Fantastic Voyage (1966)

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Writers:

Harry Kleiner (screenplay)
David Duncan (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

24 August 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The screen's most fantastic voyage

Plot:

A diplomat is nearly assassinated. In order to save him, a submarine is shrunken to microscopic size and injected into his blood stream with a small crew. Problems arise almost as soon as they enter the bloodstream.

Plot Keywords:

Blood | Submarine | Tympanic Membrane | Coffee | Military

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Stephen Boyd	...	Grant
Raquel Welch	...	Cora
Edmond O'Brien	...	General Carter
Donald Pleasence	...	Dr. Michaels
Arthur O'Connell	...	Col. Donald Reid
William Redfield	...	Capt. Bill Owens
Arthur Kennedy	...	Dr. Duval
Jean Del Val	...	Jan Benes
Barry Coe	...	Communications Aide
Ken Scott	...	Secret Service
Shelby Grant	...	Nurse
James Brolin	...	Technician
Brendan Fitzgerald	...	Wireless Operator
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Brendon Boone	...	MP (uncredited)
Kenneth MacDonald	...	Henry - Heart Monitoring (uncredited)
Christopher Riordan	...	Young Scientist (uncredited)

Directed by
Richard Fleischer

Writing credits
Harry Kleiner		(screenplay)
David Duncan		(adaptation)
Otto Klement		(story) and
Jerome Bixby		(story) (as Jay Lewis Bixby)

Produced by
Saul David	....	producer

Original Music by
Leonard Rosenman

Cinematography by
Ernest Laszlo		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
William B. Murphy

Art Direction by
Dale Hennesy
Jack Martin Smith

Set Decoration by
Stuart A. Reiss
Walter M. Scott

Makeup Department
Margaret Donovan	....	hair stylist
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Eric Stacey	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ad Schaumer	....	assistant director

Sound Department
David Dockendorf	....	sound
Bernard Freericks	....	sound
Walter Rossi	....	sound effects (uncredited)
Richard Sperber	....	sound effects editor (uncredited)

Special Effects by
L.B. Abbott	....	special photographic effects
Art Cruickshank	....	special photographic effects
Emil Kosa Jr.	....	special photographic effects
Greg C. Jensen	....	special effects (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Marcel Delgado	....	miniatures (uncredited)

Stunts
Donna Garrett	....	stunts (uncredited)
Sol Gorss	....	stunts (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Chris Haynes	....	driver (uncredited)

Other crew
Peter Foy	....	technical adviser: flying sequences
Harper Goff	....	creative production research
Richard Kuhn	....	titles
Fred Zendar	....	technical adviser
Marie Kenney	....	script supervisor (uncredited)
Christopher Riordan	....	leg double: Steven Boyd (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (presents) (as Twentieth Century-Fox)

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1966) (USA) (theatrical) (released by)
• 20th Century Fox (1966) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Fox Films (1967) (Finland) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment España S.A. (2002) (Spain) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (Brazil) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (video)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1969) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• National Screen Service  titles
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation  CinemaScope is the registered trademark of

Also Known As:

Microscopia
Strange Journey
Die phantastische Reise (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Le voyage fantastique (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Viagem Fantástica (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
Den fantastiska resan (Sweden) [sv]
Den fantastiske rejse (Denmark) [da]
El viaje fantástico (Venezuela) [es]
En fantastisk resa (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Fantastiko taxeidi (Greece) [el]
Fantastinen matka (Finland) [fi]
Fantastyczna podróz (Poland) [pl]
Fantasztikus utazás (Hungary) [hu]
Viaggio allucinante (Italy) [it]
Viaje alucinante (Spain) [es]

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild violence and language.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System) | Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #20942) (original rating) | Canada:G (video rating) | Portugal:M/6 | Australia:G | Finland:K-12 | Spain:T | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

A now defunct thrill ride at Disney's Epcot Center, called Body Wars, was largely inspired by this film, even though it is not a Disney film. The director, Richard Fleischer, however, also directed Disney's first science fiction film, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954).

Goofs:

Factual errors: The amount of radioactive material for the sub would not need a lead carrying case. Grant proves this by removing the container from the case with no protection and handing it to Owens who inserts it into the reactor, again bare-handed.

Quotes:

Cora Peterson: We're going to see things no one has ever seen before. Just think about it.
Grant: That's the trouble. I am.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Fairly OddParents: A Wish Too Far!/Tiny Timmy! (#1.3)" (2001)

You're going to see things no one has ever seen before…

"Fantastic Voyage" follows a surgical team of three scientists: Dr Peter Duval, the top brain surgeon in the country (Arthur Kennedy); Cora Peterson, his technical assistant (Raquel Welch); Dr Michaels, chief of the medical mission (Donald Pleasance), plus the skipper of the ship (William Redfield) and Grant (Stephen Boyd) the security agent for security purposes...

The sealed vessel—The Proteus—is reduced down by a secret branch called CMDF (Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces) and injected into one artery of a defecting Russian scientist who has suffered brain injury and he's in a coma from an assassination attempt... The crew must navigate to the scientist's brain (within exactly 60 minutes) where Dr Duval will attempt to dissolve the coagulum with a laser beam… After that everything starts growing back to its original size…

"Fantastic Voyage" is a film of authentic wonder: An ocean of life, the corpuscles, the heart, the lungs of the human body through which the crew move are exquisitely designed in great detail with artistic quality...

The plot creates unceasing moments of suspense as the ship and its crew are continually threatened by the scientist's natural defenses: white corpuscles, reticular fibers, antibodies and other factors… Leonard Rosenman's futuristic score nicely complements the adventure on screen with the strange sound of the human blood rushing through arteries, veins, rhythmical muscular movements, and of course, the sabotage occurred on board…

With two Oscar Awards for Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction, 'Fatastic Voyage' is certainly the most unusual journey into the human body, where the 'medieval philosophers were right. Man is the center of the universe. We stand in the middle of infinity, between outer and inner space. And there's no limit to either.'