20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
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| Directed by | Stuart Paton | |
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| Release date | 24 December 1916 | |
| Runtime | 105 minutes | |
| RYM Rating | ||
| Ranked | #28 for 1916 | |
| Language | English | |
| Genres | ||
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Review
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Cast
- Lois Alexander
Prince Daaker's daughter (child) - Allen Holubar
Capt. Nemo - Curtis Benton
Ned Land - Matt Moore
Lieutenant Bond - Jane Gail
A Child of Nature - Howard Crampton
Cyrus Harding - William Welsh
Charles Denver - Wallis Clark
Pencroft
2 Reviews
Interesting for a number of reasons, primarily being the pioneering underwater photography, which still looks incredible today, and for expanding D. W. Griffith's initial use of a flashback.
Published
"Captain Nemo takes Professor Aronax on a thrilling adventure."
-random title card appearing about halfway through the movie.
The film begins with 2 and a half minutes of title cards, providing background on Jules Verne and the production. (The title cards that set up the film's plot are labeled as fictitious, as if the audience would believe in a futuristic submarine piloted by a mad captain running on a rampage throughout the world's oceans.)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is (very confusingly) an adaptation of both the novel and its sequel, Mysterious Island, two books that have both separately been adapted into feature films. Because of this, the 105-minute film (which actually recommends taking a 10-minute intermission in a title card!) is too overloaded with characters and subplots to develop any of them fully.
Of course, Captain Nemo is the heart of the story, and the Captain in this film bears very little resemblance to James Mason's character in the 1954 (one of the rare remakes being better than the original.) Captain Nemo in this film can only be described as resembling a blackface Santa Claus. The film also gives him a ridiculous backstory as a deposed Indian prince (a plot element never mentioned in the original novel).
An early title card boasts about the film's innovative underwater photography, and indeed much of its runtime is spent on the floor of the ocean. However, it runs into the same problem as Thunderball would: the audience is unable to see any facial expressions (or anything at all that would identify the characters) and thus is completely unemotionally involved. The scuba diving scenes aren't nearly as endless as the later James Bond film, however.
One of the problems common to this and early other silent features is a complete lack of confidence in the audience, resulting in an excessive use of superfluous title cards. For example, a title card reading "The hunters return to the Nautilus" is followed by a sequence showing the hunters returning to the Nautilus, as if the audience needed it spelled out.
Near the film's climax is an underwater battle with a giant octopus that immediately brings to mind the similar scene in Bride of the Monster except even less realistic.
As you may have surmised, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is more interesting as a look at early special effects and primitive storytelling than it is as film entertainment.
-random title card appearing about halfway through the movie.
The film begins with 2 and a half minutes of title cards, providing background on Jules Verne and the production. (The title cards that set up the film's plot are labeled as fictitious, as if the audience would believe in a futuristic submarine piloted by a mad captain running on a rampage throughout the world's oceans.)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is (very confusingly) an adaptation of both the novel and its sequel, Mysterious Island, two books that have both separately been adapted into feature films. Because of this, the 105-minute film (which actually recommends taking a 10-minute intermission in a title card!) is too overloaded with characters and subplots to develop any of them fully.
Of course, Captain Nemo is the heart of the story, and the Captain in this film bears very little resemblance to James Mason's character in the 1954 (one of the rare remakes being better than the original.) Captain Nemo in this film can only be described as resembling a blackface Santa Claus. The film also gives him a ridiculous backstory as a deposed Indian prince (a plot element never mentioned in the original novel).
An early title card boasts about the film's innovative underwater photography, and indeed much of its runtime is spent on the floor of the ocean. However, it runs into the same problem as Thunderball would: the audience is unable to see any facial expressions (or anything at all that would identify the characters) and thus is completely unemotionally involved. The scuba diving scenes aren't nearly as endless as the later James Bond film, however.
One of the problems common to this and early other silent features is a complete lack of confidence in the audience, resulting in an excessive use of superfluous title cards. For example, a title card reading "The hunters return to the Nautilus" is followed by a sequence showing the hunters returning to the Nautilus, as if the audience needed it spelled out.
Near the film's climax is an underwater battle with a giant octopus that immediately brings to mind the similar scene in Bride of the Monster except even less realistic.
As you may have surmised, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is more interesting as a look at early special effects and primitive storytelling than it is as film entertainment.
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Note: Unlike reviews, comments are considered temporary and may be deleted/purged without notice.Suddenly, Captain Nemo dies of no apparent cause, for no apparent reason