The Incredible Petrified World (1957)

Film Title: The Incredible Petrified World
Released: April 1960
Directed by: Jerry Warren
Written by: John W. Steiner
Starring: John Carradine, Robert Clarke & Phyllis Coates

Plot: Four people plunge to the depths of the ocean when the cable of their experimental diving bell snaps but find themselves able to survive in a series underwater caverns.

IMDb: 3.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: No score
My Score: 1/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

One of the bevy of B movies from the 1950's, The Incredible Petrified World is weaker than most. Nothing very exciting happens except for the underwater photography in that opens the feature depicting a squid fighting a shark. The sets, the acting, the script, there's not much that one could point to as good or redeeming. Except perhaps the caves themselves since they were filmed on location at Colossal Cave Mountain Park in Vail, AZ. Filled with cliches and plot points that make no sense, the story is a mess. It includes, among other things, a fourteen year shipwreck survivor the diving bell crew finds in the caves, the slapping of a hysterical woman to calm her down, entering and exiting the diving bell from a ladder leading out of the top (!!!) of the device, and giving coffee to a man to revive him after being deprived of oxygen. Not even John Carradine, who really is a supporting player and not a main character, can elevate this drudge. According to IMDb, the film went unreleased for years until it premiered with another Jerry Warren picture, Teenage Zombies, as part of a double feature. Phyllis Coates accepted the role of intrepid reporter Dale Marshall as a favor to Warren on the condition that it not be screened in California. After Warren never even paid her for starring in the film, he did indeed release it there, reportedly leading to an executive at Columbia Pictures telling Coates that the film was so bad that the studio would not hire her again. Watch the trailer below or the full movie here.