The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues

Oceanographer Ted Stevens (Kent Taylor) meets Bill Grant (Rodney Bell), government investigator, at the scene of another beach murder caused by a hideous sea monster that stands guard over a glowing underwater uranium mine. Meanwhile marine biologist Professor King, who created the monster in his laboratory, is being pursued by a beautiful femme fatale who is blackmailing or killing everyone in sight in an effort to acquire King's top secret files for the Russians. The Phantom From 10,000 Leagues is an often dreamlike, comically surreal study in paranoid '50s sociology. It provides an insightful time capsule of attitudes prevalent at the time. When first released, The Phantom From 10,000 Leagues shared a double bill with Roger Corman's first sci-fi film The Day The World Ended. It was released by American Releasing Corp., an organization that evolved into American International Pictures, a company long associated with monsters, rock n' roll, juvenile delinquents and beach parties.

• science fiction