Fathom (film)

Fathom
Promotional film poster by Tom Chantrell
Directed by	Leslie H. Martinson
Produced by	John Kohn
Written by	Larry Forrester (novel)
Screenplay by	Lorenzo Semple Jr.
Based on	Fathom Heavensent (unpublished novel)
Starring	Raquel Welch Anthony Franciosa Ronald Fraser
Music by	John Dankworth
Cinematography	Douglas Slocombe
Edited by	Max Benedict
Distributed by	Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Release dates	December 1, 1967 (Finland)
Running time	99 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$2,225,000
Box office	$1,000,000 (US/ Canada)

Fathom is a 1967 British spy comedy film directed by Leslie H. Martinson, starring Raquel Welch and Anthony Franciosa.

Fathom Harvill (Welch) is a skydiver touring Europe with a U.S. parachute team. She is approached by a Scottish agent to recover an atomic triggering mechanism. The film was based on Larry Forrester's second Fathom novel Fathom Heavensent, then in the draft stage but never published. His first was 1967's A Girl Called Fathom. This was one of three 1967 20th Century Fox films about female spies, the others being Doris Day's Caprice and Andrea Dromm's Come Spy with Me.

Plot

Fathom Harvill, a beautiful skydiver, is in Spain with a U.S. parachute team. She is abducted by a man called Timothy and taken to see Douglas Campbell, who says he is a Scottish agent working for NATO and wants Fathom to help him find a triggering mechanism for a nuclear weapon that has gone missing in the Mediterranean.

The device is hidden inside a figurine known as the Fire Dragon. In hot pursuit of it is an Armenian man named Serapkin who is working on behalf of Communist Chinese interests. Fathom skydives into the villa of a second man, Peter Merriwether, who has a trusted Chinese assistant Jo-May Soon, and is also searching for the figurine.

Fathom discovers that the Fire Dragon was stolen from a Far East museum by a Korean War deserter who is now being tracked by a private investigator. Campbell is one and Merriwether the other, but Fathom needs to find out for certain which is which.

After fending off a Serapkin knife attack and another from a harpoon, Fathom finds the figurine in a makeup case. She concludes that Campbell is the trustworthy one and boards a plane with Timothy and him, who promptly attempt to toss her from it. Merriwether arrives in another plane, disposes of Fathom's enemies and rescues her.

Cast

As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified):

Actor	Role
Raquel Welch	Fathom Harvill
Anthony Franciosa	Peter Merriwether
Ronald Fraser	Col. Douglas Campbell, Chief of HADES
Richard Briers	Flight Lt. Timothy Webb
Greta Chi	Maj. Jo-May Soon (Chinese Secret Service)
Tom Adams	Mike, Owner of Casa Miguel
Elizabeth Ercy	Ulla
Ann Lancaster	Mrs. Trivers
Tutte Lemkow	Mehmed, Serapkin's servant
Reg Lye	Mr. Trivers
Clive Revill	Sergi Serapkin

Filming locations

The movie was filmed in Cártama, Mijas, Málaga, Torremolinos, Nerja, in Andalucía, Spain and Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England.

See also

• List of American films of 1967

External links

• Fathom at IMDb
• Fathom at the TCM Movie Database
• Fathom at AllMovie
• Fathom at the American Film Institute Catalog