Mysterious Island (1961)

During the Civil War a group of Union soldiers and two Confederates escape the stockade using a hot air balloon and end up on a strange Pacific island.

Director:

Cy Endfield

Writers:

John Prebble (screenplay), Daniel B. Ullman (screenplay) (as Daniel Ullman)

Stars:

Michael Craig, Joan Greenwood, Michael Callan

Cast

Complete credited cast:
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

Storyline

During the US Civil War, Union POWs escape in a balloon and end up stranded on a South Pacific island, inhabited by giant plants and animals. They must use their ingenuity to survive the dangers, and to devise a way to return home. Sequel to '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'.

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Plot Keywords:

19th century | pacific ocean | based on the works of jules verne | psychotronic film | geyser | 

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Taglines:

adventure! mystery! excitement!

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Genres:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original concept for the film was that it was going to be shot as a straight survival story without the giant animals. However, the producers felt that concept was too boring and decided to include the giant monsters.

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Goofs

In the opening scenes of the film, we see cannons firing that have a system that allows the barrel to recoil to the rear on firing with the gun carriage remaining in place. This type of artillery did not exist during the Civil War.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Confederate soldier: All right, now get down.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits prologue: THE SIEGE OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 1865

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Connections

Referenced in Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan (2011)

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Soundtracks

Toccata and Fugue
in D Minor, BWV 565 (uncredited)
Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach
Played on organ by Captain Nemo

User Reviews

Should have won an Oscar for Best Dress.

Forget the Harryhausen special effects. What really makes this movie great is the dress the main female character wears. It's incredible! We are introduced to the dress like this: our heroes (escaped POWs) are stranded on a desert island filled with gigantic animals. At some point, two women (aunt and niece if I recall) wash onto shore, after surving a ship accident. The aunt decides to make her niece a new dress, because her old one is all torn up. So she constructs a dress out of leather, and HOLY &@$%#!* what a dress! I don't fully understand why she would make a dress like that, being from the conservative 1860's Midwest and all, but it is the most erotic dress I have ever seen. It's so tiny and skintight, it looks like she can't bend over or it would explode into a million pieces. I spent the entire movie leaning forward in rapt attention, because it honestly looks like it is going to tear apart at any moment. Wow!

The rest of the movie is pretty good, too. The special effects are wonderfully fun. The only really annoying thing is the stupidity of the characters. Case in point: after encountering a giant crab and a giant chicken, a guy and the girl (still looking great in that dress!) wander into a cave, and see giant honeycomb. "Hmm, interesting," they say. Then they hear this buzzing sound, and wonder what it is. "What's that buzzing noise?? It's getting closer..." I don't believe it is humanly possible to be that stupid. It's GIANT BEES, you idiots! Get out of there! Oops, too late. Now a colossal bee is cornering you. Didn't see that one coming, huh?

Worth watching for the FX and the dress.

8/10 stars.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 December 1961 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jules Verne's Mysterious Island

Filming Locations:

Benidorm, Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ameran Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1