The Bermuda Depths
Encyclopedia
The Bermuda Depths is a Japanese
/ American
co-production 1978
fantasy film
originally broadcast as a made-for-TV movie written by Arthur Rankin Jr. of Rankin/Bass
fame. Special effects and creature elements were handled by Tsuburaya Productions
, most famous for the Ultraman
franchise.
It is available on DVD-R on-demand directly from the Warner Bros. Archive shop.
) lies asleep on a Bermuda beach, his hat shading his eyes from the sun. He is approached by a beautiful but mysterious woman (Connie Sellecca
), who kneels next to him and notices the coral necklace he is wearing. Removing his hat, she seems to recognize him, and gently caresses his face.
Magnus dreams of his childhood, playing on the same beach. He finds a turtle egg in the sand, and calls to his friend Jennie to have a look. As they watch, the egg hatches.
A few years later, Magnus and Jennie play with the rather large turtle. Magnus takes a shell and carves "J+M" inside a heart on the turtle's shell, while Jennie finishes making a coral necklace, which she places around Magnus's neck.
Later, the young Magnus lies alone on the beach. He spots Jennie riding the turtle through the waves, heading out to sea. He calls to her, but she doesn't hear him as she and the turtle disappear beneath the water.
That night, in his house on a cliff side overlooking the beach, Magnus's father, Lionel, checks on him in bed as a terrible storm rages and strange calls can be heard from the ocean. Something unseen approaches the house as Lionel descends into a cave beneath the house to continue an experiment in marine biology. The storm intensifies, blowing shingles off the roof and destroying part of the house. Lionel attempts to flee the unseen horror stalking him, but is knocked into the water. Magnus is pinned under the collapsing roof in his bedroom.
Magnus awakens from his nightmare and groggily gathers his things. He sees a woman swimming in the ocean and looks at the remnants of his childhood home before he leaves to go into town.
At the docks, Magnus spots his childhood friend Eric (Carl Weathers
). Eric helps him on board a ship and asks where he's been. Magnus admits he's been drifting for a few years. Eric takes the boat out to sea and gets Magnus to help him lay a heavy deep-sea trawling net. Eric introduces Magnus to Dr. Paulus (Burl Ives
), whom Eric is working for to finish his degree in marine biology. Suddenly the boat lists violently to one side. They pull up the net to find it has been shredded by something very large and strong.
That evening, the three men are joined by Eric's wife Doshan (Julie Woodson) for dinner at Dr. Paulus' house. He explains he and Eric are studying teratology
, the study of unusual growth in animals. Dr. Paulus calls out to Delia (Ruth Attaway) to hurry up with dinner. Magnus is intrigued by the necklace she wears, which resembles his own.
After dinner, Paulus expresses his admiration for Magnus' father, whom he worked with, studying the Bermuda Triangle. Magnus tries to ask about the night his father died, but Paulus drifts off to sleep at the table. Stepping outside, Magnus again sees the mysterious woman swimming by the boat. He jumps in the water to follow her, but is quickly overcome underwater. He is saved and revived on the beach by the woman, whom he doesn't recognize. She returns to the ocean, telling him her name - Jennie Haniver.
Describing the incident to Paulus provokes amusement. He explains to Magnus that a "Jennie Haniver
" is a local icon, made of cured and dried sea life, "sold to the gullible and superstitious for centuries." Angered, Magnus steps outside, where Delia tells him of the legend of Jennie Haniver. Appearing sometimes as a young girl and sometimes as a grown woman, Jennie only appears to men about to drown. Two centuries ago, she was returning to the mainland when her ship was caught in a storm. Fearing for her life, Jennie prayed for salvation to "the one below", the devil that resides in the Bermuda Triangle
. Pleading that she was too young and beautiful to die, she asked that the rest of the crew be allowed to drown if she could be saved. A voice in her head told her to dive into the sea and she would be preserved. Magnus becomes upset at what he describes as a stupid ghost story and runs off.
The next morning, the police bring in Eric to examine enormous tracks on the beach. He measures them as being forty feet across.
Magnus goes down to the beach and meets Jennie. Finally remembering her as his young playmate, he takes her to his father's wrecked house. He tells her some of his memories from childhood, while she describes the quadrilles her father would hold in their great hall.
Eric calls Magnus away, despite Jennie's requests for him to stay with her. They go out on the boat with Dr. Paulus and discuss the prints on the beach and Paulus' belief they were caused by a giant turtle. Again, the boat lurches uncontrollably. Eric is forced to cut the cable to the trawling net before the boat capsizes.
In the evening, Magnus confronts Dr. Paulus about his father's death. Paulus explains Lionel was conducting tests regarding mutation in sea life when he was attacked and apparently eaten. Magnus asks him if he remembers the turtle from his childhood, and describes how he carved initials in the shell, for himself and Jennie. Paulus is dismayed.
Magnus awakens to Eric and Dr. Paulus arguing over pursuing the giant turtle. Eric wants to use the Hora, a harpoon-firing bazooka. Paulus is aghast at the idea and withdraws his support for the expedition. Despite this, Eric collects Magnus and heads out in the boat. After some trawling, they again find something dragging on the line. Taking a small harpoon gun, Eric dives to try to save the net. He shoots at a form he could see only vaguely, which turns out to be Jennie. Eric and Magnus resume trawling. Magnus tells Eric he had been with Jennie the night before on the beach, and how she was his friend from when he was young. Eric doesn't remember her, and dismisses her as an imaginary friend
.
The trawl lines finally catch the turtle, which is so large it begins to tear through the net. Eric blasts it with the Hora, and allows it to run out the line, waiting for it to resurface.
After sundown, the boat's power mysteriously gives out, and the compass spins crazily. Magnus leaves the boat's cabin and finds Jennie has boarded the ship. She begs him to free the turtle, nebulously saying she made a promise long ago she'll forever regret. They embrace, Magnus not noticing the gaping wound in her side from Eric's harpoon.
At Doshan's insistence, Dr. Paulus boards a helicopter to fly out to the boat. Upon arriving, he observes a huge shape underwater near the boat. The turtle surfaces, swimming quickly towards the helicopter, then leaping out of the water, sending the helicopter crashing into the ocean.
Eric sees the crash and rushes out onto the deck, to be confronted by Jennie. To his horror, her eyes glow an eerie green, just as the turtle surfaces under the boat, capsizing it.
Magnus climbs aboard the lifeboat amidst the wreckage and desperately tries to help Eric on board, but he is entangled in the line from the Hora. The turtle surfaces, its eyes glowing exactly like Jennie's, before it dives down into the depths, dragging Eric helplessly behind.
Magnus manages to steer the lifeboat to shore, but does not make it far along the beach before he collapses unconscious. Jennie approaches him, kissing him sadly before she returns to the ocean for the last time.
Doshan approaches Magnus in the graveyard where his parents are buried and expresses her horror at the losses of her husband and Dr. Paulus. Magnus tells her he is leaving Bermuda and wants nothing to do with the sea ever again. As he walks away, he does not notice the statue of Jennie on her gravestone, inscribed, "Jennie Haniver, 1701-, Lost at Sea".
On the ferry leaving Bermuda, Magnus removes the necklace Jennie had given him and sadly throws it into the sea. It sinks past the giant turtle, which is shown as still having the initials Magnus inscribed in its shell so many years ago.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
/ American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
co-production 1978
1978 in film
The year 1978 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 1 - Bob Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara, a documentary of the "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour premieres in Los Angeles, California....
fantasy film
Fantasy film
Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...
originally broadcast as a made-for-TV movie written by Arthur Rankin Jr. of Rankin/Bass
Rankin/Bass
Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. , also known as Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, was an American production company, known for its seasonal television specials, particularly its work in stop-motion animation. The pre-1974 library is currently owned by Classic Media,while the post-1974 library is...
fame. Special effects and creature elements were handled by Tsuburaya Productions
Tsuburaya Productions
is a Japanese special effects studio founded in 1963 by special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya and was run by his family, until October 2007, when the family sold the company to advertising agency TYO Inc. The studio is best known for producing the original Ultraman TV series, as well as the Ultra...
, most famous for the Ultraman
Ultra Series
The is the collective name for all the shows produced by Tsuburaya Productions featuring Ultraman, his many brethren, and the myriad Ultra Monsters. The Ultra Series is one of the prominent tokusatsu superhero genre productions from Japan, along with Toei produced series Kamen Rider, Super...
franchise.
It is available on DVD-R on-demand directly from the Warner Bros. Archive shop.
Plot
Magnus Dens (Leigh McCloskeyLeigh McCloskey
Leigh Joseph McCloskey is an American film and television actor.-Career:McCloskey was classically trained as an actor at the Juilliard School in Lincoln Center, New York. As an actor, he is perhaps most widely known for his role as Mitch Cooper on the CBS soap opera Dallas...
) lies asleep on a Bermuda beach, his hat shading his eyes from the sun. He is approached by a beautiful but mysterious woman (Connie Sellecca
Connie Sellecca
Connie Sellecca is an American actress and former model, primarily known for her roles on television.- Early life :She was born Concetta Sellecchia in The Bronx, New York, New York to Italian parents. At age twelve, she moved to Pomona, New York and attended Pomona Junior High School...
), who kneels next to him and notices the coral necklace he is wearing. Removing his hat, she seems to recognize him, and gently caresses his face.
Magnus dreams of his childhood, playing on the same beach. He finds a turtle egg in the sand, and calls to his friend Jennie to have a look. As they watch, the egg hatches.
A few years later, Magnus and Jennie play with the rather large turtle. Magnus takes a shell and carves "J+M" inside a heart on the turtle's shell, while Jennie finishes making a coral necklace, which she places around Magnus's neck.
Later, the young Magnus lies alone on the beach. He spots Jennie riding the turtle through the waves, heading out to sea. He calls to her, but she doesn't hear him as she and the turtle disappear beneath the water.
That night, in his house on a cliff side overlooking the beach, Magnus's father, Lionel, checks on him in bed as a terrible storm rages and strange calls can be heard from the ocean. Something unseen approaches the house as Lionel descends into a cave beneath the house to continue an experiment in marine biology. The storm intensifies, blowing shingles off the roof and destroying part of the house. Lionel attempts to flee the unseen horror stalking him, but is knocked into the water. Magnus is pinned under the collapsing roof in his bedroom.
Magnus awakens from his nightmare and groggily gathers his things. He sees a woman swimming in the ocean and looks at the remnants of his childhood home before he leaves to go into town.
At the docks, Magnus spots his childhood friend Eric (Carl Weathers
Carl Weathers
Carl Weathers is an American actor, as well as former professional football player in the United States and Canada. He is best known for playing Apollo Creed in the Rocky series of films...
). Eric helps him on board a ship and asks where he's been. Magnus admits he's been drifting for a few years. Eric takes the boat out to sea and gets Magnus to help him lay a heavy deep-sea trawling net. Eric introduces Magnus to Dr. Paulus (Burl Ives
Burl Ives
Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American actor, writer and folk music singer. As an actor, Ives's work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Music critic John Rockwell said, "Ives's voice .....
), whom Eric is working for to finish his degree in marine biology. Suddenly the boat lists violently to one side. They pull up the net to find it has been shredded by something very large and strong.
That evening, the three men are joined by Eric's wife Doshan (Julie Woodson) for dinner at Dr. Paulus' house. He explains he and Eric are studying teratology
Teratology
Teratology is the study of abnormalities of physiological development. It is often thought of as the study of human birth defects, but it is much broader than that, taking in other non-birth developmental stages, including puberty; and other non-human life forms, including plants.- Etymology :The...
, the study of unusual growth in animals. Dr. Paulus calls out to Delia (Ruth Attaway) to hurry up with dinner. Magnus is intrigued by the necklace she wears, which resembles his own.
After dinner, Paulus expresses his admiration for Magnus' father, whom he worked with, studying the Bermuda Triangle. Magnus tries to ask about the night his father died, but Paulus drifts off to sleep at the table. Stepping outside, Magnus again sees the mysterious woman swimming by the boat. He jumps in the water to follow her, but is quickly overcome underwater. He is saved and revived on the beach by the woman, whom he doesn't recognize. She returns to the ocean, telling him her name - Jennie Haniver.
Describing the incident to Paulus provokes amusement. He explains to Magnus that a "Jennie Haniver
Jenny Haniver
A Jenny Haniver is the carcass of a ray or a skate which has been modified and subsequently dried, resulting in a grotesque preserved specimen.One suggestion for the origin of the term was the French phrase jeune d'Anvers...
" is a local icon, made of cured and dried sea life, "sold to the gullible and superstitious for centuries." Angered, Magnus steps outside, where Delia tells him of the legend of Jennie Haniver. Appearing sometimes as a young girl and sometimes as a grown woman, Jennie only appears to men about to drown. Two centuries ago, she was returning to the mainland when her ship was caught in a storm. Fearing for her life, Jennie prayed for salvation to "the one below", the devil that resides in the Bermuda Triangle
Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and surface vessels allegedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances....
. Pleading that she was too young and beautiful to die, she asked that the rest of the crew be allowed to drown if she could be saved. A voice in her head told her to dive into the sea and she would be preserved. Magnus becomes upset at what he describes as a stupid ghost story and runs off.
The next morning, the police bring in Eric to examine enormous tracks on the beach. He measures them as being forty feet across.
Magnus goes down to the beach and meets Jennie. Finally remembering her as his young playmate, he takes her to his father's wrecked house. He tells her some of his memories from childhood, while she describes the quadrilles her father would hold in their great hall.
Eric calls Magnus away, despite Jennie's requests for him to stay with her. They go out on the boat with Dr. Paulus and discuss the prints on the beach and Paulus' belief they were caused by a giant turtle. Again, the boat lurches uncontrollably. Eric is forced to cut the cable to the trawling net before the boat capsizes.
In the evening, Magnus confronts Dr. Paulus about his father's death. Paulus explains Lionel was conducting tests regarding mutation in sea life when he was attacked and apparently eaten. Magnus asks him if he remembers the turtle from his childhood, and describes how he carved initials in the shell, for himself and Jennie. Paulus is dismayed.
Magnus awakens to Eric and Dr. Paulus arguing over pursuing the giant turtle. Eric wants to use the Hora, a harpoon-firing bazooka. Paulus is aghast at the idea and withdraws his support for the expedition. Despite this, Eric collects Magnus and heads out in the boat. After some trawling, they again find something dragging on the line. Taking a small harpoon gun, Eric dives to try to save the net. He shoots at a form he could see only vaguely, which turns out to be Jennie. Eric and Magnus resume trawling. Magnus tells Eric he had been with Jennie the night before on the beach, and how she was his friend from when he was young. Eric doesn't remember her, and dismisses her as an imaginary friend
Imaginary friend
Imaginary friends and imaginary companions are a psychological and social phenomenon where a friendship or other interpersonal relationship takes place in the imagination rather than external physical reality. Imaginary friends are fictional characters created for improvisational role-playing. They...
.
The trawl lines finally catch the turtle, which is so large it begins to tear through the net. Eric blasts it with the Hora, and allows it to run out the line, waiting for it to resurface.
After sundown, the boat's power mysteriously gives out, and the compass spins crazily. Magnus leaves the boat's cabin and finds Jennie has boarded the ship. She begs him to free the turtle, nebulously saying she made a promise long ago she'll forever regret. They embrace, Magnus not noticing the gaping wound in her side from Eric's harpoon.
At Doshan's insistence, Dr. Paulus boards a helicopter to fly out to the boat. Upon arriving, he observes a huge shape underwater near the boat. The turtle surfaces, swimming quickly towards the helicopter, then leaping out of the water, sending the helicopter crashing into the ocean.
Eric sees the crash and rushes out onto the deck, to be confronted by Jennie. To his horror, her eyes glow an eerie green, just as the turtle surfaces under the boat, capsizing it.
Magnus climbs aboard the lifeboat amidst the wreckage and desperately tries to help Eric on board, but he is entangled in the line from the Hora. The turtle surfaces, its eyes glowing exactly like Jennie's, before it dives down into the depths, dragging Eric helplessly behind.
Magnus manages to steer the lifeboat to shore, but does not make it far along the beach before he collapses unconscious. Jennie approaches him, kissing him sadly before she returns to the ocean for the last time.
Doshan approaches Magnus in the graveyard where his parents are buried and expresses her horror at the losses of her husband and Dr. Paulus. Magnus tells her he is leaving Bermuda and wants nothing to do with the sea ever again. As he walks away, he does not notice the statue of Jennie on her gravestone, inscribed, "Jennie Haniver, 1701-, Lost at Sea".
On the ferry leaving Bermuda, Magnus removes the necklace Jennie had given him and sadly throws it into the sea. It sinks past the giant turtle, which is shown as still having the initials Magnus inscribed in its shell so many years ago.
Production
- Filming was done in Bermuda, though some believe it was filmed in California.
- The sounds made by the giant turtle are in fact humpback whaleHumpback WhaleThe humpback whale is a species of baleen whale. One of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from and weigh approximately . The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with unusually long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is an acrobatic animal, often breaching and slapping the...
songs.
- The partnership between Rankin/BassRankin/BassRankin/Bass Productions, Inc. , also known as Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, was an American production company, known for its seasonal television specials, particularly its work in stop-motion animation. The pre-1974 library is currently owned by Classic Media,while the post-1974 library is...
and Tsuburaya ProductionsTsuburaya Productionsis a Japanese special effects studio founded in 1963 by special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya and was run by his family, until October 2007, when the family sold the company to advertising agency TYO Inc. The studio is best known for producing the original Ultraman TV series, as well as the Ultra...
also resulted with two more monster-based adventure films The Last DinosaurThe Last DinosaurThe Last Dinosaur is a Japanese/American tokusatsu co-production, co-directed by Alexander Grasshoff and Shusei Kotani, billed as Tom Kotani, and co-produced by Japan's Tsuburaya Productions, and American interests for Rankin/Bass Productions...
(1977), and the extremely obscure The Ivory Ape (1980).