Fantastic Voyage

Fantastic Voyage

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Brief Synopsis

Cast & crew, richard fleischer, stephen boyd, raquel welch, edmond o'brien, donald pleasence, arthur o'connell, photos & videos, technical specs.

the fantastic voyage 1966

In 1995 Czech scientist Jan Benes escapes from behind the Iron Curtain and is brought to the United States for interrogation. U. S. scientists are able to reduce objects, including people, to the size of bacteria, but the miniaturization can be sustained for only 60 minutes. The Czech scientist has learned the secret of prolonging the miniaturization; but before he reveals this knowledge, he sustains a severe brain injury which can be treated only from within his body. A plan is conceived whereby a crew of five will be placed in an atomic-powered submarine, miniaturized, injected into the scientist's bloodstream, and set on a course through the arteries to the brain. In addition to American secret agent Grant, the crew consists of Dr. Duval, the surgeon who will perform the operation; Cora Peterson, his assistant; Dr. Michaels, a circulatory expert; and Captain Owens, the sub's pilot. To save some of the 60 minutes, the group decides to stop the scientist's heart to allow the submarine to pass through the heart. Then Grant and the crew leave the sub, and by means of a snorkel tube attached to the patient's lungs, replenish their oxygen supply. As they near their destination, a nurse in the operating room drops a pair of surgical scissors, and the sound causes tremendous vibrations in the sub that hurl the crew from their positions. With only 6 minutes left, Dr. Michaels reveals himself to be an enemy agent intent on sabotaging the mission. The remaining crew members escape as white corpuscles envelop and digest both the submarine and Michaels. The operation is successfully performed by removing a blood clot with a laser beam, and the four survivors leave the scientist's body by swimming along the optic nerve and emerging through a tear duct.

the fantastic voyage 1966

William Redfield

the fantastic voyage 1966

Arthur Kennedy

Jean del val.

the fantastic voyage 1966

Shelby Grant

the fantastic voyage 1966

James Brolin

Brendan fitzgerald, l. b. abbott, jay lewis bixby, art cruickshank, david dockendorf, margaret donovan, david duncan, bernard freericks, harper goff, dale hennesy, ollie hughes, harry kleiner, otto klement, emil kosa jr., richard kuhn, ernest laszlo, doris mchale, michael mclean, william b. murphy, national screen service, stuart a. reiss, leonard rosenman, ad schaumer, marvin schnall, walter m. scott, jack martin smith, eric stacey, bruce walkup, fred zendar, photo collections.

the fantastic voyage 1966

Hosted Intro

the fantastic voyage 1966

Best Art Direction

Best special effects, award nominations, best cinematography, best editing, best sound editing, best sound effects sound editing.

Fantastic Voyage

Yet all the suns that light the corridors of the universe shine dim before the blazing of a single thought - - Dr. Duval
- proclaiming in incandescent glory the myriad mind of Man... - Grant
Very poetic, gentlemen. Let me know when we pass the soul. - Dr. Michaels
The soul? The finite mind cannot comprehend infinity - and the soul, which comes from God, is infinite. - Dr. Duval
Yes, well, our time isn't. - Dr. Michaels
The medieval philosophers were right. Man is the center of the universe. We stand in the middle of infinity between outer and inner space, and there's no limit to either. - Dr. Peter Duval

Isaac Asimov was approached to write the novel from the script. He perused the script, and declared the script to be full of plot holes. Receiving permission to write the book the way he wanted, delays in filming and the speed at which he wrote saw the book appear before the film. Asimov fixed several plot holes in the book version, but this had no effect on the film (see the Goofs entry).

The scenes of crewmembers swimming outside the sub were shot on dry soundstages with the actors suspended from wires. There was some additional hazard involved because, to avoid reflections from the metal, the wires were washed in acid to roughen them, which made them more likely to break. To create the impression of swimming in a resisting medium, the scenes were shot at 50% greater speed than normal, then played back at normal speed.

As a college student, director Fleischer was a pre-med student for a time.

When filming the scene where the other crew members remove attacking antibodies from Ms. Peterson for the first time, director Fleischer allowed the actors to grab what they pleased. Gentlemen all, they specifically avoided removing them from Raquel Welch's breasts, with an end result that the director described as a "Las Vegas showgirl" effect. Fleischer pointed this out to the cast members -- and on the second try, the actors all reached for her breasts. Finally the director realized that he would have to choreograph who removed what from where, and the result is seen in the final cut.

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States July 1966

Released in United States Winter January 1, 1966

Released in USA on video.

CinemaScope

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  • Cast & crew
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Fantastic Voyage

Fantastic Voyage

  • When a blood clot renders a scientist comatose, a submarine and its crew are shrunk and injected into his bloodstream in order to save him.
  • Scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val), who knows the secret to keeping soldiers shrunken for an indefinite period, escapes from behind the Iron Curtain with the help of C.I.A. Agent Grant (Stephen Boyd). While being transferred, their motorcade is attacked. Benes strikes his head, causing a blood clot to form in his brain. Grant is ordered to accompany a group of scientists as they are miniaturized. They have one hour to get to Benes' brain, remove the clot, and get out. — Brian Washington <[email protected]>
  • The battle being waged by the super powers is who can perfect miniaturization. Now both sides are stumped as to how to control it. So far, they can miniaturize anything, but up to sixty minutes only. Scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val), who is believed to have solved it, was about to give it to the Americans when an attempt is made on his life. Fortunately, he is not dead, but he is in a coma and any conventional means to operate on him could be fatal. So a plan is made to miniaturize a vessel, send a team of doctors into his body, and that they will go to the damaged area and fix it. The problem is that there is a report that someone on the team could be working for the other side. So they send C.I.A. Agent Grant (Stephen Boyd) to make sure everything goes okay. — [email protected]
  • Brilliant scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val) develops a way to shrink humans and other objects for brief periods of time. He, who is working in Communist Russia, is transported by the C.I.A. to America, but is attacked en route. In order to save him, who has developed a blood clot in his brain, a team of Americans in a nuclear submarine is shrunk and injected into his body. They have sixty minutes to fix the clot and get out before the miniaturization wears off. — Jwelch5742
  • A commercial airliner lands at JFK Airport in New York. A Secret Serviceman (Ken Scott), backed by a large Army contingent, greets the plane. After it taxis to a stop, Lieutenant Charles Grant USN (Stephen Boyd) steps out onto a mobile boarding ramp, verifies the Secret Service escort, and then signals to the other passenger, Jan Benes (Jean Del Val), to deplane with him. Benes walks down and gets into the Secret Service car, but not before warmly shaking Grant's hand one last time. But as the motorcade enters a run-down section of New York, a car hurtles out of an alley and broadsides Benes' car. Hastily the Secret Service transfer Benes to another car, which then must make a quick escape as the Secret Service contingent fights a gun battle with several other assailants in the surrounding buildings. Benes is taken to the underground headquarters of the Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces (CMDF) and given a full physical examination, including an EEG. The results are dire: he has suffered a stroke on the left side, in an inoperable spot. The doctors induce a coma so that his brain will not damage itself, while they decide what to do. The original Secret Service man then picks up Grant and delivers him to an alley, instructing him to stay in the car and wait. Then the car, with Grant alone in it, descends to an underground complex. A small scooter bearing the CMDF logo, which he does not recognize, picks him up and delivers him to the Medical Section. There, Grant meets CMDF's commandant, Lieutenant General Alan Carter USA (Edmund O'Brien). General Carter first shows him Benes, in a coma and on a litter. Then he introduces him to the surgeon, Dr. Peter Duval (Arthur Kennedy), and his assistant Cora Peterson (Raquel Welch), who will operate on Benes, and also to Dr. "Mike" Michaels (Donald Pleasence), who is somehow expected to watch Duval to make sure that Duval does not try to kill his patient while operating. Then Carter explains what CMDF means, and about the miniaturization technique that is at the heart of it all. The problem: the USA (and the USSR) can miniaturize any object, to any size, but cannot hold an object miniaturized for more than 60 minutes. Benes knows how to extend the time, and Grant is the one who brought Benes out when he sought to defect. Now Carter reveals why Grant is there: CMDF will reduce a small submarine to microscopic size, and deliver Duval, Miss Peterson, Michaels--and Grant--into Benes' body, to operate on Benes from the inside. Grant hates the idea. Worse yet, CMDF Medical Officer Col. Donald Reid (Arthur O'Connell) does not want a woman to go along on such a hazardous mission. Duval insists that he will have Cora or no one at his side. Grant also meets Captain Wilfrid Owens (William Redfield), designer and pilot of the submarine. The plan: reduce the submarine with all aboard and inject it into the left carotid artery. They will follow this to the site of the stroke, where Dr. Duval will use a hand-held laser to dissolve the clot. Then they travel back along the left internal jugular to the base of the neck, where they will be removed. The problem: if they stay in longer than 60 minutes, they will grow to a size that the immune system will notice, and Benes' own defenses will mobilize to destroy them. Grant barely has time to take in a briefing before Michaels leads him, Duval, Cora, and Owens to a "sterilization room." There they dress in white SCUBA wetsuits, with white overalls over this, all bearing the CMDF logo, and pass through a corridor that irradiates them gently with UVA to kill any germs on their bodies. As Carter and Reid make their preparations, the crew then climbs aboard their submarine (USS Proteus, U-91035) and make preparations for getting under way. Owens and Grant install a tiny reactor containing a microscopic radioactive particle, that will power the sub once they are shrunk. (Radioactive material cannot miniaturize.) Grant tests the ship's wireless, which will be his station. Owens tells Michaels how he will be able to read Michaels' details charts of Benes' circulatory and lymphatic systems. Cora mounts and tests the laser, while also teasing Grant about his still-obvious fear of being "shrunk." (Grant has, throughout, tried to cover his fear with bad jokes and worse innuendo, and doesn't fool Cora for one second.) Cora also reveals that she is a five-year veteran of CMDF and has worked with Duval all that time. Carter radios them to "prepare for miniaturization." So the crew pull out their seats, strap in, and settle in. Everything goes well, except for the time that Michaels, suffering an attack of claustrophobia, tries to get out through the topside hatch (after they are already submerged in an outsized hypodermic syringe), forcing Duval and Grant to restrain him and calm him down. (Duval and Grant have taken their first shot at working together, as they cooperate with Owens to accomplish the submersion.) With the second miniaturization step, the Proteus can now generate its own power. Eventually, the surgical team injects them into the carotid artery. And then the problems begin. At first the view is fascinating, But then Proteus drifts into a strong current, then into a whirlpool. It catches the crew unaware, so that though Michaels and Duval can regain their seats, Grant and Cora cannot. Michaels' shoulder belts pop, and Duval struggles to hold him in. Cora is dragged into a bulkhead, and only Grant's iron grip on her stops her from breaking her neck. Finally the Proteus comes out of the whirlpool--but now the blood cells surrounding them are blue, not the red they remembered. They realize (as do Carter and Reid, watching from outside) that Proteus has gone through an arterio-venous fistula from the carotid artery into the jugular vein. Now they are headed toward the superior vena cava, and will go through the heart--which will smash them. Michaels urges immediate removal, but the authorities, under Carter's leadership, have another idea: to put Benes into cardiac arrest and let Proteus swim through as fast as her drive can propel her. This they do, and Proteus dives into the right ventricle and goes out through the pulmonic valve, with three seconds to spare. Now they head into the lungs, where they observe oxygenation of the blue corpuscles that surround them. Just then, Proteus develops an air leak, which Owens stops, but only after Proteus has lost so much air that she cannot continue. Grant offers a solution: he will take the boat's snorkel and enter an alveolus to take the air that Benes breathes. Owens insists that everyone else aboard except himself join Grant in the dive, for safety reasons. As they put on their SCUBA gear, Grant discovers that the laser has broken loose and gotten knocked around. He firmly tells Duval and Cora to wait on testing the laser until after Grant finishes his snorkel operation. Grant succeeds in pulling in the air--but then his safety line snaps and he finds himself sucked into a bronchiole with Benes' next breathe-out. When Benes breathes in again, he luckily finds the original alveolus, after which he races to safety, with Duval strenuously pulling him back out into the bloodstream. Proteus gets back underway, heading into the pleural cavity. During this time, Cora disassembles the laser and discovers a smashed transistor and a broken trigger wire. Grant supplies replacements for both by cannibalizing the wireless and sending one last message, to the consternation of Carter and Reid. The transistor is of a good size, but the trigger wire is far too large--but Duval believes that he can scrape it down. Grant also takes time to discuss with Michaels a hard reality: someone has tried to sabotage the mission at least twice. Grant knows that Cora had indeed fastened the laser securely--so someone must have unfastened it, just as someone tampered with Grant's safety line. Michaels protests that he cannot think so ill of Duval, the logical suspect. Proteus enters the lymphatic system and passes through a lymph node. The boat blunders into several reticular fibers, and Owens warns that if they keep running into the seaweed-like fibers, they'll block the water jet intakes, and Proteus' engines will overheat. The crew also observe a stray bacterium, and antibodies attacking it and squeezing it to death. Grant is frustrated with the delay and the slow progress. Duval then suggests going to the inner ear--a very hazardous path, because the slightest noise will kill them, and they cannot warn the operating team. Grant expresses confidence that the surgical team, once they see where they are headed, will keep the required silence. Michaels is still dubious, but reluctantly agrees to navigate to Benes' left ear. Inside the ear, Owens must stop--the engines have overheated. Grant, Cora, and Michaels make another dive to pull the reticular fibers out of the intakes. Topside, a nurse (Shelby Grant) gets the idea of plugging Benes' ear with cotton--but then drops a pair of scissors to the floor. With the result that Proteus and her crew are badly shaken up. Cora gets the worst of it--she is carried into the Organ of Corti and finds herself trapped among the Cells of Hensen. She cries out for help, and Michaels and Grant race to her rescue--but Grant orders Michaels back aboard Proteus when he cannot go any further. Grant frees Cora from the hair cells, and they race back to the airlock--but as they wait for it to re-flood (after Michaels used it), antibodies attack Cora and fasten onto her. Grant hastily guides her into the airlock, closes the hatch--and then raps on the door when Cora makes plain that she simply cannot breathe. Michaels, Duval, and Owens open the airlock before it is fully evacuated, pull Cora out, and, with Grant's help, start pulling the antibody molecules off her body. Soon they start crystallizing and come off easily, so Cora is saved. Proteus gets back under way, passes through the middle ear, and then passes through the endolymphatic duct back into the vascular system. Now they penetrate into the brain and reach the clot. During that passage, Michaels and Duval argue about whether Duval, having repaired the laser, should test it. Duval insists on using the laser as-is, not wanting to strain it. Eventually they reach the clot. But with so little time remaining, Michaels wants Owens to take Proteus back out. But now Grant shuts down the power and insists that Duval and Cora go out and operate. Michaels strenously objects, but Grant firmly overrides him, saying that Duval simply does not fit the profile of a fanatic. Now Grant makes his near-fatal mistake: instead of remaining aboard, he goes out to see if he can "help" Duval and Cora. Duval manages to clear the clot, at least enough to get the blood flowing again and relieve the pressure on a key nerve. But aboard Proteus, Michaels knocks out Owens, and then restores power, takes the helm, and sends Proteus on a collision course for the nerve. Grant asks for the laser, and fires a wide-angle beam at Proteus, raking her port side and sending her away from the nerve and into several nearby dendrites. White corpuscles respond immediately, so Grant slips back aboard, through the tear in the hull, to rescue Michaels and Owens if he can. Owens is only now regaining consciousness, so Grant tells him to suit up as fast as he can. But when he tries to untangle Michaels from the wrecked helm station, a white cell settles over the helmsman's dome, breaks through, and suffocates Michaels. Grant and Owens then abandon ship, before the white corpuscles crush it. Duval keeps the white cells at bay long enough for Grant and Owens to escape, before the laser quits for good. Topside, Carter and Reid reluctantly order the removal of Proteus, because time has run out. Inside Benes' body, the four remaining crew swim as fast as they can along the optic nerve, toward Benes' left eye. Carter allows the attending surgeon to make preparations for a trephination procedure--and then deduces what the crew might do and stops the attending in mid-motion. Reid, too, realizes how they crew can still escape, and rushes down to the operating room and asks for a large magnifier. Through this, he looks into Benes' left eye, in time to make out four members of the crew swimming in Benes' tears. He calls for a microscope slide and uses it to lift out a teardrop, with the crew inside. Then he asks the staff to open the door, and as quickly as he dares, walks out into the miniaturization room and sets the slide gently down on the center hexagon. The crew then grows to full size, and the rest of the staff warmly greet them and assure them that the operation is a complete success. NOTE: The film, as it played, had a number of scientific inaccuracies and plot holes. Isaac Asimov, who wrote the novelization from the final shooting script, repaired these and at least tried to produce a scientifically consistent narrative. The key differences are: * The time limit on miniaturization is not a uniform sixty minutes. Instead, the rule is that energy of miniaturization (which is a function of the proportion of normal size to reduced size), when multiplied by duration of miniaturization, is equal to Planck's constant divided by two times pi. In simpler terms, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle governs the maximum time of miniaturization at any given size. Benes' secret is another set of variables that the original pioneering scientists overlooked. The sixty minutes that apply to this narrative are a special case of that model. * Grant's role and authority are broader than as depicted in the film version. In the novel, Grant, not Michaels, has the ultimate authority on policy decisions, and is another brain and pair of hands in an emergency. Cora, sensing right away that the CMDF brass put him on board because they suspect Duval of murderous intent, at first resents him bitterly, and then softens toward him and almost pleads with him to understand Duval's politics, that have caused CMDF to doubt him. Those politics are that the Two Sides in the Cold War ought to share scientific discoveries freely, without regard to strategic sensitivity. But Duval is not the saboteur, a thing Grant comes to deduce by process of elimination. * When Grant makes his first dive with the snorkel into Benes' lungs, Owens uses the on-board miniaturizer that Proteus carries, to reduce the air to a size compatible with Proteus and her crew in their shrunken state. Otherwise, Grant would have been trying to draw in oxygen molecules large enough to see. * When Grant's safety line parts, sending him up the bronchiolar tree, Duval suggests that Owens orient the Proteus to face the alveolar wall and shine the boat's headlight into it. That allows Grant to find the right alveolus again. Otherwise he would have been hopelessly lost. * As Carter and Reid watch Proteus enter the inner ear, they do not use their PA system to announce to the surgical team the hazard against making noise. Instead, Carter writes a note and sends an orderly to walk into the OR in his stockinged feet to hand it to the attending. When, later, he wants to suggest plugging Benes' ears, he sends another note the same way. (The nurse does not take that upon herself, but acts only when she gets Carter's second note. And when the scissors fall, she steps on them so that they won't rattle and thus risk more damage than they might already have caused.) * When Cora falls into the organ of Corti and finds herself wedged among the hair cells, the antibodies take time to "taste" her before they come swarming. Benes' body would never have had antibodies specific to her at the moment of contact. This is still a stretch, because the immune system is now known to take much longer than that to raise antibodies to anything, and through a process that is much more complex than that depicted in film or novel. * When the crew pull Cora back aboard, they only have to give one good tug at one clinging antibody molecule, before realizing that all the antibodies crystallize at once, and all they need do is brush them off. The air on board "hits" the antibodies and denatures them immediately. So the dramatic (and suggestive) grabbing procedure is not necessary. * When Duval and Cora make their dive to attack the clot with the laser, Cora wears her wetsuit inside out, in order not to present a recognizable target to any stray antibodies that might be lurking about. Benes might not have been "immunized" against her before, but he is now. * After clubbing Owens, Michaels, unaccountably, bundles him into a wet suit and drops him out the airlock. Perhaps Michaels takes no chances that Owens might come to himself and try to take his ship back. With the result that Grant's quick rescue operation becomes unnecessary. * After the Proteus crashes into the dendrites, Duval worries that the damage that Michaels has done might start a new clot. This apparently does not happen, but at least Asimov acknowledges the possibility, which the original script does not even talk about. * After the white corpuscles eat the Proteus, Grant knows that they can't just leave her in place. Even when crushed, Proteus will grow to a size to kill Benes. (Michaels also realizes this at the last instant of his life, which is why he bursts out laughing as the white corpuscle collapses the glass dome over his head.) So Grant takes out his dagger and slashes at the white cell to attract its attention and induce it to follow them out. Of course, that releases chemotaxins that bring a swarm of white cells, so the crew must swim for their lives to get out ahead of them. (Furthermore, the medical team topside do not stop tracking Proteus even as they prepare for the trephination procedure. When the monitoring techs realize that Proteus seems to be moving again, Carter stops the preparations. That's when Reid realizes that the crew are using an escape route he did not at first consider.) * The crew, swimming toward the eye, do not drop the laser. Instead, Cora tries to carry the laser out. When Cora inevitably starts flagging, Grant takes the laser and its power pack away from her so that she can swim unencumbered. * Finally, when Col. Reid extracts the crew, he does not try to walk with the slide into the miniaturizer room. Instead, he sets the slide on the operating-room floor where he stands and orders everyone out of the room, including Benes, whom the staff wheel out on his litter. When the crew re-magnify, General Carter takes a quick muster with his eyes and realizes, with a sickening feeling in his gut, that Michaels and the Proteus are both missing. Grant stops him and assures him that the pile of metal fragments next to the crew is what's left of both. The novel has a few more dramatic differences--offering a more detailed explanation of the science of miniaturization, and making more of the professional (or personal) relationships between General Carter and Colonel Reid, between Reid and Michaels, between Grant and Benes on the flight in, between Duval and Cora, and especially between Cora and Grant during and after the trip. (See above.) Grant also has a scene with Carter and Reid in which he acknowledges his mistake in going out on the dive with Duval and Cora, instead of remaining on board after he, in effect, had placed Michaels under arrest. The novel ends with an inspiring scene in which Grant, fully grown once more, pays a visit to Benes, who by now has regained consciousness and can even talk to him. BENES: And now I must remember what I came here to tell. It's a little fuzzy, but it's still all in there. GRANT: You'd be surprised to know what's in you, Professor.

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Fantastic Voyage

1966, Sci-fi, 1h 40m

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Critics Consensus

The special effects may be a bit dated today, but Fantastic Voyage still holds up well as an imaginative journey into the human body. Read critic reviews

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Fantastic voyage   photos.

The brilliant scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val) develops a way to shrink humans, and other objects, for brief periods of time. Benes, who is working in communist Russia, is transported by the CIA to America, but is attacked en route. In order to save the scientist, who has developed a blood clot in his brain, a team of Americans in a nuclear submarine is shrunk and injected into Benes' body. They have a finite period of time to fix the clot and get out before the miniaturization wears off.

Genre: Sci-fi

Original Language: English

Director: Richard Fleischer

Producer: Saul David

Writer: Jerome Bixby , Otto Klement , David Duncan , Harry Kleiner

Release Date (Theaters): Aug 24, 1966  original

Release Date (Streaming): Oct 22, 2013

Runtime: 1h 40m

Distributor: 20th Century Fox, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Production Co: 20th Century Fox

Sound Mix: Mono

Cast & Crew

Stephen Boyd

Raquel Welch

Cora Peterson

Edmond O'Brien

General Carter

Donald Pleasence

Dr. Michaels

Arthur O'Connell

Colonel Donald Reid

William Redfield

Captain Bill Owens

Arthur Kennedy

Dr. Peter Duvall

Jean Del Val

Communications Aide

Secret Service

Shelby Grant

James Brolin

Brendan Fitzgerald

Wireless Operator

Richard Fleischer

Jerome Bixby

Otto Klement

David Duncan

Harry Kleiner

Screenwriter

Leonard Rosenman

Original Music

Ernest Laszlo

Cinematographer

William B. Murphy

Film Editing

Dale Hennesy

Art Director

Jack Martin Smith

Stuart A. Reiss

Set Decoration

Walter M. Scott

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Critic Reviews for Fantastic Voyage

Audience reviews for fantastic voyage.

What a title! set to impress with a claim like that huh. This film really is a piece of history, an old iconic pop culture movie that has inspired so many other ideas in various formats. What is interesting is (like some original sci-fi concepts) back in 66 when this film was made the idea was of course deemed fantasy, these days I don't think it is, well with robots anyway. The plot is classic, you all know it, a group of scientists are miniaturised to microscopic proportions in order to enter the human body of a man with a brain clot. The reason, to save him obviously, and because he knows the secret to the miniaturising technology and how to perfect it. At the same time other folk (pesky Russians) are trying to whack him because he defected to the US with the technology secrets. There's a time limit, the stakes are high and everybody will revert back to their normal size when the limit expires, game on. The start of the story is actually pretty technical in my opinion, its all quite meticulous and realistic (as far as the fantasy goes). Compare this to the 80's revamp 'InnerSpace' and this film is far superior in my humble opinion. Where as 'InnerSpace' is a very wacky over the top comedy (good comedy), this is far more sensible which I didn't expect really, it works so much better despite being a slow build up. What I love about this film is the visuals, now I'm very sure in reality if this happened it would be pitch black inside a body, apart from what the ships lights illuminated hehe. However here we have a vibrant underwater-like ocean of life, a rainbow of soft glowing colours in a gloopy sea of bodily fluids. Within these fluids (mainly blood) we see hundreds of transparent blue and pink oxygen carrying corpuscles, antibodies, fibers, proteins, bacteria etc...whilst the crew venture through the heart and lungs on their way to the brain. The whole visual experience looks like errr...a lava lamp and quite psychedelia in a soft way, not surprising seeing as this was the mid 60's. What I do find amusing throughout the film is how much bad luck the team has the moment they enter the body (fantastic little injection sequence I must add, really effective). Straight away they have big problems which basically means they might have to abort, oh well can't get around that, game over, lets go. Then someone has a brilliant plan and they manage to overcome the issue, five minutes later they hit another problem, oh well can't get around that, game over, lets go. Someone has a great plan and they overcome the issue, turn the next corner bang! another problem, oh well can't get around that, game ov....etc... How about the Proteus eh? now is that another iconic sci-fi design or what. Love the shape of that sub with the little bubble dome on top, sound effects are nice too, it reminds me of a ship from the cartoon 'The Jetsons' puttering around. It looks like they built a full scale ship too, really lovely craftsmanship, looks gorgeous, very realistic. Despite looking like an old 'Star Trek' episode this film is a truly award winning entertainment machine. Not only does it look great (and still works well today) but its pretty tense at times too. The final moments for Donald Pleasence are still a bit harrowing as he is slowly engulfed by a large white corpuscle. His frantic squirming and panicking unnerve you quite a bit...'I can't move my hands!. I'm stuck and I can't...I can't move my hands!...Get me out!!'. Mr Pleasence most definitely steals the show throughout this film no doubt, Welsh as usual is nothing more than eye candy in a tight white jumpsuit. Quite liked Edmond O'Brien as the gruff General, everyone else was you're regular cliched sci-fi character. All in all a fine example of good fun science fiction. Some plot holes do reveal themselves which do spoil it admittedly, mainly at the end when the Proteus is left inside the patients body half digested along with the laser gun, the bad doctor's remains (Pleasant) and all the fluid used to inject the crew originally. Surely that would all revert and cause death?. But a few niggly bits aside this film is solidly exhilarating with a lovely rose tinted charm that hasn't died in all these years.

the fantastic voyage 1966

Back in the 60's this probably was an amazing movie. A scifi classic. The story is original and I loved the initial credits. Unfortunately is out of date. The FX are good but everything seems too static to represent the inner space. However is a good scfi story with a semi-slow rythm that create some suspense but I wouldn't recommend it if you have seen a lot of Cameron movies.

I know a lot of people today think that the special effects in this movie were too silly or fake looking, but to me they were too realistic, they creeped me out. The story is interesting, but a bit slow and sometimes really boring. It's pretty good, though it could have been better.

To enjoy this movie one must turn off their brain as soon as the theme tune of 20th Century Fox starts . The whole set up is very hard to swallow - A scientist who know the secret of miniaturization is injured by commie assassins and now lies in a coma due to a blood clot on the brain and only by miniaturizing a submarine type capsule and sending both it and its crew through an artery can both the scientist and free world be saved . It's never actually explained as to why miniaturizing is such a radical development for espionage or warfare . Think about it does this mean you can infiltrate the Kremlin by sending an envelope containing a miniaturized army ? Seeing as the enemy are aware of the process they can easily protect themselves against this - By running a rolling pin over all incoming mail . And wouldn't shrinking someone to the size of something little bigger than an element kill them anyway due to the changes in mass ? Wouldn't air pressure alone kill any miniaturized person ? And wouldn't it have been a good idea to vet the crew to find out if any of them were claustrophobic before sending them on their mission ? You understand what I'm saying don't you ? The ideas and plot devices presented are entirely laughable because of their nature , that's why I told you to stop thinking about it . If you manage this you've got a pretty enjoyable escapist fantasy once it gets started . You realise that if the capsule crew go on an uneventful journey we wouldn't have much of a movie so we find obstacles at every corner involving detours , anti-bodies and a traitor within and if none of this gets you excited how about Raquel Welch in a really tight costume ? What do you mean she hasn't been given any decent lines ?

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Richard Fleischer

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IMAGES

  1. Fantastic Voyage

    the fantastic voyage 1966

  2. Fantastic Voyage (1966)

    the fantastic voyage 1966

  3. Fantastic Voyage (1966)

    the fantastic voyage 1966

  4. Fantastic Voyage (1966)

    the fantastic voyage 1966

  5. ‎Fantastic Voyage (1966) directed by Richard Fleischer • Reviews, film

    the fantastic voyage 1966

  6. Fantastic Voyage (1966)

    the fantastic voyage 1966

VIDEO

  1. Fantastic Voyage (1966)

  2. CinemaScope Picture/20th Century-Fox (Closing, 1966)

  3. FANTASTIC VOYAGE THEATRICAL TRAILER

  4. Opening to Fantastic Voyage (1966) (DVD, 2007)

  5. Fantastic Voyage 1966 Cast Then and Now 2023 Real Name and Age

COMMENTS

  1. Fantastic Voyage (1966)

    Fantastic Voyage (1966) -- (Movie Clip) Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces We have the general impression that Stephen Boyd is a CIA man, summoned unexpectedly to a giant underground facility where General Carter (Edmond O’Brien) explains the problem, indirectly introducing Arthur Kennedy, Raquel Welch and Donald Pleasence, early in ...

  2. Fantastic Voyage (1966)

    Summaries. When a blood clot renders a scientist comatose, a submarine and its crew are shrunk and injected into his bloodstream in order to save him. Scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val), who knows the secret to keeping soldiers shrunken for an indefinite period, escapes from behind the Iron Curtain with the help of C.I.A. Agent Grant (Stephen ...

  3. Fantastic Voyage (1966 movie)

    Sound effects. Lee Pfeiffer. Fantastic Voyage is a science-fiction film that was directed by Richard Fleischer and released in 1966. It is especially noted for its special effects, which were used to simulate a journey through the human body.

  4. Fantastic Voyage

    Movie Info. The brilliant scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val) develops a way to shrink humans, and other objects, for brief periods of time. Benes, who is working in communist Russia, is transported...

  5. Watch Fantastic Voyage

    Fantastic Voyage. The crew of a miniaturized submarine is injected into a man's body on a mission to rid the brain of a deadly blood clot in this 1966 tale. 2,432 IMDb 6.8 1 h 40 min 1966. X-Ray 7+. Adventure · Science Fiction · Strange · Wondrous. Available to rent or buy. Rent. HD $4.29. Buy. HD $9.99. More purchase. options.