Search - Fathom on DVD

Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1967 DVD Release: 07/16/2002 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Audio Tracks: English, French, Spanish Subtitles: English, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 39 mins Studio: 20th Century Fox Members Wishing: 11 Genres: Spy Film, Comedy, Parody/Spoof, Spy Comedy

Raquel Welch breaks the surly bonds of Earth and loves every minute of it in this lighthearted spy spoof. Fathom Harvill (Welch) is an American skydiver touring Europe with a U.S. parachute team when she's approached by Douglas Campbell (Ronald Fraser), a Scottish agent working with American intelligence. According to Campbell, a triggering mechanism for nuclear weapons has gone missing in the Mediterranean, and Douglas wants Fathom to help find it. After encountering Chinese operative Peter Merriweather (Anthony Franciosa), Fathom discovers that Campbell is actually a private eye and that she's been tricked into helping him snag some jewelry. But what's the whole truth, and whose side is Fathom supposed to be on? ~ All Movie Guide

Anthony Franciosa - Peter Merriweather
Raquel Welch - Fathom Harvill
Ronald Fraser - Douglas Campbell
Richard Briers - Timothy
Greta Chi - Jo-May Soon

Fathom is a unique 1960s take-off on spy movies with so much potential that went unrealized. Though elegantly filmed there is too much time spent on Raquel Welch in a parachute when her naive persona as Fathom Harvill would have made an excellent foil for Dean Martin's Matt Helm character or James Coburn in his series as Derek Flint. The Flint movie trailers, coincidentally, show up on the bonus section of this semi-interesting movie which is also a component of the 5 DVD Raquel Welch Collection: Sex Goddess. Tony Franciosa is a chilling gangster in the 1996 epic City Hall but ten years into his acting career starring in this spotty film he just doesn't have the same authority. Welch is a gifted actress whose talents also are not put to use here, she comes off as the ditzy sex symbol Hollywood wants her to be, not the determined woman in Bandolero! or the educated sex-change of Myra Breckinridge. The music and the splashy 1960s color of Fathom can actually hold one's attention more than the thin plot, and it is a shame that this "adventure-thriller" has no adventure, and no thrills, because had those advertised elements found their way into the picture, Raquel Welch may have found herself battling (or working side by side with) James Coburn and Dean Martin in their successful spy franchises rather than being just an anomaly as a spy in the era of James Bond knock-offs. DVD features scene selection, English and Spanish subtitles and the original theatrical trailer. ~ Joe Viglione, All Movie Guide