20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Very simply, Richard Fleischer made a gorgeous adaptation of Jules Verne's famous novel. This is an excellent adventure movie told with quite a lot of humor. Fleischer introduced humor in a few sequences and especially in dialogs. But the movie also includes a sadistic side. This sadistic side is epitomized by the captain Nemo himself. You can describe him as a despotic man who's got a grudge against the earth that made him suffer. Moreover, he regards himself as a sort of governor of the ocean. In this way, Jules Verne's novel introduces a reflection about man and the extension of his power thanks to the machine (the Nautilus).

Of course, the movie is supported by a dazzling performance. James Mason is an unforgettable captain Nemo. As for Kirk Douglas, well he said once: "I've made a career of playing sons of bitches". It's probably true if you study his character of Ned Land. But in parallel, Douglas makes his character funny and likeable. Then, Paul Lukas and especially Peter Lorre are outstanding.

No matter that the movie was launched in 1954, the special effects aren't antiquated. Thanks to them, the movie could keep a certain charm and nowadays, it lets itself watch with pleasure.