LouHomey From my favorite movies..

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Michael O'Keefe Atomic submarine lanes near the North Pole are being invaded. A string of submariners turn to the government for help. Summoned is the U.S.S. Tiger Shark to deal with the complaints. It is finally determined that the mysterious menace is a one-eyed creature probably from outer space and it appears to have all the power and capabilities than the smartest scientists can imagine. This attacker seems to be being powered by a submerged flying saucer. The world is counting on the Tiger Shark to at least neutralize the monster and destroy the saucer guiding it. Spenser Gordon Bennet directs this B-movie horror flick that stars some familiar actors: Arthur Franz, Bob Steele, Dick Foran, Brett Halsey, Joi Lansing, Jack Muhall and Sid Melton.

Kenny Mitchell It's all here; the flying saucer, atomic submarines, overbearing narration, stock footage, terrible effects and cheap sets. This is B movie writ large. It has an interesting premise, no doubt about it, and must have been a real draw back in 1959. Unfortunately, the rest of the components of the movie doesn't come close to delivering on it.The story is simple enough, the newest atom sub investigates terrible disasters befalling ships and subs in the arctic, only to discover it may well be an alien intelligence at work. We get lots of bombastic narration, a sure sign of a poor screenplay, and it's slapped over lots of stock footage of several submarines which in no way resemble the models or sets. The model work is uncommonly poor, probably due to the difficulty of simulating underwater and under ice vistas on a budget smaller than a kids allowance. It's charming and interesting to look at, but still poor and never conveys any real scale.As for the acting and script, we have several faces familiar to 50's B movie fans, and they do what they can with a sub par script. The supposed conflict between the 'hero' and the son of his mentor is so forced that you wonder why no one just slaps him or sacks him on the spot. They actually look a little embarrassed delivering the lines. The sets are pretty sparse too, both in looks and number. You could count the locations on one hand, not including the fish tank used for the special effects, with the UFO being particularly minimalist. The scene with the young guy piloting the mini sub in particular stands out as there are no controls for him to work, so he plays with a graph pen while 4 guys in frogmen gear stand around watching him struggle to improvise.All things considered it's no classic, but that won't stop genre fans watching it to the end. It's a bit slow and a bit rubbish, but it's heart is in the right place and you want to like it despite it's flaws. Go see it for free at the Internet archives and see for yourself.

bkoganbing Five years after the Nautilus the first atomic powered submarine made its debut, the nuclear submarine was still a unique enough weapon of war that films could be made about them. Such was this low budget science fiction thriller entitled simply The Atomic Submarine that came from Allied Artists.Dick Foran is the skipper of the USS Tigerfish and he's been given a heavy duty assignment by the Chief of Naval Operations, Selmar Jackson. Something's been destroying all shipping in the Arctic Sea causing untold damage. The whole crew has been brought aboard, all leaves canceled.The Executive Officer, Arthur Franz, has a heavy duty date with Joi Lansing so you can imagine it didn't put him in the best of moods. Especially when an old rival, Brett Halsey, is also assigned to the submarine. These two have an artificially scripted conflict which I'm still at a loss to understand. I guess the producers felt they needed something to occupy the time before we found out who's sinking the polar shipping of earth.Of course it's a particularly nasty alien creature and it's a flying saucer that goes underwater that's doing the job. What he's on earth for and how they deal with it you'll have to see The Atomic Submarine.Remember at the time The Atomic Submarine was considered the cutting edge of technology. Now practically our whole fleet is nuclear powered so it's not as big a deal as in 1959. The film is set in the futuristic date of 1968 and that's interesting to see what the film's creators take of the near future would be.Also remember that this is Allied Artists which used to be Monogram Pictures. No great original special effects here just decently edited clips from other submarine and science fiction films.The Atomic Submarine is a decent enough B film and I'm sure it was big hit with the kiddie trade back in the day.

Theo Robertson I knew very little about THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE as the opening credits rolled . I was led to believe it was grade z rubbish with a cult following and it's very easy to see how this reputation came about The film starts in the recognisable future where atomic submarines are used as vehicles of commerce and we're shown via some laughably unconvincing special effects of a submarine meeting its doom . Words fail me as to how bad the footage is as a toy submarine in a fish tank is destroyed and this stock footage is continually used throughout the film . It should also be noted that shipping mysteriously disappearing as the first stages of an alien invasion had been used as a premise for John Wyndhams watery masterpiece The Kraken Wakes from a few years earlier and you can't help thinking that TAS was heavily influenced by this intelligent apocalyptic classic Unfortunately both director Spencer Gordon Bennet and screenwriter Orville H Hampton also seem to have been inspired by Ed Woood . Early into the film we're hit over the head by the most intrusive , melodramatic and badly written voice over possible . In screen writing classes you'll be informed that obvious voice over is poor voice over but the narrator goes well beyond bad by referring to things we never see happen on screen . For example we're told that the crew are apprehensive as they sail towards the North Pole which is strange considering most of the crew are unaware what their mission is and are under the impression that it's a routine mission and that problems involving irritation makes themselves felt amongst the crew which is not something that ever appears on screen . Note also the pythonesque map that shows lots of squiggly lines of the submarines route When the sub gets to the bottom of the mystery that a flying saucer is responsible for the sinkings the story does pick up and shows some imagination on the part of the film makers . The basic set of the saucer interior is so effective simply down to the simplicity of the set and Bennet does manage to manage to bring an eerie other worldliness to the mis en scene . The alien itself might seem some what laughable resembling a cross between a penis and a sock puppet but its mission to either kill or kidnap the crew in order to experiment upon them does again mirror the aims of the aliens in The Kraken Wakes and despite the grade z production values these scenes are relatively chilling and one wonders why the rest of the movie couldn't reach this standard All in all this is a very flawed SF adventure . It is very memorable but frequently for the wrong reasons which makes THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE one of the most uneven films you will see . It's very good in places but if you're not a fan of sci-fi B movies you'll not want to watch this but if you're a fan it's a pleasant time waster