ATOMIC SUBMARINE (1960)

Made in 1960 but looking like a product of the mid-50’s this sci-fi adventure directed by serial expert Spencer Gordon Bennett towards the end of his career is quite watchable thanks to a serviceable cast of B-movie stalwarts such as Arthur Franz, Dick Foran, Tom Conway and Paul Dubov. Regular passenger carrying atomic submarines are being attacked under the Artic ice and a U.S.Navy killer submarine is sent to seek out and destroy whatever is responsible. The whatever is an alien flying saucer complete with cyclopean occupant who is scouting out the possibilities of colonizing Earth. Naturally the U.S.Navy are having none of this! It’s all rather routine except for the amazingly tacky special effects which, like the cast, raise it a notch or two above the boredom level. The submarines all look line they were free gifts in a cornflake box and the interiors of the UFO are simply a blacked out sound stage with rubber hoops and cardboard sliding doors. The alien himself is a talking eye on the end of a hairy sausage. Rating *