Battle Beneath the Earth (1968)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

In Battle Beneath The Earth the never ending Communist plot has decided on a new tactic to take over America. They're going to tunnel their way in from Asia. After that it's just planting nuclear bombs in strategic places, military bases, large cities and they blow up a couple and dictate surrender to the survivors. Neat ain't it.Interestingly enough at the time Battle Beneath The Earth came out it might have found a resonant audience because in the People's Republic Of China the Red Guard phenomenon was getting underway. Mao Tse-Tung turned on a whole lot of his comrades from the 1949 Revolution feeling that they had lost the zeal for change. The young people were those he placed his trust in and his guy for dealing with the old line Communists was a fellow named Lin Piao who met an untimely end a few years later after things really got out of hand.The Chinese general played by Martin Benson who is doing all this tunneling, a Communist mole in a literal sense of the word could have been based on Lin Piao. But sad to say this film plays like one of those old Fu Manchu stories and those in fact were coming back somewhat with Christopher Lee doing some of those new films as well around the same time as this came out.Peter Arne is the scientist who discovers the tunnels, something he wanted to work on for the west, but no one would let him. Kerwin Matthews handles the military end of stopping the Commies.If you're taste runs to Fu Manchu, I suggest you watch the real deal instead of this.

MASTER PLAN: tunnel underneath the USA with nuclear warheads and obliterate us. Take about the most outrageous James Bond-type plot against the free world you can imagine; act as if you're creating a comic book for sixties kids; now, make it even more unbelievable. That pretty much sums up this battle for the existence of the United States. This could have been really good but, for some reason, the plot usually veers into unwarranted silliness. This is evident in the very beginning, when the scientist-hero, the one who is the first to figure out the plot against the USA, is found by the cops ranting about ants underneath us; the scientist is carted off to the loony bin and, rightly so. Later, when the authorities are also aware of the plot, this guy is rational; what was all the business about him being a nutcase? I dunno. The primary hero, a military man (Matthews, best known as Sinbad) in the James Bond mold, ends up leading a squad of soldiers to confront the invading Chinese under our feet; the master villain is a Chinese general who got the idea to dig 3 tunnels underneath the Pacific Ocean and halfway thru the U.S. territory by the time the Americans find out. The premise is that while the U.S. was busy with outer space technology, the Chinese had developed heat ray weapons and a special rock-melting/boring machine. When the American soldiers fire their typical rifles, the invaders simply point what looks like a flashlight and *Ssssss* - *yahhhh!* The U.S. comes across as very limited in other ways: the squad of soldiers seems to be the extent of American military might in this movie.The (probably unintended) subtext here is compelling: the free world concentrated on technology above us while the communists focused on below us - and they end up with the advantage; see also "The Time Machine" by H.G.Wells for another take on the subterranean vs. overhead existence theme. At one point, it's mentioned that the rate of progression by the Chinese is 8 miles per day so, conceivably, they could have accomplished their goal in 3 years. But, that's about all which is plausible. When I first saw this as a kid many years ago, I also wondered about the Caucasians who apparently took over the upper echelons of the Chinese; well, the filmmakers weren't able to use oriental actors, for some reason. The main villains look somewhat absurd here - like, out of a comic book. There's even a scene involving brainwashing, a possible sign that the writers watched "The Manchurian Candidate" a few times too many. The Chinese general has nukes all over the place - even, it's surmised, under Peking, where he holds power over his countrymen. Yet, all it takes is one nuke to put him out of business, even though the 3 tunnels are about 500 miles apart from each other. The heroes give themselves 10 minutes on foot to escape an atomic blast, which is obviously footage of tests out on the Pacific, while all the invaders, it's suggested, are wiped out. Forget logic - the combined outrageousness of these loopy scenarios results in some strange entertainment - it's kind of one-of-a-kind. Don't take it seriously or you'll end up in a loony bin. Hero:5 Villains:4 Femme Fatales:5 Henchmen:4 Fights:5 Stunts/Chases:5 Gadgets:6 Machines:6 Locations:5 Pace:5 overall:5

This is one of those "so-bad-it's-good" B-movies. The production is not nearly as bad and low-budget like "Plan 9 From Outer Space", but in idiocy and sheer nonsense it isn't far-behind, either.The Chinese invade the U.S. through tunnels! Sillier yet, these "Chinese" are played by white guys - who couldn't be more white - with bad eye make-up. One of these whites plays a Chinese general who at times speaks with an Indian accent! One of the main characters says that "they (the Chinese) are like ants". Well, if that's the case, then why couldn't they find any Chinese actors? The movie offers cretinously funny scenes at quite a consistent rate. There is occasional tedium, though - prevalently in the second half. One of my favourite scenes: at the beginning, in the room of a lunatic asylum.

This movie classic, from the Golden Age of Sci-Fi films, is a movie to remember. USA vs China, with Jules Verne like settings and the requisite nuclear weaponry that goes with any 60's sci-fi setting.Definitely worth watching again.