20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954 film) financial risk to the studio should it flop. Upon the film's original release, "The New York Times" film critic Bosley Crowther gave it a generally positive review by stating that, "As fabulous and fantastic as anything he has ever done in cartoons is Walt Disney's "live action" movie made from Jules Verne's '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.' Turned out in CinemaScope and color, it is as broad, fictitiously, as it is long (128 minutes), and should prove a sensation—at least with the kids." In his 1967 biography "The Disney Version", the critic, Richard Schickel, stated that James Mason was "superbly
The Mysterious Island (1929 film) article included stills showing the original 1926 undersea denizens and the redesigned version which actually appeared in the film. Footage directed by Maurice Tourneur and Benjamin Christensen in 1927 was incorporated into the final 1929 version. The film is loosely based on the back-story given for Captain Nemo in the novel "The Mysterious Island", and might more properly be thought of as a prequel to "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea". It is the story of Count Dakkar (Captain Nemo's real name is revealed to be Prince Dakkar in "The Mysterious Island"), how he built his submarine, how he was