ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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War is Hell! I guess that means Warlords and War-Gods are hell, too.

Three movies that feature the ravages of war — sort of. Two of them are set in the depths of the ocean, and the third is set in outer space.

I guess war knows no boundries.
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Warlords of Atlantis (1978 England)



Doug McClure's fourth Amicus studio's fantasy/adventure isn't a sequel to the first three, all of which were adaptations of Edgar Rice Burroughs stories.

McClure plays a turn-of-the-century explorer who travels via a diving bell to an ocean-floor kingdom ruled by Cyd Charisse.

Younger viewers will be interested in the film's roster of monsters: a giant octopus, a mollusk creature, an eel monster, and several others -- none of which are exceptionally well done, but they're all energetic.

Nice sets and matt paintings create the proper Lost Kingdom mood. Directed by Kevin Connor. Also starring Daniel Massey, Michael Gothard, Peter Gilmore, Shane Rimmer, and Lea Brodie.

Despite the flaws of this and the three previous Amicus studios fantasy/adventure yarns, they still remian the most amnbitious Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptations to date (or Burroughs-like, in this case).



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War-Gods of the Deep (1965)



[Also released as: "The City in the Sea"]

From American Internation Pictures, the people who made many Vincent Price / Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, comes this Vincent Price / Jules Verne adaptation -- at least in spirit.

It's about a group of adventurers who set out from England in 1903 to rescue kidnapped Susan Hart. She's been snatched by the gillmen inhabitants of an undersea city.

Air is pumped down from the surface, and heat is provided by a submerged volcano. The city is inhabited by aquatic humans who were once normal sailors and fishermen before they adapted their bodies to life beneath the ocean.

Price is the eccentric Nemo-like ruler of the hidden city, and he's convinced that Miss Hart is the reincarnation of his dead wife. The rescuers from the surface world are Tab Hunter and David Tomlinson ("Mary Poppins", "The Love Bug", etc.), along with a pet rooster (ala Gertrude the duck from "Journey to the Center of the Earth").

Directed by Jacques Tourneur (his last film), with underwater photography directed by John Lamb, the man who wrote, produced, and directed "The Mermaids of Tiburon".
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War of the Satellites (1958)

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If you think this movie has anything like what's shown in this poster, perhaps I could interest you in buying a historic structure in New York that crosses a river.

No?

Well, Roger Corman had better luck when he promised Allied Artist he could make a film in two months that would cash in on all the cosmic publicity caused by the launching of the first two satellites to orbit the Earth: Russia's Sputnik and America's Explorer.

With a shooting schedule of just over two weeks, Corman cranked out this minor effort.

Richard Devon stars as the scientist in charge of a United Nations project to orbit a manned spacecraft. Alien forces (who never appear on screen) oppose the project, and they create an invisible force field to block any attempts. They warn mankind that Earth will be destroyed if we don't stay on our own planet.

Devon dies in an auto accident, but an invisible alien possesses his body and uses it to sabotage the manned mission. When the rocket is launched, Devon tries to steer it into the force field, but the astronauts thwart him.

Dick Miller and Susan Cabot are the hero and heroine. The alien falls in love with Susan, and these unwanted emotions spell doom for the aliens' plan to destroy us.

Wow . . . it's true what they say. "Women . . . can't live WITHOUT 'em, and can't conquer worlds WITH 'em!"
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)