Mysterious Island (1961 film)

Mysterious Island
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Cy Endfield
Produced by	Charles H. Schneer Ray Harryhausen
Written by	Novel: Jules Verne Screenplay: John Prebble Daniel B. Ullman Crane Wilbur
Starring	Michael Craig Joan Greenwood Michael Callan Gary Merrill Herbert Lom Dan Jackson
Music by	Bernard Herrmann
Cinematography	Wilkie Cooper
Editing by	Frederick Wilson
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	December 20, 1961 (1961-12-20)
Running time	101 minutes
Language	English

Mysterious Island (UK: Jules Verne's Mysterious Island) is a 1961 film released by Morningside Productions. Based very loosely upon the novel The Mysterious Island (L'Île mystérieuse) by Jules Verne, the film was produced by Charles H. Schneer and Ray Harryhausen. It was directed by Cy Endfield, and was released through Columbia Pictures. The motion picture was filmed at Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, England as a showcase for Harryhausen's stop-motion animation effects. Like several of Harryhausen's classic productions, the musical score was composed by Bernard Herrmann. All the model creatures except the giant bird (which was cannibalized for use as the Ornthiomimus in The Valley of Gwangi in 1969) still exist.

Plot

The film begins during the Civil War storm of 1865. At a prison camp, Cyrus Harding (Michael Craig), Herbert (Michael Callan), Neb (Dan Jackson), and Spillet (Gary Merrill), a war correspondent, are planning an escape. They spot a tethered gas balloon. After explaining their plan, they knock out the guard and escape from the prison house. Once they arrive at the balloon, they overpower some more guards and drag another named Pencroft (Percy Herbert) aboard. After he explains that he has a good sense of direction, they let him join the group.

The balloon carries them across the US and it isn't long before they discover that they are over the Pacific Ocean. A storm arises; the men lower the balloon down to the sea, where it breaks into pieces. Next morning the men reunite and begin to explore the strange island. They discover that the island has lush tropical jungles, harsh plains, and many volcanoes which frequently erupt.

When they reach the other side of the island, they encounter a monstrous crab. After Neb is killed, the castaways are able to push it into a boiling geyser and have crab meat for dinner. Saddened by their loss, the men continue exploring and find a herd of wild goats which they try to catch. They find the unconscious English ladies Lady Mary Fairchild (Joan Greenwood) and her niece, Elena (Beth Rogan), who were shipwecked here by the same storm. The ladies are soon revived and Herbert falls in love with Elena. Working together the castaways find cover and protection in a cave which they call "Granite House". A treasure chest later washes ashore and in it the men find some old and rare artifacts. Eventually they start planning an escape from the island.

While Mary and Elena are tending to the goats, Spillet encounters a giant flightless bird (a prehistoric species called a Phorusrhacos) while fishing. The girls retreat, but the bird gets through the gate and terrorizes them. As it tries to eat Elena, Herbert is alerted and jumps onto the creature, knifing it and driving it away. Later they eat it like a big chicken, while Herbert recovers from his injuries.

A few weeks later, with Herbert having fully recovered, he and Elena are sunning outside when they notice honey. They climb up the rocky bluff and come across an enormous hive inhabited by giant bees. They are forced to burn plants and make a fire to escape. Meanwhile Mary, Harding, Spillet and Pencroft spot a ship. It is a pirate ship and a fight with pirates ensures. The castaways win and sink the ship. As Herbert and Elena escape from the hive, they spot the submarine Nautilus. They go inside but, knowing that it belongs to someone else, retreat, swimming out of the cave.

Once outside, they are reunited with the others and later meet Captain Nemo (Herbert Lom), who is living aboard his submarine which is the Nautilus. Nemo tells them that a volcano on the island will soon erupt, exploding the island and sinking it into the deep. He invites them to dinner aboard the Nautilus and discover that Nemo has invented an air-filled raising system which can raise the pirate ship and help them escape (the Nautilus will not run properly, as it is disabled). Nemo teaches them to breathe underwater using his special "shell" air tanks and they begin trying to raise the ship. As the men are working underwater trying to raise the ship, they encounter the last "monster", a giant cephalopod resembling a prehistoric ammonite. They are able to kill it with Nemo's laser gun, and Pencroft survives unharmed. With the pirate ship fully repaired and raised, the castaways climb aboard.

Origins

The novel on which the film is based is a sequel to two other novels by Jules Verne, In Search of the Castaways (1867) and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870). The first book featured the island, the pirates and a character Tom Ayrton who was marooned on a nearby island. The second book featured Captain Nemo and the Nautilus presumed lost in the Maelstrom at the end of that novel. In The Mysterious Island (1874) after the escapees' balloon landed on the island, among many adventures, they encountered Ayrton alive, fought the pirates and discovered that Captain Nemo was their benefactor and the island the base for the Nautilus.

Cast

• Michael Craig as Captain Cyrus Harding
• Joan Greenwood as Lady Mary Fairchild
• Michael Callan as Herbert Brown
• Gary Merrill as Gideon Spilitt
• Herbert Lom as Captain Nemo
• Beth Rogan as Elena Fairchild
• Percy Herbert as Sergeant Pencroft
• Dan Jackson as Corporal Neb Nugent

See also

• List of stop-motion films

External links

• Mysterious Island at the Internet Movie Database
• Mysterious Island at DBCult Film Institute
• Mysterious Island at AllRovi