Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

poe-48833 WAR-GODS OF THE DEEP (CITY IN THE SEA) has one thing going for it: director Jacques Tourneur. Unfortunately, even one of the finest Fright Film makers to ever shiver me timbers can't overcome this script. There ARE a couple of shots near the beginning of the movie that promise more than the final film ever delivers: beautifully-composed shots of a darkened den that even COLOR can't ruin. And then there's the first assault of the "gill-men." They attack at night and are gone in an instant. This brief glimpse is so tantalizing that later scenes in which we see them fully exposed (and lit) are painfully disappointing (and by no means in keeping with Tourneur's lifelong assertion that "less is more" when it comes to Monsters on screen). I'd be interested in reading up on the making of this one, because the departure from his Standard Operating Procedure needs some explaining. Maybe McFarland Publishing has a book on the subject... (If not, perhaps FILMFAX has run an article about the making of...)

moonspinner55 An underwater city off the coast of Cornwall is threatened with destruction by a long-dormant volcano currently glowing with rising lava; however, this doesn't stop the self-appointed ruler of the city from executing his minions and threatening to kill an American professor and his sidekick after they infiltrate the waterlogged palace looking for a kidnapped woman. After American International Pictures hit pay dirt with their string of profitable beach party movies in the early 1960s, they expanded to more sophisticated fare such as "The Raven" and "The Masque of the Red Death", both adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe. "War-Gods of the Deep" is also credited with being based on Poe by way of his poem, "City in the Sea", but 'inspired by' seems more accurate as there is nothing on the screen that Poe would be proud of. Although the art direction is good and the set designs surprisingly elaborate for A.I.P., the screenplay, full of banal dialogue, is a deadly cataclysm. Vincent Price is quietly menacing, but his character is given the short shrift; he doesn't seem to know what he's doing, whom he's killing, or how long his city has left to survive. As the hero, Tab Hunter still sounds flat and angry--his voice has no modulation--but he works hard at developing a no-nonsense personality to give the movie some bearings; ultimately, he's defeated by the cheapjack climactic battle, mostly staged underwater (with clueless close-ups of Hunter and his co-stars standing in front of a blue screen wearing huge diving helmets). There's hardly any plot development, action scenes and stock footage are sloppily thrown together and, for comic relief, we get overaged pixie David Tomlinson and his pet hen. *1/2 from ****

ma-cortes WAR GODS OF DEEP contains fantastic adventures full of sea-monsters in a lost continent placed underwater . Set on the Cornish coast in 1903, the film starts when a body is washed ashore on a remote seacoast little town , it originates an investigation by an American named Ben Harris (Tab Hunter). He goes to the home where the dead had been an advocate and encounters tracks that indicate that the gorgeous Jill (Susan Hart) may be in deadly risk . Establishing menace and seeing off a suspicious strange monster like a gill-man who he trapped in the act of robbing a portrait of Jill but he gets escape . In the overnight Jill is abducted and Ben and Harold (David Tomlinson ) chase him. Finding a tunnel system going under the sea they walk across a dangerous rout . The duo discovering an underwater band of smugglers who never age residing in a lost underwater city along with their gill-man slaves . The group of people find inhabitants of the lost world that are ruled by one megalomaniac named Sir Hugh (Vincent Price)who has discovered the secret of eternal life but is desperate to avoid his world being destroyed by an eruption caused by a relentless volcano . Sir Hugh governs over the gill-men as slavers and wishes to rule the human beings and the creation a totalitarian state.Based on Edgar Allan Poe writings with interesting screenplay by Charles Bennett . This fantasy picture packs thrills, weird sea monsters, lively pace and fantastic scenarios located undersea . Vincent Price is the real star of this production and its chief attribute such as Robur the conquer . The tale is silly and laughable but the effects and undersea scenes are quite well. Among the most spectacular of its visuals there are a deeply shrouded caverns full giant sculptures in Persyian style . Some illogical parts in the argument are more than compensated for the excitement provided by Vincent Price acting and the sea-monsters appearance , though sometimes are a little bit shoddy . Cheesy underwater city with mediocre matte painting .Filmed in glimmer cinematography by Stephen Dade on location in Cornwall Coast, Cornwall, England, Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK (studio). Colorful and stirring musical score by Stanley Black . The motion picture is produced by American International (James H Nicholson , Samuel Z. Arkoff) in average budget and middling directed by the classic director Jacques Tourneur in his final feature . He is an expert on terror cinema (Cat people , Curse of the demon, I walked with a Zombie) and adventures (Flame and the arrow ) . ¨City under the sea¨ will appeal to youngsters who swallow whole and sit convulsed in their armchair and of course Vincent Price fans.

ferbs54 Back in 1803, Vincent Price and his band of smugglers had discovered an undersea kingdom off the English coast. In 1903, they are still down there, ageless, and lording it over the resident "gillmen." Price then kidnaps a woman from above who resembles his long-dead wife, which leads Tab Hunter and his pet-rooster-obsessed artist sidekick to come looking for her... Anyway, that's the setup of what turns out to be a rather hokey affair. A tiresome and cheesy movie, featuring only-adequate FX and some very lame comedy, "War-Gods of the Deep" (1965) is something of a labor to sit through. Part of the problem is that events and backgrounds are never adequately explained, and what explanations we do get (e.g., the inhabitants' immortality) are patently ridiculous. The layout of the underwater kingdom is impossible to grasp, a real problem toward the film's end. And the three-way underwater battle between Hunter's band, Price and his crew, and the gillmen is also impossible to follow; possibly the dullest, most confusing underwater sequence I've ever witnessed. Compare this scene to the thrilling and quite lucid underwater duke-out in that same year's "Thunderball." Geez! It's hard to believe that director Jacques Tourneur is the same man who gave us such horror classics as "I Walked With a Zombie," "Cat People" and "Curse of the Demon." What WAS he thinking here? Anyway, this mess is for Uncle Vinny completists only. It's better than a Dr. Goldfoot movie, but not by much!