Tokyo Shock
Media Blasters
R1 DVD
Latitude
Zero is one of those films you have to see to believe. Drs. Ken Tashiro, Jules Masson and reporter
Perry Lawton have travelled deep under the sea to investigate ocean currents
when a volcano erupts and their diving bell is sent adrift. It seems all is
lost until they are rescued by Captain Craig McKenzie (played by an aged Joseph
Cotten) who operates the submarine Alpha. As one of the team has been badly
injured, McKenzie after some protest and under instruction from the ship’s
shapely doctor Anne Barton returns to a utopian kingdom under the waves. Craig
seems very much like a Captain Nemo figure, he is supposedly 200 years old (why
this is so is never explained) and coordinates a utopian communal settlement
which exists at Latitude Zero protected by some sort of electro magnetic field.
On
the way back to base the Alpha is attacked by the Black Shark, a submarine
which is the property of his opposite number Dr.Malic. Malic is an evil genius who
with his life Lucretia wears outrageous outfits while plotting the downfall of
Latitude Zero and indeed the world. McKenzie
makes it clear to our scientists that except for the devoted work of Alpha
Malic would have taken over the world by now.
Latitude
Zero is a full size kingdom under the waves, hidden from the world and filled
with scientists who have faked their own disappearances and/or deaths and
retired with their families to live in a creative utopian world working to
solve the world’s problems. It has its own artificial sun, water fall and
buildings from every conceivable style and form reflecting the diversity of all
cultures.
The
battlelines are drawn over Nobel Prizewinner Dr. Okada who has developed a vaccine
against radiation sickness. Rather than allowing one country to use it as a
weapon against another, he hopes to retire to Latitude Zero with his daughter and
continue his work. Malic has other plans and kidnaps Okada and his daughter and
brings them to his secret island, Blood Rock, he wants that formula at any
cost.
To
rescue Okada McKenzie and his team must infiltrate Blood Rock, battle giant
rats and bat creatures, avoid acid pools, magnetic fields and all manner of
traps set for them by Malic who knows they are on the way. He wants to get rid
of McKenzie once and for all !
Latitude
Zero is truly bizarre. Toho has produced one of the most eccentric Sci Fi
thrillers imaginable. It seems to combine 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and James
Bond with the Thunderbirds. It is obsessed with all manner of whizz bang
effects with the submarines, buildings and sets looking like those out of The
Thunderbirds. The secret undersea base looks like something out of Jules Verne
while Malic’s persona and Island is
straight out of James Bond, a strange mix indeed.
The
acting is pretty much constantly over the top with each of the characters being
stereotypical, Dr.Malic constantly laughs and snarls as one would expect a villain
to do and McKenzie is serene and overflowing with condescending wisdom. The
outfits are truly fun and very camp, just look at what they are forced to wear
and worse, what the underground city looks like, wow ! Sure it was 1969 but it
would have even been outré even for then. I especially liked the batman, the
giant rats and griffin, which all look like motorized soft toys !!
Latitude
Zero is true B Grade heaven, everything about it is ludicrous and silly. It
will have you in stitches, even more so because the actors played it so
straight !
Latitude
Zero was a Toho release in Japanese with some Hollywood actors to try and give
it an international appeal. It was released in both Japanese and US editions in
the late Sixties but not seen again for quite some time except on low quality
video dups. This new 2 disc release from Tokyo Shock is a real gem, including
both the Japanese and US releases, crew interviews, galleries and an extra DVD
of previews.
This review will appear in Volume 2:1
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
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