Sunday, January 12, 2020

Movie review - "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" (1954) ***1/2

It looks wonderful - those rich blue sea colours, and the marvellous creation of the Nautilis. James Mason is a superb Nemo, driven and tormented, intelligent and empathetic - he sets new standards for this sort of thing. Kirk Douglas is perfectly cast as the swaggering, obnoxious, gropy Ned, Peter Lorre is always great fun, and Paul Lukas is dull but you need his character.

The film could have done with a subplot and/or a fleshed out member of Nemo's crew  - they're all like robots. It needed say a daughter/niece of Nemo to romance Douglas or something. It feels a little long.

But gorgeous photography, an exciting fight with a squid, a genuine sense of adventure... great fun.

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