WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS

(A.k.a. WARLORDS OF THE DEEP)

Professor Aitken (Donald Bisset) leads a boat into the Atlantic Ocean, searching for evidence of the legendary underwater city of Atlantis. His crew fear these seas, in particular the reluctant captain Daniels (Shane Rimmer).

Aitken is joined on his expedition by his son Charles (Peter Gilmore) and American explorer Gregory (Doug McClure). This latter pair is submerged in a Diving Bell to survey the ocean floor in search of signs of life. They find that, alright – in the form of a prehistoric sea creature that attacks their vessel.

Surviving the assault, the pair then discover a huge golden statue on the ocean bed and have it sent up to the main boat for the Professor’s inspection. Could it be that his motives for finding Atlantis are more to do with locating hidden treasures than furthering any anthropological studies?

Whatever that answer may be, it matters little: Daniels calls for mutiny and things turn ugly as the Professor’s crew revolt on deck. Beneath the water Charles and Gregory discover more monsters and – eventually – a cave that transports them into a strange yet sun-kissed, seemingly deserted land. Pretty soon they are joined by survivors of the trashed boat, it having been demolished by a giant octopus.

While trying to figure out what’s going on, the group are greeted by Atmir (Michael Gothard), a well-spoken weirdo who suddenly appears to them from the top of a nearby mountain. He looks like a reject from the ABBA auditions. He introduces them to the fabled land of Atlantis and advises that his henchmen, "the guardians", will protect them. No-one mentions that these look like men with bell-ends for faces.

Naturally erudite and polite, Charles wins the attention of Atmir rather quickly. But, why? What would Atmir want with this English toff?

Meanwhile, atop the ocean waves, can the Professor salvage what remains of his boat and get his act together to set about saving his son?

If not, can Gregory save the day? Or will the monsters gobble him and his mates up? That is, if he doesn’t fall for the charms of alien girl Atsil (Cyd Charisse) first …

It was a pure joy for me to revisit WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS. It was one of the very first films I ever saw on VHS, back in the early 1980s. It captured my imagination so much at the time that I ripped it off royally for a story I wrote in school. I got a special commendation from my film-ignorant English teacher as a result. Well, I wasn’t about to tell him I wasn’t the wildly creative hopeful he’d deemed me to be …

Watching it back now, it’s easy to see why WARLORDS fired me up so as a kid. It’s an extraordinarily colourful and fast-paced romp, owing as much to the classic ‘boys own’ adventures of the 1930s and 1940s as it does to the monster flicks of Ray Harryhausen. And, of course, McClure as the hero … we all wanted to be the uber cool Doug. Embarrassing to admit it now, perhaps, but at the time it was true.

The big surprise about viewing the film now is realising it was made as late as 1978. The film has an innocence and good nature about it that sits ill with the majority of nihilistic genre films of that period. It’s an old-fashioned adventure, and is all the better for it.

Sure, the dialogue is cheesy and made even creamier by the overtly camp delivery of all concerned. Of course, the sets are cheap and unconvincing, while Roger Dicken’s monsters elicit more smiles than gasps of terror. But the sheer panache with which director Kevin Connor races through Brian Hayles’ pulpy script is enough to win over all but the most miserable of viewers.

The late great McClure, as mentioned above, was a great ham and this here is my favourite performance of his, alongside that in HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP. He’s ably supported on this occasion by a fine array of dodgy English accents, snivelling baddies, caricature sea-farers and so much more. It’s great fun watching the awesome cast stoop to the silliness of the task at hand.

But I’m not simply championing WARLORDS for being a bad film that holds nostalgia for me. On the contrary, as daft and cheap as it often is, there’s no doubt that this is actually a well-crafted movie in its own right. The editing and camerawork are both slick; the storytelling is economic and expertly geared towards sating exploitative needs; the conviction felt throughout is unwavering.

The Maltese locations add colour to proceedings, while the humorous tone of McClure’s lines introduces a knowing sense of self-irony into the mix.

It is, quite simply, 92 minutes of wholly unpretentious entertainment.

WARLORDS comes on this new DVD from Studio Canal in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The film transfer is uncut and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Despite a minor case of image softness and some faded-looking sequences, this is a pleasingly clean and bright transfer. From the opening titles sequence alone, detailing the journey of a smouldering meteorite to Earth, it’s apparent that the colours are appropriately vivid when required to be.

English mono audio is good throughout.

The disc opens to a static main menu page. From there, a scene-selection menu allows access to the film via 8 chapters.

There are no extra features, which seems a shame.

Never mind though, it’s the film that counts. And, what a film! Silly and sincere in equal measures, there’s a charm to Connor’s WARLORDS that the makers of the SHARK ATTACK can only dream of hitting upon.

Review by Stuart Willis