Fantastic Voyage (1966)

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Writers:

Harry Kleiner (screenplay)
David Duncan (adaptation)

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

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:

As a college student, director Richard Fleischer was a pre-med student for a time.

Goofs:

Plot holes: At the end, when the "micronauts" escape Benes' body through the tear ducts, there are just the four of them that make it out. As they left the sub and the fifth member of their crew still in the body (their mass admittedly "digested" by a white blood cell but still all within Benes' body) then the body (and perhaps the entire operating room) would be destroyed by that mass returning to its full size - thus killing Benes, whom they were intending to save. (Asimov's novelization corrects this.)

Quotes:

Dr. Peter Duval: 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.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Top wo Nerae! (1988) (V)

Colourful Though Flawed Fantasy Adventure

To enjoy this movie one must turn off their brain as soon as the theme tune of 20th Century Fox starts . The whole set up is very hard to swallow - A scientist who know the secret of miniaturization is injured by commie assassins and now lies in a coma due to a blood clot on the brain and only by miniaturizing a submarine type capsule and sending both it and its crew through an artery can both the scientist and free world be saved . It's never actually explained as to why miniaturizing is such a radical development for espionage or warfare . Think about it does this mean you can infiltrate the Kremlin by sending an envelope containing a miniaturized army ? Seeing as the enemy are aware of the process they can easily protect themselves against this - By running a rolling pin over all incoming mail . And wouldn't shrinking someone to the size of something little bigger than an element kill them anyway due to the changes in mass ? Wouldn't air pressure alone kill any miniaturized person ? And wouldn't it have been a good idea to vet the crew to find out if any of them were claustrophobic before sending them on their mission ?

You understand what I'm saying don't you ? The ideas and plot devices presented are entirely laughable because of their nature , that's why I told you to stop thinking about it . If you manage this you've got a pretty enjoyable escapist fantasy once it gets started . You realise that if the capsule crew go on an uneventful journey we wouldn't have much of a movie so we find obstacles at every corner involving detours , anti-bodies and a traitor within and if none of this gets you excited how about Raquel Welch in a really tight costume ? What do you mean she hasn't been given any decent lines ?