Considering the troubled production history
of this film, it is rather amazing that it came out as good as it did. In
theory it started out based on the book of the same name by Jules Verne but
over the two years and many delays of it being made it turned into something
very different with only a small nod to its source. And what they turned it
into is very cool and imaginative. The book is about Union soldiers who escape
on a balloon and land on an island which after various adventures and mysteries
turned out to be the hideout of Captain Nemo. Nemo's real name is revealed
to be Prince Dakkar and the story takes place after Twenty Thousand Leagues
Under the Sea. So that is what I was expecting - in fact that is the plot
of the 1961 version titled Mysterious Island. Somewhere along the way the
film turned into a European flavored fantasy about revolution, genius and
men who live far down deep in the water. And Count Dakkar who has invented
a submarine that can go deep to the bottom of the ocean.
On the Blog "and you call yourself a scientist!?" the writer goes into great
depth about the making of the film. In summary, it was a disaster from start
to finish. They went through various directors, script changes and hurricanes
before it landed with a thunk in the box office where it died a quick death.
MGM had initially planned on this being a 3 hour epic but by its finish it
came in at 95 minutes. It was also shot in two-color Technicolor - but that
version has apparently not been released on DVD after being discovered and
restored, so what we have is black and white. The other main problem for the
film is that it was released after talking pictures had come into vogue. The
film was shot as a silent. So they decided to add a few sound effects and
re-shoot the opening with sound. Warner Oland was Baron Falon, the villain
of the film, but his accent was so strong that they fired him and gave the
role to Montagu Love and re-shot the other scenes he was in - but not in sound
other than that first scene.
So though it was rejected at the box office, we can look at it through a
different prism as basically a silent film - and it is chock full of inventiveness
and wonder. The scenes of the working of the submarine are visually stylish
and the filming of the people under water is just fabulous. As well as the
look of the film with its gadgets, futuristic sets and those diving suits
should be collectibles. For its time the special effects are terrific.
On an island off the country of Hetvia, the scientific genius Count Dakkar
(Lionel Barrymore) has sealed it off from outsiders and created a utopia of
equality for all the workers. He has built two submarines that can explore
the depths of the ocean and he has a theory that the island is on top of a
submerged volcano and that below is a civilization of men who evolved in a
different direction from those who crawled on to land. He invites his friend
to come on the island and see what he has done. But Falon has dreams of taking
over Hetvia in a revolution and only sees the military potential of the submarine.
Eventually, Falon attacks the island with his men and capture it but not before
a submarine submerges and is then damaged and sinks to the bottom of the
seas - where thousands of little creatures that look like little Disney ducks
combined with Ninja Turtles are living. And a giant squid and octopus. It
appears that the French director Maurice Tourneur was hired to shoot the interior
shots before he too was fired for taking so long. But what he got before
that happened is terrific. He is the father of course of Jacques Tourneur.
This is up on YouTube.
