La cité sous la mer

Universal-International studios. Two tough American buddies (Robert Ryan, Anthony Quinn). Sunken treasure off the Caribbean. Plots about scuttled ships and sunken gold. A thuggish sea-captain. Giant squids. A set-piece bar-room brawl. Even voodoo drums. Tacky colour. You can almost picture the lurid cover of the 10-cent paperback novel the film was based on. All that's lacking is a real femme fatale.

Bud Boetticher was a cult director in the Don Siegel/Sam Fuller vein, later acclaimed for the series of sparse but superb western quickies he made in the late 1950s with actor Randolph Scott (Ride Lonesome, The Tall T, Westbound, etc).

Irresistible and well made.

CITY BENEATH THE SEA lacks the complexity of Budd Boetticher's "best" work (his later "Ranown" westerns, the earlier THE BULLFIGHTER AND THE LADY), but it's highly sweet-smelling trash, with great wise guy performances by Robert Ryan and Anthony Quinn. Filled with almost as many double entendres as the most eyebrow-raising Sam Fuller works of the same period, it succeeds as pure entertainment even if you don't care a whit about the so-called plot (a race to discover sunken treasure amidst voodoo spells, wild dames and Technicolor Jamaican scenery). Good supporting performances by Mala Powers and Karel Stepanek, crackling dialogue and bizarre underwater scenes (part matte, part miniature, part studio tank). Don't expect RIDE LONESOME or SEVEN MEN FROM NOW and you'll find plenty to enjoy.

OK adventure story about two soused divers who latch onto the whereabouts of a bunch of gold buried somewhere under the ocean.

Bob Ryan and Tony Quinn go through the paces with their respective love interests, Mala Powers and Suzan Ball. Not bad for this kind of Saturday afternoon entertainment. Suzan Ball passed away at a very young age. When Suzan fell deathly ill, her husband at the time, actor Richard Long ('Jarod' on The Big Valley TV show), reportedly stayed at her bedside for long hours until, in her delirium right before she died, Suzan uttered "Tony!".... (Quinn). This upset Long to no end... (how awkward).

Good 1950's treasure-hunting film. Suzan sings in a nightclub followed by a big bar fight. Mala is hot in her swimsuit.

This movie is pretty run of the mill under water sea adventure stuff , very typical of the era .The best scene however is in the tropical bar.Who ever chose or built the set did a great job.The bamboo theme, national geographic erotica style is unfortunately a thing of the past.Why the hell can't we have really cool bars like this to go to .At least a half decent joint where you can throw on a pair of old service chinos and a cool hawaiian shirt, drink rum colas and check out the dames!If anybody knows places like this let me know!

I noticed another reviewer gave this one a score of 1. I do not understand this. While few would consider "City Beneath the Sea" a great film, it certainly is a modestly enjoyable one.

Two deep sea divers, Brad (Robert Ryan) and Tony (Anthony Quinn), arrive in Jamaica dive for the Fornby Company. Apparently, one of their ships sank and it was filled with gold...so no wonder they'd employ a could divers to look for it. However, they don't know that the rep from the company is a crook...and he has a nasty partner. Their plan is to send Brad and Tony to the wrong area...and return later themselves to get the gold. Not surprisingly, this is very dangerous stuff.

While the dives were undoubtedly filmed in a pool at the Universal lot, the diving scenes looked pretty good and there were no goofy sea monsters or giant squids or octopi (like in "Reap the Wild Wind"). Additionally, while the story is light and not especially memorable, it is a decent time-passer. Not a perfect or excellent film by any standard, it still is reasonably entertaining and worth a look.