Man is Irwin Allen's stuff cheesy, but I love it!!! As I type this, I am currently re-watching the movie version of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", one of my favorite Allen productions.
I am also a fan of "Five Weeks in a Balloon", "The Poseidon Adventure", "The Towering Inferno", "The Lost World" and the TV shows "Lost in Space", "Land of the Giants", "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" and "The Time Tunnel".
Of course, Allen did much more than that. I even like "The Story of Mankind" which is often hailed as one of the worst films ever made.
Part of the charm of an Irwin Allen production IS the over the top and campy way of presentation, with sometimes cheesy dialogue. I also like it that he liked to cast aging veteran actors such as Peter Lorre and Red Buttons in all his productions. Allen had a knack of making Disney movies of the time seem realistic!
I also liked Allen's frugality. Although he had no problem in constructing an elaborate set for "Voyage", when it came time to do the TV show, he just hauled the old sets out again and used them.
Allen died in 1991, and I still miss his type of work. People try to imitate him, but they get caught up into too much CGI and not much story or suspense. Even when his stories didn't make a lick of sense, you still could be guaranteed of being entertained.
I highly recommend the 4-DVD set from 20th Century Fox which contains "Voyage", "Lost World", "Towering Inferno" and "Fantastic Voyage" (not an Allen production, but good nonetheless). I got mine at Target for $10!
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