“The wild dreams of today are the practical realities of tomorrow”

Admiral Harriman Nelson (Walter Pidgeon) has built a high-tech atomic submarine, the U.S.O.S. Seaview. While some call him a genius, others see him as an oddball inventor. The government has sent some folks to the Arctic to oversee the ship’s final test run—Vice-Adm. B.J. Crawford (John Litel), penny-pinching Congressman Llewellyn Parker (Howard McNear) and psychiatrist Dr. Susan Hiller (Joan Fontaine)—to provide feedback on this project which some are calling “Nelson’s Folly”. Also among the ship’s crew are Comm. Lucius Emery (Peter Lorre), Capt. Lee Crane (Robert Sterling), Lt. Cathy Connors (Barbara Eden), and Lt. Danny Romano (Frankie Avalon).

While going through its final tests, the Seaview suddenly finds itself being thrashed about by large falling blocks of ice. A natural world-wide disaster has occurred—the Van Allen Radiation Belt has caught fire, encircling the Earth in a ring of fire, threatening all human life and causing icebergs to melt and crack apart. At a meeting of the UN, Nelson announces his plan to fire a missile into the Belt, over-saturating it with radiation and causing the flames to extinguish. There is, however, only a tiny window of opportunity in which this can be done and no time can be wasted. He is met with some opposition, but refuses to back down and, against authorization, jumps back in his sub and heads for the Marianas Trench in the Pacific. However, with worldwide temperatures rising, a UN ship in pursuit, and the threat of mutiny from some of his crew, things don’t look promising. And that doesn’t even include other threats like sharks, giant squids, mine fields, a saboteur aboard the ship and the question as to whether the Admiral has gone insane!

Irwin Allen was a prolific writer, producer and director of disaster and fantastical films and TV series during the the 1960’s and ’70s. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is one of Allen’s earlier efforts—before he went on to do films like The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, and TV series like The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, Land of the Giants and even a TV series of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. In VTTBOTS, Allen makes use of some high quality sets and special effects. For the most part, everything still holds up today, which is remarkable given that the film is over 50 years old, and was made well before the dawn of computer effects. There were only one or two scenes where I found the film a bit cheesy—when the Seaview is diving into the ocean and being hit by large blocks of ice, it does in fact look like a model being hit with blocks of foam. And another scene where one of the crew members is attacked by a squid came of more comical to me than perilous. However, I think that’s part of the charm of Allen’s disaster films—I like when things get a bit over-the-top, like the scenes when the ship is being thrown about and the cast is moving from side to side.

I found it remarkable how well the story still feels relevant today—not just the natural disaster but also the drama aboard the ship. Add in the other perils faced by the crew and the film was quite entertaining. However, this is one of those films you can’t over-analyse, you just need to sit back and enjoy the ride. Some things just won’t make sense—like when the Seaview finds a man still alive after he’s been out in the 140+ degree weather for two days and he looks less burned than someone who forgot to wear suntan lotion for an hour at the beach.

The film itself looks remarkable given its age. While there were a couple scenes that looked a bit grainy, for the most part it looked quite sharp and crisp. Seeing footage of the film in one of the bonus featurettes, it’s evident there was some effort put into remastering it for this release. The DD 4.0 audio track was nice—the dialogue, score and sounds effects were clear but I didn’t really notice any use of the surround channel. As for the bonus features, I particularly enjoyed the fascinating behind-the-scenes audio commentary. The “Science Fiction: Fantasy to Reality” started off as an interesting documentary but by the end had just devolved into a global warming PSA. The Barbara Eden interview was a nice addition, and the isolated score soundtrack will be a nice touch for some, but I found it a bit awkward as there are large portions that are just silence.

What’s Included on the Blu-ray:

Film: (1:44:48)

• Widescreen 2.35:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD MA 4.0, Spanish DD 2.0, French DD 1.0
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish

Extras:

• Commentary by Author Tim Colliver (1:44:48)
  Tim Colliver, the author of the 1992 book “Seaview: The Making of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” provides a historic and behind-the-scenes look at the film, the follow-up TV series and the original novelization written by Irwin Allen. He provides a comparison of the various incarnations of the story, and explains how a lot of the film’s special effects were done.
• Science Fiction: Fantasy to Reality (16:50)
  Documentary looking at how sci-fi writers predicted many things that ultimately became scientific fact. Writer/director Nicholas Meyer, Forrest J. Ackerman (“Mr. Sci-Fi”), stop-motion pioneer Ray Harryhausen, film historians Bob Burns and Glenn Erickson discuss the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne as well as sci-fi films like Just Imagine, Metropolis, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Planet of the Apes. Paleoclimatologist Jeffrey Severinghaus, Greenpeace director John Passacantando, research marine physicist Tim Barnett, Ph. D., senior research scientist George M. Woodwell, Ph. D. and screenwriter Jeffrey Nachmanoff discuss the climate issues related to the events in Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea and The Day After Tomorrow.
• Barbara Eden Interview (5:57)
  Star Barbara Eden provides a glimpse at what it was like working on the film. Play All or select from “Working with Irwin Allen”, “Storyboards and Sets”, “Peter Lorre and Walter Pigeon”, “The Sets”, “Irwin Allen’s Vision”, “Castmates” and “Escaping Reality”. Presented in full frame format.
• Isolated Score Track (1:44:48)
  Watch the film without dialogue, just the film score. This is a little odd as there are several portions of the film that are completely silent.
• Original Theatrical Trailer (3:12)

Final Thoughts:

While I didn’t enjoy Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea as much as some of Irwin Allen’s later disaster films like The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure, I still found it quite entertaining. This 50+ year old film probably looks better on this Blu-ray than it ever did, and the story and special effects still hold up quite well today. The Blu-ray contains a fascinating behind-the-scenes audio commentary and well some other features, making this a Blu-ray worth checking out.