Underwater Velomobile

Hi

Its not very often my habit of buying trashy videos and dvds from op shops (or rescuing them from dumpsters) coincides with my interest in Human powered vehicles although this older post seems to be all about videos.

Anyway, my most recent trashy dvd purchase was a triple movie dvd ($1.00 from a Malvern op shop) including the movie "Monster from the Ocean Floor" from 1954.

You know, its the old story, girl hangs around Mexican fishing Village, girl meets hunky scientist who rocks up in pedal powered submarine, girl is filmed swimming underwater to the accompanyment of nice music, girl is threatened by unfriendly locals, girl is threatened by shark and amoeba grown to gigantic octopus-shaped proportions under influence of underwater nuclear explosion, hunky scientist rescues girl and they live happily ever after, or at least until the end credits roll....

Anyway, for all its apparent trashiness, the film is possibly worth watching.  Underwater filming was probably quite new and filming the submarine and a few people swimming underwater takes up quite a bit of the short running time.  The submarine is the spitting image of a modern fast velomobile and was made by Aerojet General. Here is a quote from the "all you needed to know and probably a whole lot more" 100 misspent hours website:     "And in what might be the biggest production value-adding coup of all, (producer Roger) Corman finagled the use of an experimental, pedal-powered, single-seat submarine with what we would today describe as a product-placement deal. The fledgling Aerojet General company let Corman use the sub for free in return for one plug in the opening credits and another in the dialogue itself."

Due to the wonders of modern technology, you don't need to scour Op Shops of Malvern to find "Monster from the Ocean Floor".  It is right here on the Interweb. Thingy.

 Here is the link:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xm8619_monster-from-the-ocean-floor_shortfilms

Regards

Steve Nurse