20,000 Leagues Under the Sea holds up surprisingly well after almost 60 years. James Mason's portrayal of the eccentric Captain Nemo is both endearing and terrifying. Jules Verne's classic science fiction story is ahead of its time and I feel that this movie does it justice.

A legendary adventure film from 1954, notable for its sense of pure enterprise, adventurism and amazing designs. Kirk Douglas's Nietzschean performance as the sailor Ned Land is imbued with an absurd sense of flair and power. In appearance he sports curly blond hair, fiery green/blue eyes and wears a red-and-white striped t-shirt. The fight scene with the giant squid is one of the great bravura set-pieces in cinema history when Douglas harpoons the monster with an almost Alexandrian prowess. This scene conjures so many multidimensional classical things and psychological depths - the kraken, Cyclops (Douglas confronted Polyphemus as Odysseus in Ulisse (1954)), the Loch Ness Monster. Douglas would revisit a Jules Verne based adventure film in 1970-1971 with the ambitious The Light at the Edge of the World also starring Yul Brynner, Renato Salvatore, Fernando Rey, Samantha Eggar and directed by Oxford-educated Englishman, Kevin Billington in Spain. Huddersfield-born (this reviewer lives in the industrial Yorkshire town), Cambridge-educated James Mason is convincing in the anti-colonial stakes as the anguished Captain Nemo. In appearance bearded and swarthy - he looks like a mid-Victorian Russian Orthodox priest clad in a dark-blue maritime uniform. Time Out refers to the - 'Nautilus submarine with its beautiful lush Victorian interior....' In conclusion 20.000 Leagues under the Sea is one of my favourite adventure films on a par with The Darwin Adventure (1971-1972), The Voyage of Charles Darwin (1978) and Nostromo (1996).

The director of this film, Richard Fleischer, delivers a film in true Disney spirit that even a huge fan of the waves like myself falls in love with. There is humour in this adventure and this shows with the dialogues and screenplay. Captain Nemo has a grudge against everything. I think he actually has a grudge against mother earth herself. I think Nemo considers himself ruler of the ocean and through his machine Nautilus he is able to put his belief into reality with such power. James Mason is outstanding in his part of Captain Nemo, Kirk Douglas plays a fantastic part of Ned Land, he has such a gift to make his character likable and funny at the same time. Paul Lukas and Peter Lorre also magnificent.Even though this film is 60 years old it can still hold its own! Watch it you won't be disappointed.

20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEAI was disappointed with this movie. I did like it, but it was not what I was expecting at all.The movie starts with a town being scared to go out in their boats due to a sea monster that is terrorising the area by destroying ships and sinking them. When a group of sailors go out there looking for the monster they find exactly what they are looking for. The only thing is the monster they have found is not a monster, it is a submarine that is attacking and blowing up ships. 3 people enter the submarine when they find it and get held against their will by the captain as the sub goes on terrorising everyone.The book for this story is a classic novel, but I have never read it. I didn't know much else about this film apart from there was a giant squid in it somewhere. That is the main thing this movie is famous for. So going on that, I was expecting a great fantasy movie full of underwater wonder. Instead I got a submarine prison movie. It is a good story and the movie is good, but the squid just seems little out of place as the rest of the film is just an adventure film and not really fantasy.The effects are not great, but then the film was made in 1954. For it's time the effects are very impressive. The giant squid even looks good. I really like the submarine they used. The design of it looks spooky and goes along very well with everyone thinking it is some kind of monster.The movie is made by Disney so as you can imagine, it has that classic Disney feel to it. You can tell this film is Disney and that is a good thing. I am a Disney fan and love most of their films, but this is nowhere near their best.Kirk Douglas takes the lead as Ned Land. A sailor that goes on the hunt for the dreaded monster. Kirk does a great job and his character is very likable. I can see when he was so popular back in his heyday. James Mason for me is the star of the movie. James plays Captain Nemo, the captain and leader of the mischievous submarine. James plays the character so straight laced and so calm as if he was an evil mastermind. His character made this movie and I think James deserved a lot of praise for this film. Other cast members were Paul Lukas & Peter Lorre. All in all the acting was above par, especially for a classic movie like this where generally there is a lot of over acting. Yes there were a few scenes where the acting was over the top, but not to the extent where it was too much.The film is a lot of fun to watch on a rainy, cold Sunday afternoon but I would not really watch it with the kids. I can imagine them getting pretty bored quickly through it.I will give this film 6 out of 10."The natives over there are cannibals. They eat liars with the same enthusiasm as they eat honest men."For more reviews, please like my Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ordinary-Person-Movie- Reviews/456572047728204?ref=hl