20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
directed by
screenplay by
I have no idea when I first saw this. I might have been only four or five and I loved it. Every other time I watched it I loved it, as well. At first, the obvious star was Captain Nemo's ship-sinking submarine, the Nautilus (and maybe the squid). As I got older, James Mason as the enigmatic Captain Nemo came to the fore. Peter Lorre and Kirk Douglas (!!) as the comic relief, I always found funny, Douglas' song is goofy, but it works in keeping him comical. When Hallie and I belonged to the Disney Movie club for a little bit, it was one of the first movies I bought on Blu-ray.
We're going to keep it - Mason is still one of the great screen villains and Kirk Douglas is still, well, Kirk Douglas (as is Peter Lorre), but overall, the movie just isn't quite great as my memories make it.
Jules Verne's novels always defeated me because they're filled with long dull sections and the movie mimics that. There's an undersea harvesting scene, turtle-catching, a tour of the Nautilus and an explanation of its power source. It may not take up a lot of the film, but it sure feels like it does.
The action set pieces are still exciting. Douglas and Lorre being chased by natives and, of course, the squid attack are good boys-adventure fun. Coupled with the cool design of the Nautilus, all jagged and goggle-eyed, they're a large reason the movie remains enjoyable, if not as great as my memory wants it to be.
Leading man-era James Mason is the perfect decoction of unamused contempt for world and its conceits. When Nemo speaks dismissively of Ned's (Kirk Douglas) concerns for the sailors on the ship the Nautilus sinks it's chilling. There were few actors who be as cold and heartless sounding as Mason could. Eddie Izzard did a routine where God sounded like James Mason and it makes perfect sense. That Mason is also stunning with his short beard and white-streaked hair doesn't hurt.
A wild part of 20,000 Leagues is Nemo's motivation and goal. When torture at the hands of the English failed to uncover his secrets, his wife and children were killed and he was imprisoned. He and other prisoners escaped and set out to strike a blow against the colonialist empires of the world. That's a pretty radical premise for a Disney movie, especially in 1954.
verdict: as I said, a keeper
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| James Mason |
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