City Beneath the Sea ** (1953, Robert Ryan, Mala Powers, Anthony Quinn, Suzan Ball) – Classic Movie Review 8940

Director Budd Boetticher’s acceptable 1953 Technicolor underwater action adventure drama City Beneath the Sea stars Anthony Quinn and Robert Ryan as daredevil deep-sea divers Tony Bartlett and Brad Carlton arriving in Jamaica to salvage the Lady Luck and coming to blows over gold bullion deep in the Caribbean after Captain Meade (George Mathews) gets Quinn to take Ryan’s place.

Mala Powers co-stars as Terry McBride, the skipper of the boat they charter. Suzan Ball plays cabaret singer Venita. Soon Brad is romancing Terry, and Tony is romancing Venita. Karel Stepanek plays Dwight Trevor, who hires the men to find The Lady Luck, a ship apparently sunk with all hands and $1,000,000 in gold bullion.

The colourful hokum is greatly enlivened by the entertainingly broad performances and Boetticher’s sturdy direction. The highlight is an undersea earthquake in the historic sunken city of Port Royal. It was mostly filmed at Universal Studios in Hollywood.

The screenplay by Jack Harvey and Ramon Romero is based on the book Port Royal – Ghost City Beneath the Sea by Harry E Rieseberg.

It also co-stars Hilo Hattie, Lalo Rios, Woody Strode, John Warburton, Peter Mamakos, Barbara Morrison, LeRoi Antoine, Leon Lontoc, and Marya Marco.

City Beneath the Sea is directed by Budd Boetticher, runs 87 minutes, is made by Universal International Pictures, is released by Universal, is written by Jack Harvey and Ramon Romero, based on the book Port Royal – Ghost City Beneath the Sea by Harry E Rieseberg, is shot in Technicolor by Charles P Boyle, is produced by Albert J Cohen and is scored by Joseph Gershenson (musical director), with Art Direction by Alexander Golitzen and Emrich Nicholson.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8940

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