grudney cheesier than Switzerland and Wisconsin combined - wooden acting that even porn actors would wince at -laughable effects and set models. All the male actors have brillo pad hair and talk like Frank Drebbin. The brassy incidental music is more intrusive than the Original Star Trek. Think Hart to Hart meets low budget James Bond under the sea. Watch it very drunk or with the sound down and invent your own dialogue-- it can only be an improvement. Hard to believe this film was actually made. 10 lines is a lot when such a film could be summed up in one word -avoid. Alternatively you could compare and contrast the plot development, portrayal of women, models, and national pride exhibited in this and, say,Aliens or Avatar.

Paul Andrews City Beneath the Sea is set in the brave new futuristic world of the 21st Century (it was made in the 20th...) where a city underneath the sea has been built, it is known as Pacifica. Admiral Michael Matthews (Stuart Whitman) has been recalled to take charge of Pacifica after a 6 month hiatus away because everyone blamed him for the death of a much loved & respected scientist Bill Holmes (even though listed in the credits as played by Larry Pennell the character of Bill Holmes is dead from the start & never seen on screen in present time, he is only seen briefly on a video monitor), however the president wants Matthews there as the entire gold content of fort knox is going to stored in Pacifica as well as the entire world supply of H1-28 which is the most powerful power source ever created unfortunately it's also highly explosive. To add to Matthews worries it turns out that a meteorite or Planetoid is headed for a collision with Earth & will hit at Pacifica's location in seven hours...This made-for-TV remake of the made-for-TV City Beneath the Sea (1969) was produced & directed by infamous 60's sci-fi filmmaker Irwin Allen & is a silly piece of sci-fi nonsense that is an OK time waster. The script by John Meredyth Lucas moves along at a fair pace & is passable light hearted Saturday afternoon entertainment if your in the right frame of mind, it's a pleasant enough way to spend 90 odd minutes but you'll have completely forgotten about it by the time the day finishes. The character's are pretty clichéd, the heroic hero dude, the bad guy & a blonde woman are all one dimensional stereotypes. The whole double cross & plan to steal the gold & H1-28 is poorly handled without any suspense or tension, the bad guys are revealed straight away so there's no mystery element & a potentially decent twist ending is wasted & they barely do anything anyway. Then there's the meteorite thing, was Matthews the only person on the entire planet who thought about firing nuclear weapons into it to change it's course? Surely the president & his scientific advisor's would have come up with the same conclusion or is it just that Matthews is the cleverest person on Earth? Some of the logic just isn't very good & rather clunky, just about worth a watch if you don't expect too much.This is definitely an Irwin Allen film with loads of bright garish sets & hideously dated looking computer banks the size of a small shed complete with random flashing lights & computer screens that feature plenty of bad super imposition. The city of Pacifica is obviously a scale model & a not very good one, the main computer control room set was apparently re-dressed & used in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972). What was it with Allen & all those flashing random lights anyway? They were a trademark of the films he made & I don't see their attraction to be honest. I recognised the yellow model ship thing from Allen's TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964 - 1968). Also, why are the fish & marine life so big? Huge fish that swim past the windows & the like? Odd.Technically the film is alright, some of the sets & 'futuristic' equipment are horribly dated these days & wouldn't even convince a 5 year old. Still that's where part of it's charm & fun comes from I suppose. The acting isn't the best even though there's some good character actor's here, Richard Basehart teams up with Allen again to play the president, Sugar Ray Robinson makes an appearance somewhere along with Whit Bissell, Joseph Cotten & Burr DeBenning all of whom are sadly no longer with us.City Beneath the Sea is an OK sci-fi adventure flick that is relatively undemanding fun in a cheesy & dated sort of way, good enough but not great. Not to be confused with the short lived British TV series City Beneath the Sea (1962) or the underwater adventure film City Beneath the Sea (1953) about two divers looking for sunken gold.

starbuckk1 Unfortunately City Beneath The Sea has not been aired as far as I know for several years. I scan listings regularly for it. Effects as I recall were way ahead of its time. Plot was terrific and acting was great. The original version is ripe for showing on TV again as well as a DVD release. And with re-makes being all the rage lately, this would be a good one to remake as well. This movie was listed in one of Blockbuster's annual movie guides, indicating that it was due for release, but it never happened. If it is ever aired again, don't miss it! If it is ever released on DVD, buy it! You will not be disappointed.

fivefifty1 This is a TRUE Irwin Allen classic!! a underwater city that can fight off hazards from outer space, handle dangerous unstable nuclear material, store all the gold from Fort Knox, and has a man who can breathe, and talk underwater, who helps deal with sabotage, and a major gold theft!! WOW!!!!,but WOW!!!! Stuart Whitman makes a great city leader!!, Robert Colbert[Doug Philips of TIME TUNNEL fame] makes wonderful second in command!!, Richard Basehart[ADM Nelson of Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea] as President[I would have voted him for the OVAL OFFICE!!], and Robert Wagner was a absolutely great villain!! I even liked the props especially the FLYING SUB[from Voyage To The Bottom Of The SEA]!! Yes Mr. Allen outdid himself on this one!! I am sorry that this movie did not become a series, either as a T.V. series or a movie series, either one would have been THE greatest series of all time!!! However I do feel that this movie should be released for DVD video because I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE A COPY OF MY OWN THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!