'B' grade Sci-Fi which attains, for the first half at least, the heights of a reasonable thriller, as a submarine is dispatched to the arctic circle to investigate the cause of shipping accidents and disappearances.
While the effects are never up to much, the plot and script are more than adequate. The climax of the film is a glorious return to B-movie hokum as an underwater flying saucer is discovered to be the cause of the problems. The scientists reason that the saucer returns to the pole for magnetic energy and they decide to lie in wait in the sub to ram it !! In doing this however, the sub becomes stuck in the saucer and some crew members are dispatched to go inside the saucer and dislodge it.
There is the usual character tension between the young inexperienced scientist on the mission, and the older, wiser navy man, who just happens to be friends with the younger man's father etc. etc. The inside of the spaceship is a lesson in minimalism - simply illuminated gangways in a sea of darkness. These scenes lead to the creature in the saucer which is an octopus-type figure, with one huge eye on a stalk. The creature speaks ( in Queens English ) through thought and turns out to be looking for suitable planets as homes for its advanced race of bug-eyed-hairy-octopi.
Saucer is blasted by a ballistic missile, contradicting the 1950's sci-fi theme of warning against the nuclear arms race. A difficult film to dislike, but a few leagues below 'It Came from Beneath the Sea'.
While the effects are never up to much, the plot and script are more than adequate. The climax of the film is a glorious return to B-movie hokum as an underwater flying saucer is discovered to be the cause of the problems. The scientists reason that the saucer returns to the pole for magnetic energy and they decide to lie in wait in the sub to ram it !! In doing this however, the sub becomes stuck in the saucer and some crew members are dispatched to go inside the saucer and dislodge it.
There is the usual character tension between the young inexperienced scientist on the mission, and the older, wiser navy man, who just happens to be friends with the younger man's father etc. etc. The inside of the spaceship is a lesson in minimalism - simply illuminated gangways in a sea of darkness. These scenes lead to the creature in the saucer which is an octopus-type figure, with one huge eye on a stalk. The creature speaks ( in Queens English ) through thought and turns out to be looking for suitable planets as homes for its advanced race of bug-eyed-hairy-octopi.
Saucer is blasted by a ballistic missile, contradicting the 1950's sci-fi theme of warning against the nuclear arms race. A difficult film to dislike, but a few leagues below 'It Came from Beneath the Sea'.