Warlords of Atlantis (1978)

 

The final film in the Seventies quartet of fantastical Kevin Connor / Doug McClure collabs rings some changes. Unlike the previous three it wasn’t financed via Amicus who had gone bust and it was EMI films who made it.  Also this is not an adaptation of a book but has an original script by well- known tv writer Brian Hayles albeit one that leans on already established legends. EMI’s involvement enabled a larger budget though to be honest it doesn’t always show in the effects sequences. A lot of the compositions between model effects and real life performances seem rougher than in the previous films and in a post Star Wars film world that was never going to be as impressive.

 

It’s the early twentieth century and the ship Texas Rose has been hired for an exploratory mission led by the elderly Professor Aitken and his son Charles to search for the legendary lost city of Atlantis. They have a new fangled diving bell designed by engineer Greg Collinson to utilise allowing them to venture far deeper than ever before. Once Charles and Greg sink into the ocean strange they draw the attention of what appears to be a dinosaur like reptilian creature who in an unintentionally silly assault keeps popping up through the gap in the bottom of the craft as if to say “Hi”. Most people would take this as a hint to leave but the duo dive further until they discover a golden relic which is hauled to the surface off camera.

Once this object is on board the surly crew grow mutinous and end up cutting the diving bell off when it returns undersea stranding Charles and Greg. Yet they find an escape route which takes them to an undersea civilisation- is this Atlantis? Not that this revolution allows the crew to speed off with the gold; moments later they are attacked by a giant octopus who takes it back and hurls them all in the sea. They turn up in Atlantis as well, so why did the others need the diving bell at all?

It looks decent on paper and the first thirty minutes or so offer much potential. If Doug McClure is the least likely engineer you will ever meet, the banter between his character and the socially awkward yet scientifically enthusiastic Peter Gilmore is excellent. He is the real star of the movie seeming to welcome the opportunity to do something different from the austere James Onedin, the role he’d been playing at this point for nearly ten years on tv. Meanwhile McClure, the film’s billed star, seems a lot happier here than in the previous films and gets his chance to throw punches and help damsels in distress.

The other crew are characterful enough muttering amongst themselves to add some tension. Shane Rimmer, whose vocal talents served many a show turns up in person while Cheers fans will spot a younger John Ratzenburger as a rebellious crewmember. Impressively the production managed to sign Hollywood royalty Cyd Charisse to appear in a few scenes as Atsil, a sort of high priestess joined by  respected actor Daniel Massey as Atraxon. It’s a good thing they’re there as Michael Gothard’s Atmir who gets much more to do comes across as a dull character whose sole purpose is to explain what is going on.

An arresting opening sequence involving a fiery red comet is not always matched by what comes after.  The Atlanteans are revealed as aliens - presumably that’s why all their names begin with A? -  who use sailors from ships that have stumbled on the place though there is some suggestion they engineer the calamities that cause the vessels to flounder. Like a lot of the movie it doesn’t coalesce too well, as if the plot was penned with a list of elements that were wanted without too much thought as to how they fit together. The monsters are mostly rather dull both in aspect and motivation rising out of the water to roar or in the case of the giant octopus flail about. Are they controlled by the Atlanteans? Initially I thought so but then they seem to attack anyone including the Atlanteans so maybe we need to go back and ask Atmir about that.

Brian Hayles does try to add a little gravitas to this mash up by presenting Atlantis as a class based system with the intelligencia living in soft focus luxury while the plebs are left to a life of effective slavery. However the results are not nuanced enough to offer any refined comment. It is also unclear why newsreel of future wars is shown to Charles when he dons a crystal helmet to see `utopia`.  Like much about the narrative its just there to facilitate a visual scene. The aliens’ story is incomplete, their plans vague so they come across as just another set of pastel robed alien humanoid species which appeared in many a Seventies sci-fi tv show or film.

Of course what people really want from these films is action and Warlords of Atlantis certainly has a lot of it. It doesn’t help that Kevin Connor’s customary close quarters direction isn’t always deployed in some of these sequences. The shots where characters are being menaced while crossing a flimsy bridge are too static, the line between the effects and the people too obvious to make it as exciting as its supposed to be. Plus the creature just stands there and roars. There’s also extensive use of theatrical drapes painted to look like the ancient city which show up on a modern tv and I imagine would be fairly obvious even back then.

More successful are the extensive water sequences and also the siege at the end  involving some daringly high jumps from cliff edges plus explosions everywhere. Not sure how everyone fitted in that diving bell to escape though!

Warlords of Atlantis is a romp with enough momentum to largely cover its flaws in a lively package.