Bogmeister MASTER PLAN: tunnel underneath the USA with nuclear warheads and obliterate us. Take about the most outrageous James Bond-type plot against the free world you can imagine; act as if you're creating a comic book for sixties kids; now, make it even more unbelievable. That pretty much sums up this battle for the existence of the United States. This could have been really good but, for some reason, the plot usually veers into unwarranted silliness. This is evident in the very beginning, when the scientist-hero, the one who is the first to figure out the plot against the USA, is found by the cops ranting about ants underneath us; the scientist is carted off to the loony bin and, rightly so. Later, when the authorities are also aware of the plot, this guy is rational; what was all the business about him being a nutcase? I dunno. The primary hero, a military man (Matthews, best known as Sinbad) in the James Bond mold, ends up leading a squad of soldiers to confront the invading Chinese under our feet; the master villain is a Chinese general who got the idea to dig 3 tunnels underneath the Pacific Ocean and halfway thru the U.S. territory by the time the Americans find out. The premise is that while the U.S. was busy with outer space technology, the Chinese had developed heat ray weapons and a special rock-melting/boring machine. When the American soldiers fire their typical rifles, the invaders simply point what looks like a flashlight and *Ssssss* - *yahhhh!* The U.S. comes across as very limited in other ways: the squad of soldiers seems to be the extent of American military might in this movie.The (probably unintended) subtext here is compelling: the free world concentrated on technology above us while the communists focused on below us - and they end up with the advantage; see also "The Time Machine" by H.G.Wells for another take on the subterranean vs. overhead existence theme. At one point, it's mentioned that the rate of progression by the Chinese is 8 miles per day so, conceivably, they could have accomplished their goal in 3 years. But, that's about all which is plausible. When I first saw this as a kid many years ago, I also wondered about the Caucasians who apparently took over the upper echelons of the Chinese; well, the filmmakers weren't able to use oriental actors, for some reason. The main villains look somewhat absurd here - like, out of a comic book. There's even a scene involving brainwashing, a possible sign that the writers watched "The Manchurian Candidate" a few times too many. The Chinese general has nukes all over the place - even, it's surmised, under Peking, where he holds power over his countrymen. Yet, all it takes is one nuke to put him out of business, even though the 3 tunnels are about 500 miles apart from each other. The heroes give themselves 10 minutes on foot to escape an atomic blast, which is obviously footage of tests out on the Pacific, while all the invaders, it's suggested, are wiped out. Forget logic - the combined outrageousness of these loopy scenarios results in some strange entertainment - it's kind of one-of-a-kind. Don't take it seriously or you'll end up in a loony bin. Hero:5 Villains:4 Femme Fatales:5 Henchmen:4 Fights:5 Stunts/Chases:5 Gadgets:6 Machines:6 Locations:5 Pace:5 overall:5

Ralph You've just saved the world and are close to ground zero with a hot Eurasian woman, what do you do? Think of sex, oh yeah Baby!!!!!! I equate this with a Fantastic Four episode where the Thing, in their first encounter with the Sub Mariner, carries an A bomb into a sea monsters mouth to kill it, that's classic! The only reason this garners such a low rating on IMDb is because it's audience is so limited. So you have a bunch of offended leftist getting mad that the Chi-Communists don't win, LOL! Even that is explained that it's not really the Chi-Comm's doing it so I don't know why they should rate this so low for it's genre. I don't think this film is shown on TCM USA or is available on video in America, but it is shown with frequent regularity on TCM Europe and I have seen it now multiple times because it's a highly entertaining and addictive guilty pleasure to watch. It's A bombs under America with guns and heroics and America wins and it has some great campy moments! If that's what you are looking for this is a definite 9 of 10. Even as rated as a movie with the whole Sci Fi genre its a solid 7, think about it and compare it to all the boring dogs of sci fi flicks you saw from the 50's to even today, this one is solid and has held it's 7 rating well. It's a definite 8 of 10 when you combine that it's in color and it's campy and the actors look like they are taking it all in stride and don't suck like an American International flick. Plus the Navy leads the whole shooting match, I love that part (with some Marine muscle). Not to spoil it too much but I love the part where the renegade General realizes his doom, that was a nice touch I thought. Of course it's soooo easy to destroy this pictures credibility but one thing really jumped out at me, they are running cars in a tunnel, doesn't everyone die of asphyxiation? LOL. OK it's got a smattering (more then enough, but could have wished for more) of hot women of the Asian persuasion, guns, bullets A bombs, military things, sci fi gadgets all the key ingredients you need for a good campy sci fi flick from the early to mid 60's, throw in MGM's higher class touch and it's a classic. 8/10 on the sci fi action scale. You know you've seen much worse and I'm sure better, but there are not that many better than there are a whole lot worse. See it with an open mind!

jeuk I watched this effort on TCM, and it gave me the laugh I needed after a very miserable week-end! Martin Benson was the mad Chinese general, made up impressively to look like his predecessor, Charlie Chan, complete with bushy, caucasian eye brows! Peter Elliot his head honcho, made up to look like a typical apple pie American, complete with Mikado make up!The late Peter Arne seemed just as at home as when serving in one of his excellent parts in the Pink Panther series of comedies! Remember the great shorts that made up The Twilight Zone? Well, this could've been one if it wasn't just a little bit too long! There were a few Americans in the cast, and even some orientals, but the movie was so obviously British, complete with terrible Las Vegas cops American accents.The background music was a cross between Dragnet and the Johnny Stacato theme. Maybe they should have used worms in the plot instead of Chinese, that would've been a little more believable! A real good laugh though, and I give this a 1 for awful as it is not too bad to even acknowledge as entertainment!

Roger-39 If you used to enjoy watching Napoleon Solo and his friends back in the sixties, saving the world from democracy every week on television then this might be a movie for you. On second thoughts, get some old Man from Uncle videos, or go and see the new James Bond.