- Original theatrical poster - image courtesy of The League of Dead Films
The success and failure of the lavish 1954 adaptation of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea rests almost entirely on the film’s adherence to well-worn Disney conventions. Among the most epic productions yet endeavored by the studio, it’s a beautiful, hypnotic adventure in its greatest passages, chock full of gorgeous underwater imagery and still impressive special effects, and was one of the touchstone films that first transfixed this writer as a child.
Alas, it’s something less than successful at developing the ideas behind the action. As a character study of an impossibly complex man, it only goes skin deep.
The film opens in 1866, as panic engulfs the world over the rumored presence of a ship-sinking sea monster, a fantastic premise quickly exploited by greedy newspapermen and one readily dismissed by many as merely the talk of drunken sailors.
Our surrogate into this story is one professor Pierre M. Aronnax (Paul Lukas), expert on marine biology, and his assistant Conseil (Peter Lorre), who tag along with an American war ship scouting the seas for the beast. It eventually finds it – or rather, is found by it – and the subsequent battle sees the two visitors thrown overboard, along with the salty harpooner Ned Land (Kirk Douglas).
Finding refuge from the ocean aboard the temporarily deserted monster, in actuality a highly advanced submarine, the Nautilus, the first of its kind (just one of many inventions the literature of Verne successfully predicted), these three are taken in as something between guests and captives of the captain, the mad genius Nemo (James Mason), whose devastation of the high seas is rooted in a twisted morality bent on revenge against slave traders and guided by disgust for the wars and waste of society.
Although Ned and Conseil are generally disregarded as guests and harbor only ill will towards the Captain, the professor eventually takes to him, warts and all, hoping to understand what it is he has to offer the world.
The first science fiction film produced by Disney and the only one to be made during Walt’s lifetime, 20,000 Leagues is a distinctly hit and miss affair, not for a moment wanting for spectacle but frequently suggesting a vacant, Wizard of Oz-like illusion just waiting for the curtain to be pulled aside.
Perhaps that’s a necessary concession given that relatively adult themes are being shoehorned into a G-rated feature, although the film does push the boundaries of the universal rating, from the disturbing image of the barely submerged Nautilus at collision speed to the landmark battle with a giant squid.
The original sequence, conceived as taking place at sunset, proved disastrous, drawing parallels to the technical incompetence of many of Ed Wood’s films, and was re-shot to take place during a stormy night to better conceal the mechanical effects at work, animating the many voracious tentacles. The result was and remains one of the most convincing and terrifying monsters of the cinema, and went on to win the film a special Oscar for visual effects. (You can compare the sequences here and here.)
Brilliantly portrayed by the inimitable James Mason, Captain Nemo is a twisted heart equal parts compassion and malevolence, and the film would have done better to scrutinize these dual sides (suggested by Mason with incredible ease), instead merely standing back with flimsy reverence.
Themes of love and hate for humanity are never done justice by the telegraphed script, which uses a narration device, echoed by the Professor’s journal writings, to overly literal effect, and the swashbuckling, sappy tone never settles down enough for the meatier layers of the story to truly emerge. Even within its obvious creative limitations, the film is among the more somber in the Disney pantheon, but it still feels watered down. Bring on the David Fincher-helmed remake.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Dir. Richard Fleischer. Perf. Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas, Peter Lorre, Robert J. Wilke, Ted de Corsia. Walt Disney Pictures, 1954. Running Time: 127 min. 3 out of 5 stars (no halves).
