| GB, 1967 US title: "Battle Beneath the Sea" Directed by Montgomery Tully Executive Producer Charles F. Vetter Producer: Charles Reynolds (I) Written by Lance Z. Hargraves Music by Kenneth V. Jones Cinematography by Kenneth Talbot Special effects: Tom Howard (IV) Assistant Director: Pat Kelly (V) |
CAST Kerwin Mathews as Commander Jonathan Shaw Vivienne Ventura as Tila Yung Robert Ayres (I) as Admiral Felix Hillebrand Peter Arne as Arnold Kramer Al Mulock as Sgt. Marvin Mulberry Martin Benson as General Chan Lu Peter Elliott (I) as Kengh Lee Earl Cameron as Sgt. Seth Hawkins John Brandon as Major Frank Cannon Ed Bishop as Lt. Cmdr. Vance Cassidy |
The plot revolves around an evil Chinese general who has built a laser tunneling machine and proceeds to tunnel all the way under the Pacific, intent upon invading the USA. The intention was to place nuclear bombs under US cities and military bases. The subsequent catastrophe could be passed off as 'earthquake damage'.
Seismologists in America detect the burrowing yellow peril and the US military
(eventually) investigates. Using an existing mine to breach into one of the Evil
Chinese Tunnels (tm), Da Marines proceed to do a reccy and discover the nefarious
goings-on (evil commie bastards!).
The army rush to develop their own laser tunneling machine to counter-attack Da Dirty
Commies. Much running around by GIs through papier mache tunnels ensues.
The US laser-mole blows up at a critical moment, however due to grit, determination,
know-how and all-round GI can-do, the filthy godless commies are vanquished.
A truely horrible 'Da Dirty Commies Are Burrowing Beneath Us' Sci Fi paranoia
film from 1967.
This film has all the budget, style and charm of a '50s B-Grade shocker, or an '80s
telemovie.
Best bits of the film:
* The opening sequence where a bug-eyed seismologist is in Main St. USA and is gradually
going more and more ga-ga putting his ear to the sidewalk and trying to warn passers-by
about "Them!", "They're down there!", "Burrowing beneath
Us!".
* The transportation system used by the Evil Chinese General to zip around his tunnels
... it's a man sized version of those pneumatic tubes which they used to have in
department stores (and in Sylvester & Tweety-pie cartoons).
Ed Bishop had a role as some sort of military technical development officer, in charge of building the laser mole. The name of his character - Lt. Cmdr. Vance Cassidy.
Plot summary and comment by Jason Hellwege, Australia (J.Hellwege@latrobe.edu.au);
Images by Lieve Peten, Belgium (shado@gmx.net), both members of the Fab-Ufo List