What could have been an entertainingly campy endeavor is needlessly confusing and ultimately tedious.
When a body washes ashore near a hotel on the coast of Cornwall, the local fisherman are spooked. They’ve been hearing “ghost bells” from out on the water and have heard legends of Lyonesse, a city beneath the waves. They’re convinced the sound of the bells means death.
Ben Harris (Tab Hunter,) an American mining engineer, identifies the body as that of a lawyer staying at the hotel. He goes to inform Miss Jill Tregillis (Susan Hart,) that her friend has been found dead. While speaking to Jill, Ben is introduced to Harold (David Tomlinson), an eccentric artist and his pet chicken, Herbert. (Yes, a chicken with a male name.) Jill seems to think that her lawyer friend has been in his study all day. Ben enters the study and finds an intruder, who quickly escapes out the window.
That night, Jill is kidnapped by another intruder. Ben and Harold (and Herbert) follow her kidnapper through a secret passage in a wall. While navigating through the maze-like passages, they literally stumble upon the entrance to an underwater city. After watching a group of men execute another man, they are captured and taken to see The Captain (Vincent Price.)
The Captain explains that he and his men did not build the city under the sea. It was built by an ancient race who exist now as gill-men. They all face extinction as a nearby volcano threatens to erupt and destroy the city. If Ben and Harold can find a way to stop the volcano, they will be allowed to live. Of course, Ben and Harold want nothing more than to find Jill and escape to the surface.
If that plot description sounds hard-to-follow, that’s because it is. Very loosely based on an Edgar Allen Poe story called “The City in the Sea,” this 1965 science fiction/fantasy is an absolute mess. Released in the United States as War-Gods of the Deep, it was called City Under the Sea everywhere else. I’m not sure why the title was changed but that decision wasn’t the worst one made when it comes to this film.
The direction by Jacques Tourneur (Cat People) is adequate and Vincent Price is his usual excellent self but everything else feels like it was lifted from somewhere else. The sets look like they were borrowed from another film. Tab Hunter and David Tomlinson’s characters (and the pet chicken) would be more at home in a lighthearted Disney adventure film. Susan Hart’s amply-bosomed Jill looks straight out of a Hammer horror film but is given absolutely nothing to do. (Her biggest scene involves silently lying on a slab with her eyes closed.)
What I am assuming was supposed to be a thrilling underwater chase is rendered ineffective since the hunters and the hunted all wear the same type of diving suit. As the camera switched between the actors, I had no idea who anyone was because everyone’s face is obscured by their diving mask. Facial close-ups that feel randomly inserted into the chase scene don’t help because they’re all filmed in front of static backdrops that were clearly not underwater.
What could have been an entertaining and campy endeavor is needlessly confusing and ultimately tedious. Unfortunately, War-Gods of the Deep is a drip.
1.5 out of 5.0 stars
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