Mysterious Island (1961) – Review

When it came to adapting fantastical pieces of literature into cinematic achievements the team of producer Charles Schneer and legendary visual effects man Ray Harryhausen had proven to be very successful and with their previous two collaborations, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and The 3 Worlds of Gulliver, having done rather well in the fantasy category they decided that for their third time working together they would tackle one of the works by science fiction legend Jules Verne, in what could be best described as a “loosely based” adaptation of his novel Mysterious Island.

Much as it does in the book the movie takes place during the Civil War and opens with a group of Union soldiers escaping a military prison in Virginia, the escapees include Captain Cyrus Harding (Michael Craig), Herbert Brown (Michael Callan) and Corporal Neb Nugent (Dan Jackson), as well as a Union war correspondent named Gideon Spillet (Gary Merrill), who provides the film much of its colour commentary, and their plan hinges on their ability to fight off the Confederate guards and steal an observation balloon that they spotted moored just outside the prison gates. Sure, it’s a bit of a “Hail Mary” as plans go but it does work and soon the group is floating across America, along with a Confederate guard named Pencroft (Percy Herbert), who they don’t toss overboard simply because he can apparently operate the balloon. Now, when it comes to prison escapes timing is everything, unfortunately, for our band of heroes they timed their escape during the worst storm in recorded history and they are soon blown clear across the country and into the middle of the Pacific Ocean. They are spared death by drowning when the balloon carries them near the shore of an unknown island.

Looking at this island I’d be more worried about dinosaurs and giant gorillas.

It’s at this point in the novel where the plot becomes much more of a straight survival adventure story with nary a fantastic element to be found, the castaways spend most of their time making their new home habitable and they even domestic an orangutan, but it’s a mysterious benefactor that leaves our group puzzled, one who will occasionally step in to save one of protagonists lives or leave behind materials like guns and tools that would help them to survive. Now, in the case of the movie, there is a mysterious benefactor as well, one who comes to our hero’s aid from time to time, but the other notable inhabitants of this island are the large variety of giant creatures – more’s the pity they don’t befriend an orangutan in the movie – and it’s these monstrous encounters that let us know that this island is located in Ray Harryhausen territory.

Note: Early drafts of the script had the island inhabited by dinosaurs but when director Cy Endfield became attached it was changed to embiggened animals.

Giant crabs and the like were not the only addition Charles Schneer and Ray Harryhausen brought to this adaptation because anyone familiar with the works of Jules Verne can attest to the lack of the female of the species and this “lacking” element is something Hollywood is always “fixing” when they bring Verne’s stories to the big screen. With this movie it comes in the form of two English ladies, Lady Mary Fairchild (Joan Greenwood) and her niece Elena (Beth Rogan), who were apparently shipwrecked by the same storm our heroes were caught in, and not only do these lovely ladies add a bit of “Damsel in Distress” action the young Elena provides your standard love interest. Clearly, being marooned on a mysterious island populated by giant creatures isn’t enough to keep an audience interested.

“Mr. Schneer, would it possible to get one of those women into a primitive mini-skirt?”

As in both book and movie, it is later revealed that their mysterious benefactor is none other than the notorious Captain Nemo (Herbert Lom), who had survived the events of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, but wherein the book Nemo is portrayed as an old man living out his days aboard his submarine the Nautilus but in the movie we find Nemo living aboard his disabled submarine where we learn that he has been performing genetic experiments to enlarge the world’s food resources, which is what resulted in the giant animals roaming the island, and when he informs them that the island is due to suffer a massive volcanic eruption he puts forth his plan to refloat the pirate ship – which he sank when it attacked our heroes – unfortunately, time is not on their side.

Note: Though Harryhausen has denied it, the design of his Nautilus was clearly influenced by the one featured in the 1954 Disney film as they both have that “half crocodile/half-shark” look that Harper Goff used in his design for Disney’s Nautilus.

Stray Observations:

• The opening credits state “Herbert Lom as Captain Nemo” which is a bit of a spoiler for those not familiar with the book.
• The Confederate officer is allowed to live so that he can pilot the balloon but the only control a balloonist has is when to release the tether, and that’s only to go up or down, so I’m not sure how needed this “pilot” really was.
• The balloon travels roughly seven thousand miles which is impossible for a hot air balloon that clearly has no way to keep the air in the balloon hot.
• Our castaways crossing a perilous log was a definite nod to the 1933 classic King Kong where a group of sailors had the misfortune of using such a bridge.
• When Herbert and Elena enter the giant beehive they only encounter one singular bee while exiting, which begs the question “Were all the worker bees on a coffee break?”
• Nemo sinks the pirate vessel but none of the pirates make it to shore, in the book six pirates survived but were killed by Nemo and his electric gun, this is not the case in the movie so are we to believe that not one of the pirates could swim?
• While trekking underwater our heroes pass by what looks to be the ruins of Atlantis, such ruins appeared in the 1960 adaptation of Journey to the Center of the Earth, but it should be noted that Atlantis was never featured in either of the books by Jules Verne.
• While trying to raise the sunken pirate ship they are attacked by a giant cephalopod because what kind of sequel to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea would it be without a tentacled terror?

Maybe this is what killed all the pirates.

This film was one of the most successful offerings from Schneer and Harryhausen and much of that is most assuredly due to the fantastic stop-motion creations of Harryhausen, while it might not have the full production values of the Disney feature that preceded it none can deny it lacked fun and adventure at every turn. Actor Herbert Lom wonderfully fills the shoes of Captain Nemo and his stoic performance of this rather complex character I’d say was on par with James Mason’s turn as the doomed commander, as for the rest of the cast, the likes of Michael Craig and company all provide classic caricatures of stalwart heroes and beautiful ladies and they do their best to look more interesting than Ray Harryhausen’s creations – which is a pretty much impossible job – and when the end credits roll one cannot deny that you have experienced a fun fantasy-filled adventure brought to us by the combination of one of literature’s greatest writers and one of cinema’s greatest effects wizard.

Jules Verne and Ray Harryhausen both brought us some wonderful adventures.