For a bit longer than 20 minutes, however. Yup, I watched that old classic Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
I was pleasantly surprised! I expected it to be corny, the special effects to be woefully antiquated, and the whole thing to be cheesy. Well, I wasn’t wrong about the special effects - although they were very good for their time - but the movie was actually really entertaining.
It was the actors what did it. Some pretty gripping acting, particularly the Captain (Robert Sterling) and the Admiral (Walter Pidgeon) of course.
I haven’t the faintest whether the Van Allen Belt (you have no idea how tempted I am to write Van Halen belt) has a 1 in 8 million chance of lighting afire, as it did, but who cares? I was vastly entertained and actually wanted to know what happens next.
I have to admit, there were times when I wanted to kick Captain Lee Crane for constantly second-guessing the Admiral. The situation they were in was so bad they might as wel go for broke, and I wouldn’t want to be in the Admiral’s position - the weight of the entire world resting on your shoulders. I suppose if you’re wrong, at least no one can blame you for long before the world blows up.
And the death of the good doctor! I guess dying of radiation poisioning would have been bad, but mauled to death by a shark?
Of course I had to giggle like a kid when they came up to the Trench:
*
Admiral: “We have to dive into the Marianas Trench! The other sub can’t go that deep! Dive, Captain! Dive! Dive! Dive!”
*
<snerk>
And I’ve just checked a couple of websites that say the acting was terrible. Hmm. I’ll reserve my own judgement, I think. I liked it a lot.
Tomorrow - Fantastic Voyage!
