20,000 Leagues Under The Sea is the 1954 Disney adaptation of the classic Jules Verne novel. Starring Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas and Peter Lorre, it’s a much loved children’s movie but after having fairly recently read the unabridged version of Verne’s novel, I have to admit that I found it a rather unsatisfactory adaptation this time round. (I remember really loving this movie when I was a kid.)

The basic plot is of course that the world’s in a panic because of a huge sea monster that keeps sinking ships, and an expedition to get the critter is underfoot. Aboard the ship that are trying to find and destroy this creature is Ned Land (Douglas), the famous harpooner. Also on board, though maybe not as keen as most to see the beast actually destroyed, is Professor Pierre Arronax (Lukas), who postulates that it is in fact an undiscovered life-form. Joining him is Conseil (Lorre), his assistant. It probably isn’t giving too much away to say that the cause of all the fuss is not actually a sea monster but the world’s first submarine – Nautilus – captained by the enigmatic and eccentric Captain Nemo (Mason). The reasons probably isn’t giving too much away are:

1/ You probably already knew
2/ This is clear very early in the film
3/ Finding out that the sea monster is not a living creature at all is only the beginning of the mysteries…

I think for me what made watching this film a less satisfying experience for me as an adult was the way the characters have been changed from the book. (Take into account when reading this review that reading the book or watching the film rarely helps the enjoyment of the other!) Kirk Douglas does what he does best, which is appear on screen without a shirt on (Disney’s way of keeping housewives happy?!?), and his character is even more aggressive than in the book, but unfortunately a good deal more stupid too. Likewise Conseil is portrayed as rather a weak, almost pathetic character, instead of a man with hidden depths and resolve, which is how I read him from the book. Professor Arronax is simply there, almost superfluous to requirements, rather than the central character of those three. Whether it was due to the script or the actors, I didn’t really like any of the portrayals of those three characters in this film.

Captain Nemo on the other hand is someone who could not have been played as well as anyone but James Mason. He has exactly the right air of impenetrability and mysteriousness for the part; however his motivations are explained too early and too clearly for his character to remain darkly mysterious. This was no doubt due to the limited runtime the movie had and the need to make it a bit easier for youngish children to understand, which is fair enough, but part of the intrigue of the Nemo character in the book is that you never quite knew where he was coming from or going to.

Sorry to harp on about differences with the book – I realise that doesn’t make for the most helpful of reviewing styles. However it is necessary in order for me to explain why this film was somewhat disappointing to me this time. I can’t help feeling that if I’d watched this film again without having read the book in the meantime, I would have still enjoyed it – albeit not as much as when I was a child. There were certainly some good things about the film – a lot of the action scenes were very well done and the sets were absolutely superb. The inside of the Nautilus is captured far better than the characters it contains. To me, then, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea remains a great enigma – most people will enjoy it (more so with the nostalgia factor), but real fans fo the book should probably steer clear of it. My rating is going to come partway between my childhood memory of the film and my recent opinion, which I have to admit is biased by my unreasonable expectations (despite the book being admittedly long-winded in places, which I am glad didn’t transfer to film!), so I’m going to go with 3 stars and a recommended. The film is not terrible in any way, I just couldn’t take to it at all on this viewing due to what I’ve mentioned above.

Other Information

Director: Richard Fleischer
Runtime: 127 minutes
Rating: U (UK) G (USA)

This film won the Oscar for Best Art Direction & Set Decoration(John Meehan and Emile Kuri) and also Best Special Effects. It was nominated for Best Film Editing (Elmo Williams).


Related Links

Jules Verne novels:

Around The World in 80 Days
Journey to the Centre of the Earth
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Other films or TV series based on Jules Verne’s novels:

Around The World in 80 Days (film version starring Jackie Chan and Steve Cooghan)
Around the World in 80 Days (mini-series starring Peirce Brosnan)




Recommended: Yes