|
Actors: James Mason, Kirk Douglas, Paul Lukas, Peter Lorre
|
|
| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
|---|
For its first feature in Cinemascope, Disney Studios chose the Jules Verne classic, with Richard Fleischer (Fantastic Voyage, Tora! Tora! Tora!) directing, and undistinguished writer Earl Felton doing the script. In 1868, a mysterious sea monster, or maybe a narwhal, appears to be ramming and sinking ships all over the Pacific. Professor Pierre Arronax (Lukas) joins a Navy expedition to investigate the matter, with his assistant Conseil (Lorre) and a crack harpoonist named Ned Land (Douglas) along. They discover the "monster" is a marvelous submarine commanded by the brilliant but bitter Captain Nemo. This 1954 movie won Oscars for art direction and effects (the distinctive design of the Nautilus and a decent battle with a giant squid are among the memorable sights), and features uneven acting with a mediocre but earnest script. Mason largely rises to the occasion of embodying the slightly mad Nemo, Douglas is a hunky cartoon, and the others don't get to do much. For music, Douglas sings a silly sea chanty and Mason plays a bit of Bach's familiar Toccata and Fugue on a shipboard pipe organ. The film manages to avoid most of the usual Disney hokiness, save for a rather charming seal named Esmeralda.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
|
| Analysis of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
|---|
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about
books by breaking them down into many different literary
elements, all of which are searchable (click here). |
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie
Actual chase scenes or violence - 30%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
Water adventure?
Yes
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- scientist
Age:
- 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Body type
- average (man)
Events of movie makes character more...
- sad
Ethnicity/Nationality
- French
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- blonde
Hair style
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- muscular (man)
Unclothed?
- chest
How much in movie?
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- scientist
Eccentric:
Yes
- eccentric
- obsessed
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 80%
Hair color
- brunette (Black)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- average (man)
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- average physique
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Setting
Water?
Yes
Water:
- submarining
Island?
Yes
Island:
- Pacific Island
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- non-gory references to death/punishment
Movie makes you feel...
- concerned
How many deaths in film?
- 4-8
How much use of techno gadgets?
- 4 (a fair amount)
Kind of violence:
- mission to destroy something
- guns
- ocean ship battles
Unusual forms of death
- drowned
- perforation--bullets
Lot of special effects?
Yes
If this is a kid's movie...
- Ages 10-15
Is this movie based on a
- book
|
| Most similar reviews by Gordonator ranking |
|---|
| Blackbeard, the Pirate
starring Robert Newton, Linda Darnell, William Bendix, Keith Andes, Torin Thatcher
|
| Blood Alley
starring John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Berry Kroeger, Anita Ekberg
|
| When Eight Bells Toll
starring Anthony Hopkins
|
| Red Water
starring Lou Diamond Phillips, Kristy Swanson
|
| Shark Attack 2
starring Thornsten Kaye, Nikita Ager
|
|
Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
|
