Return of the Patriarchs
69
The film version of Voyage to the Bottom o f the Sea follows the adventures
of the Seaview, a nuclear submarine designed and commanded by Admiral
Harriman Nelson (Walter Pidgeon). Nelson is depicted as a somewhat cranky
patriarch: brilliant but irascible, inflexible but usually right. One of the sub-plots
of the film concerns whether or not Nelson is in his right mind; a visiting female
psychologist, Dr. Hiller (Joan Fontaine) almost convinces Nelson’s second in
command (and surrogate son) Captain Crane (Robert Sterling) to relieve him of
duty. In the end, the psychologist is revealed to be a saboteur, and Nelson is
validated as not only sane, but visionary.
The main plot of Voyage to the Bottom o f the Sea is typical Irwin Allen
disaster fare: the Van Allen radiation belt has caught fire, causing rapid global
warming and catastrophic weather conditions. A French scientist thinks the belt
will bum itself out, but Admiral Nelson calculates that the belt can be exploded
outward from the Earth’s atmosphere by a strategic nuclear missile strike. The
principal action of the film concerns the Seaview’s efforts to reach the right
coordinates at the right time to launch the missile. On the way, Nelson’s efforts
to save the world are hampered by giant squids, undersea mines, United Nations
interference, the threat of mutiny, bizarre weather conditions, sabotage, and,
finally, religious fanaticism.
The religious fanatic in question is one Miguel Alvarez (Michael Ansara), a
civilian rescued from a melting ice floe at the beginning of the picture. The only
non-Anglo in the bunch, and the only character in the film to espouse a religious
viewpoint, Alvarez views the combustion of the Van Allen radiation belt in
apocalyptic terms. If the sky is on fire, it must be God’s will that mankind
perish. After maintaining a passive and fatalistic philosophical stance for the
balance of the film, in the final minutes Alvarez tries to delay the missile launch
in order to serve God’s will. Nelson responds with an appeal to reason.
Alvarez: God’s will is written across the heavens!
Nelson: Alvarez, are you saying that man must accept
destruction even though it’s in his power to avert it?
Alvarez: It’s not for us to judge, Admiral!
Nelson: Not judge, maybe, but we can reason! If God ordains
that man should die without a fight, then why does he
give us the will to live?
By itself, Voyage to the Bottom o f the Sea proves little, but it exemplifies a
strand in American thought and cultural production that we could call Postwar
Humanism. Following World War II, in order to distinguish American
government from totalitarian regimes right and left (Fascist and Communist),
American culture trumpeted the virtues of individualism. What kept this
vigorous individualism from devolving into selfish or arbitrary behavior was an
insistence that it be seen in an Enlightenment context: individual liberties and
personal perspectives had to be related to values and standards of reason,
compassion, and justice that were external to the individual. Postwar Humanism