Essential: 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1954)

Jlewis:

For a great portion of the Baby Boom and Millennial generations that comprise much of the U.S. population today, the 1950s and ’90s will forever be remembered as Disney Decades. Virtually anything bearing that corporate stamp back then was gobbled up by the small fry like chocolate.

The former decade was dominated by a post-CINDERELLA feature boom, Davy Crockett coonskin caps, the opening of Disneyland, a flood of licensed Golden Books and Dell Comics (Western Publishing had especially close ties to Disney) and the Mickey Mouse Club. The latter had a post-LITTLE MERMAID animated feature boom, the company ownership of Pixar (TOY STORY) and the Disney daytime TV empire.

Appearing mid-decade like THE LION KING thirty years later, 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA wasn’t quite the same as a pop culture cornerstone in the public consciousness but it nonetheless pulled in a hefty profit as one of the top box-office earners of its day.

This was a rather unusual Disney film for its time, if maybe less so in hindsight (i.e. Disney tapped Jules Verne again with IN SEARCH OF CASTAWAYS, as did rival studios with further Disneyesque offerings of their own). It became the inspiration for a theme-park ride at both Disneyland (1959) and Walt Disney World a.k.a. The Magic Kingdom (1971) that I enjoyed as a kid myself, but was sadly decimated in 1994 and replaced by a Little Mermaid lagoon and other attractions.

Curiously, there was no film or TV sequel made, at least by Disney (but Columbia backed MYSTERIOUS ISLAND), and most of the nostalgic toy and book memorabilia is restricted to the fifties. It was successfully reissued to theaters three times and often shown on TV as a fan favorite, but the great promotional “making of” documentary broadcast on ABC on December 8, 1954 and awarded an Emmy, OPERATION UNDERSEA, was never officially re-aired and is still not officially available on DVD.

It was directed by Richard Fleischer, the son of Walt Disney’s biggest animation rival two decades previously with Betty Boop and Popeye. Walt and Max Fleischer still admired each other, despite their past competition, and Max was given a special honorary dinner on the film’s set.

However, Richard himself never directed again for Disney despite making some similar sci-fi and fantasy projects for other studios such as 20th Century Fox. Likewise, none of the four lead stars worked for Disney again either: James Mason, Peter Lorre, Kirk Douglas, and Paul Lukas.

Prior to this time, Disney had only produced four fully live-action and three part live-action/part animated features that involved Denham Film Studios in England and, earlier, Sam Goldwyn’s for support. Again, the assistance of both 20th Century Fox and Universal were needed for a couple important scenes like the opening ones set in ol’ San Francisco since the Disney studio itself was only gradually expanding into live-action production with its new television series.

Regarding 20th Century Fox, Walt was encouraged by fellow mogul Darryl F. Zanuck to produce an animated cartoon, TOOT, WHISTLE, PLUNK AND BOOM, in the new widescreen format of CinemaScope and debuting it alongside that studio’s HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE. 20, 000 LEAGUES was also done in that format (and best seen in a theater rather than your cell-phone or ipad) along with another accompanying cartoon, GRAND CANYONSCOPE featuring Donald Duck.

The crystal clear waters off Nassau, Bahamas covered much of the stunning underwater camera work by Franz F. Planner and Till Gabbani, among others. Intriguingly, this area was also host to the 1916 silent version put out by Universal as well. Jamaica was also used for location work.

Overall, it was not an easy production. The Nautilus, the star “performer,” was designed by Harper Goff but, due to his lack of membership with the demanding International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, he was denied proper “art direction” credit. Midpoint in production, the IATSE encouraged Disney to use one of their own members, John Meehan, to take command of his designs, much to Goff’s distress. There was also unrest among the performers, namely with veteran actor Paul Lukas who struggled with some memory loss reading his lines and frequently lashed out on everybody.

As expected, the intricate special effects work was no piece of cake. There was much trouble creating the giant squid fight in a specially constructed-for-it sound stage with the first model failing miserably. (16mm outtakes are included in the two disc DVD.) Assistant director James Havens came up with the solution of setting it in a storm with constant wave action that helped obscure the wires needed to move the creature’s tentacles.

No less than 28 crew members were employed at once and eagle-eyes have often pointed out the additional crew hands manipulating tentacles in one key scene. Although the visual results were well worth the effort, the squid is still your trademark fifties studio beastie with all of the mechanical features that modern CGI can potentially do better.

As for the plot, there were some notable changes made with Jules Verne’s original, particularly in the ending that I will spoil shortly. This Disneyfied version is set in 1868 post Civil War with Prof. Pierre Aronnax (Lukas) visiting San Francisco from France with assistant Conseil (Lorre) to do an investigation on a mysterious sea monster attacking ships in the Pacific.

They board a vessel called the Abraham Lincoln, along with harpoon expert Ned (Douglas) who entertains the crew with a rare but lively Kirk Douglas singalong, “A Whale of a Tale” that I still enjoy on CD and my iPod. (Even better is his later drinking singalong with Esmeralda the sea lion.) The “monster” attacks and sinks the ship but the trio survive drowning, eventually finding themselves aboard the “monster” itself: a futuristic submarine named the Nautilus.

Captain Nemo (Mason) and his crew hold them captive, but as well treated guests. Ned makes a few attempts to either escape or persuade Nemo to let him leave, making a short visit to New Guinea at one point where he is saved by Nemo at the last minute from hungry dark-skinned cannibals. (No, the Disney studio was still not finished with all of its racial stereotyping by then, but this was also in keeping with the original story too.) In return, Ned later saves Nemo’s life as well when the Nautilus is attacked by a giant squid.

Nemo, however, is no fan of human life himself and frequently uses his undersea ship to attack human war ships with no more concern for casualties than a ruthless stealth bomber enjoying his electronic controls. Much of it is based on rage (hate being as powerful in one’s heart as love, according to him) against all mankind for personal family losses of his own, something that both Aronnax and Ned battle him over.

Spoiler alert: When Nemo gets shot on land, he decides to go down with both his ship and devoted-to-death crew. This is a radical departure from Verne, but reflects the still shocked United States reaction to the way Japanese kamikaze pilots honored their emperor. Ned is the all-American hero who saves his two friends, along with Esmeralda.

Despite all of their problems on the sets, all four lead performances are quite good here, including Lukas’ supporting role. Not that he and Lorre’s characters are as important as the great yin and yang dynamic of Nemo versus Ned. As portrayed by Mason and Douglas, these two pretty much steal the show.

Disney’s Captain Nemo is far darker and more diabolical than Verne’s. James Mason also plays him very intensely, much differently than his later Verne exploratory character Sir Oliver Lindenbrook in JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. Nemo’s penchant for killing and looting his fellow man contrasts sharply from his genius in creating a technological marvel and a crew that supports it, tapping into the great resources of the ocean deep.

Prof. Pierre Aronnax tries to con him into sharing his discoveries with all mankind, but Nemo is disillusioned by mankind in general. “I am not what is called a civilized man, Professor. I have done with society for reasons that seem good to me. Therefore, I do not obey its laws.” He does have some religious beliefs, however, as his casual mention of “God” at one point and the use of a cross in an underwater funeral procession suggest.

As played by Douglas, Ned has a much bigger role than Aronnax on screen than in the original text, probably because the Disney staff writers viewed him as a better representative of themselves a.k.a. the official United States persona of 1954 that was optimistic about the future with plenty of compassion and support for fellow humans, if also with plenty of bombastic impulse.

He expects some catering to his own needs regardless of the situation, much like a typical U.S. tourist who demands his favored fast food service in every foreign country that he visits: most memorable are his reactions in the dining scene when Nemo feeds his captive guests a menu culled directly from the sea, including (in a line that somehow got past the censors) “cream from the milk of a sperm whale.”

Ned has no qualms stealing from Nemo’s valued loot even though it does not belong to either him or Nemo. This is basically the only deceitful act he commits. When Nemo allows him on shore, he is warned that “the natives over there are cannibals…they eat liars with the same enthusiasm as they eat honest men.”

Ned is like your later Indiana Jones, an idol for 20th Century He-Man moviegoers to root for even if he has a bit of the rascal in his blood. Also, like Douglas the actor, he displays the womanizer flaws as personified in his “Whale of a Tale” melody even though Mermaid Minnie and Typhoon Tessie still gained the upper hand over him.

As much as I enjoy the two lead performances equally, it does seem like Kirk Douglas was enjoying his role more than James Mason did. Kirk gets to perform some lively stunts despite double Gilbert V. Perkins doing much of his heavy work dressed in matching striped shirt, particularly in the squid fight.

In a memorable DISNEYLAND episode aired on January 19, 1955 titled MONSTERS OF THE DEEP, which further milked the movie’s publicity, both Kirk and Peter Lorre hilariously ham it up while explaining the special effects. You can sense the great friendship these two stars had with each other, also shown on screen with Kirk’s constant head petting of Pete.

This was one of my favorite movies as a kid but I will confess that it may have lost…just a little…of its luster over time. At times, 20,000 LEAGUES comes off as a bit stiff and overly poised with the then cumbersome CinemaScope framework forcing many shots to resemble the grand dinner table that Nemo holds for his captive guests and the organ he plays to satisfy his ego.

The cannibal and squid battles both hold up pretty well with many impressive camera angles not often seen in other ‘Scope efforts of ’54. All in all, it is still a fun adventure if maybe slightly less fun than the later Ray Harryhausen beastie-driven MYSTERIOUS ISLAND that kinda out-Disneys Disney in its fantasy appeal.