Americans In Japan (and underwater)

LATITUDE ZERO-1969-This Toho production much like the previous year's THE GREEN SLIME was made in Japan but used several American actors in the lead roles. An American reporter Perry Lawton (Richard Jaeckel; also in GREEN SLIME) and two Japanese scientists Dr. Ken Tashiro (Akira Takarada; from the original GODZILLA) and Dr. Jules Masson (Masumi Okada) are trapped in a diving belt after an horrendous explosion. They are rescued by the crew of the atomic submarine Alpha, under the leadership Captain MacKenzie (Joseph Cotton), a Capt. Nemo-ish guy in an open silk shirt and gold chain who claims his sub is 160 years old! Which is nothing since he's 204! His assistant is Dr. Barton (Linda Haynes), a cutie in a very revealing outfit. He has to abort his mission of studying underwater volcanoes (which caused the diving belt to crash) and rush home because of Masson's head injury. Cesar Romero is the evil Dr. Malic who has one of his subs attack the Alpha. ("How bloody inventive that MacKenzie is") His “companion” is Lucretia (Patricia Medina; Mrs. Joseph Cotton in real life). 

It seems that Malic would have taken over the surface world long ago if not for the efforts of MacKenzie and “Latitude Zero” an underwater paradise/kingdom with a sun, waterfalls and agents all over the world. A new recruit, Dr. Okada (Tetsu Nakamura) who has invented a secret formula, is kidnapped (along with his daughter) by Malic who threatens them with some whacky furry man-bats. He acts very crazy while putting a woman's brain into the body of a lion (man in a suit) he's crossed with a vulture. ("You're a monster!" "No, I'm a genius!") MacKenzie (and his servant Kobo) joins forces with the three land lubbers to invade Malic's island and rescue the doctor. They wear gold jumpsuits with gloves that have flame throwers and lasers built in the fingers. Along the way they are terrorized by a landslide, giant rats and small bats. Eventually Malic is defeated (by his own creature) and Lawton returns to the surface where no one believes his story.

I wonder if Joseph Cotton while making movies like CITIZEN KANE and THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS with Orson Welles ever thought he'd be fighting flying man-bats while shooting a laser from his finger? Probably not, but that's show biz! Cotton doesn't look too happy most of the time despite being protector of the Earth. Romero steals the show as the insane bad guy who really loses it in the end. Medina seemed to be enjoying her role too. There's of course a lot of GODZILLA connections here. GORJIRA star Takarada (who's voice isn't dubbed in this film. He's actually speaking English for a change), special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya (who died soon after this), composer Akira Ifukube and as Malic's winged lion Haruo Nakajima who played Godzilla many times! LZ was directed by the legendary Ishiro Honda who also made the disappointing GODZILLA'S REVENGE the same year. It's a lot like STARMAN with a little of TV's VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA thrown in but the ending makes no sense!

Thanks for reading!