An altruistic but naive nobleman-scientist is betrayed by his power-mad EX-friend who wishes to use his submarine as a weapon of war instead of an instrument of exploration. The two men have a final showdown at the very bottom of the ocean, amid the bizarre city of a race of small, undersea mer-men.
The opening credits LIED! This has NOTHING to do with the book it takes its name from. Instead, it very obviously serves as a PREQUEL to Jules Verne's "20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA", showing how Count Andre Dakkar was betrayed and became an engine of vengeance against war-mongers.
It seems when Verne wrote his 1869-70 novel, the French publisher removed the section that revealed Captain Nemo's background and origins, which baffled me when I read it in the late 1980s. Years later I learned that Verne had written Nemo as a Polish Count betrayed by the Russians. But at the time of publication, France & Russia were allies, and this would not have gone over well with Russian readers. In the loose 1874 sequel, he changed it so Nemo would be an Indian Prince who took part in a failed rebellion against the English. This was "okay", as France & England hated each other for centuries! But ever since learning the truth, I've always preferred Nemo being Polish.
Well, in 1926, when production on this epic film began, somebody at MGM must have known about those behind-the-scenes shenanigans. Because although the film takes place in the fictional country of "Hetvia", all the costumes scream "RUSSIAN" to me. And this was less than a decade after Russia went through, NOT one, but TWO political revolutions in TWO WEEKS! First, the Czars, who'd become abusive after centuries, were overthrown in favor of a Democratic government. But before the new regime had time to get their act together, a gang of MURDEROUS CRIMINALS, The Bolsheviks, siezed power, while conning the entire country into thinking they believed in Karl Marx' ideology of a "workers' paradise". It was arguably one of the biggest con jobs ever pulled on the human race.
So in this film, we see the country on the verge of revolution due to the abuse of the royals; a nobleman withdraw to a private island where all workers are considered equals; and a murderous despot sieze power and use every vile means at his disposal to get his hands on the plans of the submarines, so he can use them to "conquer the world". If that isn't political allegory for what went on in Russia in 1918, I don't know what is!
A decade before he became known as the wheelchair-bound "Dr. Gillespie", Lionel Barrymore portrays Dakkar, who goes from single-minded scientist to single-minded vengeance-seeker. My best friend, on seeing the film, asked, "How did those two guys ever become friends in the first place?" (It happens.)
Montagu Love, who I've seen in a number of other films, plays Baron Falon, who's just so visibly EVIL, he makes most Bond villains seem like nice guys by comparison.
Lloyd Hughes, fresh from playing the newspaper reporter in "THE LOST WORLD", is the chief engineer, Nikolai Roget, who's in love with Dakkar's sister Sonia (Jacqueline Gadsdon), who returns his feelings and has as much guts as her brother.
I remember the first time I saw this, it struck me a better title for this film, with a plot of 2 subs slowly sinking to the ocean floor, might be "VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA". In fact, that title would fit this film better than it did Irwin Allen's 1961 film! On top of that, both films share a near-identical scene, when the sub, in the process of submerging, has a squad of soldiers clambering over the hull, desperately trying to get in before it sinks beneath the waters. Something tells me somebody involved with the '61 film saw THIS one!
Something else struck me only after seeing the film at least 4 times. It's been pointed out that this could be viewed as a prequel to "20,000 LEAGUES", if you ignore the ending. I'd already noticed that in the 1954 Disney film, Nemo described his wife and son being tortured to death by his own countrymen, a scene definitely not in Verne's book. But something VERY much like it IS in this film! That would make the Disney film a SEQUEL to THIS film!
But more... Dakkar is not married, and appears to die at the end. But his assistant, Nikolai, was in love with Sonia. It strikes me that Nikolai-- not Dakkar-- is the man who became "Captain Nemo", (Niko / Nemo) and that the events described by James Mason in the latter film took place between this film and that one. (Hey, why not?)
One more amusing bit crossed my mind. When the 2nd sub is sinking uncontrollably, a narration card reads, "No.2 sinks helpless". Read that as "No two helpless"... "No two less"... "NAUTILUS".
Tragically, after multiple delays and reshoots, the film took 3 years to make, and, worse, somehow BOMBED at the box-office, killing big-budget science-fiction films for the next 2 decades. MGM didn't make another until "FORBIDDEN PLANET" (1956). As old-fashioned and creaky as it may seem today, keep that in mind when watching.
As I write this, I just got finished re-watching my decades-old videotape recorded off TNT. Apart from the blips where I edited out all the commercial breaks, the print they ran was in pretty good shape, and might have been from the SAME source as the current 2019 "print on demand" DVD from Warner Archive. Except for one thing. Some of the undersea scenes with the "mer-men", the picture is pretty FUZZY and CHOPPY on the DVD. It's CRYSTAL-CLEAR on my decades-old videotape. That just AIN'T RIGHT.
A near-complete 2-COLOR print was found and restored in the Czech Republic. SOMEBODY needs to do a proper further restoration and Blu-Ray release on this. When they do... I'll be the 1st customer!
The opening credits LIED! This has NOTHING to do with the book it takes its name from. Instead, it very obviously serves as a PREQUEL to Jules Verne's "20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA", showing how Count Andre Dakkar was betrayed and became an engine of vengeance against war-mongers.
It seems when Verne wrote his 1869-70 novel, the French publisher removed the section that revealed Captain Nemo's background and origins, which baffled me when I read it in the late 1980s. Years later I learned that Verne had written Nemo as a Polish Count betrayed by the Russians. But at the time of publication, France & Russia were allies, and this would not have gone over well with Russian readers. In the loose 1874 sequel, he changed it so Nemo would be an Indian Prince who took part in a failed rebellion against the English. This was "okay", as France & England hated each other for centuries! But ever since learning the truth, I've always preferred Nemo being Polish.
Well, in 1926, when production on this epic film began, somebody at MGM must have known about those behind-the-scenes shenanigans. Because although the film takes place in the fictional country of "Hetvia", all the costumes scream "RUSSIAN" to me. And this was less than a decade after Russia went through, NOT one, but TWO political revolutions in TWO WEEKS! First, the Czars, who'd become abusive after centuries, were overthrown in favor of a Democratic government. But before the new regime had time to get their act together, a gang of MURDEROUS CRIMINALS, The Bolsheviks, siezed power, while conning the entire country into thinking they believed in Karl Marx' ideology of a "workers' paradise". It was arguably one of the biggest con jobs ever pulled on the human race.
So in this film, we see the country on the verge of revolution due to the abuse of the royals; a nobleman withdraw to a private island where all workers are considered equals; and a murderous despot sieze power and use every vile means at his disposal to get his hands on the plans of the submarines, so he can use them to "conquer the world". If that isn't political allegory for what went on in Russia in 1918, I don't know what is!
A decade before he became known as the wheelchair-bound "Dr. Gillespie", Lionel Barrymore portrays Dakkar, who goes from single-minded scientist to single-minded vengeance-seeker. My best friend, on seeing the film, asked, "How did those two guys ever become friends in the first place?" (It happens.)
Montagu Love, who I've seen in a number of other films, plays Baron Falon, who's just so visibly EVIL, he makes most Bond villains seem like nice guys by comparison.
Lloyd Hughes, fresh from playing the newspaper reporter in "THE LOST WORLD", is the chief engineer, Nikolai Roget, who's in love with Dakkar's sister Sonia (Jacqueline Gadsdon), who returns his feelings and has as much guts as her brother.
I remember the first time I saw this, it struck me a better title for this film, with a plot of 2 subs slowly sinking to the ocean floor, might be "VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA". In fact, that title would fit this film better than it did Irwin Allen's 1961 film! On top of that, both films share a near-identical scene, when the sub, in the process of submerging, has a squad of soldiers clambering over the hull, desperately trying to get in before it sinks beneath the waters. Something tells me somebody involved with the '61 film saw THIS one!
Something else struck me only after seeing the film at least 4 times. It's been pointed out that this could be viewed as a prequel to "20,000 LEAGUES", if you ignore the ending. I'd already noticed that in the 1954 Disney film, Nemo described his wife and son being tortured to death by his own countrymen, a scene definitely not in Verne's book. But something VERY much like it IS in this film! That would make the Disney film a SEQUEL to THIS film!
But more... Dakkar is not married, and appears to die at the end. But his assistant, Nikolai, was in love with Sonia. It strikes me that Nikolai-- not Dakkar-- is the man who became "Captain Nemo", (Niko / Nemo) and that the events described by James Mason in the latter film took place between this film and that one. (Hey, why not?)
One more amusing bit crossed my mind. When the 2nd sub is sinking uncontrollably, a narration card reads, "No.2 sinks helpless". Read that as "No two helpless"... "No two less"... "NAUTILUS".
Tragically, after multiple delays and reshoots, the film took 3 years to make, and, worse, somehow BOMBED at the box-office, killing big-budget science-fiction films for the next 2 decades. MGM didn't make another until "FORBIDDEN PLANET" (1956). As old-fashioned and creaky as it may seem today, keep that in mind when watching.
As I write this, I just got finished re-watching my decades-old videotape recorded off TNT. Apart from the blips where I edited out all the commercial breaks, the print they ran was in pretty good shape, and might have been from the SAME source as the current 2019 "print on demand" DVD from Warner Archive. Except for one thing. Some of the undersea scenes with the "mer-men", the picture is pretty FUZZY and CHOPPY on the DVD. It's CRYSTAL-CLEAR on my decades-old videotape. That just AIN'T RIGHT.
A near-complete 2-COLOR print was found and restored in the Czech Republic. SOMEBODY needs to do a proper further restoration and Blu-Ray release on this. When they do... I'll be the 1st customer!