''Captain Nemo and the Underwater City'' is a 1969 British film starring

Robert Ryan Robert Bushnell Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973) was an American actor and activist. Known for his portrayals of hardened cops and ruthless villains, Ryan performed for over three decades. He was nominated for the Academy Award for ...

Chuck Connors Kevin Joseph Aloysius "Chuck" Connors (April 10, 1921 – November 10, 1992) was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. He is one of only 13 athletes in the history of American professional sports to have p ...

and

Nanette Newman Nanette Newman (born 29 May 1934) is an English actress and author. She appeared in nine films directed by her husband Bryan Forbes, including ''Séance on a Wet Afternoon'' (1964), ''The Whisperers'' (1967), '' Deadfall'' (1968), ''The Stepfor ...

. It features the character

Captain Nemo Captain Nemo (; later identified as an Indian, Prince Dakkar) is a fictional character created by the French novelist Jules Verne (1828–1905). Nemo appears in two of Verne's science-fiction classics, ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' ( ...

and is inspired by

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

's 1870 novel ''

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' (french: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-Ju ...

''. It was written by

Pip and Jane Baker Ernest Albert "Pip" Baker (3 January 1929 – 14 April 2020) and Iris E. E. "Jane" Baker (30 December 1924 – 29 August 2014), professionally known as Pip and Jane Baker, were an English husband-and-wife team of television writers known mainly ...

.''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' film review; 17 December 1969, page 24.

Plot

Captain Nemo's submarine

Nautilus The nautilus (, ) is a pelagic marine mollusc of the cephalopod family Nautilidae. The nautilus is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina. It comprises six living species in t ...

rescues drowning passengers and takes them to an underwater city, Templemer (pronounced Temple-Meer) where they are told they will remain forever. These survivors include thieving brothers Barnaby and Swallow Bath, the cowardly Lomax, Helena Beckett and her son, and Senator Robert Fraser. Nemo takes them on a city scuba tour, but Lomax attempts to steal diving gear and escape but is caught. Fraser seems taken with a musical performance given by the city's swimming teacher Mala, this noted by Joab, Nemo's second in command. Joab shows the Bath brothers how the city makes oxygen and fresh water and as a by-product gold, which is even thrown away. Joab advises them that no one has ever escaped Templemer. Lomax attempts to escape by using the oxygen machine to rupture the city's dome, but only manages to flood the machine's control room, killing himself in the process. While this is happening, the Bath brothers sneak into the Forbidden Area where they discover a second submarine, the Nautilus II. Seeing the second submarine as their means of escape, the brothers enlist Fraser to help them. Fraser learns how to operate the submarine. During training they ram and kill a vast Manta Ray-like creature accidentally created during the building of the city. Fraser tells Nemo he should leave as he is attempting to cut off the supply of weapons to the American Civil War. Nemo refuses, and offers Fraser a position at Templemer. This alienates Joab, who helps Fraser and the Baths steal Nautilus II, on condition they leave without bloodshed and allow the crew to return with the submarine intact. They manage to take the submarine and are followed by Nemo in his submarine. Nemo explains there is fault with the Nautilus II's engines that means that it could explode. The chase is brief. Unable to match the speed of the escaping submarine, Nemo has Nautilus I sheer away, to try 'going under the reef.' Confused by their pursuers apparently giving up, Fraser asks the Nautilus II's first mate if there is 'a shorter way,' and is told 'yes, there is,' but that 'this ship is too large!' A now desperate Fraser gives orders for 'crash speed.' As the submarine increases to flank an explosion causes the engines to fail, and out of control the ship strikes a reef before coming to a stop whilst still submerged. The crew with Fraser and the Baths put on diving gear and attempt to escape from the now flooding submarine, but Barnaby panics and drown. Nautilus I approaches the wreck just in time to be buffeted violently as the bigger ship explodes; Joab is electrocuted as he is thrown against a control panel. Mortally wounded he confesses to Nemo that he helped Fraser to escape. Helena Beckett admits that she knew of the attempt, and that she and her son chose to stay. Mala reads Nemo a letter that Fraser left behind, in which he thanks Nemo for offering him a place in the city's future, but that he cannot accept, as he believes in his mission, and the 'slower, more painful process' towards peace. The film closes as Nautilus turns towards Templemer. On the surface, a small schooner is seen picking up two men in mid-ocean, far from either land or any sign of wreckage. Fraser and Swallow Bath, huddled in blankets, are taken aboard, and as the schooner prepares to set sail, Fraser finds his companion has concealed a gold ladle under his coat. The two exchange rueful smiles, and Fraser tosses it lightly into the sea.

Cast

as Captain Nemo *

as Senator Robert Fraser *

as Helena Beckett *

Luciana Paluzzi Luciana Paluzzi (born 10 June 1937) is an Italian actress. She is perhaps best known for playing SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe in the fourth James Bond film, '' Thunderball'', but she had important roles in notable films of the 1960s and 1970s in ...

as Mala *

John Turner John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and leader of t ...

as Joab *

Bill Fraser William Simpson Fraser (5 June 1908 – 9 September 1987) was a Scottish actor who appeared on stage, screen and television for many years. In 1986 he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for his stage role in the play ''W ...

as Barnaby Bath *

Kenneth Connor Kenneth Connor, (6 June 1918 – 28 November 1993) was a British stage, film and broadcasting actor, who rose to national prominence with his appearances in the ''Carry On'' films. Early life Connor was born in Highbury, Islington, London, ...

as Swallow Bath *

Allan Cuthbertson Allan Darling Cuthbertson (7 April 1920 – 8 February 1988) was an Australian-born British actor. He was best known for playing stern-faced military officers in British films of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Cuthbertson was born in Perth, W ...

as Lomax * Christopher Hartstone as Phillip Beckett *

Ian Ramsey Ian Thomas Ramsey (31 January 1915 – 6 October 1972) was a British Anglican bishop and academic. He was Professor of the Philosophy of Religion at the University of Oxford, and Bishop of Durham from 1966 until his death in 1972. He wrote ex ...

as Adam * John J. Moore as Skipper (as John Moore) * Anthony Bailey as Sailor * Alan Barry as Sailor *

Vincent Harding Vincent Gordon Harding (July 25, 1931 – May 19, 2014) was an African-American pastor, historian, and scholar of various topics with a focus on American religion and society. A social activist, he was perhaps best known for his work with and wri ...

as Mate Navigator

Production

The film was produced on a budget of 1.5 million US dollars. It had stemmed from an idea that led to

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...

's failed ''Captain Nemo and the Floating City'', itself based on a combination of two of Jules Verne's stories. Though that movie never passed the planning stage,

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

producer

Steven Pallos Steven Pallos (born 1902 in Budapest) was an Austro-Hungarian Empire-born British film producer. Partial filmography * '' Call of the Blood'' (1949) * ''Hotel Sahara'' (1951) * '' The Fake'' (1953) * '' The Diamond'' (1954) * '' The Master Pla ...

managed to re-create the project having read a series of inspirational articles about

Jacques Cousteau Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful Aqua-Lung, open-circuit SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus). T ...

's experiments with deep sea habitats, and the "floating" was changed to "underwater". The film drew heavily on the supposed charm of the Victorian era, following agreement between director and scriptwriters to produce a popular escapist atmosphere, more the essence of Michael Todd's ''

Around the World in Eighty Days ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (french: link=no, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employe ...

'' than of Disney's ''

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' (french: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-J ...

''.

References

External links

* * * {{James Hill 1969 films 1960s science fiction adventure films British adventure films British science fiction adventure films Films based on Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Films with underwater settings Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films set in the 1870s Films directed by James Hill (British director) Films with screenplays by Robert Wright Campbell Underwater civilizations in fiction Films with screenplays by Pip and Jane Baker Films shot at MGM-British Studios 1960s English-language films 1960s British films