Fantastic Voyage (1966)

This will probably be my last chance to post any comments before the holiday deluge and I also want to take this opportunity to send my best wishes for the season to any and all readers.  Since this is the time of year when there are largely repeats on the box (I covered the not-so-many good premieres below), I thought I'd have another look at an old perennial favourite.  This is the one where a diplomat has been shot and his life can only be saved by miniaturizing a medical team and their submarine in order to inject them into his bloodstream on a journey to the clot in his brain.  Once one accepts the preposterous premise, the film is good fun, even if some of the special effects are a little primitive; however, on balance, they are colourfully well-done and give a good indication of what it might be like to cruise through the human body.  The crew consists of Stephen Boyd (a woodentop of his day), Raquel Welch in one of her non-sexpot roles as the assistant to doctor Arthur Kennedy, Donald Pleasence in his usual hysterical mode as another doctor, and William Redfield as the navigator.  The boffins on the ground are Edmund O'Brien and Arthur O'Connell who lend gravitas to the proceedings.  Of course nothing goes according to plan and the team must overcome various problems including having a fifth columnist on board who wants the mission to fail.  It is quite satisfying to watch him being gobbled up by a huge white cell!

Talking about strange deaths, I forgot to write when I reviewed "Frostbite" below that this is the first time I have ever seen a vampire staked to death by a garden gnome through the heart.  Ho, ho, ho, folks.