Directed by Jerry Warren. Starring John Carradine, Robert Clarke, and Phyllis Coates. USA, Black & White, 64 minutes.Deep beneath the sea, where our world ends, another begins! SEE - A giant lizard! SEE - A hairy caveman! SEE - The Incredible Petrified World! Can your heart stand 64 straight minutes of dialogue?
Professor Millard Wyman (John Carradine) sends four land dwellers (Robert Clarke, Phyllis Coates, Allen Windsor, and Sheila Noonan) into the depths of the ocean in his recently finished diving bell, and is surprised when its cables snap and it is sent careening to the ocean floor. While Wyman and what's left of the crew believe the divers to be dead, the four heroes find a cave, and decide to spend the night. Little do they know, its also the home of a crazy hermit (Maurice Bernard). When the two groups clash, its a fight to the death in . . . The Incredible Petrified World!
With a little script tightening and a much bigger budget, this could have been a great action-filled treat . . . But instead, we have a good first half and a pretty awful last half, leaving the viewer (me, in this case) more or less asleep by the film's end.
But the dialogue is lively, for the most part, and the scientific blunders are forgivable given the age of the film. The cave looks good, and the atmosphere ain't bad. But when the caveman (played by Maurice Bernard, who recently appeared in a Spanish TV miniseries) shows up, all credibility disappears. Not even an okay performance by film veteran Carradine can save us.
If you're hankerin' for some vintage 50s science fiction, this isn't your worst choice. But anyone could have made a better second half . . . Those women spent way too little time in those diving suits. That's just common sense.
To be honest, this is the only scene I remember.
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