20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (film)

• Release Date: 1954
• Director(s): Richard Fleischer
• Writer(s): Earl Felton
• Principal Actors and Roles: Kirk Douglas (Ned Land); James Mason (Captain Nemo); Peter Lorre (Conseil); Paul Lukas (Prof. Pierre Aronnax)
• Book / Story Film Based On: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a dramatic film adapted from an adventure novel by the same title by French author and science fiction writer Jules Verne. It blends futuristic and Victorian elements while using advanced artistic and special effects technology of the day.

Walt Disney Pictures produced the 128-minute film for $5 million. It is about a sailor and two scientists who are rescued by Captain Nemo in his futuristic submarine called the Nautilus after their ship is damaged. They later learn that Captain Nemo is the reason why so many whaling ships have mysteriously disappeared.

Up to this time, Walt Disney had been known as a maker of animated films. With 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Disney showed audiences that it could make a live-action film and be successful at doing so. However, Disney had a major problem. Because submarines were not common when Verne published the novel back in 1869, they were considered futuristic. When Disney adapted the novel to make the film, submarines were not science fiction. They had already been used in both World War I and World War II. To solve this problem, Disney decided to make the film specific to a period in history—around the time when the novel was published—before submarines existed.

The film amazed audiences and box office sales topped $8 million in 1954. The movie took second place for the year in highest grossing sales. As a result, Disney went on to produce more science fiction films based on its success, including Around the World in 80 Days, also an adaptation of a novel by Jules Verne, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1957.

Plot

The film is first set in the 1860s in San Francisco. Professor Pierre Aronnax and his assistant Conseil are sent by the United States government to investigate a slew of missing whaling ships at sea. Experts believe that a monster has been terrorizing the seas and destroying the ships. Sailing with them is Ned Land, a harpooner.

In the beginning of the film, the men search for months at sea before finally coming face-to-face with the enemy. However, the enemy is not a monster: it is a submarine named Nautilus. The men battle the submarine but when their ship is damaged, they end up in the sea. Ned, Aronnax, and Conseil are captured by the crew of the submarine and meet Captain Nemo, who is a scientist. Nemo reluctantly invites the men to come aboard.

Captain Nemo takes Aronnax to an island inhabited by prisoners. Aronnax learns that Nemo and his submarine crew were prisoners on the island in the past. As the prisoners load a ship with munitions and weapons, the Nautilus attacks and destroys it. Nemo explains that he is trying to sink all warships at sea to end all wars and to save men from dying in battle. In the meantime, Ned sends out notes in bottles into the ocean with the hope that someone will find them and rescue them. When the Nautilus gets stuck on a reef, Ned leaves the ship in hope of finding an escape route but ends up being chased by cannibals. Nemo locks up Ned for his actions.

When an approaching ship fires upon the Nautilus, it dives into the sea. A giant squid attacks the submarine and Nemo. Ned breaks free and rescues Nemo. This event changes the captain’s outlook and he decides to focus on making peace rather than destroying ships. As his submarine approaches his secret hiding place, an island called Vulcania, warships and marines surround it in an effort to rescue the three seamen. Nemo tries to thwart the attack by placing a bomb in his secret hideout in order to destroy evidence of his nuclear research and discoveries. Yet his plan fails and he is wounded. Ned escapes and helps to save Aronnax and Conseil. Nemo takes the Nautilus for one last dive with his crew into the sea, never to return.

Significance

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was a landmark film for Walt Disney because it was the first live-action feature the company produced. It was shot using CinemaScope and with special effects by John Hench and Joshua Meador that earned the film an Oscar nomination and award. Action images dominate the film. This is evident in scenes such as when Ned battles the giant squid to save Captain Nemo and the submarine. John Meehan and Emile Kuri received an Academy Award for their art direction.

The film was shot mostly in Disney’s studio but also in Jamaica and the Bahamas, which provided the beaches, reefs, sea, and caves that were needed.

Even though the setting of the film is the 1860s, the film was released in the 1950s, a time when the United States was engaged in the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Many audiences could relate to the themes and fears of battle and peace and nuclear war. Ned symbolizes the all-American hero—he rescues Nemo from the squid, escapes captivity, and responds to every situation to save the day. Captain Nemo’s final words in the film offered hope to Americans who, in the 1950s, were living in fear of possible outcomes of the Cold War.

Paul J. Smith arranged the musical score. The best-known song from the film, "A Whale of a Tale," was released with other songs from the film on a digital album in 2008.

The film’s popularity prompted Disney to use original sets from the film to create a special attraction in Disneyland in 1955. Disney also created a ride in 1971 at Disney World called 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which featured submarines and a giant squid. The ride was shut down in 1994.

Awards and nominations

Won

• Academy Award (1954) Best Special Effects
• Academy Award (1954) Best Art Direction-Set Direction (Color)

Nominated

• Academy Award (1954) Best Film Editing: Elmo Williams

Bibliography

Christie, Stuart, Ed. Anarchists in Fiction. Oakland: PM Press, 2011. Print.

Fisher, Dean Spruill. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. United Kingdom: Dead Dodo Vintage, 2012. Print.

Jenkins, Eric S. Special Affects: Cinema, Animation, and the Translation of Consumer Culture. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2014. Print.

Moran, Christian. Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow: Walt Disney and Technology. Orlando: Theme Park, 2015. Print.

Taves, Brian. Hollywood Presents Jules Verne: The Father of Science Fiction on Screen. Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 2015. Print.

Thomson, David. The New Biographical Dictionary of Film. 6th ed. New York: Knopf, 2014. Print.

Verne, Jules. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Annapolis: Naval Institute, 1993. Print.