Kirk Douglas, Paul Lukas and Peter Lorre star as shipwrecked survivors taken captive by the mysterious Captain Nemo, brilliantly portrayed by James Mason.
Wavering between genius and madness, Nemo has launched a deadly crusade across the seven seas. But can the captive crew expose his evil plan before he destroys the world?
This is by far the most literate, the most moving, and the most cinematically sophisticated film Disney has ever made. Those of the reviewers at this (IMDb) site who dismiss it as a kiddie movie, or who sneer at the special effects ("time has not been kind" to this film, one of them says; according to another, "the thrill is gone") seem simply prejudiced, rather like those who automatically deride any film that features Charlton Heston or deals with a biblical theme. It is indeed quite amazing that any special effects filmed in 1954 would continue to stack up so well.
Very simply, Richard Fleischer made a gorgeous adaptation of Jules Verne's famous novel. This is an excellent adventure movie told with quite a lot of humor. Fleischer introduced humor in a few sequences and especially in dialogs. But the movie also includes a sadistic side. This sadistic side is epitomized by the captain Nemo himself. You can describe him as a despotic man who's got a grudge against the earth that made him suffer. Moreover, he regards himself as a sort of governor of the ocean. In this way, Jules Verne's novel introduces a reflection about man and the extension of his power thanks to the machine (the Nautilus). IMDB Link
Watch the Movie Classic - 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was filmed at various locations in Bahamas and Jamaica, with the cave scenes filmed beneath what is now the Xtabi hotel on the cliffs of Negril. Some of the location filming sequences were so complex, that they required a technical crew of over 400 people. It presented many challenges and cost-overruns during production. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Unabridged Classics)
Alternative viewing option
After months of searching, the monster strikes, ramming the naval frigate. Ned, Aronnax, and Conseil are thrown overboard, and watch in horror as their ship, badly disabled, is unable to rescue them. The three drift into a strange-looking metal vessel, and realize the "monster" is a man-made "submerging boat", that seems to have been deserted. Inside, Aronnax wanders down into the Salon, where he finds a massive viewing window and sees an underwater funeral taking place.
When the submarine crew returns to their ship, they capture the three castaways. The captain introduces himself as Nemo, master of the Nautilus. He returns Ned and Conseil to the deck, while Aronnax, whom he recognizes for his work and research, is allowed to stay. He tempts Aronnax to remain with him, but Aronnax prefers to share his companions' fate. Nemo prepares to submerge Nautilus with the three stowaways on the deck, but at the last moment changes his mind and allows them to stay. After dinner that night, Nemo takes them all on an underwater expedition to gather supplies, but Ned tries to salvage a treasure chest from a sunken wreck, almost getting attacked by a shark.
Later on, Nemo takes Aronnax to the penal colony island of Rura Penthe. Nemo reveals he was once a prisoner there himself, as were many of the crew of the Nautilus. A munitions ship embarks at sunset, whereupon the Nautilus rams it, destroying its munitions cargo and killing the entire crew. When confronted by Aronnax, Nemo claims that his actions have just saved thousands from death in war; he also discloses that this "hated nation" had killed his wife and son in an attempt to force him to reveal his atomic secrets. Meanwhile, Ned discovers the coordinates of Nemo's secret island base, Vulcania, and releases messages in bottles, hoping somebody will find them and free him from captivity.
Off the coast of New Guinea, the Nautilus gets stranded on a reef. Ned is surprised when Nemo freely allows him to go ashore with Conseil, ostensibly to collect specimens. Ned goes off alone inland to explore avenues of escape, until he sees a bunch of human skulls, and a cannibal in a tree. Realizing his danger, Ned runs for his life and rejoins Conseil as they are chased back to the Nautilus. Despite remaining aground, Nemo is unconcerned and the cannibals are repelled from the ship by electrical charges circulated on its hull. Captain Nemo is furious at Ned for not following his orders, and confines him to the submarine's brig as punishment.
As the Nautilus nears Vulcania, Nemo finds the island surrounded by warships, whose marines are converging on his hideout. He goes ashore, setting a time bomb to destroy his discoveries, but when returning to the Nautilus, he is struck in the back by enemy fire and mortally wounded. After navigating the submarine away from Vulcania, Nemo announces he is "taking the Nautilus down for the last time." Loyal to Nemo to the very end, his entire crew declare that they will accompany their captain in death.
Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned are taken forcibly to their cabins. Ned fights back, escapes to the now deserted bridge, and manages to surface the Nautilus, hitting a reef in the process and causing the ship to begin flooding rapidly. In his final moments, Nemo staggers to a viewing window, collapses, and looks at his beloved ocean one last time as he dies.
Aronnax tries to go back and retrieve his journal, which contains an account of the voyage, but the urgency of their escape obliges Ned to knock him unconscious and carry him out. The companions witness Vulcania destroyed in a explosion. The shock from the explosion causes the Nautilus to sink even more quickly, and as it disappears beneath the waves forever, Nemo's last words to Aronnax echo: "There is hope for the future. And when the world is ready for a new and better life, all this will someday come to pass. In God's good time." Aronnax's diary of the voyage is also lost forever, and when Ned apologizes for having hit him, the Professor replies "Perhaps you did mankind a service, Ned".
Kirk Douglas as Ned Land
James Mason as Captain Nemo
Paul Lukas as Professor Pierre Aronnax
Peter Lorre as Conseil
Robert J. Wilke as Nautilus's First Mate
Ted de Corsia as Captain Farragut
Carleton Young as John Howard
J. M. Kerrigan as Billy
Percy Helton as Coach driver
Ted Cooper as Abraham Lincoln's First Mate
Fred Graham as Casey
Wikipedia Link - 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
No comments:
Post a Comment