20,000 Leagues under the Sea (1954)

20,000 Leagues under the Sea (1954)

starring Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Peter Lorre, Paul Lukas

written by Jules Verne, Earl Felton

directed by Richard Fleischer

127 minutes

Sailor Ned Land (Kirk Douglas), and scientists Pierre Aronnax (Paul Lukas) and Conseil (Peter Lorre), the sole survivors of a submarine attack in the Pacific Ocean, become the reluctant guests of Nemo (James Mason), captain of the Nautilus, the submarine that sank the frigate on which they were traveling at the time. Aronnax develops a fascination with Nemo but Land and Conseil chafe to get back to dry land as soon as possible. They ultimately get their wish after the navies of the world locate Volcania, Nemo's island base.

Thoughts

I've seen this movie at least once before, possibly in a theater in the 1970s. I remembered some of the scenes and the larger arc of the story. I did not recall how episodic it was. I thought that maybe the special effects would be a bit of a let down but I think the biggest disappointment for me was the lack of a plot or characters that made me care about what I was seeing on the screen.

Notes

This is the third movie that Kirk Douglas was in that I have watched in the past 12 months. The other two were Paths of Glory (1957) and Out of the Past (1947). This is the second film that James Mason was in that I have watched in the past 12 months. The other one was North by Northwest (1959). I've seen both Paul Lukas and Peter Lorre in other movies but this is the only movie they have been in that I have watched in the past 12 months. The only other actor in this movie whose name I recognized and whom I am certain I have seen before is Ted de Corsia. There are only a couple women in this film and they are only in it very briefly.

Earl Felton wrote the screenplay for this movie. The original story was written by Jules Verne. Felton also worked on the screenplay for and Richard Fleischer also directed Armored Car Robbery (1950) and The Narrow Margin (1952). Fleischer was the son of Max Fleischer whose studio created a series of iconic Superman cartoons in the 1940s.

This movie was nominated for three Academy Awards and won two of them. It won for Best Art Direction (Color) and Best Special Effects and was nominated but did not win the award for Best Film Editing.