The mysterious island

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Movie
German title The mysterious island
Original title The Mysterious Island
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1929
length 95 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Lucien Hubbard
script Lucien Hubbard
music Martin Broones ,
Arthur Lange
camera Percy Hilburn
cut Carl Pierson
occupation

The Mysterious Island is an American adventure and science fiction film from 1929. Directed by Lucien Hubbard based on a script he wrote very loosely from Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island .

plot

In the middle of the 19th century, the Kingdom of Hetvia is on the verge of a revolution because the population revolted against the oppression. In a county lying on a volcanic island , however, nothing of this can be seen yet. Count Andre Dakkar, who ruled there, repeatedly emphasizes that all people are equal. He is more interested in scientific questions, also because he believes, because of the strange bones that are now and then washed up on the coast of his island, that a civilization of other descendants of primitive man exists at the bottom of the sea. In order to be able to search for this civilization, he develops submarines . He tells his friend Baron Falon that these submarines must be armed because of the dangers of the sea. However, Falon is less interested in science than in the revolution and the power it can bring. Shortly thereafter, he observed indignantly that Andre Dakkar's sister Sonia and the technician Nikolai Roget are getting much closer than it fits into Falon's image of man.

Falon is also present at the festive first test run of one of the submarines through Nikolai. No sooner has the boat submerged than the island is attacked by hussars . As it soon turns out, Baron Falon brought them with him. He expects a military superiority from the submarines. He takes Count Dakkar and Sonia prisoner and tries to learn from them through torture how to operate the submarines. But that fails just like the attempt to take over the first boat when surfacing. In fact, the crew succeeds in freeing Count Dakkar and taking him on board. Sonia is also freed - by Dmitry. The two try to escape with the second submarine, but Falon and some of his people are already on board and overwhelm them shortly after the dive. Dmitry is seriously injured and dies shortly afterwards. Sonia then destroys the oxygen compressor the boat needs to be able to surface again.

The other boat is in trouble too. It was so damaged by the attack that it continues to sink under the water. Soon it will lie on a slope. The actually existing underwater civilization wants to take possession of the boat, but is attacked by a kite-like creature. Count Dakkar kills this creature with his torpedo in the hope of being able to make contact with civilization. When he and his team leave the boat with their diving suits, they are peacefully received by the beings. The second boat has now also arrived there. Its crew, including Sonia, also disembark to access the other boat's oxygen compressor. When the two groups clash, the enraged Count Dakkar attacks Baron Falon and kills him. As a result, a chaos breaks out, in which the beings also intervene. Sonia and Nikolai can get away from it, get the compressor from the first boat and thus make the second boat functional. Eventually they can ascend again together with the badly injured Count and some of his people. Baron Falon and his confidants remain on the seabed.

After the hussars who remained on land have been defeated and Count Dakkar soon feels he is dying, he has the entire shipyard destroyed. He doesn't want to be remembered as the one who brought such a dangerous weapon into the world. So he gets into the last remaining submarine to stay on the bottom of the sea forever.

background

In the mid-1920s, science fiction and fantasy were not particularly popular in the United States, but after First Nationals' great success with The Lost World , Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer decided to produce an elaborate science fiction film as well. Since a novel by a renowned author was to be filmed, The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne was selected. The originally planned film adaptation was to be shot with the most modern trick technology of the time and completely in Technicolor .

Filming

Filming began in July 1926. Shortly thereafter, director Maurice Tourneur resigned . At first it was said that he was ill, but later studio boss Louis B. Mayer announced that Tourneur's ideas about how to make a film were not compatible with those of the studio. Tourneur was replaced by Benjamin Christensen , who made further changes to the script, but made slow progress with the shoot. After six months, the planned budget of 600,000 dollars was already well exceeded, and the film was way behind schedule. At the beginning of 1927 the project was temporarily suspended.

In 1928 filming continued with Lucien Hubbard as director. He should finish the film, using as much of the existing material as possible. Most of all, he had to shoot the new scenes entirely in MGM's studios in Culver City . He continued to change history so that it had very little to do with Jules Verne's. The main character was called Count Dakkar , based on Prince Dakkar , the real name of Captain Nemos in the book.

The underwater shots

In an effort to make a particularly spectacular film, J. Ernest Williamson was hired to shoot underwater. He and his brother George had already celebrated success in 1916 in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with their patented Photospheretechnik, a retractable chamber with a glass front that was large enough for a camera and cameraman. For this J. Ernest Williamson got producer status. In addition, he was supposed to direct the underwater recordings himself, Maurice Tourneur was not responsible for it.

Since the script was changed again and again in 1926, Williamson had to wait until July to shoot off the Bahamas . At that time, the hurricane season had already started there. The team had to deal with three hurricanes, with no one injured, but expensive equipment destroyed. That was another reason for stopping filming in early 1927.

Because of new script changes, especially that of Hubbard, only a few of Williamson's recordings could be used in the finished film. Most of the underwater footage shown in the film was shot in the studio.

Silent film and sound film

When the shooting of The Mysterious Island began in 1926, there were only silent films . But in 1927 the first sound film was published with Der Jazzsänger and in 1928 there were already several sound films. So there was no hope for the producers in 1929 that they would be successful with a purely silent film. In principle, it stayed with the silent film, which was inserted, however, at the beginning of a ten-minute dialogue between Count Dakkar and Baron Falon. Some sound effects were also added, but they mostly looked awkward. That was enough for the producers to sell the film as a sound film.

Occupation and technical staff

The cast of The Mysterious Island changed throughout the filming period. So initially Lon Chaney was in discussion for the lead role, but it was probably a publicity stunt. Soon Lionel Barrymore was hired in the lead role and Warner Oland as his opponent. Sally O'Neil and Conrad Nagel were to play the lead daughter and her lover. Jaqueline Gadsden had a supporting role as the wife of Lionel Barrymore's role. When the film was resumed in 1928, however, much changed. Lionel Barrymore's role was now called Count Dakkar , Jacqueline Gadsden, who was now called Jane Daly, rose to the female lead and Lloyd Hughes was hired for the new role of engineer and hero . Since Lionel Barrymore's opponent should now be a real speaking role, Warner Oland dropped out because of his strong Swedish accent and was replaced by Montagu Love , which is why many scenes had to be re-shot. The mysterious island was the last film for Jaqueline Gadsden, she withdrew from the business.

To portray the sea creatures, which were only written into the film towards the end of the production, several hundred short stature from all over the USA were hired, including Angelo Rossitto . It was noticeable that there were only two or three women among them and there were no more to be found. From this it was concluded that short people are primarily male.

Cedric Gibbons was responsible for the production design , Douglas Shearer was responsible for the sound effects . The critically acclaimed visual effects came from James Basevi , Louis Tolhurst, and Irving G. Ries .

publication

The film, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Loew's, Inc. , was released in US cinemas on October 5, 1929. He was driven out by MGM. According to the Internet Movie Database , the premiere was on September 14, 1929 at Loew's Theater in Newark .

reception

Reviews

Contemporary reviews

Contemporary critics have been at least partially impressed by The Mysterious Island . The critics particularly liked the novel images, and it was also pointed out that the majority of the film or everything except the underwater shots were filmed in Technicolor. The sound effects, on the other hand, aroused smiles rather than admiration even then. There were different views on the length of the film. The critic of Harrison's Reports remained excited throughout, Mordaunt Hall of the New York Times never found it boring either, but nevertheless twice pointed out that the film might be a little too long, while the Variety said it should have been cut more, the film is clearly too long. In any case, the film was predicted to be successful, if only because it was different. It was mentioned that the film was largely silent, but that there was a bit of dialogue, i.e. an 11-minute dialogue sequence. The Variety also pointed out that the film contradicts both the logic and the story and that the technology presented could annoy pedants, but Jules Verne must be blamed for this.

The achievement of Lionel Barrymore was particularly highlighted. Once again he is competent and always human, his performance stands out and he keeps the interest high all the time, he is just a master of his subject. Lloyd Hughes, Jane Daly and Montagu Love were also praised. Director Lucien Hubbard is also certified that he did an excellent job and directed the film in a strikingly ingenious and effective manner. In addition, he and J. Ernest Williamson implemented the weird scenes with imagination and skill.

Modern reviews

The mysterious island is mainly perceived as a special effects film with impressive optics and effects that were state of the art at the time. However, it looks like Hubbard's main task was to glue parts of a film that had already been shot together, which makes the film a somewhat strange experience, as does sound sequences in a largely silent film. In addition, the film is too melodramatic, which was probably modern at the time. Overall, there is a noticeable lack of fun, the film is only interesting as a curiosity.

Acting performances are also rated more cautiously. Lionel Barrymore is exaggerating something, but that is probably because it was his first sound film experience. Montague Love is an adequate but not very dynamic villain, and Jane Daly is fine with Barrymore in her third film. And the creatures on the ocean floor were very reminiscent of Donald Duck's nephews .

Economic result

The mysterious island grossed $ 726,000 worldwide, which was respectable at the time. However, that was nowhere near enough to offset even the production costs of over $ 1.1 million. In total, the film made a loss of $ 878,000.

Further story of the film

The color version of The Mysterious Island was thought to be lost for years. In the late 1960s, MGM released a restored version, but in black and white. It ran several times on US television. In the 1970s, the Czech National Film Archive in Prague restored a color version with Czech subtitles , although the ending was missing. The restoration was possible because many American films were shown in Europe after the First World War . These films were not reclaimed, but usually destroyed after being shown in multiple cinemas. However, collectors kept many copies that came to the film archives over time. In 2013, the George Eastman House learned of this version. The two organizations joined forces to put together a fully restored color version. This was shown at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in 2014.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for The Mysterious Island . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , November 2011 (PDF; test number: 130 565 V).
  2. ↑ The Mysterious Island. In: Silentera.com. Accessed April 12, 2021 .
  3. ↑ a b Hal Erickson : The Mysterious Island (1929) at AllMovie , accessed April 12, 2021 (English)
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i The Mysterious Island. In: SciFist. September 26, 2014, accessed April 18, 2021 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n James Layton: The Mysterious Island. In: La Cineteca del Friuli. Retrieved April 13, 2021 (English, select English version).
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g John T. Soister, Henry Nicolella, Steve Joyce: American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913-1929 . McFarland, Jefferson 2012, ISBN 978-0-7864-3581-4 , The Mysterious Island, pp. 414-418 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed April 18, 2021]).
  7. ↑ a b c d e “The Mysterious Island” . In: Harrison's Reports . December 28, 1929, p.  206 ( online at Archive.org [accessed April 17, 2021]).
  8. ↑ Jacqueline Gadsden. In: American Film Institute . Retrieved April 18, 2021 .
  9. ^ A b Edwin Schallert, Elza Schallert: Anti-feministic Dwarfland . In: Picture Play . January 1929, p. 57 (English, online at Archive.org [accessed April 17, 2021]).
  10. ↑ a b The Mysterious Island (1929). In: American Film Institute . Accessed April 17, 2021 .
  11. ↑ The Mysterious Island (1929) - Trivia. In: Internet Movie Database . Accessed April 17, 2021 .
  12. ↑ a b c d e f g h Mysterious Island . In: Variety . December 25, 1929, p.  30 ( online at Archive.org [accessed April 17, 2021]).
  13. ↑ a b c d e f g h Mordaunt Hall : THE SCREEN; A Jules Verne Fantasy. The Lucky Gambler. In: The New York Times . December 21, 1929 ( online on New York Times [accessed April 17, 2021]).
  14. ↑ a b c d The Mysterious Island . In: Motion Picture Magazine . January 1929, p.  62 (English, online at Archive.org [accessed April 17, 2021]).
  15. ↑ a b c d Dennis Schwartz: Mysterious Island, The. In: Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews. June 2, 2008, accessed April 17, 2021 .
  16. ↑ a b c d e Glenn Erickson: The Mysterious Island (1929). In: Trailers From Hell. May 4, 2019, accessed April 17, 2021 .
  17. ↑ US film historians find treasure in Czech archive. In: Radio Prague International. December 13, 2013, accessed April 12, 2021 .