20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954 film)

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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Directed by Richard Fleischer
Produced by Walt Disney (uncredited)
Written by Jules Verne (novel)
Earl Felton (screenplay)
Starring Kirk Douglas
James Mason
Paul Lukas
Peter Lorre
Music by Al Hoffman
Paul J. Smith
Cinematography Franz Palner
Editing by Emo Williams
Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s) 1954
Running time 2 hours, 1 minutes and 48 seconds
Language English

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a 1954 film starring Kirk Douglas as Ned Land, James Mason as Captain Nemo, Paul Lukas as Professor Aronnax and Peter Lorre as Conseil. The film has become the most well-known adaptation of the book of the same name by Jules Verne.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In the year 1868, rumours of a devastating sea monster attacking ships in the Pacific Ocean have created apprehension and fear among sailors, disrupting shipping. Prof. Pierre Aronnax (Lukas) and his assistant, Conseil (Lorre), are on their way to Saigon but get stuck in San Francisco by the halting of ships. News reporters twist Aronnax's statements and make up an article illustrating the monster. The U.S. Government invites Aronnax onto an expedition to either prove or disprove the monster's existence.

The voyage on the U.S. warship is uneventful and frustrating at first, with only little boosts in crew morale thanks to singing and music of Ned Land (Douglas), who picked a fight at the beginning of the film, because he didn't believe in sea monsters.

Just after the captain cancels further searching, the "monster" is finally spotted. Trying to take it down with cannon fire, the ship is rammed, and Ned, Aronnax, and Conseil are thrown overboard. They find themselves abandoned as the warship, badly disabled and the crew struggling to save it, drifts away. All hope seems lost.

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 they find all sorts of obscure and interesting objects. Aronnax then looks through a massive viewing window and sees the crew, wearing underwater-suits and breathing devices, holding an undersea funeral of a shipmate killed during the battle.

The crew spots the intruders aboard their ship. The three castaways try to escape, but end up being captured. The captain introduces himself as Nemo, master of the Nautilus, and does not take kindly to visitors. "The sea brought you, the sea shall have you back", except Aronnax, whom he recognizes for his work and research. He tempts Aronnax to stay, but Aronnax prefers to share his companions' fate – thus passing a test of character.

Nemo's knowledge and technology make a strong impression on Aronnax. His companions, however, do not share his enthusiasm. Nemo takes them all on an underwater expedition to gather supplies, but Ned rather foolishly tries to salvage a treasure chest from a sunken wreck, almost getting attacked by a shark. Nemo lectures him, that he "cannot eat pieces of eight" and reminds him the greatest treasure of all is a "sound mind and a full belly". Aronnax gets more and more intrigued by Nemo's skills, especially what powers the Nautilus: atomic energy. Aronnax: "Such a secret could revolutionise the world!" Nemo: "Or destroy it".

After having travelled "20,000 leagues under the sea" [meaning, "20,000 leagues across the sea while submerged the entire voyage"], Nemo takes Arronax to the penal colony island of Rorapandi, where inmates used as slaves load a ship with minerals to produce ammunition, so "the world will die a little more" (Nemo). Nemo reveals he was once a prisoner himself, as was the crew of the Nautilus. At night, the Nautilus rams the ship and destroys it, killing the entire crew. Aronnax accuses Nemo of being a hypocrite, to which Nemo defends himself, stating his actions have just saved some thousand people from death in war. But it becomes obvious that revenge is also involved.

Captain Nemo, as portrayed by James Mason
Enlarge
Captain Nemo, as portrayed by James Mason

Ned, having seen fellow sailors murdered, has had his fill and spurs into action, sneaking into the captain's cabin to get the co-ordinates of Nemo's base of Vulcania. He puts messages in bottles, hoping somebody will pick these up and free him of his captivity.

Off the coast of New Guinea, the Nautilus gets stranded on a reef. Under the pretense of wanting to participate in a scientific survey, Ned asks to go ashore with Conseil, but he attempts escape, only to be chased back to the Nautilus by cannibals, who are repelled from the ship by electrical charges circulated on the Nautilus's skin. Because Nemo had him warned, he now puts Ned in a cell.

The tide floats the Nautilus free, but a warship is fast approaching and opening fire, causing a hull breach and momentarily loss of control, sending and sinking the Nautilus deeper than ever before, where it attracts the attentions of a giant squid.

The electric charge fails to repel the monster squid, so Nemo is forced to fight the beast on the surface in a stormy night. During the battle, Nemo is caught in one of the squid's tentacles, but Ned – who has freed himself from his cell – jumps to his rescue and saves his captor's life.

As the Nautilus approaches Vulcania, Nemo confides to Aronnax that he had considered using him as a mediator to share his secrets with the world. But it is too late. Vulcania is surrounded by warships that have deployed ground troops. Nemo takes this as an answer and decides to destroy his base rather than let his findings fall into wrong hands. But when returning to the Nautilus, he is struck and mortally wounded by an invader's bullet. After navigating the Nautilus out of Vulcania and settling on the ocean floor as its last resting place, Nemo announces, "I'm dying. And the Nautilus is dying with me." Loyal to Nemo to the very end, his entire crew declares that they will accompany their captain in death.

Nemo orders everybody to return to their quarters. Against joining in the mass suicide, Arronax, Conseil, and Ned are forcibly taken to their cabins. Ned fights back, escapes to the now deserted bridge, and manages to surface the Nautilus, hitting a reef in the process which begins to rapidly flood the ship. After rescuing Arronax and Conseil, the three escape in the launch/lifeboat. In his final moments, Nemo staggers to the viewing window, slumps against it, and looks at his beloved ocean one last time before he collapses and dies.

The companions witness the destruction of Vulcania in an incredible explosion, apparently atomic, creating an enormous mushroom cloud. The shockwave and the flooding takes the Nautilus back to its watery grave, and as the Nautilus disappears forever, Nemo's last words to Arronax 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."

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Reaction

The film received positive reactions, and has become a classic film of the Disney corporation. Audiences fondly remember it for the giant-squid battle and for the Nautilus itself, which have both become iconic images of both the film and Verne's original novel.

Even 50 years after the initial release 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is considered by many the most mature Disney live action production, rich in controversial and philosophical dialogue revolving around timeless issues, a fascinating display of pessimism (Nemo) versus optimism (Prof. Aronnax).

The film was also highly praised for the performances of the leading actors. This was the first time that major Hollywood stars such as Kirk Douglas, James Mason and Peter Lorre had appeared in a Disney film, although Robert Newton, a well-known actor in British films, had played Long John Silver in Disney's 1950 version of Treasure Island. Mason especially was singled out for his performance as Captain Nemo, and many people who first saw him onscreen in the film identify him most strongly with this role, just as many Star Wars fans identify Alec Guinness most with the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

In addition, the era in which events take place, comes alive in meticulous artistic accuracy down to the beard trim of the sailors, surpassed only by the rivet steel skin of the Nautilus. And yet the Disney version echoes the hopes and fears of audiences of the 1950s and beyond, equally illustrating the chances and the dangers of nuclear power.

The film has inspired a dark ride at Tokyo DisneySea and a walk-through at Disneyland Paris. Disneyland used the original sets as a walk-through attraction from 1955 to 1966. Walt Disney World Resort's Magic Kingdom park also had 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage from 1971 to 1994 which consisted of a submarine ride, complete with the giant squid attack. For this ride, voice artist Peter Renoudet stood in for James Mason in the role of Captain Nemo.

[edit] Cast

* Not credited on-screen.

[edit] Comparisons with the book

Earl Felton's script deviates noticably from the original Jules Verne book by integrating elements of the lesser known Jules Verne book Facing the Flag, whose main attraction is an invention of peril (German book title) which Felton re-interpretated as nuclear power rather than the super nitroglycerin Verne had envisioned. Thus, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea became more palatable to movie audiences of the atomic age. Other elements borrowed from Facing the Flag were Ned Land's messages in bottles and Nemo's base Vulcania, inspired by Ker Karraje's pirate hideout Buttercup Island. Other changes included:

  • Ned Land is an unwilling and recalcitrant passanger in both versions, but only in the movie is he locked up in the brig.
  • In the book, Professor Aronnax is more deliberate about joining the original expedition than in the movie.
  • Conseil doesn't speak in the third person, as in the book.
  • Esmerelda, the trained seal, was created for the film (as comic relief).
  • The film's main song "A Whale of a Tale" was also created for the film. The song is heard even before Ned sings it during the voyage.
  • The Nautilus in the book is thin and speedy, while the Nautilus of the film is thick and slow, but incredibly powerful. Also, whilst in the movie it is nuclear-powered, in the book it is powered by electricity.
  • While the book's version of Nemo did have an island stronghold where he stopped to resupply his ship, the final sea-battle at Volcania was fabricated for the movie; the Nautilus in the book disappeared in a whirlpool, and whether or not it actually sank was a mystery that was only resolved in Verne's later book The Mysterious Island.
  • At the end of the novel, it is not known if Nemo survives, and he turns up alive in Verne's The Mysterious Island, at the end of which he dies.

[edit] Trivia

  • In the opening credits, the title banner does not have a comma between the first and second zeroes "20000 Leagues Under the Sea" although a comma does appear on the poster and all related print advertisements.
  • This was the first full colour Disney live-action movie made at Walt Disney's studio in the United States.
  • One animated sequence involving monstrous glowing fish seen through the submarine's viewport took six months to create. This scene was to appear right before the attack of the giant squid, when the submarine has sunk 5,000 feet below the surface after being shelled by an enemy warship. Unfortunately, the cartoon footage of the "glowing fish" was glaringly fake, and it was decided to delete this section of the film. Some of this animated footage (without the actors) can be seen in the 20,000 Leagues Special Edition DVD in the bonus features area.
  • The film's main song "A Whale of a Tale" was created by Composer Norman Gimbel and Lyricist Al Hoffman. Unfortunately, Disney never gave either man the proper credit for their song in the picture, and both remained justifiably bitter at their treatment at the hands of the legendary producer. Decades later, after Disney had died and the Special Edition DVD was being produced, the Eisner organization still refused to give the two men their credits on the film.
  • Walt Disney was never known as a generous person in regard to giving credit to the people who worked for him. He even went so far as to deny the proper credit for Leagues brilliant art director, Harper Goff (instead, Disney came up with the phrase, "Production developed by...") because he didn't want Goff to become a member of the Art Directors union. Disney knew that once Goff earned union wages, he would never be allowed (as a union member) to go back to the lower wage scale that Disney had been paying him as an "independent." To placate the union, Disney hired a union art director, John Meehan, who became Disney's shill, while Walt kept delaying Goff's own entry into the labor organization, until it was too late. Even though Meehan functioned as Goff's assistant on the film, he was still listed "Art Director" in the movie's credits. During the night of the Academy Awards for 1954, events reached incredible proportions when 20,000 LEAGUES won the Oscar for Best Art Direction - Color - 1954, and Harper Goff's assistant, John Meehan, was announced as the winner. To this day, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences refuses to correct the record books and list the true winner of the Oscar for that night, although the Academy has often said it has been trying to give credit where credit was due and right previous wrongs.
  • The climactic squid battle on the Nautilus was originally shot with a serene sunset and a calm sea. Director Richard Fleischer was troubled by the artificiallity of the monster and its lack of movement, making it look obviously fake. Plus, the wire supporting the tentacles appeared in all the footage that was shot. Walt Disney visited the set one day after being very troubled by what he and his brother, Roy, had seen in the dailies. Disney decided to shut the squid fight down and have Fleishcer go to work shooting other purely dramatic scenes with the actors until his effects team could come up with a viable way of making a believable giant squid. During the filming of LEAGUES, Disney had kept screenwriter Earl Felton on the production for continuous revisions of the script. After the debacle of the sunset squid, Fleischer showed the footage to Felton and asked for his thoughts on the sequence. Felton came up with the idea of shooting the sequence at night during a storm, when the squid would only be glimpsed through bolts of lightning. Otherwise, it would be a monstrous silloette against a darkened sky. This would go a long way to hide the defects of the squid and make the sequence much more exciting. Fleischer ran out of the office to tell Disney about Felton's ideas and ran into him when he was walking across the studio street. After listening to Fleishcer, Disney agreed and the scene was reshot with Felton's new concept. One more thing that should be known is that the squid was literally redesigned from top to bottom by the mechanical effects expert on the film, Robert Mattey. After several weeks of tests, Mattey came up with the brilliant idea of utilizing vacuum principles to bring the squid's arms to cinematic life. By shooting blasts of air into it, the arm would extend, giving the tentacle realistic movement. When the air was sucked out, the tentacle would coil inward. This innovative process gave the monster animation and made it appear utterly real in front of the camera. Decades later, director Fleischer wrote in his autobiography, 'Just Tell Me When to Cry,' "I'm the only director in the history of Hollywood who ever fired a giant squid."
  • Richard Fleischer was surprised at being considered for the director's chair for this film, as he was the son of Disney's biggest competitor, Max Fleischer. He approached Walt Disney to inquire if Disney knew who he was. Disney told him that he was well aware of who he was and hired him because he thought he was the best man for the job.
  • One of the models of the Nautilus created by Harper Goff was a "squeezed" version which could be filmed with a standard lens and still look normal when projected in Cinemascope. Even though blueprints exist for this model, no photographs were ever taken of it. And whatever footage was shot using this miniature was never cut into the film.
  • The actual undersea footage was shot in the Bahamas in the same location that was used for the original 1916 silent version.
  • Walt Disney said that Peter Lorre claimed that the giant squid got the role that was usually reserved for him.
  • In addition to his many contributions as the production designer, including designing the Nautilus for the film, Harper Goff also taught Kirk Douglas to play the guitar for the "Whale of a Tale" number.
  • The pipe organ played by Captain Nemo in the film is located in the ballroom scene in the Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland.
  • A unused plan for Fantasmic! at Disney-MGM Studios in Walt Disney World, Florida involved a scene with Captain Nemo fighting the Kraken, while Mickey Mouse played the organ on the island stage. However, the idea was scrapped and a re-enactment of scenes from Pocahontas appeared in place instead.
  • Charles Boyer was originally considered for the role of Professor Arronax and Ralph Richardson was considered for Captain Nemo at one point. Even though Boyer wanted the part, he couldn't get out of a play he was doing on Broadway at the time.
  • The movie was filmed across three studio lots (Disney, Fox, and Universal International) as well as on locations in Jamaica. All the Nautilus interior scenes, as well as hotel room scenes and Abraham Lincoln scenes were shot at the Disney studio. During the production, three different units worked simutaneoulsy: the main unit with the actors, a second unit under the direction of James Havens, and a third effects unit under Ralph Hammeras. Legend has it that there was only one CinemaScope lens made available to Disney during the production and that he had to "motorcycle it" between the shooting units. This is absolutely not true - the production reports on the film show all three units shooting on the same days.
  • Leagues was the sixth film shot in CinemaScope. It was Fleischer's first movie in the new format and he proved himself a master in staging and framing his actors in the widescreen process.

[edit] See also

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[edit] External links

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