Destination Inner Space (1966)

In the long ago days of my childhood, back in the seventies, TV networks often used to put on low budget films in early evening weekday time slots.  Wednesday, as I recall, was the most popular day for this sort of scheduling - soaps didn't run four or five days a week then, game shows weren't as numerous and tended to be shown at weekends and talent shows fronted by the likes of Hughie Green, so it was difficult to fill airtime, particularly midweek.  Anyway, Destination Inner Space (1966) was one of the films I remember first seeing back then, on ITV at around seven or seven thirty on a Wednesday or Thursday evening.  Seeing any kind of science fiction on British TV outside of Dr Who and Star Trek back then was incredibly rare, so it stuck in my memory.  Moreover, to my juvenile mind, it all seemed pretty amazing.  I caught up with it again a few weeks ago - to my adult eyes it seemed what it really was: an incredibly cheap B-movie with poor model work, flimsy sets, a rubber monster. basic special effects and a cast of past-their-prime stars, (including Scott Brady, Sheree North and Gary Merrill). 

That said, it was still pretty enjoyable.  It at least boasted some originality (for its era) in plot terms, featuring an underwater flying saucer menacing an undersea base, rather than the usual alien invaders threatening the earth's surface.  Its scenario is reminiscent of The Thing From Another World (1951), which also featured a an isolated outpost in a hostile environment (an arctic base) manned by both the military and civilian scientists, menaced by a monster (an 'intellectual carrot' from outer space), which the humans unwittingly take into their base.  While nowhere near as suspenseful as that film, Destination Inner Space does manage to generate a surprising amount of tension, with director Francis D Lyon utilising the claustrophobic interiors of the submarine base to maximum effect.  There are also some decent undersea scenes and some decently staged action.  As in The Thing, the various tensions between cautious military and enquiring scientists are played out, along with a sub-plot involving a conflict between the new base commander and one of the crew, relating to an incident in their past, which has to be resolved in the course of the battle with the alien monster.  The latter, while being a man in a rubber suit, is actually a pretty good rubber suit as this sort of low budget movie goes.  

One of a series of low budget science fiction films produced by United Pictures Corporation, pre sold to TV as a package, Destination Inner Space also enjoyed a US cinema release as part of a double bill in 1966.  Like most of the United Pictures movies, it is actually somewhat above average for a cheap B-movie and has several points of interest.  It's still a very enjoyable film of its genre and well worth watching.