Rent Mysterious Island (1961)

HARRYHAUSEN MAGICIAN OF THE MOVIES - Mysterious Island review by CP Customer

AS A FILM HISTORIAN I DO NOT BELIEVE IN RATING A FILM. AS THE MASTER OF SPECIAL EFFECTS RAY HARRYHAUSEN NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION. WHEN HARRYHAUSEN WAS FINALLY RECOGNISED BY THE ACADEMY AWARDS HE RECEIVED A SPECIAL AWARD FOR HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE ART OF SPECIAL EFFECTS. TOM HANKS PRESENTING THE AWARD SAID THAT PEOPLE SAY THAT STAR WARS AND SIMILAR MOVIES ARE GREAT, BUT JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, IS THE BEST MOVIE IN THE GENRE, OF FANTASY AND IMAGINATION. MYSTERIOUS ISLAND IS OF COURSE THE SEQUEL TO JULES VERNES 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA,AND IS SET ON A ISLAND IN THE PACIFIC 8 YEARS AFTER THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE NAUTILUS OFF THE COAST OF MEXICO, WHERE CAPTAIN NEMO HAS BEEN CARRYING OUT HORTICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS, TO GIVE THE WORLD AN INEXHAUSTABLE FOOD SUPPLY,GIANT OYSTERS, A GIANT CRAB, PHOROHACUS BIRD, GIANT BEES AND A HONEYCOMB, ALL POSSIBLE THROUGH THE GENIUS OF HARRYHAUSENS STOP MOTION ANIMATION. ALL CREATED BY HANDS ON APPROACH, LONG BEFORE THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTER ANIMATION.THE MOVIE IS A HIGHLY INTELLIGENT TELLING OF THE VERNE TALE. WITH A GREAT CAST, THE MUSIC OF BERNARD HERRMAN, IS A HIGHLIGHT OF THE MOVIE PROVIDING A COMPLIMENT TO THE OVERALL THEME OF THE FILM, THAT WAR IS FUTILE,AND ACCORDING TO CAPTAIN NEMO PLAYED BY HERBERT LOM, CONTACT WITH HIS OWN SPECIES HAS ALWAYS DISAPPOINTED HIM.THE MOVIE CARRIES A MESSAGE THAT HUMANS SHOULD STRIVE TO CREATE A MORE PEACEFUL AND BOUNTIFUL WORLD. MYSREIOUS ISLAND IS A CLASSIC, AND WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY, DVD REMASTERING, CAN CONTINUE TO STIMULATE AND INSPIRE TODAYS GENERATION OF AUDIENCES. A FILM THAT PROMOTES HARRYHAUSENS PHIOSOPHY THAT THE CINEMA IS ESSENTIALLY FOR ENTERTAINMENT.

Perhaps the silliest film ever - Mysterious Island review by (NONE)

The absurdities and anachronisms start almost from the first scene, culminating in the arrival of the ludicrous pirates (wrong ocean, wrong century) not one of whom can swim. Nice to see Joan Greenwood, but in the original book there were no female characters at all - Verne did not do strong or even useful women. The special effects might be from the bottom of the Harryhausen "Out Tray" - one crab, one chicken (where's it's mummy?) and a few bees. Hardly up to the standard of "Jason". The book is a tribute to human ingenuity and resourcefulness totally lacking here. The refloating of the pirate ship is beyond incredulity.

Not his best, but Ray Harryhausen effects always worth a watch, as is the Czech-British Herbert Lom - Mysterious Island review by PV

For me, this is probably the weakest of the films with wonderful stop-motion effects by American-British Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013). Watch the 1958 Seventh Voyage of Sinbad film and the rest in that series, Jack the Giant Slayer (1962) or classic Jason and the Argonauts (1963) to see his best work.

This is passable, and Herbert Lom (1917-2012 Czech-British) is always wonderful. He looks older than 43 here and nicely underplays the role. Watch him excel in so many films, The Lady Killers (1955) as the villain is perfection. Lom spoke many languages and was, bizarrely, the first actor to play the King of Siam in the King and I on stage; he was replaced by the Russian Yul Brynner! No Thais, nowhere, mister! The authentic casting demands of now would never permit either to play that role. Pity.

This film just lacks a certain something for me. The acting and plot are fine, and one can imagine the eyerolls of the sisters at the two women doing the cooking and housework LOL (to be fair as someone said, most of these old adventure novels had no women in that AT ALL, so this was progressive for 1961!)

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1955) also features a Captain Nemo and stars Peter Lorre.

Not bad and worth a watch, just for the Ray Harryhausen special effects, Herbert Lom, and the gender politics comedy! Interesting start too in the US Civil War (and based on truth and balloons were used during it, though not for travel, but to see across the landscape to enemy positions).

3 stars.