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
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and begins to sympathize with Ned Land. Near the end of the book, the "Nautilus" is attacked by a warship of some nation that had made Nemo suffer. Filled with hatred and revenge, Nemo ignores Aronnax's pleas for mercy. Nemo—nicknamed "angel of hatred" by Aronnax—destroys the ship, ramming it just below the waterline, and consequently sinking it into the bottom of the sea, much to Aronnax's horror, as he watches the ship plunge into the abyss. Nemo bows before the pictures of his wife and children and is plunged into deep depression after this encounter. For several days after this,