A leaky, decrepit boat bearing an illegal and highly dangerous cargo of phosphorus sets out from Africa on the long voyage to Caracas. Also on board is a motley collection of misfit passengers, all with shady pasts which they are keen to escape. When the captain/owner Lansen ignores a hurricane warning, most of his crew desert the boat, which is now in danger of being blown apart by the explosives in the hold. Lansen and the passengers insist on going on, but soon drift into the Sargasso Sea, filled with terrifying monsters and the remains of ancient galleons. Then they discover a land peopled by the descendants of fanatical Spanish conquistadors and ruled by a young boy known as ‘El Diablo’.
Production Details
A Seven Arts-Hammer Film production presented by Associated British Pathe Limited and released through Warner-Pathe Limited (UK) and Twentieth Century-Fox (USA)
Copyright MCMlXVIII Hammer Film Productions Limited – All rights reserved
MPAA Approved Certificate
The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are fictitious and any similarity to the name, character, or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional
RCA Sound Recording
Made at the Elstree Studios of Associated British Productions Limited, Herts, England
Technicolor 98 mins
Filming Began: 11th September 1967
UK Release: 14th July 1968
Studio:
Elstree Studios of Associated British Picture Corporation, Hertfordshire
Stills from film
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Original Poster
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Footnotes
The screenplay for this film was written by Michael Carreras under the pen-name Michael Nash, which was apparently the name of his gardener.
Special Effects man Robert A. Mattey went on to create the famous shark for Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster, “Jaws” (1975).
In the first interior boat scene, the Doctor is reading “Uncharted Seas” by Dennis Wheatley, the book on which the film is based.