1960's "Atlantis, the Lost Continent" was that rare flop from producer (and for the last time, director) George Pal, forced to cut corners by penny pinching MGM by using copious amounts of stock footage, mostly from 1951's "Quo Vadis," but also "Kismet," "The Prodigal," and even Pal's own "The Naked Jungle" and "The Time Machine." A writers' strike prevented screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring (a far cry from his superb work on "Invasion of the Body Snatchers") from polishing what was only a rough draft, and newcomer Sal Ponti was cast on short notice for his one and only leading role under the pseudonym Anthony Hall, in essentially a sword and sandal beefcake effort in the wake of Steve Reeves' recent smash "Hercules" (both William Shatner and Richard Chamberlain were also considered). Ponti's Demetrios is a young fisherman in ancient Greece who spots the raft of beautiful Princess Antillia (Joyce Taylor), who promptly repays his life saving efforts by forcing him to accompany her voyage back to her father, King Kronas of Atlantis (Edgar Stehli), where she is betrothed to the evil Zaren (John Dall), eagerly putting Demetrios to work as a slave. Despite assurances from the helpless Princess that she's in love with him, Demetrios must undergo several tests to gain freedom before using his former allies in captivity to foil Zaren's plot of world domination via a heat ray that causes instant death. Generally regarded as Pal's worst film, it still proves an agreeable time waster easily forgotten once the end credits roll, with a decent cast of familiar faces with unfamiliar names. Berry Kroeger's Surgeon features in an eerie subplot using slaves as guinea pigs being transformed into wild beasts such as bulls or pigs, while Edward C. Platt (currently Barbara Feldon's Chief on GET SMART) plays a sympathetic priest who notes the flight of absent creatures like the birds and the bees (he was a bit peeved as the high priest in 1955's "Cult of the Cobra"). Kroeger was always typecast as villains in films such as "The Time Travelers," "Chamber of Horrors," "Nightmare in Wax," "The Mephisto Waltz," "The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant," and "Young Frankenstein," while Joyce Taylor threw in the towel after "Twice-Told Tales" (as Vincent Price's daughter), "Beauty and the Beast," and William Castle's "13 Frightened Girls." William Smith gets 4th billing for a small role as Captain of the Guard, his recent TV series LAREDO just canceled, going on to a varied career in exploitation titles like "Invasion of the Bee Girls" and "Grave of the Vampire."
Review of Atlantis: The Lost Continent
