War-Gods of the Deep, also known as City Under the Sea, sees Vincent Price take on a villainous role once again as the ruler of his little kingdom beneath the waves.  He and his men have been there for many years and are kept young by some unknown phenomenon, possibly having to do with the volcano that is not too far away.  Their community has a problem though, a couple of them in fact.  One, the volcano which is usually dormant has steadily been getting more active as the years pass and poses an imminent threat.  The second is David Tomlinson and Tab Hunter, Harold and Ben respectively, who have stumbled upon their kingdom of smugglers and gill-men while trying to track down the beautiful Susan Hart, who also seems to be the reincarnation of Price’s lost love.  Suffice it to say, both sides are in trouble, from each other and the volcano.

The film starts off introducing us to most of our cast, minus Price as he comes later, and the first thing you notice is the great chemistry they have between them, especially Hunter and Tomlinson.  Tomlinson is great as the eccentric Harold who is a member and ‘founder of the rooster academy.’  He also just happens to carry that rooster with him throughout the film and lends some chuckles along the way by doing so.  The most memorable of these was during the end chase sequence where he has his chicken in his oxygen helmet.  Hilarious not only seeing it, but in the imagery it conjures in your mind if the chicken happened to get agitated or something equally funny.

Besides the cast, the sets are exceptionally well done.  The chamber Ben and Harold find themselves in after they slide down the chute is awe-inspiring and a little menacing with its statues of ancient deities, not to mention the giant hand they end up crouching upon.  The rest of the movie finds our characters in similarly themed chambers, some with columns and pillars and runes upon the walls, all giving credence to the underwater kingdom as being hundreds of years old.

Vincent Price of course is the star attraction, stealing the show as the mysterious and slightly mad, Captain.  He has been alive far longer than any man, and cannot go to the surface otherwise he might die, for the restorative powers that keep him from aging do not work up there.  He needs the volcano to go dormant, but deep inside; he knows it is a fool’s errand.  Price is erratic, forceful and dramatic, sometimes all at once, and his performance is as strong as ever as the doomed leader.

While most things about this film are pretty good, the underwater chase scene at the end is sub-par at best.  It looks as if it were cobbled together from other films or television shows.  It is not terrible, but it looks like something you have seen many times over, and really, the film could have done without it or found some alternative means to end the movie.  Another sad looking item were the gill-men costumes.  If they had eliminated the close-up shots, they would have conveyed more suspense and dread, but because they did not, they ended up looking completely ridiculous.

While there were a couple of detractions, they did not take away from the film overall.  It was fun and a little campy of course, but the actors, the script and the great sets more than made up for any faults that could be found with the film.  Price is of course the main reason to tune in, but Tab Hunter and David Tomlinson turned out to be surprisingly good.  It also would not be complete without at least one reference to Edgar Allen Poe, seeing as how Price starred in those many Poe films.  Definitely one of the better undersea movies for those who enjoy science-fiction and fantasy.

4 out of 5