Film Review: Fathom (1967) UK

A British Spy Caper and Comedy Romp starring the gorgeous Raquel Welch and set in Franco's Sunny Spain

By 1967, the Spanish Civil War was well over a generation in the rearview mirror, and Spain itself was in the middle of El Milagro (The Spanish Economic Miracle). Hardline Falangistas had given way to the technocrats who were heavily drawn from Opus Dei, that secretive Catholic sect made to look evil by Dan Brown in his very clunky Da Vinci Code.

The north of the country saw industrial revitalization, while the south witnessed the birth of mass tourism, as the state plunged big money into economic development. Where Spain had once been the poor relation of Mexico, it had galloped past many global economies, and landed in 9th spot in terms of GDP. After decades of economic stagnation and mass poverty, the future looked bright for Spaniards.

It’s into this sunny Spain that Fathom Harvill (Raquel Welch) parachutes as part of a travelling US parachute team.

27 years old, Raquel Welch (Jo Raquel Tejada) is at the height of her natural beauty. Of Spanish-Bolivian and American English descent, Fathom was her first starring vehicle after coming off of the twin successes of Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C. Underestimated as an actress, she shows comedic talent while letting her body and face be adored not just by the camera, but by the throngs of male characters that cross her path.

The British are known for their high camp, and this comedic romp falls squarely within that tradition. Script and plot are largely jettisoned to allow Raquel and the Malaga coastline to jointly steal the scenes. Part spy caper, part Spanish tourism promotional video, pretence is alien to the movie. The viewer is presented with pure escapism of the sort that simply wouldn’t see the light of day today.

Fathom is used as a pawn between two private detectives on the hunt for the elusive figurine known as the Fire Dragon. Inside of it is a triggering mechanism that can detonate a nuclear bomb that has somehow been lost in the Mediterranean. Time is of the essence for both Douglas Campbell (who claims to be an MI6 agent working on behalf of NATO) and Peter Merriwether.

The spoiler is Serapkin, an absurd Armenian who has a mysterious illness that forces him to wear layers of clothing in the brutally hot Andalusian summer weather. He too is on the hunt for the Fire Dragon, as he is in the employ of Mao Tse-Tsung and the Chinese communists. Fathom must choose between all of these suitors with an underlying motive in order to rescue the situation, and maybe the world itself.

Fathom is not a particularly well-directed movie, nor is it a good one. But it is enjoyable. It harkens back to the days when movies could be unserious, but without the wink and nudge of more recent comedies, much less their walking-on-eggshells approach to social relations. In Fathom, Welch’s character is beautiful and smart and funny and SEXY. She is of a different era where gender roles were more defined and a woman could be a woman without the need to compete with the men in her vicinity. In fact, her character, much like the movie itself, is devoid of vulgarity. You will not hear Fathom speak of her vagina or her sexual conquests. She is in many ways the ideal woman.

Anthony Franciosa is to be praised for his performance as Peter Merriwether, playing the role as a dashing and adventuring investigator, no doubt having the time of his life on this Spanish set. Fathom lands in his courtyard and he, along with his female Chinese right-hand woman, interrogate her as to why she is there. The romantic tension is obviously for all to see as Fathom tries to figure out if he is to be trusted, or whether Campbell is the one with the best intentions.

Watching this escapist fare, one can’t help but think of how ugly a world we live in now. Women are men in their manners and tastes, men are less manly. Hollywood can put a pretty face up on screen, but it’s always a woman with something to prove who, in the process, ends up destroying her own femininity. Fathom harkens back to an older, now long-gone, era. That era was already beginning to fade as Hollywood moved towards a more mature style of film that would dominate the 1970s, leaving the old studio system behind. The British would soon follow suit themselves.