ShangLuda Admirable film.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

virek213 One can readily concede that the 1971 Irwin Allen-directed made-for-TV sci-fi film CITY BENEATH THE SEA is dated in a lot of ways: acting (overripe at times); plot (old-fashioned); special effects (extremely dated, especially if one thinks of special effects only in terms of CGI). And yet there is still a fair bit to recommend about this TV endeavor, which can be seen as the bridge between Allen's own TV series "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea" (which ran from 1964 to 1968), and the pair of big-budget disaster films (THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE; THE TOWERING INFERNO) he would produce in just a few short years that would make him Hollywood's "Master Of Disaster", for better or worse.The basic plot, set in the year 2053, involves a vast underwater city named Pacifica, watched over by a veteran admiral (Stuart Whitman). Whitman is then charged by the President (Richard Basehart, returning from "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea") to take care of a large gold supply (which is about to be stolen by his underhanded brother, played by Robert Wagner), and a supply of the highly explosive H1-28. To add to his responsibilities, in a turn that predates films like METEOR, NIGHT OF THE COMET, Armageddon, and DEEP IMPACT, a planetoid of considerable size is on a collision course with Earth, and Pacifica specifically.All of the aforementioned is, by our 21st century standards, ridiculously old-fashioned, even in comparison to what we'd get from Allen in his disaster films. But in the ensuing years and decades, as the special effects have gotten more and more spectacular, and the films have gotten more and more expensive, reaching ridiculous budgets of $250 million at times now, are the plots really any better than something as "cheesy" as an Irwin Allen TV pilot like this? Having seen this a number of times on TV as a re-run, I'd have to say "Not necessarily." There's no question that CITY BENEATH THE SEA is predictable to a large degree, but the same can be said for most everything being made today for the big screen, whether in IMAX or 3-D. It still works all the same, if one is willing to accept it as a relic of its time.This is why I'm giving CITY BENEATH THE SEA a 7 out of 10.

Paul Andrews City Beneath the Sea is set in the brave new futuristic world of the 21st Century (it was made in the 20th...) where a city underneath the sea has been built, it is known as Pacifica. Admiral Michael Matthews (Stuart Whitman) has been recalled to take charge of Pacifica after a 6 month hiatus away because everyone blamed him for the death of a much loved & respected scientist Bill Holmes (even though listed in the credits as played by Larry Pennell the character of Bill Holmes is dead from the start & never seen on screen in present time, he is only seen briefly on a video monitor), however the president wants Matthews there as the entire gold content of fort knox is going to stored in Pacifica as well as the entire world supply of H1-28 which is the most powerful power source ever created unfortunately it's also highly explosive. To add to Matthews worries it turns out that a meteorite or Planetoid is headed for a collision with Earth & will hit at Pacifica's location in seven hours...This made-for-TV remake of the made-for-TV City Beneath the Sea (1969) was produced & directed by infamous 60's sci-fi filmmaker Irwin Allen & is a silly piece of sci-fi nonsense that is an OK time waster. The script by John Meredyth Lucas moves along at a fair pace & is passable light hearted Saturday afternoon entertainment if your in the right frame of mind, it's a pleasant enough way to spend 90 odd minutes but you'll have completely forgotten about it by the time the day finishes. The character's are pretty clichéd, the heroic hero dude, the bad guy & a blonde woman are all one dimensional stereotypes. The whole double cross & plan to steal the gold & H1-28 is poorly handled without any suspense or tension, the bad guys are revealed straight away so there's no mystery element & a potentially decent twist ending is wasted & they barely do anything anyway. Then there's the meteorite thing, was Matthews the only person on the entire planet who thought about firing nuclear weapons into it to change it's course? Surely the president & his scientific advisor's would have come up with the same conclusion or is it just that Matthews is the cleverest person on Earth? Some of the logic just isn't very good & rather clunky, just about worth a watch if you don't expect too much.This is definitely an Irwin Allen film with loads of bright garish sets & hideously dated looking computer banks the size of a small shed complete with random flashing lights & computer screens that feature plenty of bad super imposition. The city of Pacifica is obviously a scale model & a not very good one, the main computer control room set was apparently re-dressed & used in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972). What was it with Allen & all those flashing random lights anyway? They were a trademark of the films he made & I don't see their attraction to be honest. I recognised the yellow model ship thing from Allen's TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964 - 1968). Also, why are the fish & marine life so big? Huge fish that swim past the windows & the like? Odd.Technically the film is alright, some of the sets & 'futuristic' equipment are horribly dated these days & wouldn't even convince a 5 year old. Still that's where part of it's charm & fun comes from I suppose. The acting isn't the best even though there's some good character actor's here, Richard Basehart teams up with Allen again to play the president, Sugar Ray Robinson makes an appearance somewhere along with Whit Bissell, Joseph Cotten & Burr DeBenning all of whom are sadly no longer with us.City Beneath the Sea is an OK sci-fi adventure flick that is relatively undemanding fun in a cheesy & dated sort of way, good enough but not great. Not to be confused with the short lived British TV series City Beneath the Sea (1962) or the underwater adventure film City Beneath the Sea (1953) about two divers looking for sunken gold.

Chris Gaskin Despite reading a couple of poor reviews about City Beneath the Sea, I quite enjoyed this. It was a pilot for a TV series that was never made.It is about Pacifica and the lives of its residents. It has its own Fort Knox where gold is kept but there are plans to steal this. Worse still, there is an asteroid on a collision course with the Earth and is due to strike near Pacifica, so an evacuation is ordered immediately. Luckliy, a way is devised to destroy this body, some missiles are sent up and it changes course and both Pacifica and the Earth are saved.City Beneath the Sea is directed by Irwin Allen (Lost In Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Towering Inferno). As well as one of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea's stars, Richard Basehart, the Flying Sub from that series also appears in this.Other cast members include Stuart Whitman, Robert Wagner (Titanic), Joesph Cotten (The Third Man), Rosemary Forsyth, Whit Bissell (I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, Creature From the Black Lagoon), Robert Colbert, James Darren and boxer Sugar Ray Robinson.Though not brilliant, City Beneath the Sea is worth viewing, especially if you are a fan of Irwin Allen like myself.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

Theo Robertson Interesting to see that a lot of people liked this when they were kids . I first saw it one Saturday night in the late 1970s and actually liked it . After a gap of over 25 years I saw it again this afternoon and thought it absolutely sucked The very first scene features a special effect that wouldn't have been allowed on the very worst episode of DOCTOR WHO . Then we're shown our hero Adm Michael Matthews being introduced along with his bevy of bimbo office babes . I sure did appricated that in the mid 21st century all woman must wear mini dresses but I'm not sure Adm Matthews does . I mean this guy is a bit gay isn't he ? Watch as he prances down steps and tries to be all mean and moody in a white jump suit . Hello sailor The production values are grim . There only seems to be three sets : the control room , the gold vault and a swimming tank with much of the action taking place via monitor screens . This is where CITY BENEATH THE SEA fails . It's a pilot about a city beneath the sea right ? So the producers have already exausted two plots from a totally limited concept . Mincing Matthews has to act fast ( And if you see any acting in this please let me know what scene it appeared in ) to stop some bad guys carrying out a theft and a meteor crashing in the city . I'm surprised it got beyond script stage to be honest