City Under the Sea (War Gods of the Deep) (1965)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1965
Running Time	80:35
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jacques Tourneur
Studio Distributor	Bruton Film Prods Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Vincent Price Tab Hunter Susan Hart David Tomlinson John Le Mesurier Henry Oscar Derek Newark Roy Patrick Tony Selby Michael Heyland Steven Brooke William Hurndell Jim Spearman
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$14.95	Music	Stanley Black

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    City Under The Sea is an extremely dire adventure film from the mid sixties. The story begins when a group of people living off the Cornish coast in 1903 discover the lost city of Lyonesse beneath the ocean. The inhabitants of the city are smugglers led by a man simply known as `The Captain' (Vincent Price), who after decades beneath the waves has mysteriously discovered eternal life. The smugglers enlist the help of the city's original inhabitants, mutant fish-like humanoids, to sustain their immortality. Driven mad by years spent in isolation, The Captain sacrifices all those who discover the secret of Lyonesse. Time is running out for three intrepid adventurers who accidentally discover the hidden realm.

    Based on an Edgar Allen Poe story, City Under The Sea attempts to capitalise on the success of Jules Verne-inspired adventure films like 20 Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, which were very popular at the time. It fails miserably. The direction is weak, the special effects are mostly second rate even by 1965 standards and the acting is fairly atrocious. Legendary genre veteran Vincent Price is the only performer who manages to escape this severely flawed film with his reputation intact. Tab Hunter, David Tomlinson and Susan Hart as our three leads are woefully miscast, especially Tab Hunter who gives new meaning to the word wooden. This film is for Vincent Price completists only.

Video

   City Under The Sea is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    Sharpness levels are adequate, although they are tainted by minor aliasing and edge enhancement problems. There are several instances where telecine wobble becomes intrusive during the film, most notably at the 16 minute mark where a cave littered with stalagmites jumps all over the screen. Shadow details are mediocre at best. There are several instances where background details are simply lost amongst dimly lit corridors and such. There are minor grain patches throughout the print, but nothing too distracting. There were no low level noise problems.

    Colours appeared washed-out, but remained natural.

    This film is littered with dirt and film artefacts which do become distracting in parts. The biggest example occurs at the 50 minute mark where an artefact obliterates 70 percent of the picture for a good 2 seconds.

    Fittingly, Universal Pictures Home Video have provided this awful film with a poor transfer.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The film has been given a solitary Dolby Digital 2.0 surround track in English.

    Dialogue is always clear with no obvious audio sync issues.

    The film's music is by Stanley Black. Sadly, the score matches the film. Black constructs a bombastic and overwrought score that never matches the film's narrative.

    Surround channel usage is non-existent. There are no directional effects with the track dominating the front speakers only. However, the track serves its purpose and is solid throughout. There are no dropouts or ambient noise distractions.

    The subwoofer is lacking throughout the track. There is a distinct lack of bass.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

   All versions of this film across regions are basically identical.

   City Under The Sea is an outright silly adventure, with no redeeming features. The disc has an adequate presentation for a forty year old film with no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall