"The Atomic Submarine" is rather surprisingly a release from the super-intellectual Criterion Collection. This surprised me, though after seeing it, I could see that the film was a very good B-movie--and there was a lot to admire.The film begins by learning that various ships entering the Arctic region have been lost--so many that the government is sending their top submarine there to investigate. This ship discovers something that no one had anticipated...and I won't say more because I don't want to spoil the suspense--and there is quite a bit.This film has several deficits--mostly due to its very low budget. Because they could not afford tons of special effects, a few shortcuts were used. Stock footage (often a bit grainy) of ships sinking, a rather silly creature near the end and sets that looked more like sets than a sub are all things you are bound to notice. And, the script is occasionally a bit clichéd. But, on the other hand, the film is pretty exciting and seemed to get the most out of its low budget and short filming schedule. Plus, the story underneath it all was quite creative and great. Clever and well worth seeing.

Schlock Scifi is enjoyable because it is unintentionally funny or because somehow the producers of a micro-budget movie were able to pull of something decent. This film fits into the latter category.The FX are completely unconvincing to modern viewers but are nonetheless ingenious, creative, visually interesting and tell the story. The undersea view of the icebergs alongside the sub, and the design and puppetry of the alien monsters stand out here. There is a clever electronic music soundtrack for this film, which nicely compliments the visuals, making their strangeness seem other-worldly as opposed to just goofy.Director Spencer Bennet had previously done a lot of work on Columbia Movie Serials in the 1940's, and so was used to operating on a budget smaller than the price of James Cameron's cup of coffee. His work on this film is characteristically unimaginative, but competent, and he didn't obstruct the interesting visuals that the set designer and FX people created.There is a lot of a stock footage from genuine US Navy submarines, which of course look nothing like the miniatures for the FX shots, but what the heck.Of note also is good scene with the spectacular Joi Lansing, a curvacious creature who never got the career she deserved. There is a fun double-entendre about icebergs here. The story and dialog are excellent by schlock scifi standards, with the speeches by the alien cyclops particularly well-done. There is some fun back-and-forth between a hawkish submariner and a brainy peacenik, in which the hawk argues the need for nuclear subs so as to keep the world safe. This argument reflected the debates of 1960, when the argument in favor of the obscenely costly and super-lethal subs was won by hawks. The facts cited by the hawks in our world, that the USSR supposedly had a superior military ever-poised to take the USA over should its resolve weaken, turned out to be a mostly a hoax by the Pentagon, a hoax only slightly more plausible than the space alien scenario of this film.

Submarines and ships begin disappearing at an alarming rate near the Arctic Circle. The crew of the Tiger Shark, an atomic submarine, is sent to investigate. They discover a mysterious craft they name the Cyclops because of its one "eye". When the submarine's torpedoes prove worthless against the Cyclops' defenses, the decision is made to ram the strange craft. The Tiger Shark appears to have been successful in "killing" the other craft, but it's now stuck in the Cyclops' outer hull. A team is sent to enter the dormant looking craft to try to free the submarine. But the Cyclops isn't as dormant as it first appears. The men find an alien being very much alive and still determined to take over the world.Overall, The Atomic Submarine is a fun little movie. I see that a lot of people focus on the less than realistic looking miniatures. Why let something like that ruin the rest of the movie? As I've stated any number of times, I find a certain charm to the low budget special effects found in movies like The Atomic Submarine. I'll cut 'em more slack than I will today's big budget, heartless, CGI effects. Instead of the effects, my problems with the movie lies in the very slow first act and a controversy between two of the characters that feels forced. But once the submarine enters the Arctic waters, things pick-up and it moves at a good, entertaining pace form here on out. The interior shots of the alien ship are especially creepy. It may all be lights, shadows, and noise, but that doesn't make it any less effective. It's downright spooky! The acting is about what you expect from a mostly veteran cast that includes Dick Foran, Tom Conway, and Arthur Franz – nothing terrible, but nothing outstanding. The exception is Brett Halsey whose constant pout is a bit much at times. I was excited to see Joi Lansing's name in the opening credits, but soon discovered that her screen-time was limited to about 5 minutes. Finally, I appreciate the chances screenwriter Orville Hampton took with the plot. The idea of an undersea UFO is quite novel as far as I know.

There's not much to be said about "Atomic Submarine." It's an inexpensive SF thriller about a nuclear-powered submarine that's sent to the North Pole to find out why ships have been disappearing so often in northern latitudes. The Tiger Shark, with Dick Foran as the commanding officer and Arthur Franz as his exec, finds out. It's a giant undersea UFO. They ram it and are locked with it. A party is sent out in a kind of diving bell to free the sub. The men enter the beastly thing and find it contains a rather large and repellent monster who intends to kidnap them and the colonize Earth -- and so on. The monster is dispatched.I remember seeing this years ago on TV but I could only remember one scene. Arthur Franz is standing in the doorway of the UFO, staring goggle-eyed at the monster within, which resembles a hairy octopus with one huge Cyclops-like eyeball. "At last we meet, face to face," says the monster. "That's a face?" replies Franz.The plot's all over the place. It's festooned with icons of the genre. There's atomic power. An undersea mystery. A UFO. A repugnant monster. A plan to colonize earth. A sea-to-air missile. An argument between Lieutenant Commander Franz and the civilian Peacenik aboard. The Peacenik argues that peace is better than war or something like that. A couple of the men give their lives bravely.It's hard to imagine that this entire film cost more than would be spent on a TV episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. The special effects are perfunctory. I would have to see proof that there was more than one take of each shot before I believed it. The Tiger Shark seems to have a crew of about three men.One of the men is Bob Steele, who had a successful matinée series in the movies during the 1940s. He has one expression -- a scowl. When he cracks jokes with the other two crew members, he scowls. Dick Foran floats through his part weightlessly. It's hard to believe that he was a cowboy in an Abbott and Costello movie who introduced a pretty and tuneful pop song, "I'll Remember April." Arthur Franz, another New Jersey kid, probably does the best acting job. He's at least identifiable as a seasoned professional. (He wasn't bad in the original "The Sniper.") Many of the others, notably Brett Halsey as the Peacenik, give performances that you or I could beat. Halsey, blandly handsome, does nothing but pout. Throughout. Oh, there's Tom Conway as a British scientist on the sub, too. He looks pretty good, considering that booze had made a considerable inroad into his life space by this time. He was soon to become so abjectly alcoholic that his brother, George Sanders, cut off communications with him, the cad. And there's still another scientist, a Russian guy. The best thing about him is his accent. When he tries to pronounce "wonderful", it comes out "VON-dair-fool." I guess they didn't have enough of a budget to hire a technical adviser because their naval protocol is sometimes off base in the most elementary of ways. The captain, Foran, gives an order to his subordinate, the executive officer, Franz. And Franz says, "Very well." He's not supposed to say that. A subordinate, when addressed by a superior officer, says, "Aye aye." It's only when a subordinate reports information to a superior, that the superior replies, "Very well." None of that is important in the context of this sublimely shoddy production. I kind of enjoyed it for its tattiness. But, even with a minuscule budget, a good director can do better. I doubt that "The Thing From Another World" had much of a budget either, but it's light years ahead of this.