20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

“20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (1916, USA, Stuart Paton)

There exists a very expeditionary, collaborative, sprited theme to this film production both behind the scenes and in the film itself.
Veteran filmmakers Carl Laemmle, the producer, and Stuart Paton, the director released “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” in 1916 billing it as “the first submarine photoplay ever filmed.” Underwater photography is supplied by a pair of brothers who invented an underwater camera: Ernest and George Williamson.
It is a combination of ideas taken from two of Jules Verne’s novels: “Mysterious Island” and “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” Through the eyes of Captain Nemo’s first captured out ‘of compassion,’ the viewer sees this potential madman unraveled to become the hero of the story.
It may be harder in this day to be totally complicit in suspending disbelief, but “20,000 Leagues” pulls out all the underwater stops.

This is a great example of an early adventure/sci-fi film.
There are the painful eight minute aquarium scenes but we do get to see a ‘man-eater’ almost take out one of the underwater actors!! It’s hard for this reviewer to see past black-face but the acting is solid all around and the story holds together well.

Not the norm at the time, the filmmakers used a non-linear storytelling method with flashback scenes and parallel stories to flesh each other out and collide at the ending. In the broadest sense, it’s a bit too long but well worth the viewing to get this awesome early example of the possibilities in film.