Fathom (film)

Fathom

Promotional film poster by Tom Chantrell
Directed by Leslie H. Martinson
Produced by John Kohn
Written by Larry Forrester (novel)
Screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Jr.
Based on Fathom Heavensent (unpublished novel)
Starring Raquel Welch
Anthony Franciosa
Ronald Fraser
Music by John Dankworth
Cinematography Douglas Slocombe
Edited by Max Benedict
Distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Release dates
  • 1 December 1967 (1967-12-01)

(Finland)

Running time
 99 min.
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Budget $2,225,000[1]
Box office $1,000,000 (US/ Canada)[2][3]

Fathom is a 1967 British spy comedy film directed by Leslie H. Martinson, starring Raquel Welch and Anthony Franciosa.

Fathom Harvill (Welch) is a skydiver touring Europe with a U.S. parachute team. She is approached by a Scottish agent to recover an atomic triggering mechanism. The film was based on Larry Forrester's second Fathom novel Fathom Heavensent, then in the draft stage but never published.[4] His first was 1967's A Girl Called Fathom. This was one of three 1967 20th Century Fox films about female spies, the others being Doris Day's Caprice and Andrea Dromm's Come Spy with Me.

Plot

Fathom Harvill, a beautiful skydiver, is in Spain with a U.S. parachute team. She is abducted by a man called Timothy and taken to see Douglas Campbell, who says he is a Scottish agent working for NATO and wants Fathom to help him find a triggering mechanism for a nuclear weapon that has gone missing in the Mediterranean.

The device is hidden inside a figurine known as the Fire Dragon. In hot pursuit of it is an Armenian man named Serapkin who is working on behalf of Communist Chinese interests. Fathom skydives into the villa of a second man, Peter Merriwether, who has a trusted Chinese assistant Jo-May Soon, and is also searching for the figurine.

Fathom discovers that the Fire Dragon was stolen from a Far East museum by a Korean War deserter who is now being tracked by a private investigator. Campbell is one and Merriwether the other, but Fathom needs to find out for certain which is which.

After fending off a Serapkin knife attack and another from a harpoon, Fathom finds the figurine in a makeup case. She concludes that Campbell is the trustworthy one and boards a plane with Timothy and him, who promptly attempt to toss her from it. Merriwether arrives in another plane, disposes of Fathom's enemies and rescues her.

Cast

As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified):[5]

Actor Role
Raquel Welch Fathom Harvill
Anthony Franciosa Peter Merriwether
Ronald Fraser Col. Douglas Campbell, Chief of HADES
Richard Briers Flight Lt. Timothy Webb
Greta Chi Maj. Jo-May Soon (Chinese Secret Service)
Tom Adams Mike, Owner of Casa Miguel
Elizabeth Ercy Ulla
Ann Lancaster Mrs. Trivers
Tutte Lemkow Mehmed, Serapkin's servant
Reg Lye Mr. Trivers
Clive Revill Sergi Serapkin

Filming locations

The movie was filmed in Cártama, Mijas, Málaga, Torremolinos, Nerja, in Andalucía, Spain and Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England.

"I played a blown up Barbie doll," said Welch later. "I have never appeared completely nude but I don't condemn people who do."[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p255
  2. ↑ "Big Rental Films of 1967", Variety, 3 January 1968, p. 25. Please note these figures refer to rentals accruing to the distributors.
  3. ↑ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989; ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p. 230
  4. ↑ Reid, John Howard CinemaScope Two: 20th Century-Fox Lulu.com, 2005 p.76
  5. ↑ Fathom credits
  6. ↑ Sex Goddess Is Human, After All Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] 9 June 1968: c12.

External links

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