In Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (1959) there's Pat Boone and a Duck...In Edgar Allan Poe's "City In the Sea" there's Tab Hunter and a Chicken. Both Boone and Hunter and Duck and Chicken do Nothing but Cause Cringes and Sink Both Films to the Bottom of Their Respective Environment.In This One Vincent Price is On Hand to Do Some Poe Readings and Dialog Readings Like He has Somewhere or Something Else On His Mind (perhaps adding to His Art Collection). He Shows Up in One Shoddy Looking Costume and Never Makes Another Trip to Wardrobe.The Movie, While At Times has Some Impressive Sets, at Other Times the Movie Looks Cramped and Dull. The Film Fluctuates Like that from Beginning to End. It Impresses and Then Disappoints Regularly.The Director Tourneur Fought the Producers and Lost on Some of the More Embarrassing and Lackluster Things and Overall the End Product was a Lot Less than its Parts. The Underwater Chase Scenes are Slow and Boring and the Comedy Relief with the Chicken is just Intolerable.Overall, Worth a Watch with the Lowest of Expectations for Some of the Sets and Visuals and a Peek-A-Boo Look See at Some Hammer Inspired Cleavage.

Vincent Price stars in this very loose adaptation of the Edgar Allan Poe poem as the Captain, a seemingly ageless man who rules an undersea city inhabited by smugglers and gill-men(!) who raid the nearby surface Cornish coast, and kidnap a young woman(played by Susan Hart) who is believed by the Captain to be the reincarnation of his late wife. Coming to her rescue through an underwater cavern are her friends(played by Tab Hunter and David Tomlinson) who are shocked by what they find, and are determined to defeat the Captain, and escape back to the surface.Starts off fine, with moody atmosphere by director Jacques Tourneur, but goes down the drain before long, with a silly plot and unfunny comedy relief with a rooster that shares a diving suit with Tomlinson...it's that kind of film; a sad waste of potential, given Price and Tourneur's reputations.

City Under the Sea is directed by Jacques Tourneur and written by Charles Bennett and Louis M. Heyward. It stars Vincent Price, Tab Hunter, Susan Hart, David Tomlinson and John Le Mesurier. Filmed in Pathecolor it features music by Stanley Black and cinematography by Stephen Dade.Inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe/Roger Corman/Vincent Price series of films, with some Jules Verne flavourings, City Under the Sea turns out to be a disappointment and a far from fitting farewell to cinema for Tourneur. A shame because visually it's a treat for the eyes with its striking set designs and character clobber. Derived as an idea from Poe's poem The City in the Sea, the story just isn't interesting enough. It's based in olde Cornwall, England, and finds Hunter (dull) and Tomlinson (out acted by his chicken companion) discovering an underwater city when Hart (err, she is just there!) disappears from her room via a secret passage. Turns out the city is presided over by an unhinged Price (on auto-pilot but still engaging enough) who believes Hart to be the reincarnation of his long dead wife. There's some gill men ancients, a smuggling back story, ageless oxygen and a volcano just waiting to explode in the finale. What transpires is a load of talking and nothing much happens until the expected chase and explosive ending that really isn't worth the wait.Price and the visuals ensure it's not a total wash out, but all told its pretty ordinary. 5/10

A lost city beneath the sea is discovered off the coast of Cornwall. Vincent Price is the captain overseeing a group of sailors who have lived there for more than a century where the peculiar mix of gases has allowed them to extend their lifespan.Allegedly, Vincent Price didn't see the script until six days before shooting began. He does not show up until 25 minutes into the film, and is not the main character. If you came to this film to see Price, you will, just do not expect him to carry the picture.This one is as beautiful as any of the AIP films, despite not being well known, and having a plot that might leave some disappointed (it is, after all, a take off on the Atlantis legend mixed with "Creature From the Black Lagoon", but maybe not a smooth mixture). I thought the atmosphere really carried the picture, personally.The female lead is gorgeous, though she appears far too briefly, and I like the concept of ultraviolet rays causing shorter lifespans, along with the negative consequences of immortality (forever is a long time).The film is sometimes called "War Gods of the Deep", and sometimes takes the title of a Poe poem, "The City Under the Sea", and attempted to exploit the Poe films trend, even though the only connection is a recitation of the poem at the end. Since "City" is not one of Poe's well-known poems, this probably was not a problem.Again, this movie is apparently not well known, as it does not appear in any of my reference books. And that is a shame. It has a good horror/sci-fi feel to it, beautifully shot, and stars Vincent Price. Deserves a lot more recognition than it has received, and I hope more people come to discover it.