•VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (1961), •HOT TRACER [SEA HUNT] (1961),
•VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (1961), <<< DIVE, DIVE, DIVE!!!

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SPLODGE! NOTES: 1st. Mon. JULY (05/07/04)
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Unusual films of discernment, still presented in convivial
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3rd. Quartile

JULY
AD 2004

Monday, 05TH.

Registration: 7.30 - 8.00 pm
Screening: >>>>> 8.00 (*EIGHT*!!!!) pm <<<<<

TONIGHT: STRICTLY MEMBERS-ONLY
MEMBERSHIPS STILL AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR ON THE NIGHT
DETAILS BELOW


DIVE, DIVE,DIVE!!!

•HOT TRACER (1961),
Here’s a fabbo episode from the hit ‘Sixies TV series SEA HUNT,
starring LLOYD BRIDGES ( - before he turned into Leslie Neilson!) as
the entrepid Mike Nelson, SCUBA trouble-shooter. Hmmm, Neilson…Nelson;
there’s something going on there!
In this episode, Mike's efforts to retrieve a pair of radioactive
cylinders are complicated by the presence of a headstrong youth to whom
he's been giving diving lessons. The tension mounts as Mike attempts to
neutralize this toxic time-bomb!Incid., this episode was remade as
TOXIC WASTE, in the second SEA HUNT series (yup, 1987 –wha!? - Ya
missed it????!!! Awwwww, it even starred RON (TARZAN) ELY!)

Forty years ago, however, Mike Nelson, Freelance Underwater
Investigator, freed Florida’s Tampa coastal waters of terrorists and
sundry other marine hazards. In the 155 episodes of "Sea Hunt", BRIDGES
as Nelson was under constant attack by "hose-cutting terrorists". The
terrorists usually hid behind rocks and attacked the unsuspecting Mike
while he went about his business of underwater investigating or
whatever it was – usually investigating. Their favorite target was
Mike's air hose, which they often cut with a dive knife. Why Mike
continued to dive every week in waters so infested, we'll never know,
but I guess he was just a pro doing his job.

Here is a detailed outline of Mike's method of dealing with these hose
cutters, which we’re happy to pass them on to you - should you happen
to ever encounter an "underwater hose cutting terrorist": First, the
attackers do not seem to understand the function of a double hose
regulator, ( - the type used in the ‘Sixties). There were two hoses;
the right hose was the air supply hose; the left was the exhaust hose.
All attacks were on the exhaust side, the left hose. This still allowed
the “attacked” to breathe, but the bubbles coming out of the exhaust
side seemed to cause the attacked to panic and rush to the surface.
Should a terrorist attack your double hose regulator, they will always
go for the exhaust side... don't panic - continue to breathe! (Modern
regulators use only one hose that is steel reinforced - it would take a
long time to saw through with even a sharp knife. So, use a modern
regulator!)

Second, these terrorists can’t function with out a mask! Mike's best
defence strategy was to always remove the attacker’s mask. The rapid
rush of water to the eyes caused severe panic and the terrorist fled to
the surface. So, remove the mask of any attacker!

SEA HUNT was one of the most popular shows in syndication in the
Sixties (episodes were filmed from 1957-1961). I watched it religiously
as a kid and really remember the haunting, ominous theme music that
reflected perfectly the murky despair of the show itself.

This show was produced by Ivan Tors (DAKTARI) and the underwater
footage was shot in various warm water places around the world, from
California to Australia, from the Caribbean to the Florida Keys.

There was lots of action on SEA HUNT, and the underwater fight scenes
were spectacular as Mike Nelson hunted down criminals from the undersea
underworld and ran afoul of sharks, manta rays, octopuses and giant sea
turtles. The experienced frogman also went after salvage and did
rescues - whenever danger or excitement lurked below the surface, Mike
Nelson was ready for action.

While fill-in footage was filmed in exotic locales, most of the show's
action scenes were shot in a huge aquarium located in California's
long-gone Marineland amusement park in Palos Verdes.

Ironically, BRIDGES had no experience as a diver before starting the
series, but quickly became fairly accomplished - he even wanted to ride
Marineland's star performer, 'Bubbles' (a 1,800 pilot whale cow) in one
episode. Producer Tors was against it: "All Bubbles has to do is to
flip her tail and I lose my leading man!"

Early in the run of the series, Mike Nelson operated from land and the
diving sequences were short. As the show gained popularity, more and
more of the action took place underwater and Mike was operating almost
exclusively from his high-tech boat, the 'Argonaut'.

SEA HUNT went on to become one of the most merchandised TV programs of
its time, with "Mike Nelson" flippers, goggles and rubber boats being
offered during the height of the show's popularity. Each episode always
ended with a short sermon from Mike, at the helm of his faithful
vessel, to all the kids (make that “viewers”) at home about the
importance of maritime safety.

Ep. # 1126. Wr: Don Moore. Dir: Monroe Askins. Cast: LLOYD BRIDGES;
Robert Montgomery, Jr; Tyler McVey; Wayne Mallory; Darlene Tompkins. 25
mins. RM


and featuring:

•VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (1961),
We have already run Irwin Allen's great Jules Verne classic FIVE WEEKS
IN A BALLOON (1962), as part of our dimly remembered INFLATOMANIA
programme, but, now, looka we got here!

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: "SHEESH!, that Irvy-baby
is a GEEEE-NNNEEE-OUS!!!" We at Splodge! have always loved everything
Allen ever touched, and although we concede that some of his efforts
have been better than others, how could you criticize a man who gave us
a list of treats like this: THE SWARM, (1978), THE TOWERING INFERNO
(1974), THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE,(1972), TIME TRAVELERS (1976), CITY
BENEATH THE SEA (1971), LAND OF THE GIANTS (1968), THE TIME TUNNEL
(1966), LOST IN SPACE (1965), FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON (1962), VOYAGE TO
THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (1961), LOST WORLD, THE (1960), THE BIG CIRCUS
(1959) and lots more.

We always like to throw in a little "SPLODGE!-FOR YOU-AT-HOME" for
those of you who are convalescing, an' the like, and this time is no
exception, so if youd like to check out the movie trailer, here it is:
http://videodetective.com/home.asp?x=y&SpeedTestResults=541.35&PublishedID=2880&\
AltID=&CustomerID=97135&WM=True&Ads=False&Play=TRUE#


You'll notice that many of the same cast, having done such a sterling
job for Irwin on BALLOON reappear in this one, or, if not exactly the
same personnel, then, at the very least, there appears someone who is
approximately representative of the same character-type; for example
Howard McNear, playing Congressman Parker – fulfilling much the same
role as RICHARD HAYDEN in BALLOON! - It's the "cookie-cutter" school of
movie making, if you will, and you will see it time and again in the
works of IRWIN ALLEN. You will, of course, also notice a heavy
influence from the JULES VERNE fantasy TWENTY-THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER
THE SEA in VOYAGE And you will, undoubtedly, register the
subtle-as-a-sledge-hammer resonances of FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956),
pompously provided by been-there-done-that MAD-DOCTOR-MORBIUS, blowhard
Wally Pidgeon. Peter Lorre, as ever, plays PETER LORRE, and no-one
could do it better – and millions, it seems, have tried! And speaking
of cookies, not only did we get one in FORBIDDEN PLANET ( - EARL
HOLLIMAN), but, of course, what does every good atomic submarine also
need? Yup, you guessed it.

We reserve special mentions for BARBARA EDEN (Lt. Conners), who
performs a mean Shimmy in the middle of reel one, and FRANKIE AVALON
(Lt.Jg. Danny Romano) on the horn!

Here's the plot: A new atomic submarine, commanded by the brazen
Admiral Harriman Nelson (Walter Pidgeon) is on a dangerous mission to
save the world from (infra-red) radiation from outer space, caused by a
baffling meteor storm igniting the Van Allen radiation belt which
girdles the world, and is raising the Earth's temperature to dangerous
levels. A quick solution is needed to turn the course of nature, but,
as usual, the world's leaders can't come to a conclusion as to the best
method for neutralizing the threatening phenomena. Kyoto all over
again, ( - except this time it is happening "before"!)

Admiral Nelson hatches a brilliant (yearh!) plan involving nuclear
warheads that is almost unanimously rejected by the world's leaders.
But the film was made during the height of the Cold War and - in
pro-America fashion typical of the era - he plans to steam the
futuristic sub to a strategic location to blast the glowing radioactive
cloud with an atomic missile. Like I said, brilliant. The science is,
as it always was in Allen’s sf, laughable - all the talk about a
burning Van Allen Belt and being able to blast it away with missiles is
remarkable in its pseudo-scientific incompetence. Allen should have
been ashamed about his failure to even check the most basic details in
his science-fiction (if he did know better, it does seem a remarkable
contempt for his audience’s intelligence). Here’s another one: at the
beginning of the movie, Admiral Nelson gives an order to dive to 90
feet, and the captain orders "blow ballast tanks". Someone should tell
the boy that submarine ballast tanks are blown (i.e., filled with air)
in order to rise, not dive. But there's something wrong with you if you
just don't love this kind of ludicrousness!

The rising radiation causes a communication blackout leaving the sub on
its own to battle the usual hazards along the way: Giant squids,
floating mine fields, enemy submarines, and even bad ol' "sleeper"
"sub"versives on board fail to slow the sub on its dangerous mission.
And remember, this is *five years* before FANTASTIC VOYAGE (1966).

Allen has a reputation as the crassest of genre producers. The truth is
that Allen was less a filmmaker than he was a showman. The spirit of
P.T. Barnum was very much alive and well in Allen - to Allen everything
was spectacle. His disaster movies - The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The
Towering Inferno (1974), The Swarm (1978), Beyond the Poseidon
Adventure (1979) and When Time Ran Out (1980) - seemed the very
pinnacle of such showman’s ambition. They allowed Allen to combine the
twin drawcards of big name stars and spectacular boiler-plate
dramatics. Prior to this Allen had made his name with genre tv shows
such as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964-8), Lost in Space
(1965-8), The Time Tunnel (1967-8) and Land of the Giants (1968-70).
Allen’s tv series can almost be seen as disaster movies for juveniles,
where in lieu of the spectacle of overturned passenger liners, burning
skyscrapers or rampant swarms of insects, they inflate pseudo-science
and mindless flashing lights to the status of spectacle.

This movie was the forerunner of the TV series of the same name which
became Allen’s longest running series. The reason for Allen making the
series seems solely based on shrewd commercial instinct - that Allen
had expended $400,000 building a model and the interior set of the
submarine, it was left over after making the film so why not do
something else with it. The film is mounted with the dull stolidity
familiar to Allen, indeed it lays out the blueprint of Allen's ensuing
series - the wooden dialogue and characters, the laughable science, and
the mindless spectacle of flashing lights. The characters are all
forthright GI types hewn with shining patriotism - attempts to
introduce characterization with a romance between BARBARA EDEN and
Robert Sterling, and crew members expressing concern about their
families, and inquiring about "shore leave", have a dreadfully forced
awkwardness about them.

The film though is not without its entertainment value. The middle
scenes with the crew tensions pitted against commander Walter Pidgeon's
single-minded determination are conducted with a certain vigour. The
effects work is particularly good, notably the scenes of the submarine
cruising beneath the surface and the nicely done burning-sky effects.
Although the effects fall down when one sees that the Seaview model has
only been built at one size and when it is focused on in tight closeup
the lack of fine detail shows it up as just a model.

The film was later turned, of course, into the popular TV series
(1964-8) of the same name. The lead roles of Admiral Nelson and Captain
Crane were recast with good ol’ RICHARD BASEHART and DAVID (AL)
HEDISON. The first season of the series took itself relatively
seriously, but thereafter the fantastic elements became increasingly
improbable and ridiculous with the Seaview crew encountering everything
from dinosaurs, invading aliens, mad scientists, revived Nazis,
mummies, ghosts, mermaids, themselves turned into werewolves and wax
dummies, a mad toymaker who replaces the crew with puppets, the Yeti,
time travelers, an intelligent gorilla, even leprechauns, a lobster man
and a revived BlackBeard The Pirate.

Prod Co: 20th Century Fox Film Corp. Prod/Dir: IRWIN ALLEN. Wr: IRWIN
ALLEN, Charles Bennett. Mus: Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter. Phot: Winton
C. Hoch, John Lamb (underwater). Sp Phot FX: L. B. Abbott. Art Dir:
Herman A. Blumenthal, Jack Martin Smith. Costume Des: Paul
Zastupnevich. Snd: Alfred Bruzlin, Warren B. Delaplain. Cast: Walter
Pidgeon (Admiral Harriman Nelson), Joan Fontaine (Dr. Susan Hiller),
BARBARA EDEN (Lt Cathy Connors), PETER LORRE (Commodore Lucius Emery),
Robert Sterling (Captain Lee Crane), MICHAEL ANSARA (Miguel Alvarez),
Frankie Avalon (Lt(jg) Danny Romano), REGIS TOOMEY (Dr. Jamieson),
HOWARD MCNEAR (Congressman Parker), HENRY DANIELL (Dr. Zucco), DELBERT
MONROE (Kowalski), ANTHONY MONACO (Cookie), ROBERT EASTON (Sparks). 105
mins. RM

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Splodge!-lite mailing-list, just give us a "'hoy" here at
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Minor programme changes may occur due to unforseen
circumstances.
Feature runs last; shorts order may vary from listing.

* Acknowledging ACMI Inc. ;) *

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ADMISSION IS RESTRICTED TO MEMBERS FOR THIS PROGRAMME

THIS IS A FILM SOCIETY SCREENING OPEN TO MEMBERS

BUT IF YOU WISH TO BECOME A MEMBER, THE JOINING FEE IS SO LOW,
IT *MIGHT AS WELL BE FREE*!

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*annual and half-yearly memberships available on request

If you wish to join on the night, we strongly advise you to
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