Fantastic Voyage

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Richard Fleischer directs. Ernest Laszlo behind the camera. Leonard Rosenman scores. William B. Murphy cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 160 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 2Directed by Richard Fleischer, shot by Ernest Laszlo. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 3Original score by Leonard Rosenman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 4Editor William B. Murphy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Stephen Boyd and Raquel Welch and Edmond O'Brien carry the top of the cast.
• 6Marketing tagline: "A Fantastic and Spectacular Voyage... Through the Human Body... Into the Brain.".
• 7IMDB entry: tt0060397 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Classified under 21 themes, including "coma", "submarine", "claustrophobia", "wound".

The technical file

Cinematography

Ernest Laszlo

Original score

Leonard Rosenman

Editing

William B. Murphy

Makeup / hair

Ben Nye

Runtime

101 min · 1h 41m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$5,115,000

Box office

$12,000,000

Return

235% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

PG

IMDB

Fantastic Voyage (1966) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

91% 🍅 Fresh

Metacritic

72/100

IMDB rating

6.8/10 · 21,970 votes

MPAA

PG

Also by

Richard Fleischer

• 
  Call from Space

  1989 · ★ 8.5
• 
  Memo for Joe

  1944 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Banjo

  1947 · ★ 7.7
• 
  Crack in the Mirror

  1960 · ★ 7.5
• 
  The Narrow Margin

  1952 · ★ 7.3
• 
  10 Rillington Place

  1971 · ★ 7.3

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  TBT Trailer

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  Fantastic Voyage Wins Special Visual Effects: 1967 Oscars

  Featurette · Official
• 

  ▶
  Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Fantastic Voyage Win Art Direction: 1967 Oscars

  Featurette · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2019-01-07
  ★ 8/10

  Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces A medical and science crew board a submarine and are miniaturised and injected into an important foreign scientist's body. The mission is to remove a blood clot on his brain that was suffered during an assassination attempt. Once shrunk and in their new bodily world, the team must battle the body's defence systems as well as avoiding trouble with the major organs. Also on a clock of one hour before they return to normal size, they have to also contend with the fact there may be a saboteur on board. This be a fantastical voyage indeed... The crews voyage through the body's bloodstream and beyond is brought to life by the use of some splendidly inventive special effects, something which marks Fantastic Voyage out as one of the more visually appealing genre pictures of the time (winning Oscars for Best Colour Art Direction and for Best Visual Effects). It was also nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Sound Effects. It is in short a tip top tech credits production. Based on the novel written by Otto Klement and Jay Lewis Bixby, the story is both imaginative and totally fascinating from a biology viewpoint, which is something that helps offsets the somewhat staid performances from the cast. However, are we really watching this for thespian delights? No of course not. We want director Richard Fleischer to take us on a perilous journey through the human body, and maybe just give us some suspense into the bargain. That is achieved wholesale, and while the the ending is a little too rushed for comfort, this remains a silly but wonderful filmic experience. 7.5/10

  Read full review ↓
• Peter McGinn2021-02-20
  ★ 6/10

  I remember I really liked this movie when I was a teenager, along with the novel by Isaac Asimov that was based on the screenplay. (I never read the original story they based the screenplay on.) It was adventurous fun. I don’t recall if I was titillated by the presence on the cast of Raquel Welch, though they showed great restraint in having her covered up most of the time by the special submarine suit. I wasn’t as impressed or entertained watching it this time around. I thought there were a couple of plot holes and, needless to say, the special effects weren’t up to the standards we are used to after all these years. But I would still recommend it if you are interested in early science fiction films or if you are watching with children, for it is certainly suitable for all audiences.

  Read full review ↓
• CinemaSerf2026-01-06
  ★ 7/10

  Back in the days of three-channel telly in Britain, this was one of the regular sci-fi staples that I really quite enjoyed as I grew up. It features “Messala” himself - Stephen Boyd, only this time he is being placed into a submarine with “Cora” (Raquel Welch) and “Michaels” (Donald Pleasence) and then shrunk. They are to be injected into the bloodstream of a scientist with a view to navigating his internal system, arriving at his brain and the using their laser to zap away a life-threatening blood clot. It appears that miniaturisation itself is no big deal, but after an hour the shrunken object starts to return to it’s normal size. The man they are hoping to assist is the only one who knows how to prolong that period and he had offered his knowledge to Uncle Sam before a car crash instigated by a foreign power had left him comatose. These intrepid travellers can’t be placed directly into his skull, so they are going to have to deal with the body’s formidable defences if they are to have any chance of saving his life. You also don’t have to be Einstein to figure out that one of their number isn’t sailing to the same chart, and it’s fairly obvious whom that is. Of course these are all a trusting team, so will anyone suspect before the mission is sabotaged? None of the acting here amounts to much, but the story offers us the visual effects folks an opportunity to create quite an exciting adventure whilst making our own innards looks distinctly inhospitable; there’s a zapper, some wobbly sets and some treachery too to keep it moving along after an admittedly slow first half hour. It’s not a great film but it has elements of innovation to it and like “This Island Earth” from 1955, it has a place amongst my childhood memories that I will always look upon fondly.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  20th Century Fox

  US

Key crew

• EditorWilliam B. Murphy
• Art DirectionDale Hennesy
• Set DecorationStuart A. Reiss
• Set DecorationWalter M. Scott
• AdaptationDavid Duncan
• ProducerSaul David
• Art DirectionJack Martin Smith
• Makeup ArtistBen Nye
• HairstylistMargaret Donovan
• Unit Production ManagerEric Stacey
• Sound EffectsWalter Rossi
• SoundDavid Dockendorf
• Assistant DirectorAd Schaumer
• SoundBernard Freericks
• Technical AdvisorFred Zendar
• Special EffectsArt Cruickshank
• Title DesignerRichard Kuhn
• Aerial CoordinatorPeter Foy
• Special EffectsL.B. Abbott
• ResearcherHarper Goff
• Special EffectsEmil Kosa Jr.

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• coma
• submarine
• claustrophobia
• wound
• laser
• human body
• shrinking
• double agent
• radioactivity
• miniaturization
• doctor
• scientist
• sabotage
• security
• military
• brain surgery
• turbulence
• scuba diver
• microscopic
• absurd
• adoring

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1966-08-24PG
• Physical2000-09-05PG· Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea / Fantastic Voyage DVD Double Feature
• Physical2007-06-05PG· DVD Release
• Physical2013-10-08PG· Blu-Ray Release

Also known as

International titles

• MicroscopiaUS
• Strange JourneyUS
• Viatge fantàsticES
• Die phantastische ReiseDE
• Viaje fantásticoAR
• El viaje fantásticoVE
• Viaje alucinanteES
• Fantasztikus utazásHU
• Fantastik SəyahətAZ