The Aquarians

Yet another underwater pilot from the dept of Ivan Tors' wet imagination. This one stars Ricardo Montalban, who looks tough even with a pink scarf around his neck. He and fellow latino José Ferrer get into a submarine scenery chewing contest in a race to claim the sunken ship leaking a deadly nerve gas. Florida and the Bahamas stood in for some fictional South African country but of course all the best bits take place under the sea, especially lots of lovely diving by Kate Woodville. Oh yes Leslie Nielsen appears as well, but only on a viewscreen handing out exposition. He never has any contact with the rest of the cast. (it seems Leslie just could not get a part that lasted more than 10 minutes in the early seventies).

Despite a great Lalo Shifrin score and a sub vs pod battle at five thousand meters below sea level, this TV movie sank to the bottom of the ocean. Still the three (or two and a half) stars kept getting aqua themed acting jobs from here on: Montalban moved to a Fantasy Island, Ferrer was Captain Nemo in yet another pilot and Leslie Nielsen was the captain in the Poseidon Adventure (see what I mean). Later Montalban was found quoting Moby Dick in the Wrath of Kahn and by 1988 he was showing off his poisonous fish, face to face at last with Nielsen in the first Naked Gun. Not sure if either of them wore a scarf that time.

6 out of 10

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Don McDougal for producer Ivan Tors and Universal TV; screenplay by Winston Miller and Leslie Stevens; photography by Clifford Poland; underwater direction by Ricou Browning; edited by Ed Dumbrille; music by Lalo Schifrin. Starring Ricardo Montalban, Jose Ferrer, Kate Woodville, Lawrence Casey, Tom Simcox, Chris Robinson, Leslie Nielsen and Curt Lowens.

Straightforward Tors science fiction of underwater suspense utilizing somewhat futuristic equipment in fighting escaping nerve gas. Has attractive Miss Woodville and electronic Lalo score, but stinko random zooms by Poland.