You really have to admire the marketing expertise of Samuel Z. Arkoff and the good people at American-International Pictures (AIP)! They had only just finished exploiting Edgar Allen Poe's Gothic horror stories via a hugely successful film series starring Vincent Price and directed by Roger Corman, and not even a year later they're back already to cash in on more Poe-related themes and monsters, only this time in combination with the fantasy and Sci-Fi elements of Jules Verne ("20,000 Leagues under the Sea", "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and "Around the World in 80 Days"). Now, in case you're thinking that the works and styles of Edgar Allen Poe and Jules Verne form a rather bizarre and illogical mix, you are quite right and thus "City in the Sea" is a primarily preposterous and dumb adventure film!
Vincent Price depicts "The Captain"; a villain too obviously modeled after the charismatic and mysterious Nemo in "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" and the relentless leader of a smuggling network that operates from an cavernous city-like lair underneath the sea, just outside the coast of Cornwall. The Captain and his henchmen have been there for more than 100 years, but they're not ageing as long as they remain in their underwater hideout because – and I quote – "it has something to do with the oxygen-composition here below". That's the type of blurry explanations we have to settle for in the script of this film The Captain may be a tough and sinister bastard, but he's also heartbroken over the loss of his true love and hence he kidnapped her lookalike; the local beauty Jill Tregellis. American engineer Ben Harris, also in love with Jill, goes after her, along with a cowardly artist and his pet chicken (!) named Herbert. They have to rescue the girl from Vincent Price's army of gill-men, and in time before the underwater volcano erupts.
It's always even more difficult to acknowledge that a movie is bad when there are so many potentially good story lines. Based on the synopsis, you'll agree with me that "City in the Sea" features several interesting ideas – even if they are all derivative of other stories – but for some reason the whole film is rather dull and exaggeratedly talkative. There are plenty of nice set pieces and imagery, but they are hardly being used. The dialogues are tacky and the acting performances are quite dismal, with the exception of Vincent Price and – of course – Herbert the Chicken. Jacques Tourneur was definitely one of the most important horror directors of the previous century and he made several hugely influential classics, like "Cat People", "Out of the Past" and "Night of the Demon". It's a bit unfortunate that his career had to end with this seedy horror/Sci-Fi hybrid that can't even be referred to as entertaining.
Vincent Price depicts "The Captain"; a villain too obviously modeled after the charismatic and mysterious Nemo in "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" and the relentless leader of a smuggling network that operates from an cavernous city-like lair underneath the sea, just outside the coast of Cornwall. The Captain and his henchmen have been there for more than 100 years, but they're not ageing as long as they remain in their underwater hideout because – and I quote – "it has something to do with the oxygen-composition here below". That's the type of blurry explanations we have to settle for in the script of this film The Captain may be a tough and sinister bastard, but he's also heartbroken over the loss of his true love and hence he kidnapped her lookalike; the local beauty Jill Tregellis. American engineer Ben Harris, also in love with Jill, goes after her, along with a cowardly artist and his pet chicken (!) named Herbert. They have to rescue the girl from Vincent Price's army of gill-men, and in time before the underwater volcano erupts.
It's always even more difficult to acknowledge that a movie is bad when there are so many potentially good story lines. Based on the synopsis, you'll agree with me that "City in the Sea" features several interesting ideas – even if they are all derivative of other stories – but for some reason the whole film is rather dull and exaggeratedly talkative. There are plenty of nice set pieces and imagery, but they are hardly being used. The dialogues are tacky and the acting performances are quite dismal, with the exception of Vincent Price and – of course – Herbert the Chicken. Jacques Tourneur was definitely one of the most important horror directors of the previous century and he made several hugely influential classics, like "Cat People", "Out of the Past" and "Night of the Demon". It's a bit unfortunate that his career had to end with this seedy horror/Sci-Fi hybrid that can't even be referred to as entertaining.