Latitude Zero (1969) on Netflix
G19691h 45mActionAdventureSci-Fi
Dr. Ken Tashiro, Dr. Jules Masson and Perry Lawton are trapped in a bathysphere when the sea bed shakes. Captain Craig McKenzie's submarine Alpha frees them and carries them to Latitude Zero.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb5.9/101,211 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
An eruption on the ocean floor leaves journalist Perry Lawton and the scientists Dr. Ken Tashiro and Dr. Jules Masson stranded in their bathysphere. The submarine Alpha comes to them under Captain Craig McKenzie, who takes the three men aboard and carries them to Latitude Zero, a city fifteen miles below the surface where the Equator meets the International Date Line. Its inhabitants, people reported missing at sea, come from many nations and do not age, and the city quietly assists the progress of the surface world. McKenzie is at war with Dr. Malic, a scientist who grafts animals into monstrous servants, wants to rule mankind and means to destroy Latitude Zero. Malic's submarine, the Black Shark, hunts the Alpha.
Cast
- Hikaru Kurokias Capt. Kroiga
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Latitude Zero (1969)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The wall of smoke and flames from the exploding underwater volcano was made with a small water tank, a camera secured upside down beneath the water line, a sky backdrop behind the water and colored paints poured in to create billowing clouds. The same method was used in Atragon and Dogora, the Space Monster.
- Dr. Okada was originally played by Takamaru Sasaki, known for his roles in Throne of Blood and The Sword of Doom, but Sasaki became ill and was replaced by Tetsu Nakamura, which necessitated reshooting all scenes involving the character.
- In his autobiography Vanity Will Get You Somewhere, Joseph Cotten wrote that the American producer Don Sharp sent the American cast to Japan just as his company was about to go bankrupt, and that Toho picked up most, if not all, of the film's production budget.
- The production cost of ¥360 million ($1 million) was to be split evenly between the two companies, with worldwide rights divided, but the American production company went bankrupt during filming. Toho took over and the budget was reduced to ¥289 million ($800,000).
- With the American motion picture production code just lifted, Lewis wanted to show Lynda Haynes' breasts as she entered the bath. Honda refused to film such a shot, and Haynes said she refused too, recalling that the crew put skin-colored foam rubber over her breasts to get her to do the scene.
- Unlike other 1960's Toho productions starring American actors, Latitude Zero was filmed entirely in English, with the Japanese actors, among them Akira Takarada and Akihiko Hirata, delivering all of their lines in English.
