 cents by people who had no script and had never seen a movie before in their entire lives.

And maybe it was the DVD, but at all costs avoid the Retromedia copy of this, because it looks like you are viewing everything through a blizzard. It's HIGHLY annoying. If I hadn't paid only .99 cents for the stupid piece of junk I'd demand a refund.

This movie is interesting in that the acting is competent though the story is terrible. The special effects are also terrible. It was intriguing to watch and contemplate why they made such an inept movie. Evidently, they were able to sign decent actors to play the roles, but the people who put the whole thing together were unable to create a believable story. They wanted to create a story with a monster, but they didn't have the ability to make it do anything scary. The monster barely moves in the film. But since movies about the monstrous effects of radiation were common at the time, they figured they could put together something people might want to watch.

This might be an example of what decent actors do in between good roles. When they can't get anything decent, they take roles like this to make a few bucks.

Actually, the story isn't completely stupid. But the makers apparently could not afford to pay anyone to storyboard the film or plan how to make the monster scary. In the past, I've thought what a horribly tedious job story-boarding must be, but when you see this film, you see why it's important. You have to lay out in detail what the visuals will look like.

"No Andy that is one of man's follies."

One great advantage to this Uh... movie is we get to see the hokey creatures upfront. The story unfolds fast and the plot is set up front. Then we get to see it unfold. Sort of like an old Colombo (Peter Falk) show where everyone knows the culprit in advance. We also get some really bad background music with a 50's feel.

Professor King (Michael Whalen) dabbles with the forces of nature and gets the standard results. His daughter Lois (Cathy Downs) of course knows nothing about it; if she had only known in time. Lois and Dr. King are perused by a technical investigator, Dr. Ted Stevens (Kent Taylor.)

Someone is dispatching people with a scuba spear. Who and why. Just what is the secret?

I wanted to give this movie one star but on reflection I watched it.

Remember: "Nature has many secrets that man must not disturb, this is one of them"

Kent Taylor stars as a government investigator, working undercover. When first we meet him, he says his name is Ted Baxter (no relation to the pompous anchorman). Then, he claims his name is Ted Stevens (no relation to the disgraced Alaska senator). Fortunately, the film ends before he claims his name is Ted Bundy. But on to the plot. Something is killing people in the water. The source of the problem seems to be a radiation beam, created by Dr. King (Michael Whalen). The radiation has also created a creature - a shocking development. King's daughter is played by Cathy Downs, a lovely actress who had a good career start in the 1940s, then fell into crap like this. Ms. Downs is around 31 in this film; unfortunately, she looks at least 40. Philip Pine plays a spy who spends much of the film hiding in the bushes with a speargun. Helene Stanton appears briefly as a blonde in a bathing suit. By this time, you'll be asleep anyway.

A early ARP quickie in which a collection of guys in big suits - one of them an oceanographer and author of 'The Biological Effects of Radiation on Marine Life' - stand about on a beach and talk about nothing in particular while the phantom of the title - apparently a mutant combination of an alligator and turtle, whose presence they take pretty much in their stride - lurks in the depths nearby, blowing up the occasional passing ship.

Visually it's pretty drab, with night scenes obviously shot in broad daylight and underwater scenes that hardly seem worth the effort. The phantom itself - although described as "a beast so hideous that it defies description" - looks so goofy in it's mercifully brief appearances that along with Cathy Downs in a swimsuit and Helene Stanton as a beautiful blonde foreign agent it at least provides something worth looking at.

There are some high-lights here that merit special mention...in no particular order. 1. The professor's hair-do 2. A shower scene of somewhat less than erotic 50's style 3. poison pills deposited in the diving equipment 4. foreign agent Wanda...who she works for we'll never know 5. row-boats that can remain in place on the open sea, with no anchor necessary. Even for 1956, this is an amazing effort. Maybe it was more of a home-movie than a real, studio job. In any case, the morals are presented very clearly and that's what makes it worth my 9 rating. So...beware of mad scientists, spies from un-named evil countries, and monsters in general. But, kids, it's okay to smoke!! P.S. This film seems to have been made before "special effects". There are effects...just not so special.

An unusual radioactive rock on the sea bottom mutates the ocean life into a horrible monster. When charred, radioactive bodies begin to drift ashore a scientist and government agent investigate the phenomenon, and it's connection to a local marine biology professor.

Producer-director Dan Milner may not be well-known, but the film's writer, Lou Rusoff, made quite a career for himself with American International (the company that American Releasing became shortly after this film was released). Although not known as a great writer, he was prolific and many of his films have gone on to be classics in their own right.

Worth noting is the music of Ronald Stein. Not that it is anything special, but this was one of his first scores and he went on to quite a career with AIP. Stein never really escaped from their B-movie world, however, with his biggest credit being Coppola's "Rain People". Coppola was another AIP veteran, and "Rain People" is certainly not one of his celebrated releases.

Though maybe not a great movie, "Phantom" is still fun and has a nice rubber suit for a monster. It can be easily found for cheap (or free) on public domain releases. The Mill Creek disc is faded, but still very watchable. I am not aware of a cleaned up release, but I am also not sure if it would be worthwhile.