THE FABULOUS WORLD OF JULES VERNE

Prisoner: Lubor Tokos

THE FABULOUS WORLD OF JULES VERNE (aka The Deadly Invention/Vynalez zkazy/1958). Director: Karel Zeman.

In the late 18th century Simon Hart (Lubor Tokos), an assistant to Professor Roch (Arnost Navratil), is kidnapped along with his employer by Count Artigas (Miroslav Horub) and his piratical associate, Captain Spade (Frantisek Cerny). The count has appropriated a submarine with which he rams ships and robs them of their bounty One of the survivors is a young lady named Jana (Jana Zatloukalova). Everyone is taken to the count's headquarters inside an extinct volcano, where the professor is forced to work on an explosive with which Artigas hopes to eventually rule the world. Simon and Jana try to figure out a way to escape ...

Octopus attack

The Fabulous World of Jules Verne, filmed in "misti-mation," is a real oddity. The images of the film can be quite arresting, as it presents a combination of live action, cartoon animation, crude stop--motion, cut outs, drawings and other techniques, but despite this it still comes off a bit backwards in the FX department (especially as compared to such items as Harryhausen's The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, which was made the year before and was state of the art). It would have been more impressive had it been a silent movie, which in many ways it resembles. Although it cites another Verne novel as its source, this is clearly most inspired by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and is vastly inferior to the 1954 Disney version despite that picture's flaws. Fabulous World does boast some striking art direction and photography (there is a wonderful shot of masses of birds surrounding a small balloon in mid-air), has an interesting score by Zdenek Lista, and a sequence when the sub rams a ship is rather well-handled. However, this Czech film has been vastly over-praised and will ultimately have many discerning viewers reaching for their fast-forward buttons.

Verdict: Clever in some ways, but not very exciting. **1/4. 

VALLEY OF THE DRAGONS

VALLEY OF THE DRAGONS (1961). Director: Edward Bernds.

In 1881 Algeria two men, Hector Servadac (Cesare Danova) and Michael Denning (Sean McClory) are about to fight a duel over a woman when the earth shakes in a great cataclysm that they manage to survive. After a time they realize that a comet grazed the earth, as it has time and again in the past, and taken a bit of the planet into space with it, along with a chunk from the prehistoric past. When Servadac and Denning realize what has happened to them, they don't seem all that upset, a problem with both the screenplay and the acting. Most of the movie consists of stock footage of One Million B.C. with Danova [Honeymoon with a Stranger] and Clory [Them] cleverly inserted  into the action. Again we have two warring tribes, two women (Joan Staley, Danielle De Metz), and the big lizard cornering some natives in a big cavern in a hill and gulping down and chewing one of the luckless warriors. Three clips from Rodan are also used to fill in for pterodactyls, as well as what appears to be a prop spider from Bernds' World Without End. Joan Staley is a Ruta Lee lookalike. The premise of the film is good, taken from Jules Verne's novel "Hector Servadac" aka "Career of a Comet," although that did not include prehistoric monsters.

Verdict: The producers wrote the book on "How to Make One Movie Out of Another." **.

MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961)

The shipwrecked soldiers vs bad-tempered giant crab

MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961). Director: Cy Endfield.

Jules Verne's Mysterious Island, which was inspired by Robinson Crusoe, was first filmed as a silent in 1929, turned into one of the worst movie serials ever in 1951, and finally became a worthwhile motion picture vehicle ten years later. During the siege of Richmond in 1865, several union soldiers, a war correspondent, a freed slave, Neb, (along with one rebel soldier) escape from prison in a balloon and wind up on an isolated island miles from anywhere. The film makes two major additions to Verne's story: two shipwrecked women appear on the island; and there are also giant monsters for FX stop-motion master Ray Harryhausen to play around with. [Harryhausen claimed the story would not be entertaining without them, but this is nonsense -- actually without the monsters Harryhausen would have had little to do.] Originally the monsters were supposed to be prehistoric creatures, but it was decided to make them products of growth experiments conducted by Captain Nemo (Herbert Lom), who has taken refuge in his submarine Nautilus in an underground grotto. British actor Michael Craig may seem an odd choice to play Union soldier Captain Harding, but he does a convincing American accent and is quite good and authoritative, although he seems completely different from the star of Doctor in Love, which he did the previous year. Gary Merrill gives one of his best performances as the reporter Spilitt, and Michael Callan is also notable in his turn as the boyish and frightened but ultimately courageous young Herbert. Joan Greenwood gives her usual affected performance as Lady Fairchild [she thickly stretches out her words to a comical degree], and Beth Rogan is at least decorative as her niece. Percy Herbert and Dan Jackson as the reb and Neb round out the cast and are fine.

But the two greatest contributions are made by composer Bernard Herrmann and Ray Harryhausen. Herrmann's score is excellent, beginning with the rousing opening theme and including the quirkier music for the attack by the giant. funny-looking bird. You might quibble with the quality of some of the process shots, but Harryhausen's animation is excellent. In addition to the big bird, we've got that wonderful giant crab, huge, buzzing bees, and -- perhaps best of all -- that baleful squid who attacks the men in the climax after fixing them with its giant, evil eye. Wilkie Cooper's cinematography employs highly attractive lighting schemes. Director Endfield [Sands of the Kalahari] keeps things moving at a good pace. The underwater sequences are very well-done and we're even treated to shots of the sunken city of Atlantis.

I've always wondered why this film isn't as well-known or well-received [although it was quite successful] as Disney's adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. For my money Mysterious Island is a much better picture, and the squid in the former can't compare to Harryhausen's impressive, slithering creation.

Verdict: Exciting and colorful with wonderful effects. ***1/2.

IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS / THE CHILDREN OF CAPTAIN GRANT

Maurice Chevalier and Hayley Mills

THE CHILDREN OF CAPTAIN GRANT/aka Les Enfants du capitaine Grant, 1867. Jules Verne.

 IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS (1962). Director: Robert Stevenson.

"No matter where you are in the world, it is always different but it is always the same."

The Novel:

Jules Verne wrote Les Enfants du capitaine Grant [The Children of Captain Grant aka In Search of the Castaways], a three part novel, just before writing 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Although it never became as well known as other works by the French author, it is a masterpiece, beautifully written, continuously suspenseful, and full of colorful adventures and thrills. The two young children of the missing Captain Grant are convinced that he is still alive due to a message in a bottle, and set off on the Duncan with Lord and Lady Glenarvan, who are touched by their story, to find Grant. The French geographer Paganel guides them, first to South America, and then to Australia and New Zealand. Despite all the changes in setting and solid research, the novel never becomes a dull travelogue and pulls one along from start to finish. Although two of the main characters are children, this is not juvenile fiction; in fact scenes when the group are captured by cannibalistic Maoris are not only gruesome but quite revolting. Verne not only throws multiple twists and turns at the reader, but sometimes piles danger upon danger -- the group take refuge in a tree during a flood, which catches fire, but when they try to escape into the water, a group of hungry gators come by etc. All in all, an excellent read.

The Film:

Having had a great success with an adaptation of Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the Walter Disney studios decided to try for another hit with Verne. 20th-Century Fox came out with Journey to the Center of the Earth and Columbia beat them to the punch with Mysterious Island (both a dreadful serial version in 1951 and an excellent feature film ten years later), so Disney turned to The Children of Captain Grant, probably attracted to its youthful protagonists and colorful storyline. Unfortunately, Disney also turned a rather brilliant adult novel (even if the emphasis is on harrowing action) into an unremarkable kiddie feature that hasn't stood the test of time at all well. The basic plot remains the same, but everything has sort of been dumbed down and anything remotely offensive to children or their parents excised, giving the whole thing a sanitized air. In the novel the characters often go through Hell but in the film it all seems like a jolly good time, even when they're careening down an icy mountain slope on a piece of cliff that has broken off during an earthquake (this scene is therefore deprived of true thrills). There is one marvelous bit of business in the movie, and that is when the flood overtakes them and they must seek refuge in an enormous tree in the middle of a formerly dry stretch of land (this, too, is taken from Verne). Although the FX in the film are variable and often outdated, in this sequence they are quite impressive. Once the story moves from South America to New Zealand, the film loses its tension (the only reference to cannibalism is a quick remark about a "stew pot").

Still, the movie is at least well-acted by Hayley Mills; little Keith Hamshere as her brother; Michael Anderson Jr,. as Glenarvan's son (not in the novel, if I recall correctly) and Mills' love interest; the ever charming Maurice Chevalier as Paganel; George Sanders as the villain of the piece (who was much more complicated and interesting in the book); Wilfrid Hyde-White as Glenarvan (his wife has been eliminated); and Wilfrid Brambell as the rather loony Bill Gaye (don't remember if he is in the book or not). Chevalier and Mills sing a couple of pleasant enough songs, including "Let's Climb." (At least the studio resisted bringing in, say, Fabian or Frankie Avalon to play a role and warble a ditty or two.)

A remake is in pre-production for 2014, so let's hope that this time they get it right. Verne and the novel deserve better. 

Verdict: The Children of Captain Grant. ****
             In Search of the Castaways **1/2.

JULES VERNE'S JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR OF THE EARTH

Verne's inner ocean  from the 1959 movie. 

JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR OF THE EARTH. Jules Verne.

Jules Verne's influential 1877 novel about a fantastic journey into the interior of the planet has been filmed, ripped off and bowdlerized a great many times. In Verne's book the German professor Liedenbrock and his nephew Axel, along with an Icelander named Hans, descend into a crater and laboriously make their way into the interior of the planet. Liedenbrock finds a parchment from 16h century alchemist Arne Saknussemm in an old book in which Saknussemm tells of reaching the center of the earth via the extinct crater Snaefell "in the shadow of Scartaris" -- but they must arrive on a certain day so that the correct pathway will be pointed out by the sun's rays. Axel is much less enthused about the undertaking than his somewhat nutty uncle [the whole idea of beginning such an adventure because of old writings that might have been fictional in the first place is a little ridiculous] and the two come into conflict more than once during the journey. Axel's girlfriend Grauben actually encourages him to go on the trip. The two men have a variety of flavorful adventures before they even enter the crater, all bolstered by Verne's well-researched [and often too exhaustive] descriptions.

Once inside the earth, the trio have an often harrowing time of it, nearly turning back due to lack of water, and Axel gets completely lost in the darkness at one point. They eventually come across a gargantuan cavern containing an ocean and which is in a perpetual state of twilight due to a kind of aurora borealis of electrical origin. On the shore they find mushrooms grown to huge size due to the constant warm temperature, as well as other kinds of flora. Setting sail on the inner ocean on a raft they witness a terrifying battle between two prehistoric saurians, a plesiosaurus and an ichthyosaurus, that nearly swamps their raft. Just as terrifying is the appearance of a fireball that hovers and darts about and around the raft and a crackling, stupendous storm that brings them back to the shore they left, although on this point they aren't certain. Here they discover living  mammoths, as well as a 12-foot tall shepherd whom they wisely run from before he can spot them.[Liedenbrock theorizes that in ancient times living people and animals were carried down via earthquakes, and survivors now populate the inner earth.]

They then discover a passage taken by Saknussemm that would lead them further downward, but it is blocked. Using explosives to clear the stone barrier, they create a cataclysm that shoots them and their raft into an adjacent chamber of a live crater and are shot up to the earth [in spurts] in a live volcano.

Journey into the Interior of the Earth is a wonderful fantasy novel bolstered by Verne's research, descriptions and lively imagination, even if it does become a little outlandish. One could argue that the book ends just when it gets really interesting. Liedenbrock and Axel are one-dimensional characters, but it is the adventure, the whole fascinating premise, that carries the story. [Later on Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan, would run with the idea and create Pellucidar, an inner world inside a hollow earth populated by monsters and cavemen and different, weird societies.]

Most of the film adaptations are too dreadful to mention. The 1959 Journey to the Center of the Earth, despite much foolishness, is so far the best of them. Liedenbrock was turned into a Scottish professor Lindenbrook, and Axel became, Alec, one of his students, but no relation. Lindenbrook was given a daughter who is romanced by Alec. Instead of a parchment, Saknusemm's message is found on a plumb bob. The screenwriters invented all the business involving Arne Saknusemm's descendant, the rival Professor Goteborg and his wife (who goes along on the trip), the duck Gertrude, and the discovery of some ruins of Atlantis in the bowels of the earth. The characters in the film reach the very center of the earth, but in the novel they do not. The 1977 Spanish film Where Time Began was in some ways more faithful to the novel but also took many a liberty in the story and was not memorable. 

Verdict: Fascinating, if flawed, fantasy novel by one of the giants. ***.

WHERE TIME BEGAN aka THE FABULOUS JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH

WHERE TIME BEGAN (aka The Fabulous Journey to the Centre of the Earth/1977). Director: Juan Piquer Simon.

In 1898 Hamburg Professor Otto Lindenbrock (Kenneth More) discovers an old book that details a trip into the interior of the earth by one Arne Saknussemm. With his niece Glauben (Ivonne Sentis), her boyfriend Axel (Pep Munne), and a shepherd named Hans (Frank Brana), he descends into an extinct volcano and discovers giant mushrooms, living sail-back reptiles, mammoth turtles, a giant ape a la King Kong, and an underground sea full of slimy rubber monsters with big teeth This is a low-budget Spanish version of Verne's novel, which makes quite a few changes [the professor has a niece instead of a nephew] but in some ways is more faithful than the vastly superior 1959 Hollywood version. At least the cavern scenes aren't over-lit as in the Hollywood film, and there are some good sets and effective sequences. This version adds another character, Olsen (Jack Taylor), who shows up inside the earth, appears to be some kind of time traveler, and at one point shows his companions a futuristic laboratory in a cavern in which all of the workers look just like him -- this is never explained and adds nothing to the movie but confusion. The special effects throughout are variable, with no process shots combining man with monster. The cast is all right, with Sentis and Munne making an attractive couple. Ultimately, the whole production is somewhat tedious and unmemorable. Simon later directed another Verne adaptation, Mystery on Monster Island, which was somewhat better.

Verdict: A C+ for effort and a C- for execution. **.

MYSTERY ON MONSTER ISLAND

MYSTERY ON MONSTER ISLAND (1981). Director: Juan Piquer Simon.

Jeff Morgan (Ian Sera) wants to see the world before settling down, and goes on a voyage arranged by his Uncle William (Peter Cushing). But the young man winds up shipwrecked on Spencer Island with all manner of beasties, the nervous-nellie instructor Prof. Artelect (David Hatton), and a fellow named Taskinar (Terence Stamp). They encounter everything from giant steam-snorting caterpillars to crazed kelp creatures, as well as phony rubber fish men. Most of the monsters are barely mobile, but for once there's an explanation for this, which I won't give away here. Very loosely based on the novel "L'École des Robinsons" by Jules Verne. There's some charming stuff in this, including a chimp who wears men's shoes, and a good sequence when the group uses primitive weapons to fight off some invaders.

Verdict: Not quite as awful as it could have been. **1/2.

MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1951)

MYSTERIOUS ISLAND 15 chapter Columbia serial (1951). Director: Spencer Gordon Bennet. 

This may not be the worst cliffhanger serial ever made but it certainly comes close. Captain Cyrus Harding (Richard Crane) and comrades escape from a Southern prison during the Civil War by balloon and wind up on an isolated island inhabited by strange volcano people, a raving wild man on a rampage, Captain Nemo and -- a space babe in silver lame from the planet Mercury! This last bit has absolutely nothing to do with Jules Verne, of course. Rulu from Mercury (Karen Randle) has come to Earth (with henchmen who wear a kind of spider-mask) because they need a certain substance that can only be found on our planet. There's one decent cliffhanger involving a burning cabin; otherwise this is meandering and dull, dull, dull. Sappy music score, too. In the first episode there's an old man who is kind to the Yankee prisoners. When Harding and the others take off in the balloon, Harding encourages the old man's dog, Top, to jump into the car with them -- gee, what a way to repay the old man's kindness! 

Verdict: Don't follow Top and jump in this balloon. *.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (2008 Telefilm)

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (2008 telefilm/Hallmark channel). Director: T. J. Scott.

Yet another version of Jules Verne's classic story, this was probably rushed out because of the Brendan Fraser theatrical version. For one thing, in both movies the entrance to the underworld is through an abandoned mine (which has nothing to do with Verne). In this a wealthy woman (Victoria Pratt) hires Jonathan Brock (Rick Schroder) and his nephew Abel (Stephen Grayhm) to go find her missing husband (in the Fraser version it's a missing brother). It seems to take forever until they're actually under the Earth, and then in five minutes -- vavoom! -- they're suddenly at the center!! There is no attempt to make the underground world look like it's actually under the Earth -- it just looks like the sunny, unremarkable outdoor location it is -- and there's no sense of wonder or atmosphere of any kind. There is one -- and only one -- good scene, and that's when they cross the lake and a gigantic plesiosaur attacks their raft. This monster is very effective and credible. But after that all you get is the missing husband -- played by Peter Fonda, of all people -- who has become the leader of a group of sub-humans. The acting in this is professional, and Pratt -- despite a somewhat irritating haughtiness -- and Mike Dopud as the big handsome Russian Sergei have a lot of presence. This is about neck and neck with the direct-to-video version made the same year, but nowhere near as good as the 1959 adaptation.

Verdict: Not worth the journey. **.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH 2008

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (2008.) Director: Eric Brevig.

NOTE: Not to be confused with the direct-to-video feature, also made in 2008.

Professor Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser) goes off with his young nephew (Josh Hutcherson) to see if they can locate Josh's father, who has been missing since he went under the earth for an investigation into seismic activity. They team up with a young lady guide named Hannah (Anita Briem). The premise of the film is that Jules Verne's novel was factual, and Trevor uses the text as a guideline to descend into the depths. This is not very convincing, of course, but it fits the tone of the movie, which is nice but too "cutesy" by far. There is no suspense or epic quality, and even that black and white cheapie Unknown World had more atmosphere. However, there are some exciting sequences and fine special effects in the movie: a thrilling ride on a runaway mining car; bio-luminescent birds like fire flies that flit around the cast; flying fish with big, nasty choppers; humongous sea monsters; a sequence with floating rocks over a deep chasm. A T-rex shows up at one point but it's only serviceable. The score is forgettable (a fry cry from Bernard Herrmann's wonderful music for the 1959 version) and there's very little directorial panache -- it's all left up to the FX people. Despite some of the silliness of the 1959 version, this is much more of a kiddie movie. The actors are fine; young Hutcherson is especially good.

Verdict: Watchable but the 1959 version is better. **1/2.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (2008) DV

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (2008). Directors: David Jones; Scott Wheeler.

This direct-to-video feature was, naturally, shown on the Sci Fi channel, the graveyard for all bad direct-to-video movies. A group of soldiers are dematerialized (as in Star Trek) and sent on a mission but somehow things go wrong and they wind up in a prehistoric world located in the middle of the earth -- but which looks more like Southern California. In the meantime, Joseph Harnet (Greg Evigan) and Emily Radford (Dedee Pfeiffer) take a boring machine into the Earth and try to rescue them. The very few computer-generated dinosaurs are unexceptional, but the large black, skittering spiders are a little bit better. Some of the actors are enthusiastic, Pfeiffer and the likable Evigan are good, and the screenplay is perfectly workable. But ultimately this is just another Jules Verne rip-off that proves immensely forgettable.

Verdict: Watch the 1959 version instead. **.