Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) Irwin Allen

Country: Italy |USA | Director: Irwin Allen

Admiral Nelson takes a brand new atomic submarine through its paces. When the Van Allen radiation belt catches fire, the admiral must find a way to beat the heat or watch the world go up in smoke.

This is a movie about a state of the art submarine. Walter Pidgeon, Joan Fontaine, Robert Sterling, and especially Barbara Eden do a superb job of acting. It is also state of the art inasmuch as it has Barbara Eden (Lt. Cathy Connors) on board, Actually no woman ever served on board until 20 years later. The main themes are a trip to the North pole under the ice and that the radiation layer is on fire. Joan Fontaine plays the part of a meddlesome pschiatrist and Michael Ansara plays the part on a religious fanatic who independently helps Joan Fontaine in the meddling dept. Actually the meddling becmes more dangerous than the fire. Incidents with a rebellious crew, a giant octupus etc etc infinitum add fast action. Also there is a love affair between Lt. Cathy Connors (Barbara Eden) and Capt. Crane (Robert Sterling) which add love interest. Barbara Eden's acting (her fourth acting year) is execellent and in my estimation she up-staged Joan Fontaine. Altogether a fantastic fun movie even if it was scientific nonsense.