Around The World Under The Sea (1966) with TV Talent
TV faces gone down, down to plant devices that will alert us to earthquake and typhoon danger. I skipped this Ivan Tors adventure in 1966 because it didn't have monsters, but wait, there was one that turned up briefly for a second half’s borrow from Disney's 20,000 League playbook. No fault with the cast. Unless yours was household without TV (were there any by then?), this looked more like Around the Sea In 80 Days, what with faces off hit programs new and old. Picture Rio Bravo had they left out John Wayne and Dean Martin, TV star supports in full charge of narrative. Around The World was road, better water, test to determine fitness for features at Metro --- would we pay then to see U.N.C.L.E man David McCallum or Flipper's Brian Kelly? It helped to spend real money and for a good director (Andrew Marton), Around the World no cheater as often the lot of TV (or its personnel) transposed to movies. MGM supplied Tors with $1.8 million for the negative, which may have been too generous, as it was mostly kids who would attend, their quarters not enough to avert a $400K loss.
The TV-starry cast acquits well --- you wonder in hindsight how Brian Kelly missed being a bigger screen name --- he'd have been a good man to fight Harryhausen creatures, given the chance. Shirley Eaton was there and lately off Goldfinger, a sure selling slant, especially as hers were bosom and legs constantly ogled by men on board the far-flinging ship. MGM wanted the dependable family audience Disney had enjoyed, but that had everything to do with marketing, mastery of which seemed Disney’s alone. Latter thrived even where output was weak, synergy a concept virtually invented by the Burbank outlier. What Metro needed was absolute parental trust in whatever they released, again an asset Disney had that none could duplicate. Around the World Under the Sea was meant for a wider audience than would attend, and in modest way, it would anticipate a coming blockbuster trend for child-friendly product to pay for itself with youth admissions, that alas another ten years past this '66 release.
