Subject: Retrospective: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)

From: "Dragan Antulov" <[email-masked]>
Date: 17 Oct 1999 18:07:34 GMT

20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA
A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 1999

Long time ago there weren't such things as computer games,
movies, TV shows or even comic books. So, young boys and
other people yearning to experience strange new worlds of
imagination had to rely on the written word. One of the
people who delivered those worlds was Jules Verne, 19th
Century French novelist who is often regarded as the father
of science fiction genre. There were, of course, authors who
had used elements of science fiction in their works before,
but Verne is the first one whose complete opus is associated
with that particular genre. On the other hand, Verne's
novels, although definitely belonging to the genre, are in
their nature adventure stories, and thus responsible for
future misconception of science fiction as nothing more than
worthless juvenile escapism. Escapist or not, Verne's work
provides entertainment to its reader, and even today we are
still fascinated with his technological prophecies, although
many of them became obsolete with the passage of time. The
best known Verne's novel and one of the classics of the
adventure literature is 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, mother
of all underwater exploration novels. Its popularity among
the readers was tremendous, but the 20th Century filmmakers
were rather reluctant to adapt it to the big screen, mostly
due to the huge technical problems associated with the
production. Some of those problems were solved in 1954 when
Disney produced its version, directed by Richard Fleischer,
one of the very first films shot with the use cinemascope
technology.

The plot begins in 1868 when numerous ships are rammed and
sank by huge and unknown object. Surviving sailors bring
stories about sea monster, creating hysteria in the world's
ports. Professor Arronax (played by Paul Lukas), French
marine scholar visiting San Francisco, is asked by US
government to join expedition that should investigate the
phenomenon. Arronax boards US Navy vessel, together with his
trusted servant and apprentice Conceille (played by Peter
Lorre) and Ned Land (played by Kirk Douglas), cocky expert
harpoonist. The expedition spends many months in fruitless
search, until it finally encounters the sea monster in
violent collision. Arronax, Conseille and Land are thrown
overboard and after a while they stumble on the object of
their search. To their great surprise, they realise that the
"sea monster" is actually man-made submarine. Its crew, led
by mysterious Captain Nemo (played by James Mason) take them
as prisoners. For the next few months they would experience
numerous adventures and witness many wonders of the
underwater world. In the same time, while Arronax tries to
reason with Nemo and convince him that he should share his
discoveries with the rest of the world, Land plots escape.

20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA is embodiment of Disney at his
best - family entertainment that superbly uses brand-new
wonders of film technology. Special effects, combined with
the underwater photography, are still impressive after
almost four decades, and the "Oscar" award for them is well
deserved, especially after we take into account the use of
brand new cinemascope technology. Production design of
"Nautilus" was also very good, both original and faithful to
Verne's vision. The result is a film that should be viewed
as a very good adaptation of the science fiction classic, in
many ways comparable to the adaptation of H.G. Wells' THE
WAR OF THE WORLDS, produced one year earlier.

Of course, technical innovation and visual splendour isn't
enough for a movie to be successful. Script by Earl Felton
took some liberties with the original text, which is quite
understandable. Some of the situations are quite
recognisable from the novel; on the other hand, Felton
spiced up the characters and, in some way, improved Verne's
material. The biggest difference is the moral ambiguity;
Nemo, played by James Mason, is portrayed as genius whose
disgust with civilisation and conventional morality reaches
almost pathological levels, while, in the same time, deeply
personal and quite understandable causes of such disgust
provide strong emotional impact, making that character very
alive, believable and almost sympathetic. Land,
enthusiastically played by Kirk Douglas in his prime, is
portrayed as a "normal" and even extremely likeable man,
but, on the other hand, his actions portray him as not very
bright. Paul Lukas as narrator is shadowed by those two,
same as Peter Lorre's Conseille, rather unsuccessful and
almost pathetic attempt of comic relief.

Since the film was targeted towards family audiences, some
of the darker and more adult aspects of the story were
compensated with rather unnecessary plot additions intended
to lighten up the mood of the film. First we see Kirk
Douglas doing the song number in the beginning, and, later,
we have a pet seal as much more successful comic relief.
Those elements give some charm to the film, but in the same
time they reduce film's realism. On the other hand, Felton's
script gives a different but more powerful ending to Verne's
story. Obviously inspired by the dark realities of Cold War
and looming threat of nuclear holocaust, the violent and
spectacular finale is very effective warning about the
danger of uncontrolled scientific progress. Verne, who had
lived in an age of scientific optimism, would probably
disagree with such ending, but, on the other hand, 20,000
LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA is a film worthy enough to be part of
his ever lasting legacy.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

Review written on October 15th 1999

Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
Fido: 2:381/100
E-mail: [email-masked]
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