Our Saturday night pizza and bad movie offering was an adaptation of a Jules Verne novel with stop-motion special effects of Ray Harryhausen. It brought me back to many Saturday afternoon movies back in the day.
Plot:
The opening scenes depict a storm at sea, but a scene title tells us the action takes place during the siege of Richmond, Virginia, 1865, which took place on land. But don’t worry. We’ll get to the sea—and it will be stormy.
Captain Cyrus Harding (Michael Craig), Corporal Neb Nugent (Dan Jackson), and Herbert Brown (Michael Callan) are Union soldiers held as prisoners of war near the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. They plan to escape via a hot air balloon that the Rebels use for observation.
Yeah, it could work. Good thing the Confederates are such lousy shots.
Along the way, they snag a captured journalist, Gideon Spilitt (Gary Merrill), and a Johnny Reb, Sergeant Pencroft (Percy Herbert). Sgt. Pencroft is about to be tossed out of the basket until the others realize he’s the only one who can pilot the balloon.
After four days, our heroes find themselves over water—could it be the Pacific? Uh-oh… problems with the valve on the balloon. And then a storm hits. Is that the sound of a tear? And hissing? Is that land? Will they make it?
The balloon ditches, and our heroes swim.
The next morning, after the storm has passed, they wake up on a tropical island beach. Captain Harding is missing, but they eventually find him next to a fire he did not set. How could he, without matches?
Thoughts:
The film is loosely based on Jules Verne’s 1875 book The Mysterious Island (original French: L’Île mystérieuse). It’s been translated into English several times with changes of names and a couple of changes of characters.
The book (and the movie) draws material from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and In Search of the Castaways by Jules Verne, The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
The five men search for food and build themselves shelters. The oysters are about the size of footballs. On their way to a hot spring for a much-needed soak, our heroes encounter a crab the size of a Greyhound bus. It picks up Neb in its pincer.
With some organization, our heroes start building a boat to travel home in.
Two more castaways arrive on the islands, women this time. A sea chest washes ashore, packed with useful things, almost as if someone knew what they needed…
Along the way, our heroes battle not only the giant crab but also a giant chicken—or a flightless bird of some sort? The Volkswagen-sized bees, however, still fly. No adventure on a South Sea Island would be complete without discovering a diary and an attack by pirates.
They find a cliffside dwelling they dub “Granite House,” accessed by hanging vines. Comely young Elena Fairchild (Beth Rogan) exchanges her proper Victorian dress for something out of the Cavegirl summer catalogue without a single hair ever wandering out of place. Young Herbert likes the new look.
The viewer glimpses the lush, Victorian interior of the Nautilus and listens as Captain Nemo (Herbert Lom) describes his new idea for ending wars, one that he believes is superior to his old idea of merely sinking military ships.
The juxtaposition of the violent pacifist Captain Nemo and the American Civil War is interesting, though it’s left all but unexplored in the film. This was entertainment after all.
It will not be to everyone’s taste, but I found it fun. If this is a not-entirely believable little adventure story, it is at least worth a grin for watching an interesting way to cook a crab.
The movie can be watched here for free with ads.
Title: Mysterious Island (1961)
Director
Cy Endfield
Writers
John Prebble…screenplay &
Daniel B. Ullman…screenplay (as Daniel Ullman) &
Crane Wilbur…screenplay
Jules Verne…novel
Cast (in credits order)
Michael Craig…Capt. Cyrus Harding
Joan Greenwood…Lady Mary Fairchild
Michael Callan…Herbert Brown
Gary Merrill…Gideon Spilitt
Herbert Lom…Captain Nemo
Beth Rogan…Elena Fairchild
Percy Herbert…Sgt. Pencroft
Dan Jackson…Cpl. Neb Nugent
Harry Monty…Pirate(uncredited)
Released: 1961
Rated: Approved
Length: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old 
I believe I saw this movie but it was a long time ago, when I was a kid. You wrote a great review.
Thanks for your kind words, Thomas. I hope you and Claudia have/had a nice Mother’s Day.
Thank you Denise. We did and Happy Mother’s Day to you.
Cy Endfield would go on to direct one of my favorite movies, Zulu.
Nice review!
WOW. Two rather different movies.
Indeed!
I’m always amazed at the creativity of the people who think up these stories. I know this one is a mix of some famous stories, but someone had fun spinning it together, perhaps over a few beers.
Jules Verne’s stuff in fantastic. The English versions have sometimes been dumbed down. But I agree. Beer probably helps in adapting books for film. 🙂