[profh0011]

Now I'll probably be going after the earlier DVD version, just for the extras.  That's maddening.

Apparently, Disney did a brand-new restoration of the film in 2011... but waited until 2019 to put out the Blu-Ray, because during that time there were 2 different remakes being considered. 

As John Huston said shortly before he passed away, "There's NO POINT in remaking a classic."  And 20,000 LEAGUES is considered by many (including me) as one of THE GREATEST films Disney ever, ever made.


The problem with videotapes-- apart frm how easily they can be damaged, etc., etc. etc... is that a few years ago, some IDIOTS decided they weren't going to make videotape machines anymore.  And most of the ones in the previous 20 years were msde so CHEAPLY, they tended to fall apart in only a couple years.  So, virtually overnight, it became DIFFICULT or IMPOSSIBLE to replace VCRs, and people with 40+ YEARS of tapes suddenly have no way to play them. 

Right now I'm using a used one that plays fine... except, it has this noticable ELECTRICAL CRACKLING NOISE when it plays.  And there's no body who repairs these things now, either.

As a result, I'm limiting myself to playing my old videotapes to 2 days a week.  The other 5, it's all DVDs and Blu-Rays, which I only started buying about 4 years ago.  Many of them so far have been TV series, which gives me a LOT to watch, but I've also this year been buying ONE disc or box set EVERY WEEK.  And many of these are things I never had in my collection before, after 42 years!  But I am slowly "upgrading"... and in many instabnces, they're MAJOR upgrades, because the tapes they're replacing may have been recorded BY ME back in the 1980s!

But there's no way to upgrade my whole collection overnight...  I need to space things out, money-wise, and time-wise.  I enjoy what I buy much better this way.


There needs to be someone smart enough to decide to start making VCRs again-- and make them GOOD ENOUGH that they last 5-10 years.  That would make it worth paying $500 for such a "specialty" item.

[The Australian Panther]

The problem with videotapes-- apart from how easily they can be damaged, etc., etc. etc... is that a few years ago, some IDIOTS decided they weren't going to make videotape machines anymore. 

Well, they are one of the only technologies that haven't come back again, so maybe they will.
Vinyl and Cassettes are both back. Not sure about 8-tracks?  Used to use 8track cartridges for short message tapes on radio. They were very useful.   
I remember - around 2005? - It was possible to buy machines into which you could put a VHS and a CD and record the VHS onto the CD. I have long regretted not buying one.
I would be surprised if you couldn't get a good quality VHS machine on E-Bay or the several equivalents.
Also, perhaps, look for a thread on VHS on Reddit?
cheers!         

[profh0011]

YES, they do sell VCRs... my previous one was "refurbushed" and I managed to make it last several more years.  then the mechanical part SUDDENLY stopped working.  I bet a good repairman cold fix it in minutes, but I've no idea how.  (The tape refuses to go in now, it just stops halfway in.)  I got an identical one to replace it, and this one works perfect, except for the electrical crackling noise.  In theory, one could canibalize the 2 machines to get ONE good one out of it, but I'm not gonna mess with it!!

At the moment, it looks like there might be much-better machines out there, but they tend to cost way more than I can afford right now.

I mean, this is why I got the cheapest Blu-Ray player I could find a year ago (one which ONLY had an "HDMI" jack in the back-- no "RCA" jacks).  Either the machine, the HDMI cable, or the "converter box" that allows me to use RCA cables, cuts the volume in HALF.  It's crazy.

A couple weeks ago, I got a cheap Region-Free DVD Player (for about the same price).  This one, as I knew in advance, has both HDMI and RCA jacks, so I was able to get it up and running in minutes, without having to buy extra equipment like I did last year, just to plug it in.  ("It shouldn't be this difficult just to play movies", my late friend in Wales said a year ago.)

A Region-Free Blu-Ray Player costs about 5 TIMES what either of these did.  Maybe in a few years...

[paw broon]

My dvd/bluray player is a Sony multi region machine which cost around £80 a couple of years ago.  I also have a Cambridge multi region dvd only player which I've had for years. 
As for sf, I bought a "new" BFI  version of the Children's Film Foundation serial, Masters Of Venus.  Much better than the dodgy, poor quality pirate copy from years ago. 

[The Australian Panther]

If you have a reasonably up-to-date lap-top computer, it should play region-free BlueRay Discs. 

[paw broon]

But most new laptops don't have dvd trays.  They are becoming rarer thanks to streaming.
Perhaps it's because I'm old and a member of the awkward squad that I don't stream stuff or pay for those Netflix things, preferring a physical box with dvd or cd.  A bit like comics.  Digital may be the future but you can’t beat the tactile and olfactory experience of a physical book.

[The Australian Panther]

I bought a laptop a few months ago which has a DVD player. Very good quality laptop too.
But you can buy a stand-alone player and attach it for not much more money.
I have too many DVDs not too.
Actually a significant number of younger persons watch movies on their mobile phones, or on a screen and speakers which they attach to the phone.   

[profh0011]

VOYAGE:  The Fossil Men
Rocks in their Heads     (4 of 10)

Strange noises... strange turbulence... and what looks like a rock creature pounding on the hull, which Nelson & Crane don't believe they actually saw. But, this is an Irwin Allen show, so, OF COURSE it's a rock creature. When one of the crew disappears, then comes back, "infected", Nelson & Sharkey use the Flying Sub to find a cave with an underground grotto, inhabitted by... what else? Rock men.

It seems most are sailors from 300 years earlier who were transformed by a "pool of life", making them immortal, but also making them look like Ben Grimm "The Thing" from the FANTASTIC FOUR series. Shades of THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT or THE OUTER LIMITS: "A Feasability Study". Their leader, a survivor of a sub that went missing only 30 years ago, want to take over the Seaview (WHAT ELSE?), and use their nuclear missiles as a threat if Nelson refuses to surrender. Didn't any of these writers watch earlier episodes? This is the 2nd week in a row where someone decides to fire the sub's nuclear missiles, even though with the complex FAIL-SAFE system, it's IMPOSSIBLE for anyone on the sub to do so without cooperation from someone in Washington!

On top of this, I keep wondering how the torpedos are fired backward from the missile room (in the rear of the sub) yet manage to fire forward (while there's no visible torpedo hatches in the front of the ship). Clearly, the simple practicalities of "design" meant nothing to Irwin "I love explosions" Allen.

It's annoying how this story seems to start off very interesting, with some fascinating concepts, but then gets DUMBER AND DUMBER the longer it goes on!!

The smooth, sophisticated voice of the lead rock man, totally inappropriate, wrong-sounding and out-of-place in this episode, was supplied by Bart La Rue, who also did such voices as "The Guardian Of Forever" (STAR TREK: "The City on the Edge Of Forever"), alien machines on LOST IN SPACE ("Space Destructors", "Flight Into The Future") a "Provider" (STAR TREK: "The Gamesters Of Triskellion") and "Yarnek" (STAR TREK: "The Savage Curtain"). He started out doing a ton of voices before segueing into on-screen acting. What makes this episode so odd is actor Brendan Dillon was the credited guest-actor in the opening credits, yet playing the lead monster, you can't see his face, AND, he had his voice dubbed over. WTF? I bet he wasn't proud of this smear on his resume.

My favorite bit was near the end, when Kowalski didn't wait for further orders when he fired that weapon to destroy the last monster. Enough was enough!

[profh0011]

VOYAGE:  The Mermaid
The Gilman and The Girl -or- Last Woman Swimming!     (4 of 10)

Nelson receives top-secret orders to locate an "unfindable" bomb off the west coast before it endangers a disarmament conference. Too bad he didn't tell this to Crane before The Captain went AWOL to a nearby island looking for a MERMAID. No, really! In a replay of Dr. Smith and "Lorelei" in the LOST IN SPACE episode "Wild Adventure", a character is the ONLY one who sees the mysterious alien girl. At least others on board eventually DO see her, and, she winds up coming in handy locating that "unfindable" bomb!

Of course, this being VOYAGE, this almost- reasonable story is peppered with multiple scenes of brutal combat, destruction and chaos abord The Seaview, as her "Creature from the Black Lagoon"-of-sorts "mate" comes looking for her, rampaging on and on and nearly preventing even his own destruction, if they don't deactivate that bomb in time.

I can't understand how The Seaview crew has repeatedly encounted countless undersea or alien creatures on this show, yet, somehow, the thought of a "mermaid" is scoffed at.  They take a monster rampaging in the halls for granted, but not a pretty girl with a tail?

I actually thought this episode was better than several I'd seen recently... but I thought a few scenes seemed... "familiar". Turns out, this was like the equivalent of the stunt Ralph Bakshi repeatedly kept pulling in the 3rd season of SPIDER-MAN (1969), when he would shamelessly RE-USE footage from earlier episodes, and hope the audience didn't notice how shamelessly CHEAP he was being.

In this case (thanks to reviewer "Medelste" for pointing this out), several of the creature rampage scenes were reused from Season 2's "The Menfish", while the entire "bomb disarming" scene was reused from Season 2's "The Peacemaker". BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!!


The Mermaid in question was none other than Diane Webber, who was Playboy's Playmate of the Month TWICE, in May 1955 and February 1956, both times under the name Marguerite Empey. This was not the only time Hugh Hefner used a model more than once as a Playmate! Among her relatively small film resume is a low-budget artsy flick called MERMAIDS OF TIBURON (1962). When I read that there's a scene in that film where she swims next to a SHARK, I realized that many (if not all) of her swimming scenes in this episode were reused from THAT movie!! Oh, Irwin Allen should have been embarrassed by this... but then, look what he was doing at the same time on THE TIME TUNNEL!

Crazy enough, Webber would be the LAST woman to ever appear on VOYAGE. After this, it was an all-boys' show all the way to the end. INSANE!!

I'm surprised I gave a thing like this 4 stars... I only did so because "The Brand of the Beast", "The Heat Monster" and "The Fossil Men" were all FAR-worse. I sensed as I watched that Richard Basehart may have been trying to keep himself from laughing at the absurdity of it all, the way he had to keep repeating questions and order. I also found it amusing how they apparently hired 2 new crewmen we never saw before, just to have them both get the crap repeatedly beat out of them in the fight scene padding with the monster.

[profh0011]

VOYAGE:  No Escape From Death
The STOCK-FOOTAGE Horror!     (3 of 10)

Tracking down an undersea lab, Seaview is rammed and sunk by an enemy sub. With a major bulkhead in danger of collapsing, and both the air and ballast systems disabled, they have only X number of hours to effect repairs, or everyone onboard will DIE! (What, AGAIN??) On top of that, a giant squishy tentacled thingie created by the enemy lab is endangering the ship, and, Crane, Kowalski & Patterson (WHO ELSE??) get swallowed by it.

All this would be annoying enough, if it weren't for the added absurdity of stock footage taken from what appears to be several previous episodes, including at least ONE from season 1! You have compartments being flooded under red lighting (to disguise it being BLACK AND WHITE footage being re-used), you have this week's only guest-star, Paul Carr, crawling thru a flooded air tube and getting his arm caught in some machinery he's trying to fix (all under BLUE lighting, same reason), and you have 3 divers walking around inside the guts of a giant monster (in full COLOR).

I guess we can say Ralph Bakshi learned a lot watching Irwin Allen (check out the 3rd season of SPIDER-MAN from 1969 to see what I mean).

The HERO of this hour is Chief Sharkey! Ordered to fire a missile to destroy the monstrous tentacled thingie, he hesitates, worried that the 3 divers might still be alive inside, and suggests a way to save them-- WHICH WORKS. Damn. If I'd written (and directed) this episode, I'd have had all 3 guys (especially the Captain) thanking Sharkey-- IN FRONT OF THE ADMIRAL-- while promising him a pay raise.

I honestly can't think of any other prime-time tv show from the 60s that managed to regularly get away with this kind of murder. I sometimes wonder if Irwin Allen had incriminating pictures of somebody at 20th Century-Fox Television? It's possible! After all, we KNOW the guy in charge, William Self, frequented The Playboy Mansion. (That's how the Adam West BATMAN show started.)

[profh0011]

THE TIME TUNNEL:  Chase Through Time
Two MILLION Years!     (9 of 10)

A foreign spy who infiltrated the complex a year earlier murders a scientist, plants the timing mechanism for an already-installed atomic bomb, and when he's found out, "escapes" into the Tunnel... winding up exactly where Doug & Tony are. They have about 24 hours, by the Tunnel's point of view, to locate the bomb, before it destroys the complex, possibly kills everyone in it, and traps our heroes "somewhere along the infinite corridors of time". WOW. What a premise!

I always remembered this story as one of the real stand-outs. I was even briefly inspired to write my own tribute to it once (but never got past the first page). As things go in the complex, inexplicably, they're somehow "unable to hold" the spy where he is, and so he vanishes from 1547, and the Tunnel has to try to track WHERE he vanished to, in order to send Doug & Tony after him. Which turns out to be ONE MILLION YEARS A. D. Holy cow! They find themselves in a patented 1960s sci-fi future inhabited by "humans" who have pretty much had all their humanity bred out of them, and have formed a society similar to that of BEES-- rulers, soldiers, and workers. And to make matter worse-- the spy they're searching for, somehow arrived TEN YEARS before they did-- has ingratiated himself to their rulers-- and has convinced them (CONNED, really!) to build their own time machine, to "spread their civilization across all time". WHAT?? This makes ZERO sense, but, again, these future-people are incapable of actually thinking for themselves-- and that includes the rulers. The real reason he's doing this, is to get back to his own time. (But of course, he's not going to tell them that.)

As I said, I always remembered this story, but re-watching now, after so long, it really blew my mind, as being EVEN BETTER than I remembered it. So often, on Irwin Allen shows, even when you had a great premise, the writing would let it down. Surprisingly-- NOT this time. Oh, sure, Ray Swaine & Ann MacGregor are as INCOMPETENT as always, and when they're able to do something with the Tunnel, it's usually a matter of good luck and a prayer. But I have to say, this may be the single most mesmerizing episode of the entire run, right up there with the "Titanic" and "Pearl Harbor" stories.

Has Robert Duvall EVER played a likable character? Apart from "The Chameleon" on THE OUTER LIMITS (and he started as a paid government assassin in that one), I can't think of one. He's SO focused on his murderous assignment, and later, when the heroes confront him and attempt to FORCE him to reveal where the bomb is hidden, he repeatedly refuses, over and over, so confident in his arrogance.

Vitina Marcus, "the girl from the green dimension" on LOST IN SPACE, plays a worker who becomes "defective" due to the hero's influence, and decides to help them when they decide to save her life. She asks, "What is LIKE?" "What is LOVE?", and her dormant humanity begins to come out.

Lew Gallo, previously seen in the Pearl Harbor story, is one of the soldiers, whose sole purpose has become protecting Duvall at all costs. When HE's nearly killed in the last act, he cannot comprehend why Doug refuses to kill him, or leave him to die. The best moment in the entire story may be when he takes his laser pistol back, and surprisingly, aims it AT Duvall, demanding he tell the heroes what they want to know. WHY this sudden change of attitude? He says... "I-- LIKE him." Looks like there's HOPE for humanity, yet! (Later on, Gallo switched over to production, and was one of the people in charge of the Stacy Keach MIKE HAMMER series in the 80s.)

The last act takes place in ONE MILLION B. C., which gives Irwin Allen a chance to re-use footage from his own feature film THE LOST WORLD, some of the same footage that had already been re-used in 2 different episodes of VOYAGE, and, to my surprise, the un-aired version of THE TIME TUNNEL pilot! I have to say, sure, they're giant lizards, but just like in Columbia's JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1959), this may be some of the best use ever of lizards pretending to be dinosaurs.

Presumably, Gallo & Marcus' characters were returned to their own time-- one would like to think together, their influence might bring a major positive change to their otherwise-bleak future society. (If not, some other time period is gonna have a pair of visitors even more out of place than Doug & Tony.) Re-watching this story, I couldn't help but wonder what a 2nd season might have been like. This was the small-screen equivalent of big-budget sci-fi feature film at the time, and in my mind, it looked and felt like what VOYAGE and LOST IN SPACE should have more often, but almost never was. Imagine Doug & Tony making it back to the Tunnel, and those in charge having more knowledge, experience and control over the Tunnel. There might have been an infinite range of stories they could have done, that was only hinted at here.

Several TIME TUNNEL stories had parallels on early DOCTOR WHO, including "Marco Polo", "The Trojan War", "The French Revolution", and even a western. This one clearly parallels "The Chase", which was the FINAL story on that show to feature Ian & Barbara-- before they made it back home to their own time. Suffice to say, DOCTOR WHO didn't end when that happened-- it had barely gotten started, and ran for another 24 seasons afterward. There's no reason THE TIME TUNNEL couldn't have had a longer run-- except the narrow minds of network executives.

[profh0011]

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND  (1961  /  more!)

I watched the 1st audio commentary tonight. This one was from about 20 years ago, with Ray Harryhausen & his friend and historian Tony Dalton. It was interesting, but, I'm afraid it was not one of my favorite commentaries. Harryhausen was so old, his voice sounded weak, and he'd forgotten more than they talked about, and Dalton, trying to keep the things rolling and on-target, showed a SHOCKING lack of knowledge about related films!

He actually complained that the 1929 MGM film had "nothing" to do with Verne's story (OF COURSE!!!) and had the nerve to insist it was "TERRIBLE". Jesus. I love that film. It's clearly a PREQUEL to "20,000 Leagues", and between certain events in it, which are MENTIONED in the Disney film, the 1954 Disney film becomes a SEQUEL.

Dalton seemed completely unaware that the 1916 "20,000 LEAGUES" was in fact also the 1st film version of "The Mysterious Island", and seemed to have NO knowledge of either the 1941 Russian film or the 1951 Sam Katzman SERIAL (both of which I now have on my "wanted" list).

I'm far more interested in older film versions than newer ones, as it seems Hollywood and other places insist on doing TERRIBLE REMAKES of the same stories over and over and over again.

One very interesting bit of knowledge I ran across, was that the 1973 Euro TV-mini-series starring Omar Sharif, WAS made available, INTACT, the entire 6 episodes of it, on a GERMAN DVD with English subtitles, back in 2005. Whoa. One more foreign item to look for next year!

[profh0011]

VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA   (1961)
Preposterous, Apocalyptic Submarine Epic!     (6 of 10)

The Van Allen Belt has caught fire! As temperatures world-wide continue to rise, in 3 weeks, all life on Earth will become extinct.  Only genius scientist, inventor and military Admiral Harriman Nelson has a chance of saving the entire planet, with his nuclear submarine The Seaview, by exploding an atomic bomb in the atmosphere at an exact time and location to blow the belt into space.  But he’s got everything possible against him—a Russian scientist at the U.N. who claims Nelson is wrong; a sub Captain who’s arguing with him at every stage of the mission; a crew on the verge of mutiny; a woman psychiatrist who insists Nelson is "a classic case of paranoia" who needs to be forcibly removed from command; a religious fanatic who insists it is wrong to go against "God’s will"; a giant squid, an even bigger giant octopus, an underwater mine field, and a U.N. sub determined to blow The Seaview out of the water with torpedoes.  Can you say, "disaster movie"?

In the 1960s, 2 producers held sway in the field of TV sci-fi:  Gerry Anderson in England, and Irwin Allen in America.  3 years before the debut of Allen’s VOYAGE series came this movie, with much the same sub but an (almost) entirely-different cast.  I’ve been re-watching and studying and discussing Allen in great detail over the last 3+ years, and I’ve come to the conclusion he had the emotional maturity of an arrogant 6-year-old.  Despite this, he somehow became one of the most successful producers in Hollywood during the 60s and 70s.  But one thing’s certain:  he really could have used better writers.  Virtually NOTHING about this film makes any sense at all, and yet, since the day I upgraded my local commercial station videotape copy to an uncut widescreen one from TCM, my estimation of this film increased tenfold.  It may be completely-ridiculous—but it’s unquestionably VERY watchable!

What we have here is a cross between THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE and THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE.  Submarine films had been popular since World War Two, and more so since Disney’s 20,000 LEAGUES (1954).  Disaster movies were also a popular genre, not all of them involving giant monsters.  I can attest, this one’s less depressing than the average ones coming out of England at the time.

Heading the cast is Walter Pidgeon (MANHUNT, NICK CARTER MASTER DETECTIVE, FORBIDDEN PLANET), who, ehh, plays "Harriman Nelson", a man who’se had so much success in his life he’s reached a point where he’s convinced he’s never wrong.

Peter Lorre plays his colleague, presumably because Lorre was also in the 1954 Disney film.

Robert Sterling is Captain Lee Crane, strangely the most forgettable actor in the film.  Ironically, David Hedison turned this down because he didn’t like the script; but 3 years later, he accepted the role because he really wanted to work with Richard Basehart.

Barbara Eden plays the only crew-woman on board, who happens to be engaged to the Captain, and the two plan on retiring to some cosy ranch.  More than anything else, this shows the movie and later tv series are not in the same continuity.

Frankie Avalon does double duty as a trumpet-playing Lieutenant, and singing the romantic theme song.

Charles Tannen is CPO Gleason, who doesn’t have half the personality of either Chief Curly or Chief Sharkey on the later series.

Regis Toomey, who I always remember from THE BIG SLEEP ("This doesn’t look like the way YOU’D handle it, Phil!") is Dr. Jamieson, who actually has more personality than the un-named doctor on all 4 years of the series.

Mark Slade plays the young seaman Jimmy, who suffers a fate similar to Scotty’s nephew in STAR TREK 2.

Robert Easton is communications man "Sparks".  He turned up as one of the main regulars on another submarine show a bit after this, Gerry Anderson’s STINGRAY, where he played "Phones"!  A good friend of mine in Wales always maintained that STINGRAY had way better writing than VOYAGE, and I agree.

Henry Daniell, Joan Fontaine & Michael Ansara played, respectively, the Russian fanatic, the psychiatrist, and the religious fanatic.  Allen played no favorites here!

The sole actor who returned from this for the series was Del Monroe.  However, it should be noted, "Kowski" is a completely-different character than "Kowalski".  The former was quick to argue or start fights; the latter was arguably the most good-natured crewman on the sub, always enthusiastic and ready to tackle any job, no matter how dangerous or suicidal it might be.  What a guy!

The last time I watched this, I was under a lot of stress.  Against all odds or sense, watching this film, of all things, helped me relax and put me in a far-more optimistic mood.  When I get a chance, I plan to upgrade my TCM tape to a DVD.  It’ll be a good fit with all my Irwin Allen series box sets!
   (11-12-2022  /  12-16-2022)

[profh0011]

I saw the most disturbing movie I've seen in more than a year last night.  The more I think about it, the worse I feel.  So I went to the IMDB, where, about 3 pages in, I finally found SOMEBODY who wasn't saying it was the greatest film ever ever made...

MAN OF STEEL   (2013)
One of the stupidest movies ever made.   (1 of 10)

lyre15   (June 2013)
Warning: Spoilers

This review is going to be full of spoilers because I am going to mention various gaping plot inconsistencies and outright idiocies in this dog of a film.

Sure, it looks great and the special effects are generally well done. But some people need their movies to at least make some sense.

Let's start with a really basic one: the planet Krypton is going to be destroyed, and no one can be saved except one baby, presumably because they don't have any spacecraft.

Oh but wait, they do have spacecraft. In fact, they have so much spare technology they use it to send criminals into space... so that they will survive and provide enemies for Superman later in the movie.

Jor-El steals the Codex, which apparently contains the DNA of the Kryptonian race. Somehow, there are no backup copies. Oh but what about the actual Kryptonians who are running around destroying things... surely they each have their own DNA? Apparently not, somehow. And how about that baby-making machine in the scout ship: what was it supposed to use if there's only one Codex?

Clark just happens to hear about some top secret ice digging, and somehow knows to go there. How? And Lois Lane is somehow given a tour of the dig and a free place to stay even though she had to sue to be allowed there at all.

Clark discovers the spacecraft and somehow knows how to pilot it and land it somewhere. But then it never gets used again, for example to help fight the invaders later on. Doesn't it have the same kind of engine that's needed to destroy them? And it actually can fly rather than needing to be dropped via an airplane, as Clark's baby spacecraft is at the end of the film. But somehow no one thinks of this.

When Clark is taken to General Zod's ship, he loses his powers because he supposedly needs the gasses in earth's atmosphere to gain and retain his powers. Yet he's shown repeatedly operating in the vacuum of space. If he needed Earth's atmosphere to retain his powers, he should lose them in space.

In numerous fight scenes, massive damage is caused to probably inhabited buildings, which must have resulted in massive loss of life. Why wouldn't Clark/Superman immediately lure his enemies far away from the city, fight over the ocean, in the mountains, etc? In one scene he deliberately throws an enemy through a bunch of buildings, apparently not caring who gets hurt.

At the end, when the world engine is working, Superman flies into its gravity beam where his powers shouldn't exist because the conditions it's creating are like those of Krypton. But after being unable to do anything, he somehow just decides he's going to do it, and then instantly destroys the machine. Because if you really really decide, then you can do anything.

General Zod's ship will be flipped back into the Phantom Zone if its drive field comes in contact with another drive field of the same type, as found in Clark's baby spacecraft. But wait, don't all their small spacecraft use the same engine? Why don't they cause the same problem?

At the end, Superman and General Zod have an extended fight and appear to be equally matched, but when Zod threatens a prototypical family of Father, Mother and Child with his heat vision (and which he somehow doesn't manage to hurt although all he'd have to do is move his eyes slightly), Superman easily kills him, although he was completely unable to damage him until then. Again, just deciding to do something makes it happen.

These are just some of the really obvious major problems, how about some minor but equally stupid ones?

Perry White, Jenny and Steve are walking away from General Zor's ship when Perry says "where's Jenny?" Oh, she's suddenly stuck under rubble that apparently no one noticed falling, and she hasn't bothered to scream or make any sound at all. They struggle to free her, when suddenly the beam stops and they say "He saved us!", even though they didn't know anything about Superman trying to save them, nor that the destruction wouldn't resume, or in fact anything about what was going on.



Martha Kent is violently flung 20 feet or more. But apparently she's completely unhurt even though she's elderly and even a simple fall should have been damaging.



When Superman and Zor are fighting, they fly a great distance and end up falling through the ceiling of something that looks like Grand Central Station. After a few seconds, Lois Lane suddenly appears out of nowhere, because she should be in that scene.



In a 'heartwarming' scene at the end, Jonathan Kent sees young Clark playing with a cape and gets all misty eyed. Wait, how did he associate a kid playing with a cape with anything at all? Why would a cape signify something to him? It wouldn't.



This is a movie that didn't bother to make any sense, and the fact that people accept all the illogic, plot holes and dumbness of it really depresses me. Special effects shouldn't be enough to make a movie popular. The story and the logic of the story should count for at least as much and more.


****************************

Yeah, I agreed with every point here, many of which hadn't even crossed my mind, and this barely touches how bad I felt about the film when I woke up this morning.

[profh0011]

Honestly, it's rare when any movie makes me feel as down as this one. It makes "KISS ME DEADLY" seem warm & friendly by comparison!! I'll be watching all 3 movies over 3 weeks... the 4th week, it'll be the "Superman & Scooby-Doo" team-ups. Those HAVE to be better and more fun to watch!

No kidding, I just got done watching all 13 episodes of "CONSTANTINE". That's a really NASTY supernatural horror series, and yet that was more fun to watch. Well, except for the 13th episode, where, right at the end, I wanted to KILL the writer. That show-- which, STUPIDLY, aired on a major network-- was abruptly cancelled in mid-season, when some IDIOT network exec suddenly decided, he didn't think it was a "good fit" for his network. What, he couldn't have figured that out before he gave it the green light? My best friend and I, the other day, were discussing our own theories for WHERE the unintended cliffhanger (which became an unresolved season-finale) might have been intended to go, had they been able to finish their season-long storyline.

I hate network execs. I'm sure they're all strung out on cocaine, or worse.

[profh0011]

My best friend down in Georgia recently sent me some recent DC movies to watch.  I've been working my way thru them, one per week.  That's all I can tolerate.  "MAN OF STEEL" was the single most DISTURBING film I've seen in years.  I think I honestly hated every single aspect of it.  When it was over, I wished to God I'd never seen it.  But I'm doing this as a "favor" of sorts, so I felt I had to continue on.  This week I watched "BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN".  It turned out to be the culmination of Denny O'Neil's entire career of being dark, disturbing, depressing, violent, and basically trying to DESTROY superheroes.  The SOB never should have touched a superhero comic-book in his life, and his legacy is continuing on in the movies.  The fight of the title made BOTH character look like COMPLETE IDIOTS, like an early issue of "Marvel Team-up" on steroids.  The main difference between the 1st film and the 2nd one, is that the 2nd one had about 30 SECONDS in it I liked.  But 30 SECONDS isn't enough to ever make me want to sit thru the DAMNED thing ever again.  These films epitomize everything that's wrong with modern superhero comics-- and movies.

The 2 Richard Donner films were schizo and leaned too close to Adam West.  The 2 Zach Snyder films went COMPLETELY in the other direction.  Neither capture the real tone of what "Superman" should be.

Crazy enough, the other day I saw "SHIN ULTRAMAN", which I did enjoy.  I came away thinking, it was Japan's "answer" to "MAN OF STEEL".  Except, 100 times more entertaining.  Both were remakes of FAR better stories from decades past.  I could imagine re-watching "SHIN ULTRAMAN" one of these days, but, I'm not in a hurry.  What I am, is looking forward EVEN MORE than I was before, to getting my hands on the 1966 "ULTRA MAN" TV series on DVD.  Because that show, remains one of my all-time favorite things from the 1960s.  I mean, hell, it was BETTER than "STAR TREK".  How can I say this? Simple:  NO-- bad episodes.

[paw broon]

Well said Prof. 
I find many DC and Marvel movies unpleasant.  DC particularly.  Dark, nasty, disturbing.  Marvel because, latterly, everything seems to be the end of the world, universe. 
I read very few modern comics but recently decided to try a few DC titles.  Apart from the books not feeling like value for money, the art was very flash  (I prefer a more classic form of comic book art) and all designed to stretch out stories that could be told in one or two  issues, not six or  eight or whatever.  As I've said before, fur coat and nae knickers.
I won't be repeating the experiment with the big two.  Why should I when there are other good, new comics out there?

[profh0011]

Apart from mostly books I've bought to support my POE project, for a lot of years, I haven't been able to afford to buy new comics regularly.  there's also a major STORAGE SPACE problem, which can only be solved by GETTING RID of at least HALF of my collection (!!!!!), but I haven't had time to sort out what to get rid of and what to keep.

The thing is, I do feel there's a LOT of really fun comics being made out there right now-- none by the "the big two" of course.  Just the other day I mentioned that the likes of Gary Carlson, Dan Reed & Mort Todd are knocking out a TON of new comics I'm sure I'd love to read.  (I became aware of all 3 of these guys thanks to Carlson's BIG BANG COMICS... which he is still doing!)  There's also Steve Rude's NEXUS, which I really would love to catch up on. Or Phil Foglio's GIRL GENIUS, which I am terribly behind on.

I find it really sad when anybody talks about new comics, and ALL they want to bring up is the latest ATROCITIES from Marvel or DC.

[profh0011]

TIME TRAVELLERS   (1974  /  1976)
Time Travel ON A BUDGET  -or—"TIME DOCTOR"!     (5 of 10)

A group of scientists recruit a doctor to go BACK IN TIME to see if they can locate a lost cure for a rare disease that has reoccured after nearly a century, and threatens to become an epidemic. As expected, problems arise when the 2 men arrive in the wrong location, and several days later than planned-- AND, the doctor whose notes they desperately hope to find, has NO IDEA how his patients are managing to stay alive!

In between 2 of his big-budget, all-star "disaster" epics, Irwin Allen decided to take another stab at a time travel series. He'd previously tried to do a variation on "VOYAGE" with "CITY BENEATH THE SEA" (1971), and soon after would do a down-to-earth variation on "LOST IN SPACE" with his "SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON" tv series that ran from 1975-76. But legalities got in the way. The story was based on an unpublished novel, "A Time To Live" by Charles William Byrd (written in the late 1950s). But somehow, Rod Serling wound up writing a story so similar to it that a lawsuit erupted that kept the film from being broadcast for 2 years, and by the time it aired, any momentum of doing a series was already gone. (I'm reminded of how Herman Miller wrote a pilot for a series about a southwestern cop in New York City, "Ben Coogan", which got turned into a feature film instead. But then 2 years later, Glen Larson did the pilot for "McCLOUD", Miller sued, and in every subsequent episode, a credit read "created by Herman Miller", even though he never worked on the show! Seems to me there was the potential for a lawsuit over "LOST IN SPACE" in connection with Gold Key's earlier comic-book series, "Space Family Robinson"... Hollywood, huh?)

This is a very nice-looking, level-headed, intelligent project to be coming from Irwin Allen, who tended to stress "spectacle" and "schlock" more than good writing. But re-watching it today, for the first time in 47 years (!!!), I found it looked and felt just too much like your average "1970s" tv-movie. In other words, DULL as dirt, and somehow feeling CHEAP. I was betting most of the budget went into the costumes. I read the Old Chicago set was built for "HELLO, DOLLY" (1969)-- Allen, like Roger Corman, was a master of recycling. The Chicago fire footage came from "IN OLD CHICAGO" (1938)-- the entire run of Allen's "THE TIME TUNNEL" included stock footage from existing epic feature films. The "Stairway Into Time" was an idea swiped outright from 1970 episodes of Dan Curtis' "DARK SHADOWS" (though it looked a lot more modern), while the computer banks were the same NASA surplus equipment also seen in "VOYAGE", "LIS" and "TIME TUNNEL".

I'd say the best part of this was the cast. Heading things off was Sam Groom as "Dr. Clint Earnshaw". Apart from 5 episodes of "THE TIME TUNNEL" (I thought it was more than that), he also starred in 95 episodes of "DR. SIMON LOCKE", known in America as "POLICE SURGEON"! So you would have had trouble finding any actor more perfectly-suited to playing a TIME-TRAVELLING DOCTOR!

Tom Hallick is "Jeff Adams", who quit the astronaut training program and found the idea of traveling through history more exciting. I've only seen him in a few things, but one of them was Allen's "THE RETURN OF CAPTAIN NEMO" (1978), another variation on "VOYAGE" that is near-unwatchable.

Francine York is "Dr. Helen Sanders", this story's version of "Dr. Ann MacGregor" (Lee Meriweather). York seemed perpetually typecast as extremely-intelligent woman, which coupled with her stunning looks make for one very attractive lady.

Booth Colman is "Dr. Amos Cummings", this story's version of "Dr. Raymond Swain" (John Zaremba), except he seems to have a better idea what he's doing with his time machine than the old "TT" crew ever did. Another actor I've only seen in a few things, I most remember him as "Pat Chambers" in the unsold pilot-turned-feature, "MY GUN IS QUICK" (1957).

Walter Brooke is "Dr. Stafford", who seems less this story's "General Kirk" (Whit Bissell) than Federal Government contact. Among his long resume, I'd bet most will remember him as "District Attourney Frank Scanlon" from "THE GREEN HORNET" (1966-67).

Stealing the movie is Richard Basehart as "Dr. Joshua Henderson", the 1871 physician who's as baffled by the mystery illness as the 2 men from the future. Basehart gets to be a lot crankier than he usually was during his 4 seasons on "VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA".

Dort Clark has a small part as "Sharkey" (no, not "Chief Sharkey"), a drunken sailor infected by the disease. A very familiar face for me, I mainly know him from "THE MONKEES", where he played cops in 3 episodes.

I'm really glad this was included as an extra on the last disc of "THE TIME TUNNEL" set, but I can't imagine being in too much of a hurry to watch it again. As back in 1976, watching it now, I just kept wishing it were better than it is. One thing's for sure, this has to be the STRANGEST "doctor" show I've seen outside of "THE FUGITIVE".

[The Australian Panther]

how Herman Miller wrote a pilot for a series about a southwestern cop in New York City, "Ben Coogan", which got turned into a feature film instead. But then 2 years later, Glen Larson did the pilot for "McCLOUD", 

[It was always obvious to me that McCloud was a rip-off of Coogan's Bluff. Astounded me that they thought they could get away with it.
Now it seems there's a band called 'Coogan's Bluff' 
Dennis Weaver. of course was a good choice for McCloud.
But what moron thought it was a good idea for Weaver to ride a horse through the streets of cities like New York. Clearly not a logical thinker or an animal lover. Made no sense whatever.         
"McCloud" TV Intro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc2wjvoOmVM
Live concert - excellent if that kind of music is your thing!
"Progressive jazz-rock krautrock band in the tradition of Xhol Caravan, Amon Düül, Guru Guru etc."
Coogans Bluff live | Rockpalast | 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rOyH02OP3A

Cheers!

[profh0011]

When AH wuz a BOH... pilots were run at the start of series.  I missed most of them.  Except for BATMAN. 

But in the 70s... they started running pilots separate-- like, 6 months before a show started.  I missed MOST of them, too!! In many cases, I never saw those pilots until after the shows were cancelled and went into reruns.

Perfect example... McCLOUD.  I saw the pilot about a year after the show ended.  I've long ranked it as the SINGLE WORST episode in the entire run.  How the HELL did it ever get sold as a series?  The last time I watched my tapes, I watched COOGAN'S BLUFF instead, then jumped to season 2.

The 1st season was part of FOUR IN ONE.  This was very odd, even by the already-existing standards of rotating series, of which, I keep finding more than I knew existed.  They'd run all 6 episodes of one show... then all 6 episodes of the 2nd show... all 6 of the 3rd... and all 6 of the 4th.  Then, when rerun season came around, they alternated each show every 4th week.  Crazy. 

I'm not 100% sure... but I believe I got hooked on McCLOUD during those summer reruns.  Every episode was 1 hour (50 min. plus commercials).  The first one-hour episode had a finale that involved a chase across Central Park.  Sam happened to be standing next to a mounted patrolman (yes, they do have those in NYC!), he borrowed the horse, and gave chase.  That scene later turned up in the opening credits.  But it didn't really happen that often over the course of 7 seasons.  Maybe only twice!  4 times if you count the Oklahoma and Australia episodes.

The next year, THE PSYCHIATRIST and SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT did not return.  NIGHT GALLERY became a weekly.  McCLOUD became a 90-minute part of the new NBC MYSTERY MOVIES, joined by McMILLAN AND WIFE and COLUMBO (there had been 2 COLUMBO pilots-- one in 1968, a 2nd in 1971; I never saw either until the late 70s-early 80s).  I started watching MM&W from the 1st week (they re-ran the pilot at the start of the season), so I actually started that series from the beginning.  COLUMBO I walked into the last 10 minutes of the Roddy McDowell episode (I was waiting for NIGHT GALLERY to come on after at 10 PM).

Having re-watched my copies made off THE CBS LATE MOVIE in the early 80s, it's noticable that certain 2nd-season McCLOUDs feel painfully padded-out.  My guess, those were written for the hour format but extended to fit 90 minutes.  OY.  A couple years later, when some IDIOT at NBC decided to make them "all" 2 hours, WAY too many felt written for 90 minutes and painfully-padded out to 120. ARGH.  Before that, a 2-hour story was "special" and deserved it. Like, "This Must Be The Alamo", which had 4 stories running at once, a precursor to the later HILL STREET BLUES.

Sometime around 1973 (?) some COMPLETE A-HOLE at Universal decided to re-edit McCLOUD's 1st season into 3 90-minute movies.  Not 3 2-HOUR movies.  And, they "inter-cut" the stories to make each "movie" look like he was working on 2 cases at the same time.  These are ABOMINABLE abortions, and UNWATCHABLE.  (They did the same thing with 4 random episodes of THE NIGHT STALKER.)  You know what's worse?  They LOST the original versions of the 1st season.  They haven't been seen since 1970-71.

Somebody put out the McCLOUD pilot and season 1 in one DVD set-- but they're the butchered versions of season 1.  A few years ago, they put out a "new" version, but, I have been UNABLE to determine if they found the good ones, or not.  NO online reviews confirming one way or the other.  A little while later, I looked again-- and the new versions were SOLD OUT-- and copies became VERY expensive.  Gee, what am I to make of this?

Since then, I found a blog article about the show, praising season 1.  Somebody in Australia found intact copies.  The writer warned readers-- the ONLY way he knew of to see the proper season 1, was on region 4 discs from Australia.  Well, I have a Region-Free DVD player now... so, I hope to look for that set... SOON.

[profh0011]

I forgot to mention... Glen Larson left McCLOUD after season 1 to do ALIAS SMITH AND JONES.  I'm trying to remember if anyone got sued over that (the idea came from a scene in the middle of the film BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID).

After one season, Pete Duel committed suicide.  Yikes.  Roger Davis (who'd been the narrator) took over, but, just like on DARK SHADOWS, he had no personality.  The show ended pretty soon.

Dean Hargrove & Peter Allan Fields did McCLOUD season 2, which I like, it's very nice... but it feels odd.  I mean, the season opener, Weaver seems to be impersonating Lt. Columbo.  NO, REALLY.

When season 3 arrived, Glen Larson came back.  I recently learned he looked at season 2 and thought, "This is ALL WRONG!"  Dennis Weaver seemed to be playing "Chester" from GUNSMOKE-- when, he should have been doing John Wayne-- or Clint Eastwood.  Season 3 really KICKED ASS.  Season 4 was even better!  Sadly, season 5 was when they went all-2-hour episodes.  Oy. There's an episode near the end of season 6-- which should have BEEN the end of season 6-- that really feels like a satisfying "series finale".  I'm sure that was the intention.  "The Day New York Turned Blue".  But they ran it out of sequence.  NBC had cancelled the MYSTERY MOVIES.  Everyone was ready to move on.

Then NBC changed their minds.  McMILLAN had already lost 3 of their 4 cast members, so between episodes, they revealed Sally and her baby had been killed in a plane crash.  Those BASTARDS.  On the other hand, I thought the writing improved that year, and I liked Martha Raye way better than Nancy Walker.

COLUMBO continued on as usual.  Michael Sloan became producer on McCLOUD... and back then, he wasn't very good yet.  So season 7 was a serious dip in quality.  Plus, once again, whenever they had any "continuity", those episodes got run noticably OUT of sequence.  Idiot networks. 

QUINCY M.E. debuted.  I loved that... at first. That was Glen Larson's new baby.  Jack Klugman felt they lied to him.  He wanted to do a doctor show, they wanted a detective show.  I only recently found a movie that may have been the model:  THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET (1942), about a coroner who liked to go out solving the crimes himself.  Anyway, 4 episodes in, they pulled QUINCY off the Sunday rotation and made it a weekly on Friday.  Klugman was further miffed.  After 9 episodes, he told them he wanted changes or he'd walk.  They called his bluff.  HE WASN'T bluffing.  Episode 10 featured Monahan's boss-- L.A.'s Chief Medical Examiner, a Chinese guy (apparently, based on the real-life Chinese Chief M.E.).  He kept spouting proverbs, and his chauffer was a black guy.  I didn't realize at first they were doing "Charlie Chan & Birmingham Brown".  It was fun.  But, after ONE episode... NBC buckled, the show was changed, Klugman came back... and I very quickly got bored with what became just another DOCTOR SHOW.  How the HELL did that thing last 7 whole seasons?  God, it was BORING.

The MYSTERY MOVIES finally vanished the next year... except... they did another season of COLUMBO.  But without the rotating schedule, the new COLUMBOs ran... whenever they felt like it.  It's no wonder... I missed every episode that year.  I NEVER knew when the hell they were on!

[profh0011]

THE FABULOUS JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (Spain / 1977)

I first saw a wretched print of this on TV under its US title, "WHERE TIME BEGAN". A fairly CHEAP Spanish film (aren't they all?) which is arguably the MOST authentic film version ever made (out of many) of Jules Verne's novel, this one has its own quirky little changes & additions. Despite its low budget (and REALLY low-budget dinosaurs-- heehee), EACH time I watched the film, it grew on me more and more, and I genuinely came to like it more than the famous 1959 Columbia film with James Mason.

So in 2019 I got a copy of the "extended European version". WHOA!!!!! Turns out, the US version was MISSING several scenes, had a few scenes assembled into the film in the wrong order, had some inexplicable "special effects" tacked onto the lightning-storm sequence, and, on top of all that, had a REALLY miserable song slapped onto the opening & closing credits. And this was before some TV station ran a fuzzy-as-hell print of it in fullscreen with commercial breaks.

By comparison, the original Euro film was STUNNING-- uncut, widescreen, CRYSTAL-CLEAR picture & sound, GORGEOUS music over the opening & closing credits. In effect, this film I was liking more each time I watched it, in one go, became one of my FAVORITE films. (So much so, I just ignore the dinosaurs... heeheehee.)

The only problem with the disc I had... was it was put out by some outfit called Saturn Productions. The box was UGLY AS HELL, with the label "Exploitation Cinema" on it, and the film was included as the 2nd half of a double-feature with an absolute atrocity called "ENCOUNTER WITH THE UNKNOWN", which was apparently 3 episodes of an anthology TV series that was never sold. On top of that, the disc menu is arguably the UGLIEST one I have ever encountered in my life, spelled out by its own label, "SEPTIC CINEMA" (with a metal portable toilet loudly slamming down as the menu started).

I decided this month to see if I could find a better copy. Well, that's still up in the air. It seems an outfit named VCI Entertainment put out a new version of it in 2016 (though some ads say 2017). However, on getting the disc, it instead said "Sprocket Vault". I pointed out to the Ebay seller that he seemed to have the wrong version listed on his page, yet, after I sent for it, I found the Sprocket Vault disc clarly listed on the actual VCI Entertainment website!! WTF?

I've just watched this new disc, and let me give you a quick run-down. The packaging is very nice (though fuzzy-- it looks like a BOOTLEG). The menu is very nice (and allows you to watch either the trailer or the movie without any wait or fuss). The movie... OY. The sound is loud & harsh, the colors are FAR TOO INTENSE, and in dark areas, things go SOLID BLACK and you can't see a lot. In other words, this makes the infamous Warner Archive HORROR OF DRACULA Blu-Ray look good by comparison.

After I ordered it (but before I watched it), I did more research nline, and found that "earlier" versions of this disc were "pressed DVDs"-- but that these newer ones are "DVD-R"s. Hey, I've seen DVD-Rs. But based on this, not all of them are created equal. Frankly, this disc looks sounds and feels like a BOOTLEG. No wonder it's SO DAMNED CHEAP.

The earlier 2008 disc, from "Code Red", is hard to find. I JUST ORDERED a brand-new copy!!! (Pricey-- but for one of my FAVORITE films, no biggie.) I'm really, REALLY curious to see what it this disc looks like, given how much I like this film. I just have NO interest in ever watching that "Sprocket Vault" disc ever again.

[profh0011]

MASTER OF THE WORLD  (1961)

I've seen this film since the late 60s, and in fact have a paperback containing both novels, and Vincent Price's photo on the cover!  Some time back I taped it off TCM (so it was a nice widescreen print), but now I have the Shout Factory Blu-Ray.  I don't mind the minor damage, what weirds me out more is that apparently the sound volume DROPS in the middle of the picture but then jumps back up for the last third.  (Anyone else notice that?)

I love the design of the Albatross; I just kept wishing they'd done some kind of camera tracking shots where it would be seen to MOVE as opposed to just hovering in front of the backgrounds.  I think the single BEST visual effect is when it BLOWS up at the end!  This comes, unfortunately, without an actual shot of it first crashing into the ocean (heh).

Henry Hull's performance harkens back to the one he gave in JESSE JAMES and THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES, but I liked his character there.  David Frankham is just such a JERK in this. He nicely toned it down a lot when he appeared in TALES OF TERROR.

Personally, I have no problem with Bronson's performance here. Although, in 19th century sci-fi terms, Robert Conrad does seem like he would have been a better fit (heh).

This is a "nice" movie, but it'll never be a great one.  I'd say, something to re-watch maybe every 10 years... as opposed to yearly, or every 6 months.  There are WAY-better Jules Verne films out there (and I'm planning to go after as many as I can find!), but, there are also far-worse ones.

I'm waiting for someone to do a proper full restoration on the 1929 "THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND"-- the PREQUEL to "20,000 Leagues"-- which features a fictionalized version of the Bolshevik Revolution (the Czars, the democratic types, and the criminals who over-ran the country).  Verne intended Nemo to be a Polish prince betrayed by the Russians, but his editor felt that would hurt sales at the time, so in anger, he just removed all references to his background, leaving Nemo a total mystery.  (The "sequel" was NEVER intended as one when he wrote it, which explains its insane inconcisistencies.  The 1961 movie with Herbert Lom is WAYYY better than Verne's novel!) 

Currently, the 1929 film is only available on a Warner Archive DVD in "unrestored" status, which-- infuriatingly-- does NOT look as good as the videotape I recorded decades earlier off of TNT!  There's NO excuse for that.

[crashryan]

I saw Master of the World for the first time a couple of years ago. I thought they did a pretty respectable job on a bargain-basement budget. Unfortunately the drama was pretty much short-circuited by all the embarrassing "comic relief." I've a sneaking hunch that this may have been inserted because there was comic relief in 20,000 Leagues, and this film's debt to that one is obvious. Vincent Price made an excellent Nemo--that is, Robur. As you say, the design of the Albatross is magnificent. The poster art was great, too. I still have the soundtrack LP which I bought new back in the last century. The score had its ups and downs but the opening theme is doggoned good.