Mysterious Island (1961)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Cy Endfield

Writers:

John Prebble (screenplay) &
Daniel B. Ullman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

20 December 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Sci-Fi | Fantasy

Tagline:

adventure! mystery! excitement!

Plot:

During the US Civil War, Union POWs escape in a balloon and end up stranded on a South Pacific island...

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Island | Bee | Giant Chicken | Bird

Cast

Michael Craig	...	Capt. Cyrus Harding
Joan Greenwood	...	Lady Mary Fairchild
Michael Callan	...	Herbert Brown
Gary Merrill	...	Gideon Spilitt
Herbert Lom	...	Captain Nemo
Beth Rogan	...	Elena Fairchild
Percy Herbert	...	Sgt. Pencroft
Dan Jackson	...	Cpl. Neb Nugent

Also Known As:

Jules Verne's Mysterious Island (UK) (complete title)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Iceland:12 | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:Atp | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:11 | UK:U | USA:Unrated | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Sa Conca Beach, S'Agaró, Castell-Paltja d'Aro, Girona, Cataluña, Spain

Company:

Ameran Films

Trivia:

The armature for the crab is covered with the shell of a real crab instead of the usual latex. Ray Harryhausen bought three crabs for the production, having one humanely killed by a museum employee as boiling it would have changed the color of the shell. The other two were used for close-ups of the crabs' mandibles, which would otherwise have required a huge amount of time to properly animate. These crabs subsequently served as a dinner entrée for Harryhausen and producer Charles H. Schneer.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Capt. Nemo plays the organ he begins with the opening toccata of Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D minor. His hands are not even playing notes, it seems he is just massaging the keys. The second time you see his hands, they are quite still showing in both instances that he is obviously not playing and that the organ sound was dubbed in.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Confederate soldier: All right, now get down.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Simpsons: Moe'N'A Lisa (#18.6)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Toccata and Fugue

Highly Enjoyable

This is a nice, satisfying telling of the Verne story, with special effects by Ray Harryhausen and a good score by Bernard Herrman. Escapees from a Civil War prison camp are blown way off course in a balloon they stole. They find themselves on an apparently deserted island somewhere in the Pacific, are joined by two women who were shipwrecked, and eventually come face-to-face with Captain Nemo and the wrecked Nautilus.

They have to deal with pirates, an erupting volcano and Harryhausen's creature threats. These include very large versions of a hungry red crab, an aggressive chicken (or dodo), a bee and an unhappy squid. Some of the creatures turn out to be very good boiled or roasted.

The movie holds up well because of a strong story, good action, and fairly well-defined characters. It features Herbert Lom, in my view an under-rated actor, and Joan Greenwood. By this time Greenwood was taking character parts and doing a lot of stage work. But from the mid-Forties to the mid-Fifties she was, I think, one of the sexiest, smartest actors Britain has ever produced. Her plummy, smoky voice is inimitable.