Longitude 180 degrees, Latitude zero.
Three people are trapped in a bathysphere due to an undersea volcano. They are rescued by a super submarine called the Alpha. The captain of the sub is Craig McKenzie (Joseph Cotton). The rescued men are Dr. Ken Tashiro (Akira Takarada), Dr. Jules Masson (Masumi Okada), and a journalist named Perry Lawton Richard Jaeckel). The men of the bathysphere learn that McKenzie is 204 years old and that The Alpha was launched in 1805. McKenzie takes the rescued men to Latitude Zero to deal with injuries sustained by Dr. Masson. On the way they are attacked by a rival super submarine called the “Black Shark” that is being captained by Kuroiga (Hikaru Kuroki). Kuroiga works for Dr. Malic (Cesar Romero), a rival of McKenzie’s. McKenzie manages to get away.
Latitude Zero is an advanced Utopian city hidden fifteen miles below the sea at the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line. The people living there are from all over the world that have been reported missing at sea. It is a place where no one ages and no one dies. Greed and political issues do not exist there. Part of their objective is to quietly assist mankind in advances in technology. Malic, being the bad, guy wants to destroy Latitude Zero using super weapons and home made monsters.
Malic kidnaps a Japanese physicist named Dr. Okada (Tetsu Nakamura), and his daughter Tsuruko (Mari Nakayama) and tries to force Okada to assist him in his schemes. Just to be nasty he grafts the wings of an eagle to a lion and puts Kuroiga’s brain inside it as a punishment for her failing to destroy the Alpha. McKenzie receives an emergency signal from Okada and organizes a rescue mission. Tashiro, Masson and Lawton, as well as Latitude Zero physician Dr. Anne Barton (Linda Haynes) and Kobo (Kin Omae), volunteer their aid. Our heroes dressed in gold Lamé, fresh from the Bath of Immunity, and equipped with James Bond style gadgets are now ready to save the day, and Okada and his daughter.
** SPOILERS Their objective is to invade Malic's island base called Blood Rock, fight their way through genetically engineered giant furry mice and dopey looking bat people to the enemy control center and rescue the Okadas. All the while Malic is cackling like The Joker from “Bat Man”. Once the mission is completed the team escapes, Malic rushes to the Black Shark and fires an onboard laser at them. However, at that critical moment, Kuroiga turns against Malic and attacks the laser, causing the weapon to fire at the island's cliffs. The cliffs fall on the Black Shark and destroy it and everyone aboard.**
“Latitude Zero” was released in 1969 and was directed by Ishiro Honda. It is a Japanese American effort produced in conjunction with TOHO studio. During the 60’s there were several of them. This one is just plain campy fun.
This is one of those silly little fun movies. Good Saturday matinee stuff for kids. But don’t be mistaken. It’s just as much fun for adults. More fantasy than science fiction. “Latitude Zero” is full of cool looking gadgets, furry monsters and evil villains. Part Captain Nemo, part Flash Gordon part Inspector Gadget part Dr. Evil.
American dubbed version
Japanese subtitled version