Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea of the premiere adventure novels and one of Verne's greatest works, along with "Around the World in Eighty Days" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth". The description of Nemo's ship, the "Nautilus", was considered ahead of its time, as it accurately describes features on submarines, which at the time were very primitive vessels. A model of the French submarine "Plongeur" (launched in 1863) was displayed at the 1867 Exposition Universelle, where it was studied by Jules Verne, who used it as an inspiration for the novel. The title refers to the "distance traveled" while under the sea and
The Fabulous World of Jules Verne additional high-profile admirers. "The New York Times" critic Howard Thompson found it "fresh, funny and highly imaginative," with "a marvelous eyeful of trick effects." Pauline Kael was similarly glowing, calling the film a "wonderful giddy science fantasy" and adding that Zeman "sustains the Victorian tone, with its delight in the magic of science, that makes Verne seem so playfully archaic." Charles Stinson of the "Los Angeles Times" began a highly positive review for the film by saying: ""The Fabulous World of Jules Verne" is precisely that. For once the title writers and the press agents have been found failing to