Around The World Under The Sea (1966)

A civilian submarine is recruited by the a government agency to travel around the globe and plant sensors on the ocean floor that will monitor and signal impending earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. The crew consists of four scientists (Lloyd Bridges, Brian Kelly, David McCallum, Marshall Thompson), an inventor (Keenan Wynn) and a woman doctor (Shirley Eaton, GOLDFINGER). This underwater sci-fi fantasy has the feel of a Jules Verne fantasy, sort of an underwater JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. The brain child of family friendly undersea film maker Ivan Tors (his company did the underwater filming in THUNDERBALL) and directed by Andrew Marton (1950's KING SOLOMON'S MINES), this is a rather lackluster effort by all involved. Oh, the child in us may still have an affection for it but it's all too sluggish to maintain much interest. An attack by a giant sea serpent perks up the movie midway and there's a tense finale involving the submarine trapped next to an underwater volcano but for the most part, it's pretty mundane. The Harry Sukman underscore is decent. With Gary Merrill and Ron Hayes.