The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues

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source: The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues

"The U.S. Government sends a scientist to investigate some mysterious deaths along a stretch of beach on the Pacific Coast. What brings the scientist to the investigation is the radiation burns found on the victims. Arriving at the scene of the deaths, the scientist visits the nearby Pacific College of Oceanography where he meets Professor King and his daughter Lois. While falling for the professor's daughter, our scientist begins to suspect that Professor King's secret research is somehow connected to the radiation and the deaths," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. There may be some effect of radiation on marine life, but this film presents the possibility in the dullest, most illogical way possible. The monster looks very silly. Possibly the most interesting character is inquisitive Vivi Janiss (as Ethel), secretary to Professor King. And, more evidence that everyone in show business is related can be found in Helen Stanton (as Wanda) being the real life mother of "Doctor Drew" aka Drew Pinsky. Kent Taylor, who lent his first name to Siegel and Shuster's "Superman" has nothing to do with Mary Tyler Moore's "Tex Baxter", however. Small world. * The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1955) Dan Milner ~ Kent Taylor, Cathy Downs, Michael Whalen

"Phantom from etc etc…" starts out promising enough with a dude in a hilariously ridicule monster suit attacking an unfortunate fisherman. An ideal start to a cheesy50's SF movie, you'd think, but after the cool opening the film turns into an ordinary and tame environmental lesson. We shouldn't mess with nature, you know, because nature will always hold secrets for us and it will eventually turn our own breed against us!! Or something like that…. Anyway, the story continues with more dead bodies washing ashore and they all have bizarre burn on their faces and skin. A tourist scientist and an old-fashioned policeman believe that there must be some sort of nuclear power source at the depths of the sea, guarded by a horribly mutated sea creature. All the evidence points towards the local Prof. King, who's an expert in the field of atomic energy. The overly ambitious screenplay doesn't quite suit the film and the highly prestigious speeches are a bit annoying. It sure ain't no "Creature from the Black Lagoon", as it lacks the stunning underwater cinematography and breath-taking locations. The special effects are mostly limited to close-ups of the monsters, as the corpses are exclusively shown faced down in the sand. There's really nothing else to say about this production so let's mock the monster costume some more!! In case you get petrified by black and white creatures with eyes as big as baseballs, you definitely will get nightmares from seeing this film! Oh well, even though I was bored to death during this film, it still is ten times better than Roger Corman's "Creature from the Haunted Sea". As far as I'm concerned, this latter will always remain the low point of sea-serpent B-movies.

(Some Spoilers) The US Government is concerned about the goings on off shore and on the beaches around the newly opened Collage of Oceanography founded by the renowned expert of nuclear psychics Prof.King, Michael Whalen. With a number of boats sunk and five people killed, from radiation burns, the US Government sends two of it's operatives FBI agent Bill Grant, Rodney Bell, and famed oceanographer and author Dr. Ted Stevens, Kent Taylor, to find out just whats behind these deaths. Uknown to the US Government there's also a spy ring, from an unnamed country, also at work trying to get the information that Prof. King has come up with in his nuclear research that includes his assistant George Thomas,Philip Pine, and his sexy but not too bright, go-between Wanda, Helene Statnton. Prof. King had discovered a uranium deposit under the sea just outside the collage and somehow activated it causing this radioactive sea monster to be created.Attacking people sailing off-shore it killed a number of them by capsizing their boats and then exposing them to it's deadly radioactive rays. The Professor is trying to use his discovery to create a "Death Ray" that can be used by the US military but it seemed to have backfired and caused the deaths of a number of innocent people. Prof. King is also reluctant to destroy the underwater uranium deposit and his creation the creature. Somewhat better then your average "Monster from the Deep" 1950's sci-fi movie with some good acting on the part of Kent Taylor Michael Whalen & Rodney Bell that lifts this bargain basement monster film up a few notches and makes it more then watchable. Agent Grant gets Prof. Kings secretary Ethal Hall,Vivi Janiss, the keys to Prof. King's Lab. to find out if he had anything to do with the mysterious deaths off shore, one of which was Ethal's son. This leads to Ethal's murder by Prof. King's assistant and foreign espionage agent George Thomas. Later a freighter is sunk by the underwater uranium mine, when it sailed over it, killing all on deck. The two spies George Thomas and Wanda are easily caught by the FBI in that their so unprofessional that you wondered who, or what country, would be crazy enough to use them in their espionage activities. Prof. King destroys his personal papers on his experiments so no one would be able to duplicate them and then sails out to sea to the underwater uranium deposit. It's there with a TNT loaded time-bomb Prof. King destroys the uranium mine the creature and himself in a huge underwater explosion. Prof. King's daughter Lois, Kathy Downs, who at first refused to believe that her father could be responsible for these tragic deaths is shocked into reality with his own cataclysmic demise that prevented more lives from being lost due to his misplaced loyalty to science then to human life.

There are some high-lights here that merit special mention...in no particular order. 1. The professor's hair-do 2. A shower scene of somewhat less than erotic 50's style 3. poison pills deposited in the diving equipment 4. foreign agent Wanda...who she works for we'll never know 5. row-boats that can remain in place on the open sea, with no anchor necessary. Even for 1956, this is an amazing effort. Maybe it was more of a home-movie than a real, studio job. In any case, the morals are presented very clearly and that's what makes it worth my 9 rating. So...beware of mad scientists, spies from un-named evil countries, and monsters in general. But, kids, it's okay to smoke!! P.S. This film seems to have been made before "special effects". There are effects...just not so special.

The vote drop-down menu is not very useful in this case. Of course this movie is awful. What would you expect from a film with this title from the 1950's? But what is note-worthy about the film is really how awful it is. I suppose this grade-Z pic was trying to cash in on the success of The Creature from the Black Lagoon or that Kurk Douglas Disney League jaunt, but I'm sure very few parted ways with their 1950's scratch to see this one. I though have to claim (of few that would make such bold statements) that I purchased this one, and I loved it. On par with Plan 9 and Beast of Yucca Flats this is a gem. Utter half-wittedness, no-budget, bad sound, horrible editing, no continuity, guys shooting each other with harpoons, the gratuitous sexy (which is a stretch) half naked woman, the same one boat used in all the scenes that call for a boat, the same stretch of beach, dumb doctors spouting esoteric formulas while (constantly) running around in suits on the beach...most bad films are just boring, and usually help you fall asleep after the late show, but trust me stay awake for awhile with this one, maybe just long enough to catch the goofy monster.

slow paced but still a not bad little flick decent acting ya have to pay attention though otherwise you will be lost it has no gore what so ever a few of the characters are not amiable still a decent 50's flick now there is not much action at all there is a bit too much dialogue and not enough monster action this plays more like a mystery rather then a horror flick and you wonder why you would put something like that in the sea in the first place so if you are a gore fanatic stay away at all costs but if you like this kinda stuff i recommend this if you can handle lots of talking and hardly any action and the ending is very predictable still if you have nothing better to do and if you can find this i say pick it up it is worth a watch **1/2 out of 5

I have seen The Phantom From 10,000 Leagues a couple of times and quite enjoyed, despite reading bad reviews and the low budget. Several killings in the ocean are the responsibility of a radioactive gill-man that has been created through some radioactive deposits being in contact with the ocean wildlife and a mad professor doing experiments. A scientist and government official are called in to investigate the strange goings on to prevent more deaths and after the creature is discovered to be the cause, he is blown up at the end. Unusually for a monster movie, the creature appears at the very beginning instead of nearly half way through which is more normal. Despite this, the creature doesn't appear that much. The cast includes Kent Taylor, Cathy Downs (The Amazing Colossal Man) and Michael Whalen. This is just the sort of stuff you expect from American Internationl and was one of their first movies. Worth looking at. Rating: 3 stars out of 5.