20,000 Leagues Under the Sea **** (1954, Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Peter Lorre, Paul Lukas) – Classic Movie Review 2,517

Walt Disney’s thrilling, double Oscar-winning 1954 film version of the famous Jules Verne classic novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is one of the best of its sci-fi adventure type. 

Director Richard Fleischer’s thrilling, double Oscar-winning 1954 Walt Disney version of the famous Jules Verne classic novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, first published in 1869, is one of the best of its sci-fi adventure type.

The book forms a loose trilogy with In Search of the Castaways and From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon [aka From the Earth to the Moon and Around It].

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is set in the Victorian era when many ships are being lost at sea and sailors are returning home with stories of a vicious narwhal (a giant whale with a long horn) sinking their ships. So an American ship sent to investigate the wave of mysterious sinkings.

James Mason is stupendous as the crazed Captain Nemo, commander of the advanced nuclear submarine the Nautilus, who captures the professional whaler Ned Land (Kirk Douglas) and foreign naturalists Professor Pierre Aronnax and Conseil (Paul Lukas and Peter Lorre) who have joined the US expedition trying to unravel the mystery.

Apart from the outstanding acting and Fleischer’s handling of the drama and action, it is extremely skilfully made technically and deserved its Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Colour (John Meehan, Emile Kuri) and Best Special Effects, notably the undersea fight between the Nautilus and a huge squid.

Earl Felton carves a strong screenplay from Verne’s novel. And there is extremely skilful and handsome photography too by Franz Planer, Franz Lehy, Ralph Hammeras and Till Gabbani.

Also outstanding are Robert J Wilke as the First Mate of the Nautilus, Carleton Young as John Howard and Ted de Corsia as Captain Farragut. Also in the cast are Percy Helton, Ted Cooper, Edward Marr, Fred Graham, J M Kerrigan and Harry Harvey.

It was remastered by Disney with extra scenes in 1992.

This excursion was followed by Mysterious Island (1961), 1969’s Captain Nemo and the Underwater City and The Amazing Captain Nemo (1978).

It was remade for TV in 1997 with Michael Caine, Patrick Dempsey and Mia Sara. In 2010 it was announced that Disney was in negotiations with David Fincher to direct a new take on the classic Jules Verne story. A new movie is in development for 2016.

On September 17 2015 Bryan Singer announced on Instagram that he will take a break from X-Men to direct 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, saying he has wanted to retell Jules Verne’s story since childhood. ‘I promise this will be an epic and emotional adventure for all ages! An adventure very dear to my heart,’ he wrote. ‘Not abandoning the X-Men universe. Very excited about X-Men: Apocalypse and beyond.’ Singer wrote the script for the film with Rick Sordelet and Dan Studney.

Richard Fleischer also directed Fantastic Voyage (1966).

In Search of the Castaways was filmed in 1962.

Around the Moon [Autour de la Lune] (1869), is the sequel to Jules Verne’s 1865 novel, From the Earth to the Moon. English editions sometimes combined the two under the title From the Earth to the Moon and Around It. They the basis for the 1902 film A Trip to the Moon. Other film versions are From the Earth to the Moon (1958) and Jules Verne’s Rocket to the Moon (1967).

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© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,517

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