Talkback: Latitude Zero (1969)

[menschenjaeger]

I heard about it from Galbraith's Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo. But when that book came out, the movie was nowhere to be found. It was good to see it finally given a quality release recently. I finally took the plunge a few days ago and bought the DVD. I watched it earlier tonight with popcorn and a Duvel, and it's 105 minutes of pure chewing satisfaction. It's as if they took (almost) everything I like about The Mysterians and added more of it, and took away the boring stuff (there are no meetings called in Latitude Zero!).

And I learned a valuable life-lesson: Never put the brain of the henchman you just betrayed into a gigantic monster's body. Who would have ever guessed it would seek revenge upon its maker?! Oops, sorry - spoiler!

[MaxRebo320]

Upon watching ''Latitude Zero'' the other day, I thought about it's unusual ending. I wondered, did he really travel to the land and have that adventure, or was it all just a dream? What do you guys think? Personally, I found it pretty shocking that an otherwise campy flick would have such and ending, but in a way, that makes it better.

[B34sT]

If I remember correctly the top was still spinning at the end.

[menschenjaeger]

It's meant to be exactly that - "whoah, was it all a dream?!" You're free to interpret it as you will.

I look at it like this: The Omniscient Narrator (who appears to be Captain McKenzie) talks about the Fuji, so there's a Japanese research vessel by that name if we follow "movie rules." The undersea volcano and the loss of the bathysphere would certainly be a verifiable event within the world of the movie. The Latitude Zero operatives talk about "identical" imposter agents they use, and Perry does have a whole mess of diamonds waiting for him in New York. The bank DID know to call the particular ship he's on. Capt. McKenzie does look amused as Perry talks about how no one will believe him without pictures, and also when he asks about the diamonds, as though the Capt. has a secret joke.

It seems pretty obvious in THAT context that it's a big mind-you-know-what on Perry, intended to make him say "How'd they DO that?!" so that he'll know it's best to just leave LZ in peace.

[ScootaVaran]

I forgot how it ended. gotta go watch it again.

[SG-17]

So I watched Latitude Zero for the first time today, the international version, and I have some questions.

Firstly, how the hell are the people in Latitude Zero and on Blood Island living so long?

Secondly, when/why/by whom was Latitude Zero established.

Thirdly, is Lucrezia supposed to be Lucrezia Borgia?


This is a very strange movie.

[Tohosaurus]

A lot of it is simply mystery, but some things like the age of the people can likely be chalked up to technology and innovation, which is why they are so advanced in the first place.

[MaxRebo320]

It may have all been a dream as well.

[menschenjaeger]

An AWESOME dream.

[MaxRebo320]

An AWESOME dream.

Agreed. I love this movie!

[thatsoundman]

For those looking for the film it is available from Netflicks-

Ps,
I love this film, and the ending seems like something was missing

[DoctorMafune]

It's meant to be exactly that - "whoah, was it all a dream?!" You're free to interpret it as you will.

I look at it like this: The Omniscient Narrator (who appears to be Captain McKenzie) talks about the Fuji, so there's a Japanese research vessel by that name if we follow "movie rules." The undersea volcano and the loss of the bathysphere would certainly be a verifiable event within the world of the movie. The Latitude Zero operatives talk about "identical" imposter agents they use, and Perry does have a whole mess of diamonds waiting for him in New York. The bank DID know to call the particular ship he's on. Capt. McKenzie does look amused as Perry talks about how no one will believe him without pictures, and also when he asks about the diamonds, as though the Capt. has a secret joke.

It seems pretty obvious in THAT context that it's a big mind-you-know-what on Perry, intended to make him say "How'd they DO that?!" so that he'll know it's best to just leave LZ in peace.

I like the idea that the whole point is to leave Perry on thin ice, so that he won't try to draw attention to Latitude Zero.

Here's another possibility. I haven't seen the film in a long time, but if I remember correctly, the McKenzie on the ship at the end says something like, "I come from a long line of McKenzies, and I never knew anyone rich enough to give away diamonds."

That may be a clue that makes sense of it in a different way : that these are McKenzie's and Malic's descendants. It would also explain why McKenzie v.2 and Malic v.2 are working together.

FWIW, Ed Godziszewski's article in Japanese Giants drew the same conclusion.

For my money, either the "descendants" or "agents" explanation would work better than leaving the entire adventure in doubt.

[ThunderScore]

[LSD Jellyfish]

Yes(?). The point?

[Goji]

..The point is to share rarely seen advertising for an often overlooked movie. No reason to be rude about it.

[ThunderScore]

It wasn't rudeness. The original post (which was moved) was about Steve Holland modeling for the U.S. poster art. Holland was the model for Doc Savage and many other paperback covers. I guess there was no interest.

For those who care: The first episode of LATITUDE ZERO on radio from 1941:

http://www.radioechoes.com/latitude-zero#.VcatjEVx1FQ

[H-Man]

Okay, I finally watched this for the first time about two months ago (Brazilian VHS - English w/ Portuguese subs). It was pretty loopy, although with a run time of about 88 minutes or so, I couldn't help but wonder if something had been cut. It certainly moves at a fast clip, but the scenes of the characters hanging out at Latitude Zero feel really rushed before they head to Blood Island. The monsters weren't particularly good, but you gotta give a shout-out to a movie simply for including a flying lion monster and bat people. The volcano eruption looked cooler.

Biggest surprise? I can now say that Monstrosity is no longer the only movie whose moral is "Don't transplant the brain of a woman you betrayed into the head of a cat."

[Lain Of The Wired]

This movie seems like a fun little adventure, how good is this movie? Seems like it'd at least be really entertaining

[AbudJasemAlBaldawi]

It is really entertaining

[Space Hunter M]