Scott LeBrun A couple of respectable elements assemble here for a decent fantasy feature: source material from master of horror Edgar Allan Poe, a capable director in Jacques Tourneur, and the consistently amusing film star Vincent Price. While ultimately it lacks the imagination, budget, and style to be anything more, it's still acceptable entertainment of this kind.Ben (Tab Hunter) is an American living on the Cornish coast at the turn of the 20th century. When mysterious forces kidnap area resident Jill (Susan Hart), on whom Ben is sweet, he sets out after her, with the doddering artist Harold (David Tomlinson) in tow. (Oh, and not to forget, Harolds' pet rooster Herbert.) They soon discover a strange underwater civilization, ruled by the domineering captain (Price). The captain, upon being led to believe that Ben is a professor of immense knowledge, wants to pick his brain on what to do in the event of a cataclysmic volcanic eruption.As part of the package, the captain and his men exploit local "gill men". They're NOT as cool as the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but the masks aren't bad either, and they're not bad characters. Considering that A.I.P. probably controlled expenses a lot, the sets and production values are still respectable enough. The movie is shot in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio and is fairly colourful. The score by Stanley Black is also nice. Tourneur gets down to business quickly and the pacing & editing are adequate. Most of the cast & crew credits are saved for the end.Hunter is a handsome and engaging hero. The beautiful Hart is a likable enough heroine. Tomlinson handles all of the comedy relief duties and is delightful. John Le Mesurier is excellent as helpful old Reverend Ives; Henry Oscar, Derek Newark, and Roy Patrick co-star. Price is magnetic as always as our villain, and the lines from the Poe story flow off of his tongue with the greatest of ease.The viewer may not enjoy this quite as much as they'd like to, but it remains watchable for most of its 85 minute run time.Sadly, director Tourneurs' final feature film.Seven out of 10.

Chase_Witherspoon Undersea adventure is reminiscent of "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" (complete with a feathered friend named Herbert) and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", when Hunter and Tomlinson venture into a mysterious subterranean lair after their female companion (Hart) is abducted and taken captive by an aquatic man-best (looking much like the gill-man from "Creatures from the Black Lagoon"). They soon encounter an underwater civilisation led by the maniacal doctor (Vincent Price), obsessed by a painting of a mysterious woman, and with a somewhat reluctant crew who have inadvertently discovered a fountain of youth. But the city is rocked by frequent volcanic shocks that threaten to sink the undersea world.Inferior retread of the formula undersea sci-fi adventure features pedestrian performances by a capable cast that also includes John Le Mesurier as a long-held captive rector, who has seemingly lost the incentive to contemplate escape, let alone survive the impending volcanic disaster.Widescreen underwater inserts look photographically disjointed, and there's even a brief scene in which a member of the crew in scuba diving apparatus is clearly visible above a pair of agitated gill men. A rousing finale somewhat redeems the picture, but it was too little, too late in my opinion. Dated effort might still appeal to older kids, and mercifully at barely 80 minutes, it narrowly avoids becoming a soporific experience.

Woodyanders 1903: The Cornish coast. Dashing mining engineer Ben Harris (likable Tab Hunter) and jolly artist Harold Tufnell-Jones (an amusing David Tomlinson) discover a crumbling underwater society ruled by the ruthless Sir Hugh (the always terrific Vincent Price) while poking around a cave in search of sweet fair damsel Jill Tregillis (fetching Susan Hart). The former smuggler inhabitants never age and exploit gill-men creatures as slave labor. Moreover, there's an active volcano which threatens to erupt at any moment. Director Jacques Touneur, working from a fanciful and eventful script by Charles Bennett and Louis M. Heyward that's loosely based on an Edgar Allan Poe poem, relates the engrossing story at a steady pace, evokes a pleasingly eerie and mysterious atmosphere in the opening third, elicits sound acting from a game cast, and stages the lively and exciting last twenty-five minutes depicting the inevitable climactic eruption of the volcano and our protagonists being chased underwater by Sir Hugh and his flunkies with considerable brio. Moreover, there's a nice sense of imagination evident throughout, the amphibious seaweed-covered humanoid fishmen are pretty gnarly looking, the sets are fairly lavish, and the special effects might be crude by today's more sophisticated standards, but still possess a certain funky charm just the same. Stephen Dade's sumptuous widescreen cinematography gives the picture an impressively expansive and picturesque look. Stanley Black's moody and robust score likewise hits the bull's eye. A fun flick.

ferbs54 Back in 1803, Vincent Price and his band of smugglers had discovered an undersea kingdom off the English coast. In 1903, they are still down there, ageless, and lording it over the resident "gillmen." Price then kidnaps a woman from above who resembles his long-dead wife, which leads Tab Hunter and his pet-rooster-obsessed artist sidekick to come looking for her... Anyway, that's the setup of what turns out to be a rather hokey affair. A tiresome and cheesy movie, featuring only-adequate FX and some very lame comedy, "War-Gods of the Deep" (1965) is something of a labor to sit through. Part of the problem is that events and backgrounds are never adequately explained, and what explanations we do get (e.g., the inhabitants' immortality) are patently ridiculous. The layout of the underwater kingdom is impossible to grasp, a real problem toward the film's end. And the three-way underwater battle between Hunter's band, Price and his crew, and the gillmen is also impossible to follow; possibly the dullest, most confusing underwater sequence I've ever witnessed. Compare this scene to the thrilling and quite lucid underwater duke-out in that same year's "Thunderball." Geez! It's hard to believe that director Jacques Tourneur is the same man who gave us such horror classics as "I Walked With a Zombie," "Cat People" and "Curse of the Demon." What WAS he thinking here? Anyway, this mess is for Uncle Vinny completists only. It's better than a Dr. Goldfoot movie, but not by much!