WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS (1978)

In the early 1900s, Prof. Aitken and his son Charles have charted Capt. Daniels' boat and a small crew to go searching for evidence of the legendary sunken city of Atlantis. The English father and son pair have brought along American engineer Greg Collinson (Doug McClure) and his invention, a diving bell, open at the bottom, that is lowered into the water by a cable. Greg and Charles go down in the bell, see some sights, get attacked by a prehistoric marine creature, and find a huge golden statue which is tied up and dragged up to the boat. The crew figures they won't get a cut of the treasure so they mutiny, overtaking the captain and wounding the professor, and cut the diving bell cable. But a gigantic octopus attacks both the bell and the ship and most everyone (except the professor and the innocent cabin boy) goes under the sea. Now things get a little vague. They all go through a cavern and wind up on a shore beneath the earth (which still somehow seems to have a sky and a sun). Greg and Charles don't realize that the crew members have mutinied, or that Capt. Daniels might be tempted to join them. In addition to faceless soldiers and sweaty slaves, they meet Atmir, a pretentious guy with a goofy bowl haircut, wearing a robe and what amounts to a sliver miniskirt. He tells them they have found Atlantis. Their plan is to make slaves of all sailors except Charles whose intellect they admire. What else? Oh, yeah, the ruling Atlantean class are from Mars, they've been meddling in human affairs for ages, they have a helmet which allows the wearer to see the future, and there's a big gross flappy-limbed creature (pictured) that will surely slaughter anyone who tries to escape back to the ocean surface.

Doug McClure starred in a couple of earlier fantasy/adventure films (including THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT) based on early 20th century stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs. This is not based on Burroughs but one could be forgiven for thinking it was, as it plays out just like McClure's earlier movies. The critics are divided over the film, mostly arguing about the fairly cheap effects, but I found the octopus and the swamp monster (combinations of puppetry and stop-motion animation) rather charming, and when the octopus is tearing the boat apart, quite effective. The acting is as good as it has to be, with McClure in fairly hunky form, and Peter Gilmore and Shane Rimmer giving good support as Charles and the captain. Michael Gothard gives a nice otherworldly tone to the character of Atmir. There is a mild romantic interest for McClure in Lea Brodie, but nothing much comes of that. Surprisingly, dancer extraordinaire Cyd Chrisse has a featured role as the de facto Queen of Atlantis, but she's given little to do except speak stridently—she doesn't even get to do an exotic Atlantean or Martian dance. But if none of this makes you want to see this film, there is a young, almost handsome John Ratzenberger (Cliff the mailman on Cheers) as one of the treacherous crew members. He has Cliff's face and voice, which can be a bit distracting, but it was great fun to see him. In the final analysis, it’s no masterpiece, but with the menacing octopus, the old-fashioned monsters, the hunky hero, and the occasionally fabulous sets, this is worth seeing. Sadly, TCM broadcast this in a full screen, pan-and-scan version. Though it was shot in widescreen, there seems to be no widescreen print available in the United States. Someone should look into giving all the McClure fantasy adventure films a decent region 1 boxed set release. [TCM]