I saw these both on a bizarre double bill when they were first released. I was a kid and was there in the theater with my 8 y/o sister.
She got thru Toby Tyler OK, but midway into Atomic Submarine my sister began screaming and screaming and screaming until a matron (!!) had to come down and take her out into the lobby. Hahahaha......
What a strange combination of films!
A matron? Were you in prison?
sharehaha...no...they used to have them there. i guess they attended to the ladies room or whatever.
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"If you ever work in an office, look out for the fat cows."
Hey, get your sister and the matron and sit back and enjoy!
http://www.archive.org/details/TheAtomicSubmarine
Its funny, because I used have a clipping of review of that double bill when it premiered in New York City. Did this film play mostly with TOBY TYLER or was their no standard double bill.
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youroldpaljim-
I dont know.
I saw it at one of the theaters controlled by Century Theaters...or was that where I saw it? Anyway, it was in Huntington, Long Island. Might have been the Shore theater. Too early to think....haha.
Maybe Century was running that double bill. Crazy choice.
I have to admit, you are right. On different levels, it works, on other levels, it doesn't work.
Neither film was top notch, and I can picture some movie studio just throwing the two together as they assembled double features.
And that the rationale was "aw no really young kid seeing Toby Tyler is going to sit through Atomic Submarine, too. And who cares if they do?" After all, the beginning is not supposed to appeal to kids, maybe they thought the kids would get bored and leave. And if they arrive a few minutes early for the Toby Tyler movie and see the saucer get shot down, that would not mean much.
But if a kid sat through it, like I did a few times, well ... I never got used to the memory of a guy getting fried in an electric field, and the idea of a collapsing "iris" door slicing someone into two had a strange hold on me that disturbed me a long time.
Anyway, a theory . . .
One problem would have been that kids would pay for a ticket, then sit there and watch the double feature multiple times. That way, the parents could drop the kids off early in the day, then pick them up much much later. (Bill Cosby had a great great bit about that.) Well, of course, that would be a cut in profits for the studios and a major concern.
So pairing movies like that, a "very small kiddie show" and a "horror SF" would make sense, because they might want to try to force more "turnover". Because the kids that tried to stay for show after show might get frighted out of the theater.
Just a thought. I would love to get someone give a knowledgeable response and then we'd know.
I saw this double feature at the RKO 23rd Street in NYC, one of the last bookings before they shut it down. The NYT reviewed both films on April 20, 1960. They mentioned Toby Tyler then went directly to Atomic Submarine and mentioned the "underwater flying saucer (so help us). ....Some erratic but genuine suspense". I remember being surprised that it was sci-fi. It was mentioned somewhere that the trailer downplayed the sci-fi angle and made it appear as if it was a military film. And someone questioned the matron - usually an older lady in uniform who patrolled the Kiddie Section of the RKO, wielding a flashlight - keeping us renegades in line.
I'm currently watching a crisp upload on youtube.
42ndStreetMemories - good post!
maybe it was someone's perverse sense of humor or they hated little kids.
I have seen AS over the years, but it has been decades since I saw TT.
Be fun to see them both together and to see what memories arise.
Other poster - thx for the link!