BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

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

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

soulexpress No, this is not about a planet whose entire population is scared. In fact, the title has nothing to do with the movie itself.Two men and two women descend into the sea in a diving bell designed by one Professor Wyman (John Carradine). Its support cable snaps, causing the bell to sink thousands of feet to the bottom (with no pressure problems). The explorers find an underwater world complete with breathable air and caves that glow in the dark (phosphorous, don' cha know). They meet a bug-eyed stranger with a Santa Claus beard, who claims to have been in the caves for 14 years following a shipwreck. The stranger takes a shine to one of the women and decides to kill the others so he can have her to himself. But before he can, the volcano above them erupts, killing the stranger in an avalanche of rock. Luckily, a second diving bell has been dispatched, whisking away the explorers to safety.My plot summary makes THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD sound far more interesting than it is. In fact, the movie is 64 minutes of relentless tedium. In between the occasional plot point, we're deluged with meaningless dialogue, a lot of which reflects the sexism and misogyny rampant in 1950s America. For example, when one of the women suggests they could help each other, the other woman says, "We don't need anyone's help—not with two men down here with us." We also get ponderous scenes of walking, fish-eating, water-drinking, and oh so much SCUBA diving. And there's no reason for the stranger to be here at all. His appearance is extraneous at best.Now, on to the technical flaws. What kind of a diving bell takes in no water when you open its hatch under the surface? Why is the bell's ceiling higher than Madison Square Garden's? What type of volcano produces breathable air? How did the stranger get to the underwater caves without diving gear? How did he mark time accurately enough to know he's been there for 14 years? How did the women swim to the second diving bell this far underwater with only street clothes on? And how did they manage to stay dry in the process?Along with Carradine, the other name actor here is Phyllis Coates, the first Lois Lane on the "Superman" TV show. Her character is bitter and angry and spends most of her time trading insults with the other woman. Just what we needed: something to make this an even less pleasant viewing experience.

mark.waltz Down to the depths of the ocean floor, four members of a deep sea expedition find themselves trapped inside a huge cavern where the only way out is through a volcano. Of course, if by chance they make it out, they also have to think of how to get down that mountain, how to make it back to any sort of civilization, and how the two women on the voyage will keep their hairstyles oh, so perfect. Then, there's the mad survivor of a previous voyage, an old man who looks like he has the strength of a teenaged girl, who begins to lust after one of the two women, offers to kill the others so they can spend "forever" inside these petrified caves, and takes it personally when she thanks him but turns him down flat. Biology teachers might be interested in the first five minutes which explores the lower depths of the ocean floor, and there are some fascinating stock footage of various sea animals fighting, eating their pray, and just simply enjoying life at the bottom of the beautiful briny sea. Add in John Carradine as the inventor of the contraption they use to get way down deep, and you've got the makings of one of the few films that makes Ed Wood's epics look as if they were directed by Orson Welles. The rivalry between the two women is never fully explored other than for one of the women to tell the other that women simply just do not get along, especially where men are concerned. The acting is outrageously amateurish, and the quality of the film print is so grainy and distorted that everything looks like it's been preserved in negatives.

oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- The Incredible Petrified World. 1957. Four adventurers descend to the depths of the ocean when the cable on their underwater diving bell snaps. The rest of their expedition, believing them to be lost, abandons hope of finding them. Exiting the diving bell, the party finds themselves in a network of underwater caverns. They encounter a shipwreck survivor. He tells them he has been there for 14 years and that there is no way out. The two men in the exploring party believe him only after a hike to a volcanic vent that supplies the caverns with oxygen. Meanwhile on the surface, Prof. Millard Wyman, (the elder scientist who designed the original failed diving bell) decides to try again to explore the depths of the ocean. He finds out that there is another diving bell in existence that is identical to the one that was lost.*Special Stars- John Carradine, Phyllis Coats, Robert Clarke, Sheila Noonan, Allen Windsor.*Theme- Human nature can conquer problems.*Trivia/location/goofs- B & W. Phyllis 'Superman's Lois Lane' Coates accepted the role of Dale Marshall as a favor to director Jerry Warren, who was a former boyfriend; the actress originally cast in the lead couldn't do it and Warren couldn't find anyone else in time. He convinced Coates to do it by telling her that the film would not be shown in California. However, after it was completed, she found out that Warren did indeed release the film in California, and she was told by at least one studio executive (at Columbia) that the film was so inferior and shoddy that the studio would not be hiring her again. On top of that, Warren never paid her. When the characters are trapped undersea in the diving bell, they simply leave by climbing up to a hatch, supposedly at the top of the bell. Such an action underwater would immediately flood the bell. Yet, not even a drop of water enters the bell when they exit.*Emotion- A waste of the viewer's time due to many problems with this cheap B-Movie. This movie has little to remember for it's lack of good drama, slow and boring pacing, predictable plot and lack of any monster or scenery. Don't bother, it's deadly dull.*Based on- Jules Vern's Journey to the Center of the Earth.

dbdumonteil A (very ) low budget flick -Ed Wood's movies are epics compared with it- where the special effects crew apparently worked with stuff bought in a dime store,this is definitely proof positive that this kind of attempt needs a lot of money.It sometimes looks like a poor man's "Journey to the center of the Earth" (1959)which was implausible too but which was saved by the splendor of the settings ,Bernard Herrmann's score and a good cast (yes!).The movie begins with a "cultural " prologue but do not expect Cousteau's "Le Monde du Silence" .It is not long before the "revolutionary" bathyscaphe runs into difficulties and sinks without a trace. "It 's a major loss for science!" the scientist sighs (the passengers,not the machine).Meanwhile,the courageous team (2 men,2 women: to enliven things a bit ,one of the ladies is jealous and nasty)is rambling through subterranean caves where they meet some kind of Robinson Crusoé - a hilarious carnival look-.There's a volcano 2 miles away,thank you Jules Verne.Like this? try this...."War Gods of the Deep" Jacques Tourneur (1965)