Atlantis, terre engloutie

Every since I was a boy, the works of George Pal has always been an inspiration. I can recall as a child, waiting patiently for his TV programs involving his enormously popular Puppet-toons. His films always touch the core of movie fans' imagination with such classics as, 'The Naked Jungle', 'The War of the Worlds' and my all time favorite, 'The Time Machine'. In this film, Pal reaches deep into the human Psyche and selects a fabulous story which originates in the ancient scrolls of Plato. Here a Greek Fisherman, Demetrios (Anthony Hall) nets a strange woman who claims to be from the mythical island of Atlantis. Unable to prevent her, she returns home where the Fisherman becomes a prisoner of the mightiest kingdom of all time. Promising himself, he will yet escape his chains, Demetrios meet Xandros (Jay Novello) an aging slave who made that claim years before. During his stay, he is not only permitted to witness the great wonders of Atlantis, such as a submarine and a powerful solar Laser, but is informed of it's impending doom by a sincere and penitent scientist/priest named Azor (Edward Platt). His stay is precarious and subject to change at the whim of Sonoy the Astrologer (Frank De Kova) and Zaren (John Dall) the chief adviser. The movie is entertaining and enjoyable, if slightly hampered by the personal ideology of the director who injects it into his work. Nevertheless, the films of George Pal, continue to fascinate audiences of all ages. Due to his expertise, this film serves to strengthen our continuous belief in the Legend of Atlantis. ****

At the age of 14 I liked Atlantis, The Lost Continent because I had 14 year old tastes at the time it was in theater. George Pal produced a really neat show for juveniles and it came out at a time when Italian studios were turning out dozens of these films based on classical ancient times.

Looking at it more than five decades later I can now appreciate the great cast of character players brought in to support a pair of less than charismatic leads. Any film that has John Dall, Edward Platt, Berry Kroeger, Frank DeKova, Jay Novello, and Edgar Stehli should not be missed.

Our leads are Anthony Hall as Demetrios a poor but humble Greek fisherman who catches Joyce Taylor a princess from a far away land. She's run away because she doesn't want to marry Dall and considering he's more than a bit off kilter who could blame her. She still insists on royal prerogatives in dealing even with her rescuer.

In the end Hall takes his little fishing boat beyond those Pillars of Hercules at the mouth of the Mediterranean and they find Atlantis or Atlantis actually finds them in a metallic submarine that Dall is captaining. After that Hall is taken to the island of Atlantis where Edgar Stehli is the king, Taylor his daughter, Kroeger a mad scientist physician who has created a race of mutants, DeKova the court astrologer and Platt a priest. Each one of these people gets to strut the stuff that we expect from them. Pal gave them all their heads and they run with it. As an adult this is what I love this picture for.

Especially Dall working that death ray machine. The man is truly achieving orgasm as he zaps people into non-existence with a phaser like device. The Atlanteans all dress in classical Peplum style, but have made some really far advances.

Juveniles will still love it, many adults will too. But as Atlantis falls, didn't someone think to save that submarine. Whoever did would be ruling the planet.

Anyone else notice that Paul Frees, the worlds greatest voice, doesn't just do the narration. He is doing the voice for Demetrius' father. Weird accent and all. And the Princess' father as well! Which is strange since the actor playing him has such a distinctive, tired old man delivery that goes with his appearance much better than Frees voice. There can't be any argument Frees sounds more like a King. Pal obviously loved the guy. He's in every film Pal made from '53 on.

I thought this film would be a bit of a turkey but it turned out to be very entertaining. There are echoes of the same director's The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds in it. It combines sci-fi with Greek mythology very well. Although it is very much a fantasy film the pre-title sequence where the narrator talks about the things in the Old World and the New whose similarity which must be more than coincidental is quite thought provoking and you wonder what the real reason was for there being cave paintings of elephants in America and paintings of witches being similar on both sides of the Atlantic. It was made in the early sixties and it seems also to be making a statement about nuclear power with one crystal being used for lighting and heat and another being used for destruction. That scene seems to be a veiled warning about controlling our technology and not letting it run away. The rulers of Atlantis seem also to be a metaphor for the Nazis with their ideas of racial superiority and their desire to conquer the world together with their use of slave labour. A good film for all the family.

I remember seeing this film as a 14 year old in 1961 at a Saturday afternoon matinée...my brother and I were supposed to go to a Detroit Tiger baseball game but it was rained out...what to do? We went to see this movie and I have always remembered it and loved it. Back in the late 50s, early 60s Hollywood was putting out a lot of science fiction fantasy films, like "Seventh Voyage of Sinbad", "Jack the Giant Killer", "Mysterious Island" and all of the sword and sandal Hercules movies with Steve Reeves and other musclemen. What could you not like about this film as a kid? A beautiful princess, a submarine in the shape of a fish, giant monsters fighting our hero in a fire/water pit, animal men with bull heads and horns, a giant sea monster Neptune showing our hero and his princess through the pillars of Hercules on their way to Atlantis and plenty of evil sorcerers and villains. A good love story to boot with our hero Demetrious winning the love of his lady Antillia and getting out of Atlantis just before the submerging and destruction of the mythical land. Edward Platt who was on the TV show "Get Smart" as the chief in a role as a minister/prophet who foretells the doom of the fabled continent. I fell in love with Joyce Taylor, the princess Antillia way back then....only problem is that our hero, played by Anthony Hall looked like he could have used some time in the gym training with Steve Reeves. On the very thin side for a hero to fight giants and evil rulers. Great science fiction stuff for the 60s.