20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
| Original title | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1954 |
| length | 122 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Richard Fleischer |
| script | Earl Felton |
| production | Walt Disney |
| music |
Al Hoffman Paul J. Smith |
| camera | Franz Planner |
| cut | Elmo Williams |
| occupation | |
| |
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is the title of a science fiction film from 1954 in an adaptation of the novel of the same name by the French author Jules Verne . Well-known Hollywood actors appeared for the first time in a Disney film. It was also the first Disney film in the CinemaScope - widescreen method . Even today it is considered a cult film , especially because of its remarkable special effects and the extraordinary scenery of the fantasy submarine Nautilus .
action
In 1868 rumors were circulating about a sea monster attacking ships on all the world's oceans. The French professor and oceanographer Pierre Aronnax boarded a warship with his servant Conseil to confront the sea monster. They are accompanied by the harpooner Ned Land , who is supposed to kill the animal. After a long, in vain search, the monster finally encounters, which attacks the warship and damages it badly. Here go Aronnax , Conseil and Ned country overboard.
Later, the three meet again on board the Nautilus , the supposed sea monster, which turns out to be a futuristic submarine from the point of view of the time . The command of the boat and a crew sworn to him is held by the mysterious captain Nemo . He takes the three prisoners, whereas Ned Land in particular is very reluctant from the start and later tries in vain to flee. Aronnax, on the other hand, sees himself in a dilemma: on the one hand, he admires Nemo for its scientific and technical pioneering achievements, on the other hand he is aware that Nemo is a cold-blooded murderer and the Nautilus is his instrument of killing. Nemo was once a work slave in the penal colony of Rura Penthe, where workers mine raw materials under inhumane conditions that Western states use to manufacture ammunition. For this reason he has no inhibitions whatsoever about sinking raw material transport ships. His team also consists of former workers from the convict colony. During his time in the colony, the camp leaders tried to elicit his "secret" from him. When he escaped, his tormentors tortured his wife and son to death. On the remote Pacific island of Vulkania , Nemo built the Nautilus with some of his fellow refugees . The servant Conseil initially sticks to his master Aronnax, but is increasingly critical of Nemo .
During their time on board the Nautilus, the three prisoners and Nemo experience numerous adventures. They go hunting underwater and discover treasure, are attacked by natives on the coast of New Guinea , fight a giant squid and are shot at by a warship, severely damaging the Nautilus .
On Vulkania , the base of the Nautilus , it comes to a showdown : Ned country had managed to generate some warships here to Nemo to storm the base. Nemo still manages to arm a time bomb there, but is critically injured on the way back to the Nautilus . He decides to go down with his submarine, the crew and the three prisoners. But Aronnax , Conseil and Ned Land can thwart this plan and flee. The film ends with a huge explosion from Vulkania and the sinking Nautilus .
The film suggests that Nemo's “secret” was the invention of atomic power or the atomic bomb . With the former he runs the Nautilus , with the latter he destroys Vulkania at the end of the film in order to remove all traces of its existence. The ambivalence of nuclear power to be both a curse and a blessing becomes clear in several quotes. Aronnax says , referring to atomic power: "If its secret is revealed, it changes the world." Nemo replies, alluding to the atom bomb: "Or destroy it" and concludes at the end of the film with the words: "But I see hope for later At times when humanity is ripe for a new, better life, nature will reveal this mystery to it. In a better future. "
The nautilus
The film's Nautilus comes from the film architect Harper Goff . He deviated greatly from Verne's descriptions. His boat was much more angular and bulged more in the middle part. It also had a serrated crest on the top. Goff's Nautilus is probably the best-known representation of the submersible today. There is access to the sea through a diving room in the lower part of the boat.
Filming
The diving scenes were the most extensive underwater shots ever shot for a feature film. At times, up to 40 divers had to be choreographed underwater. The diving suits - a mixture of helmet diving and compressed air diving equipment - set new technical standards. The recordings were made in a studio aquarium as well as in the waters of the Bahamas and off Jamaica , where parts of the 1916 film were made.
In addition to the interior, the Nautilus only built the upper deck in original size for scenes in which actors were moving on the boat. It consisted mainly of wood and fiberglass and was mounted on a floating body. This enabled both outdoor recordings in the artificial lake ( Fox Lake ) and studio recordings ( Wet Set ) to be made. For the scene in which the Nautilus under Ned country , Aronnax and Conseil wegtaucht, they mounted a Nautilus -Rückenflosse on the deck of the USS Redfish , a submarine of the Balao-class submarine from the Second World War.
For all other depictions of the Nautilus , two models were used. A model eleven feet long (approx. 3.6 meters) was used for underwater photos of the Nautilus in the studio aquarium. The model itself could not dive, but glided through the water on thin strings that were later retouched. It only had an electric motor that turned the propeller and a few lamps for lighting. The larger model, 22 feet long (about 7.3 meters) consisted of only the upper part of the fuselage. It was also pulled through the water and was used for scenes in which the Nautilus could be seen, or emerged or descended. For the attack scenes, incandescent lamps were mounted around the model to create the distinctive glow. In addition, a water cannon at the bow created a strong bow wave to suggest greater power and speed of the Nautilus .
By far the most elaborate scene was the fight with the giant squid . The first version played in calm sea at sunset and cost around 300,000 US dollars . Walt Disney , however, was not satisfied with this version because it lacked drama. He ordered a revision in which the "monster" should look bigger and more realistic. It took 28 men to move the tentacles of the two-ton model. The new version played in the dark and in a heavy storm. This was generated by 30 wind machines, which whirled up the water so high that it took years for the entire film set to dry out again. James Mason nearly drowned while filming. After the changes, the cost of the scene more than tripled to just under $ 1,000,000. Overall, the budget was also heavily exceeded. Disney's financiers issued him several loans of up to $ 1,500,000, so that he had caused debts of $ 5,000,000 prior to the movie launch. However, these were re-imported many times over due to the box office results.
The film premiered in the USA on December 23, 1954, was released in West German cinemas on January 20, 1956 and 7 days later in Austrian cinemas. In the GDR it started ten years later, on January 7, 1966.
Differences between the movie and the book
The film and the book are sometimes very different. In his script, Felton uses some elements from Verne's book The Invention of Perdition . For example, he takes on the invention of a powerful explosive and interprets it in his work as the development of the atomic bomb. The requests for help by message in a bottle are also accepted. Nemos Island Vulkania , an invention of Felton, is reminiscent of Back Cup Island , the island that served the pirate Ker Karraje as a base in The Invention of Peril .
Other differences:
- In the book, Conseil always speaks of himself in the third person, but in the film in the first.
- Nemo's seal Esmerelda only appears in the film.
- Verne describes Ned Land as extremely taciturn and closed. In the film, however, he is portrayed as talkative and extroverted.
- In the film, Ned Land is locked in a storage room as punishment for his rebellious behavior.
- In the film, Ned Land saves Captain Nemo from the giant squid, in the book he is saved by Captain Nemo instead .
- In the original, the Nautilus is represented as "thin and elongated like a cigar". In the film it appears powerful and with a completely different shape.
- In Verne's original, the submarine is heading towards the Moskenstraumen at the end. It remains unclear whether it will sink, because it reappears in The Mysterious Island . In the film, the ship goes down after the Vulcania explosion .
backgrounds
Also in 1954, the first nuclear-powered submarine , which was also named Nautilus , was launched in the United States. With this, the USA achieved the first successful crossing under the North Pole four years later . Although the Disney Studios tried to support the US government in the fight against the then critical attitude of the American people towards nuclear power, the work looked more like an anti-war film from the Cold War due to the depiction of the destructive power of an atomic bomb , which is why the Disney Studios produced the educational film Our Friend the Atom in 1956 , which was supposed to highlight and emphasize the advantages of atomic power (and begins with annotated scenes from the 1954 Disney film adaptation).
Reviews
"Notwithstanding the sometimes confused dialogue memorable - tricky entertainment, especially for young people."
“Disney version of Jules Verne's utopian novel, enriched with modern ideas, which overflows the desire for fantastic adventure in a gorgeous yet legitimate way. Worth seeing especially for the youth from 12. "
"Predicate 'valuable'"
Awards
The film received numerous awards. Among other things, two awards at the 1955 Academy Awards :
The work was also nominated in the Best Editing category .
useful information
- In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Land , the name of the Klingon penal colony of the frozen asteroid is also Rura Penthe and alludes to this film.
DVD release
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Special edition. Buena Vista Home Entertainment 2003.
literature
- Leonard Maltin : The Disney Films. 3. Edition. Hyperion, New York 1995, ISBN 0-7868-8137-2 (English).
- Jules Verne : 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas; with all illustrations of the French original edition. (Original title: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers ). Anaconda, Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-86647-934-0 .
- Jules Verne: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under Sea. Roman (original title: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers ). 2 volumes. Translated from the French by Peter Laneus (Volume 1) and Peter G. Hubler (Volume 2). With illustrations by de Neuville and Edouard Riou and an afterword by Peter Costello . Diogenes, Zurich 1998, ISBN 3-257-20244-X (volume 1) and ISBN 3-257-20245-8 (volume 2).
Web links
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in the online movie database
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- 20,000 miles under the sea at J-Verne.de
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on DisneyWiki
Individual evidence
- ↑ Glenn Abel: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Film analysis. (No longer available online.) In: www.hollywoodreporter.com. The Hollywood Reporter, May 22, 2003, archived from the original on April 22, 2009 ; accessed on July 3, 2013 .
- ↑ 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Evangelical Press Association Munich, Review No. 190a / 1966