20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)

A French professor and his daughter accompany Captain Nemo on an adventure aboard a submarine.

Director:

Stuart Paton

Writer:

Jules Verne (based on: "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" by)

Stars:

Allen Holubar, Dan Hanlon, Edna Pendleton

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Dan Hanlon	...	Professor Aronnax
Edna Pendleton	...	Aronnax's Daughter
Curtis Benton	...	Ned Land
Allen Holubar	...	Capt. Nemo
Matt Moore	...	Lieutenant Bond
Jane Gail	...	A Child of Nature
Howard Crampton	...	Cyrus Harding
William Welsh	...	Charles Denver (as William Welch)
Lois Alexander	...	Prince Daaker's Daughter as a Child
Wallis Clark	...	Pencroft (as Wallace Clark)

Storyline

Captain Nemo has built a fantastic submarine for his mission of revenge. He has traveled over 20,000 leagues in search of Charles Denver - a man who caused the death of Princess Daaker. Seeing what he had done, Denver took the daughter to his yacht and sailed away. He abandoned her and a sailor on a mysterious island and has come back after all these years to see if she is still alive and if the nightmares he has will stop. The daughter has been found by five survivors of a Union Army Balloon that crashed near the island. At sea, Professor Aronnax was aboard the ship 'Abraham Lincoln' when Nemo rammed it and threw the Professor, his daughter and two others into the water. Prisoners at first, they are now treated as guests to view the underwater world and to hunt under the waves. Nemo will also tells them about the Nautilus and the revenge that has driven him for all these years.

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Plot Keywords:

national film registry | public domain | based on the works of jules verne | punctuation in title | distance in title | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 December 1916 (USA)

Also Known As:

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Filming Locations:

New Providence Island, Bahamas

Box Office

Budget:

$200,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$8,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Williamson Submarine Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min 84 min (video)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White (tinted and toned)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

J. Ernest Williamson sued the Universal Film Manufacturing Company for breach of contract, and was awarded $3715 in November of 1917. Williamson's contract had called for $150 per week for eight weeks, but a jury decided he was entitled to extra compensation since the film took almost 40 weeks to complete.

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Goofs

In one scene on the island the balloon survivors are at a table and a black servant appears. He never shows up again and is not rescued at the end of the film with the rest of the survivors.

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Crazy Credits

The opening titles announce "The First Submarine Photoplay Ever Filmed".

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Alternate Versions

In 1993 Jeff Forrester / USA Networks produced NEW copyrighted versions of mainstream silent films w/ EXCLUSIVE scores & NEW inter-titles. All but one were in black & white. There were 7 in total. They were aired on the SYFY (SCI-FI) Channel during the Christmas holiday in 1993 as part of SCI-FI Channel's Silent Cinema marathon. It was hosted by renowned film critic Jeffrey Lyons & was taped @ the AMERICAN MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE in Astoria, NY. These particular versions have NEVER been available in ANY home video format. Their whereabouts are currently unknown. They were distributed by JORDEXX TELEVISION, INC. The 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1916) score was composed & performed by Peter McCarty.

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Connections

Spoofed in Twenty Legs Under the Sea (1931)

User Reviews

A wonderful and groundbreaking film

This film combines plot elements of Verne's original 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Mysterious Island, then adds its own subplot involving the origin of Captain Nemo that ties everything together. I was very impressed by the writing. This was the first major film with underwater photography. The set design was impressive. I found the diving suits to be particularly interesting--essentially early versions of scuba gear. The new score fit very well into the story. All in all, a wonderful and landmark achievement in filmmaking.