The Incredible Petrified World (1959)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

One problem of this movie is that it has a great introduction. We see underwater creatures, are told how miraculous the world down there is - but afterwards, we see a couple of guys sitting in a cave most of the running time. They are explorers who got caught there, fortunately with plenty of air, after the cable of their diving bell broke. They can't do much but wait, meet another survivor who tells them there is no way out - not really encouraging - and wait for the scientist Wyman (John Carradine) who sent them on this dangerous expedition to start a rescue team. "The Incredible Petrified World" simply is a little adventure flick that isn't silly enough to be funny, but certainly didn't have the budget to achieve anything serious, either.

this wasn't a bad movie at all, although I wouldn't have put it in the horror packaging as Wal Mart did. starring John Carradine who didn't have a lot of screen times.. this movie is about a diving bell that breaks loose from the chains, and falls to the bottom of the sea, but as luck would have it ,, it got stuck on a shelf of some sorts, in a deep dark dank cave with a volcano not to far from it,, 2 men and 2 women must fight to stay alive and find a way out,, an old man shows up about half way thru the picture claiming to have been living there now for 14 years,, he takes a liking to one of the women, just as the action is starting to heat up with a volcano exploding,, interesting movie,, I love the opening credits where all you see is the monstrous waves from the ocean,, but I didn't care for the narration at the beginning of the film.

The Incredible Petrified World is a place where four undersea explorers find themselves when their diving bell cable snaps and the bell is dragged into an undersea cavern which is lit by phosphorous and the pressure is tolerable. What to do the four which consist of Robert Clarke, Phyllis Coates, Allen Windsor and Sheila Noonan, but make the best of it and look for a way out. Fresh air is coming in from somewhere.It turns out they're not alone, there's 3/4 crazy hermit down there played by Maurice Bernard who has plans, especially for Coates. Not that he would want her for long because the former Lois Lane from Superman is acting like a real diva.Getting first billing in this film is John Carradine and the producers and Carradine missed a bet here. Carradine who with his classical stage training enlivened many a ghastly bad horror film with that fabulous speaking voice should have played the hermit. He has a few scenes as the inventor of the diving bell in which the four were exploring in. By not doing that casting, The Incredible Petrified World was left just crashingly boring instead of being camp.

"When a diving bell goes missing along with its crew of four, their expedition gives up hope of finding them alive. However, the missing vehicle has become trapped in a labyrinth of underwater caverns. After exiting their craft, the foursome encounters a survivor from a shipwreck who informs them that there is no escape from their underwater tomb. Our intrepid explorers, however, trace the flow of oxygen to a volcanic vent and a possible escape route," according to the DVD sleeve description.Possibly, producer/director Jerry Warren was trying to fool audiences into thinking something might happen if he had professor John Carradine (as Millard Wyman) submerge two shapely 1950s women - lady reporter Phyllis Coates (as Dale Marshall) and Sheila Noonan (as Lauri Talbott) - with two heterosexual men. Wrong. Ms. Coates is trying to get over "Tom" (tossing his hopefully cheap ring into a pool) and Ms. Noonan fails to hook up with Robert Clarke (as Craig Randall). Nothing excites. * The Incredible Petrified World (1959) Jerry Warren ~ Robert Clarke, Phyllis Coates, John Carradine, Sheila Noonan