My Movie Review on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
Yo, what’s up people? I’ve come back from a dead-on break to give you all another motion picture review.
Today, I’ll be reviewing Disney’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”. The film from 1954 to be precise.
Here's the rundown of this tale:
In 1866, several ships have been mysteriously destroyed, and reports claim that it was all because of a ‘sea monster’. Having been stranded in San Francisco, European scientist Professor Pierre Arronax and his assistant Conseil are invited by the United States Navy on an expedition to search for the ‘monster’, additionally accompanied by Ned Land the harpooner.
However, during the expedition, the ship is attacked by the ‘monster’, and the professor, Conseil, and Ned fall overboard.
In their desperate search for land and safety, the three come across the ‘monster’, which turns out to be a submarine (the first ever made) called the Nautilus, captained by Nemo.
Forced to come aboard, the trio travel the seas with Nemo, experiencing a great many wonders, encountering enormous dangers, and most of all, digging through the Captain’s core and discovering what kind of man he is.
Let me just say, first of all, that this film is awesome from start to finish!
I have read the actual book a long time ago, really. Sure, it may not be completely true to the source material, but for the most part, it was incredibly faithful to it.
Particular elements that I would like to note that both the film and book share are these:
The shark that attacks Ned & Conseil.
The giant squid that attacks the Nautilus.
The cannibalistic natives.
The only difference between the book and film on the former two elements is that, in the book, there’s more than one of each animal I mentioned, whereas the film only had one of each creature. That, and the circumstances involving all three events were different.
The screenplay done by Earl Felton was overall excellent. Everything tied together perfectly, and it didn’t feel episodic like the book. There was also a great amount of depth in the movie, along with excellent action, drama, and even some humorous moments. In addition, Felton perfectly balanced the creativity of Jules Verne with his own, with some personal touches from Walt Disney on the side.
The direction by Richard Fleischer was astonishing as well. The camera shots and cinematography were on par engaging, and he positioned it all from such stunning viewpoints. Also, in a time where technology wasn’t as advanced as it is today, I was completely blown away by how he was able to film the movie’s scenes underwater. How was it even possible?!
In addition to this, the special effects were awesome, particularly coming from a film of the 1950s. The giant squid literally seemed so real, especially underwater. And, whoever made the Nautilus, or how they made it, did such a great job at making it seem like an actual submarine, whether underwater or on the surface.
The music composed by Paul Smith, and orchestrated by Joseph S. Dubin (whom I have sadly been unable to find a picture of), was likewise groundbreaking. The material they created not only fit every moment, but they matched the emotions and feelings of the characters like a glove, especially Captain Nemo.
The acting, casting, and characters hands-down rocked the house, by the way. The people that I can’t help but commend the most out of all of them are James Mason and Kirk Douglas, with their portrayals and characters of Captain Nemo and Ned Land.
Douglas gave the character of Ned Land such excellent personality and charm, and there’s even a great humorous side of him to boot. I love how he was so physical with his body and expressions too.
And Mason…oh man, he was terrific! He took on the role of Nemo like he was meant for it and was having the best time of his life. He gave the character of Nemo such realistic emotions, expressions, movements, everything! With his character being an anti-hero, commandeering the Nautilus to attack and destroy ships because of a life-scarring tragedy from his past, only Mason could be able to bring out the complexity of his character and gain sympathy from audiences.
Something I can’t help but enjoy from him among others is this quote he said near the end of the film”
“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.”
—Captian Nemo
By ‘this’, Nemo was referring to the evil in our world, as well as sin and the curse inflicted on us from long ago. Eventually, when Jesus returns to earth, all of the pain, suffering, death, every sort of evil you could count, will be gone for good. Truly, Jesus is our one and only hope. That’s why the quote is so special to me, because it reminds me of Jesus.
In the end, “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” is a masterpiece in every way, and it’s worthy of being called a classic. Especially in contrast to “Gone with the Wind (woes being the fitting term).
As a result, I rate “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)” a full-on 5 out of 5 stars.
