Mysterious Island

Dir: Cy Endfield

1961

****

Cy Endfield's glorious adaption of Mysterious Island is based on Jules Verne's classic 1874 novel L'Île mystérieuse, which was the sequel to his previous stories; In Search of the Castaways and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. It sees a group of Union solders escape from a confederate prison using a hot air balloon during the American Civil war. The balloon takes off in a huge storm and after weeks of drifting the solders land on a mysterious island in the middle of the ocean. The Island in question featured in Verne's In Search of the Castaways and Captain Nemo from his novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea makes an unexpected appearance. Two English ladies are washed up to create an unnecessary romantic sub-plot and adventure follows suit. The acting is a bit hammy as you'd expect from a 60's Sci-fi b-movie but it's certainly a lot of fun to watch. However, the film's most endearing feature by far is the awesome special stop-motion effects created by the legendary Ray Harryhausen. From giant crabs to giant bees to a giant baby chicken, Harryhausen's effects are brilliant and very much the reason the film is so fondly remembered by the fans. I've often thought a remake would be something worthwhile but I'm not sure I want to see a version with CGI effects, no doubt it would look amazing (or not) but it would lose a certain something. I can think of many current actors who could take on the roles but again, there is something about this cast that works really well. As old fashioned as the film may seem, I've always thought Michael Craig's performance as Captain Harding was ahead of its time. Michael Callan's Herbert Brown is straight out of 1961 rather than 1861, all that was missing from his character was a comb, Cadillac and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth but he played it well. I'm not sure the story ever benefited from having Joan Greenwood and Beth Rogan wash up on the island half way through the film but Greenwood had a great script and I'll never tire of hearing her voice. Herbert Lom plays the quintessential Nemo in my opinion and Gary Merrill is great as the wise-cracking journalist Gideon Spilitt. My favourite character however is Sergeant Pencroft played by the often unsung Percy Herbert, a wonderful actor who seems destined to be remembered as that chap who was in that thing, which is a shame as he is always great and should be remembered as such, it's not as if he has a forgettable name either. The other unsung element of the film is the glorious score by Bernard Herrmann whose soundtracks always seem to fit Harryhausen's action sequences perfectly. It's a classic, unbeatable and very much of its time.