‘Warlords of Atlantis’ is a 1978 science-fiction adventure film directed by Kevin Connor and starring Doug McClure. This movie marked the fourth collaboration between both actor and director – as well as producer John Dark – with their most successful film up to this point being 1974’s ‘The Land That Time Forgot.’

The American actor McClure – perhaps best known for the 1960’s TV series ‘The Virginian’ – was considered to be a bit of an action man back in the day, and it’s interesting to note that they were really using his reputation to promote ‘Warlords of Atlantis’ – for his name is printed almost as large as the film’s title on the poster!

But it wasn’t McClure’s machismo that first drew my attention to this movie, but rather the above photo that was featured in a science-fiction book that I owned as a child. Funnily enough, I only recently managed to get hold of a copy of the same book and then – around fifty years after first laying eyes on this image – I sat down and actually watched ‘Warlords of Atlantis’ for the very first time!

The movie gets right down to business, and takes us onboard the good ship Texas Rose somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. There, our two main characters Greg Collinson (Doug McClure) and Charles Aitken (Peter Gilmore) man a specially-designed diving bell and are lowered into the depths; hoping to discover the lost city of Atlantis.

But it was never going to be that easy…

Having fought off a sea monster that stuck its head inside the bell, Collinson and Aitken then discover a gold statue at the bottom of the ocean. Taking this as evidence of finding Atlantis, they have their priceless bounty hauled up to the ship – only to create a nasty eight-tentacled problem!

And yes! The deckhand in the above screenshot is none other than John Ratzenberger – who later became famous playing Cliff Clavin in ‘Cheers!’

The giant octopus proceeds to capture four crew members and take them all the way to Atlantis where they are reunited with Collinson and Aitken. Either that octopus was an extremely fast swimmer, or those men could hold their breaths for a very long time!

From here, ‘Warlords of Atlantis’ moves along at a brisk pace and introduces us to the various kingdoms of Atlantis, and throws in a Martian backstory just to add a little spice to proceedings, while the characters from the surface are trying to outsmart their captors and escape back to their ship.

For the remainder of its running time, the film delivers everything it promised and more; serving up aliens, sea monsters, bad haircuts and is never short of a good action sequence! There is a lot to appreciate here, for the sets and matte paintings are incredible – and I think the best way to highlight this is to let the screenshots below speak for themselves.

And now, for the slightly weird…

Forgive me for going off on a slight tangent here, but did you know that ‘Warlords of Atlantis’ has a little something for James Bond aficionados.

Let’s dive into this, shall we?

I was kicking myself when this actor first appeared on screen for I knew I’d seen him in something else – a film or TV show that I’d watched many times – and it took me some time to figure it out.

The actor’s name is Michael Gothard – who sadly died in 1992 at the age of 53 – and was best known for playing the villainous Emile Locque in 1981’s ‘For Your Eyes Only.’

The other James Bond connection is the man in the above photo playing Briggs; the captain of the ill-fated Mary Celeste and now a prisoner in Atlantis.

The actor is Robert Brown, who played ‘M’ in four films – from ‘Octopussy’ in 1983 to ‘Licence to Kill’ in 1989. Brown passed away in 2003 – aged 82.

Now, back to ‘Warlords of Atlantis’ and how the story ends.

So, our heroes manage to escape Atlantis and scramble their way back to their ship – but they are followed by the giant octopus who returns for a final fight!

While the monster is tearing the Texas Rose to pieces – and killing some of the crew members who tried to steal the gold statue for themselves – the good guys manage to slip away from the carnage in a small dinghy, giving us a happy ending!

So, here is my final assessment.

I’m a bit of a sucker for these cheesy science-fiction adventures, and have a great appreciation for the craftsmanship and imagination that goes into making these movies. As I get older, I find myself connecting more with the over-the-hill and slightly out-of-shape leading men headlining projects such as these, so it’s hard for me not to give a decent review.

Look, I found this film to be quite enjoyable. It’s an honest, easy-to-follow adventure story with enough imagination and excitement to keep the audience engaged throughout.

As I mentioned before, I have a soft spot for these types of movies – but I don’t think I’m being overly-biased in giving ‘Warlords of Atlantis’ a solid seven out of ten!

‘Warlords of Atlantis’ screenshots and photos courtesy of EMI Productions.

‘For Your Eyes Only’, ‘Octopussy’ and ‘Licence to Kill’ screenshots courtesy of Eon Productions and MGM/United Artists.