''The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues'' is a 1955 independently made American

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

science-fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, sp ...

monster film A monster movie, monster film, creature feature or giant monster film is a film that focuses on one or more characters struggling to survive attacks by one or more antagonistic monsters, often abnormally large ones. The film may also fall unde ...

produced by Jack Milner and Dan Milner (who also directed), that stars Kent Taylor and

Cathy Downs Catherine N. Downs (March 3, 1926 – December 8, 1976) was an American film actress. Biography Downs was born in Port Jefferson, New York. She was the daughter of James Nelson Downs and Edna Elizabeth Newman. A model for the Walter Thornton ...

. The film's December release was as a

double feature The double feature is a Film, motion picture industry phenomenon in which theaters would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which the presentation of one feature film would be followed by various short subjec ...

with '' Day the World Ended'', American Releasing Corporation's first dual venture. ARC thereafter changed its name, becoming

American International Pictures American International Pictures, LLC (AIP or American International Productions) is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution c ...

Plot

A mysterious, man-sized reptilian monster kills a fisherman at sea. Biologist Ted Baxter (Kent Taylor) and Federal Agent William Grant (Rodney Bell) discover the man's body, washed up on the beach and covered with radiation burns. They decide to investigate the strange death. After two young divers are killed by the monster, Ted and Grant decide to dive in the same location and investigate the area. They discover a glowing radioactive rock and are attacked by the monster, who is guarding it. Grant shoots it with a

speargun A speargun is a ranged underwater fishing device designed to launch a tethered spear or harpoon to impale fish or other marine animals and targets. Spearguns are used in sport fishing and underwater target shooting. The two basic types are ' ...

allowing them to escape, but the creature survives. Ted eventually discovers that Dr. King (Michael Whalen), another marine biologist, created the monster and the radioactive rock with a mutating device he invented in his laboratory. Meanwhile, foreign agents try to steal Dr King's scientific work, while Ted and King's daughter Lois (Cathy Downs) develop a relationship. Agent Grant eventually captures the foreign agents after one of them kills King's secretary with a speargun. Ted finally confronts Dr. King about his creation, and deaths that it has caused. Soon after King witnesses a ship explode as it passes over the radioactive rock. Disgusted with the destruction he has caused, he wrecks his laboratory and goes out to the ocean to destroy his creations using dynamite. Just after planting the explosives near the rock, the monster grabs King, pulling him down. Ted, Grant, and Lois arrive just in time to witness the large explosion, which destroys the rock, the monster, and Dr. King.

Cast

Production

When American Releasing Company began making low-budget films, they knew that if they made ''two'' together and released both as a double feature, they could make a larger profit. ARC's cofounder James H. Nicholson came up with the film's title, as he was looking for a feature to support and team with '' Day the World Ended''. ARC lacked money to make both, so they allocated ''Phantom'' to Dan and Jack Milner, film editors who wanted to get into feature-film production. ARC and Milner split the costs 60/40.Mark McGee, ''Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures'', McFarland, 1996 p42-49 Both films cost less than $100,000 each to make. As planned, ''The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues'' was theatrically released on a double bill alongside ''Day the World Ended''. Both proved popular with audiences, due in part to savvy marketing by James H. Nicholson. In January 1956, the films were released simultaneously in 250 New England theaters grossing $45,000 from just 2 Boston theaters in its first week. Within just two months of their release, the double feature had earned $400,000.

Home media

The film has been released on home media numerous times by different distributors over the years, either as a single or double feature, due to the film's entry into the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

. It was last released on

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by Film Detective on June 29, 2017. The movie is also available on several online platforms, including

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Reception

Author and film critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...

awarded the film his lowest rating of "BOMB". In his review, he wrote, "Lots of spy stuff and a lousy monster fail to enliven this deadly dull early American International effort".

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Phantom from 10, 000 Leagues 1955 films American black-and-white films 1950s science fiction horror films 1950s science fiction films 1955 horror films 1950s monster movies Giant monster films American independent films American monster movies American mad scientist films Films scored by Ronald Stein 1950s English-language films Films directed by Dan Milner 1950s American films English-language science fiction horror films