Spikeopath In 1973, British director Kevin Connor made the tidy and undervalued horror film, From Beyond the Grave with Peter Cushing. But it was the film that he made in 1975 that would signal the start of four Z grade creature features that would make him known to the discerning creature feature fan. That film was The Land That Time Forgot, where he was paired with American beefcake actor Doug McClure, and the marker that culminated with Warlords of Atlantis in 1978 was well and truly set.Here with this, in terms of fun arguably the second best film of the four after At The Earths Core, Connor and screenplay writer Brian Hayles send McClure, Peter Gilmore and a few rough neck sailor types under the ocean, to where the lost cities of Atlantis be. All of which is a plot perfectly designed to create monster mayhem and meetings with an unknown race that speak perfect English! Into the fray comes giant octopus, various reptilian sea monsters, The Mogdaan, Zaargs and an attack by flying piranha critters. Sure the effects are up and down, even shoddy and befitting the Z grade budget, but oh what fun it is.The cast also contains John Ratzenberger, who would go on to be a household name playing Cliff Clavin in the long running show, Cheers. Another notable name on the cast list is Cyd Charisse who earlier in her career had appeared in Singing In The Rain and Brigadoon. But it's McClure who is always the main attraction in these pictures. Obviously brought in to keep the American audience in mind, it's somewhat inspiring watching Dougie manfully work thru the movie as if it's a masterpiece of the genre. That none of the Connor/McClure collaborations are genre high points is irrelevant, no amount of dopey effects and string assisted creatures can detract from the fact that ridiculous can sometimes be hugely entertaining. And that is exactly what Warlords Of Atlantis is. Now, where did I put my jar of pickles ? 7/10

jfgibson73 If I had seen this movie when I came out, or when I was young, I'm sure I would think of it fondly. Going in cold as an adult in the summer of 2009, I wasn't really entertained much.The arguments for this movie seem to be that 1) It is just an entertaining fantasy not to be taken seriously; 2) The creatures were done before CGI and are therefore more more soulful 3) Anyone who doesn't enjoy the visuals should appreciate this movie for its well-written characters and interesting plot that has so much more to offer than the trash coming out of Hollywood today. I could dispute each of these, but the bottom line is that I DID enjoy several moments in this movie, and it kept me mostly interested all the way through. I just didn't care much about it overall.I would describe the quality of the story as being on par with some of the weaker episodes of the original Star Trek series. My favorite part was the giant octopus, but it was a little underwhelming after having seen what Gore Verbinski was able to do with the Kraken in the second POTC movie. Sorry, but sometimes technical advancements can make a better film, in the right hands. I prefer a CGI creature that movies with economy over a puppet monster that just stands in one place and roars.But that isn't a reason not to watch this movie. I'm sure many fans of b-movie sci-fi and adventure would find this perfectly enjoyable. For me, it isn't any one specific thing, I just was unsatisfied with the movie as a whole.

punisher-18 I think this is a great movie, well paced, good special effects considering the budget restraints and a novel idea, of an alien race seeking to build a dictatorship state with which to enslave the world. Another charming aspect I liked about the film is that it doesn't take itself to seriously and I love the scene of the monsters attacking the city. Great puppetry! Also as its good to see Peter Gilmore in a different role other than James Onedin side be side with Trampas Doug Mclure. Strange bed fellows indeed. Never realised that it was Kevin Connor - he directed land that time forgot, that directed this movie until much later. Probably explains why I liked Warlords in the first place.

Theo Robertson !!!!! MILD SPOILERS !!!!! In my review of AT THE EARTH'S core I said that the best of these Doug McClure gets attacked by rubber monsters in a 1970s British movie was THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT . If this holds true - And it's been years since I saw that movie - then WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS is certainly the second best in the genre Written by former DOCTOR WHO script writer Brian Hayles the story has some imagination even though no one is going to confuse it with a documentary . An eclectic ship's crew is abducted by a giant octopus and taken to the ancient city of Atlantis which is ruled by an alien civilisation which is engaged in a war of attrition against giant rubber monsters . One of the abductees Professor Aitken is wanted by the aliens for his superior intellect while the others will be used as slaves . It also turns out the abductees must be converted into gill breathers within a few days if they are to survive their new environment . Naturally upon hearing this the ships crew don't want to stay in their new home An entertaining enough story and unlike AT THE EARTHS CORE the production values are fairly good since location filming involving oceans and caves are used . There is the old bug bear of actors standing in front of obvious back projection trying to look scared at a rubber glove pocket but that's not enough to ruin the movie , in fact that adds some charm and the script has the temerity to point out that mankind's greatest achievements have come out of fighting one another in terrible wars . There are one or two plot holes like why do the aliens consider Professor Aitken a man of superior intellect since he would have no understanding of space travel or Einstiens theory of relativity , in other words he's a cave man compared to the aliens . You also can't help but notice that when the characters escape Atlantis Delphine the female lead has been rather superfluous to the plot But these minor flaws are never enough to totally ruin the movie for a discerning audience and I have noticed how many comments on this page centre around " I saw this when I was a kid and I'd love to see it again so please bring it out on DVD " It's probably nowhere as good as you remember it from 20 years ago but it still remains a fairly entertaining movie