La citadelle sous la mer

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 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".

This is Irwin Allen at his Irwin Allen-est. This whole show while entertaining is a recycling of a failed pilot and a bevy of canceled sci-fi series.

The failed pilot starred Glen Corbett and Lloyd Bochner. This was made in 1967. The TV movie came out in 1971.

The first thing you notice in the movie is the Flying Sub from "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea". The next thing is Robert Colbert from "The Time Tunnel". Looking closely at Pacifica, this city beneath the sea, you will see the Jupiter II from "Lost in Space" as a dome sitting on top of a tower. The submarine "Seaview" is seen prowling the depths of the underwater streets of the city. Later we see Richard Basehart as the President of the US (VTBOS), Whit Bissel (TT) and Jame Darren as a scientist(TT). And the props -- computers, laser guns, radios, video telephones -- all recycled from his series from the '60s. The sound effects are familiar ones. The costumes are too.

Some throw away cameos were added -- boxer Sugar Ray Robinson and veteran actor Joseph Cotten (he was in "Citizen Kane" for god's sake). Even Edward G. Robinson's son is added for good measure.

The plot is cross between "Armageddon" (an asteroid is headed toward impact on the earth) and "Ocean's 11" (a heist of the vault containing the US's Fort Knox gold reserve and the "highly fissionable H128"). It is fairly pedestrian. The fun in this movie is seeing all of Irwin's old shows being brought back in some form. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants were all canceled by the time this movie came out. Watch this one if you can find it.

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).

cheesier than Switzerland and Wisconsin combined - wooden acting that even porn actors would wince at -laughable effects and set models. All the male actors have brillo pad hair and talk like Frank Drebbin. The brassy incidental music is more intrusive than the Original Star Trek. Think Hart to Hart meets low budget James Bond under the sea. Watch it very drunk or with the sound down and invent your own dialogue-- it can only be an improvement. Hard to believe this film was actually made. 10 lines is a lot when such a film could be summed up in one word -avoid. Alternatively you could compare and contrast the plot development, portrayal of women, models, and national pride exhibited in this and, say,Aliens or Avatar.