The Neptune Factor deals with some scientists who live and work out of an undersea lab in the Atlantic Ocean. One fine day while their bosses, Walter Pidgeon, Yvette Mimieux, and Ernest Borgnine are up top, an earthquake occurs and the lab topples over into an underwater crevice.
Though an atomic power submarine could stay down there indefinitely the problem is that crevice is way too small for one of those big boys. A smaller type submarine able to withstand the pressures of the very deep is needed and that's where Ben Gazzara and his ship the Neptune come in.
As disaster films go The Neptune Factor is small potatoes special effects wise. It's a Canadian production and I've seen Hollywood come up with worse films spending a ton more money than was done here.
The special effects such as they are, are merely movie films of some ordinary species of marine life blown up several times their size, because these are the creatures the crew finds down at depths that man hasn't been before. It's beautiful undersea photography just like a trip to Marineland.
It's a no frills production, no subplots of any kind, no social interaction of any kind with the crew, just do the mission and go home. That's why it was given a G rating when first released.
If you love Jacques Cousteau, you'll love this film.
