The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues
Directed by Dan Milner
Written by Lou Ruskoff; original story by Dorys Lukather
1955/USA
Milner Brothers Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] William S. ‘Bill’ Grant: You seemed a little anxious not to be seen.
George Thomas: Well, I saw two strangers standing over a corpse. Not being the hero type, I decided this was no place for me.[/box]
This is one of those movies where everybody acts suspicious but we never exactly find out why. That coupled with the early reveal of the ludicrous monster makes this a stinker.
In so far as I understand it, here goes. We open with a shot of the monster slaying a fisherman. A man in a suit is examining the body when he is interrupted by a federal agent. He tells the agent his name is Ted Baxter but we soon learn he is actually genius scientist Dr. Ted Stevens. Next we are introduced to genius scientist #2, Professor King. He is the most suspicious of all and conducts all his experiments behind locked doors. His secretary and assistant are both trying hard to find out what goes on in King’s lab. King lives with his beautiful adult daughter. Two guesses as to what happens when Stevens meets her.
Anyway, a bunch of stuff and several deaths happen before we learn that the monster is guarding a large radioactive deposit.
1955 is turning out to be a good year for bad movies. This one also ranks lower on IMDb than Ed Wood’s Bride of the Monster, which sets a very low bar indeed. It thoroughly deserves its abysmal rating. See the Joe Dante clip for the reasons why.
Clip – opening
Joe Dante on the film – Trailers from Hell
