Part of the late 50s-early 60s Jules Verne craze, this time with help from Ray Harryhausen and several Brits pretending to be Americans. Michael Craig is the lead - he's butched himself up with some three day growth but still can't quite carry a film as star; Michael Callan is the handsome juvenile in the Pat Boone/Fabian mode, and Gary Merrill, Percy Herbert and Joan Greenwood add some support; there is also a starlet called Beth Rogan who I got confused with Janet Munro and who looks fetching in a fur bikini. (For variety the guys walk around in tight shorts).
There is some nice colour photography and decent enough Ray Harryhausen effects but this movie seemed to lack flair and energy. Maybe its the fact Captain Nemo's appearance is held off so long - until then it's just a bunch of people arriving on an island, then another bunch of people (two overly convenient women) arriving, then a few encounters, then Nemo. There are some wacky creatures and a large comic geese and castaway antics - surely the filmmakers had seen Disney's Swiss Family Robinson. I had trouble telling the characters apart and never felt that excited or thrilled. Kids may like it though.
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