Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Captain Nemo And The Underwater City; here's the breakdown of my ratings:
Story: 1.25 Direction: 1.00 Pace: 0.75 Acting: 1.25 Enjoyment: 1.00
TOTAL: 5.25 out of 10.00
As I stated in my review of Latitude Zero, Captain Nemo And The Underwater City features plenty of similarities with that movie, which got released in the same year. And LZ has my vote over CNatUC - it even sounds cooler when abbreviated. To find out my reasoning, please read both reviews.
The writers, Pip & Jane Baker and R Wright Campbell, keep this story firmly anchored in Jules Verne's Victorian era. So our sailing travellers are shipwrecked when a storm hits their vessel. Luckily, Captain Nemo and the Nautilus are in the area and rescue the still-breathing casualties of mother nature. Once aboard, the survivors are reasonably treated, though a tad unsympathetically, by the self-possessed Captain. The reasons quickly become evident when they reach his underwater Utopia. None of them will be allowed to leave. Nemo doubts that his accidental tourists would keep their blabbering mouths shut to what they have seen and the location of his submerged metropolis. They have to stay. This decision doesn't sit with all the topsiders, especially the brothers, Barnaby and Swallow Bath, who have notions of taking one of the gold-making machines back to terra firma with them, and Senator Robert Frasier, who has a crucial mission of import to accomplish. Will they find a way out of the aquatic paradise and back up to dry land, or are they doomed to stay forever in Utopia? The writers try to make the characters as enthralling and intriguing as possible, but most are hard to relate to and appear dry. The three individuals who come out for the better are Captain Nemo and the Bath brothers. Nemo is crabby, composed, and self-centred - he's not a man who likes to be proven wrong - he doesn't play well with others. Whereas the Bath brothers are the light entertainment of the tale. Barnaby is the logical thinker of the dishonest duo, the mastermind behind the caper, leaving brother Swallow as the gopher of the team. The fingers that pick the pocket and open the safes. Their brotherly banter is snide, witty, and highly enjoyable. The trouble with the narrative is that if you're a minor character in the play, then you're pretty much disregarded when the writers handed out personalities. Even the lead women in the story are undercooked and lack dynamism. And that is a real shame.
I am unsure why James Hill directed this picture. Something of this scale required a director of considerable skill. And, though Hill does a respectable job, I believe the project would have improved with a more experienced movie director. Hill's movie resume doesn't pack much of a punch. Nemo was his most significant contribution to filmmaking - though he did have a more solid career as a TV director. If this had been a made-for-TV film, it would have been outstanding. But for the big screen, it needed to be bigger and have more pizazz. Hill's cinematography is rather ordinary. There are not many gripping or exciting scenes, though plenty that should've put your bum on the edge of your seat. This failure to deliver isn't merely down to Hill's camera work but also the pace, which is slow enough to make some sections of the film twitch your boredom nerve. The special effects aren't too outstanding, and the giant manta-ray is shot out of focus in most of its segments, making it a dark globulus blob and not something to be feared.
The cast is relatively decent. Sadly and regrettably, the ladies don't fair too well. Nanette Newman is a good actress but oftentimes appears blank-faced as the shipwreck survivor, Helena Beckett. It's an embarrassment as the writers make her a knowledgable and robust woman, but Newman doesn't portray those traits. And the same can be said for Luciana Paluzzi, who plays Mala. She's not as vacant; she's merely underused and a missed opportunity. But this is the 60s, and women, well, they weren't even on the success ladder then - not really, just the odd one or two. The male cast is better utilised, and everyone comes across heartily. And as I said before, the Bath brothers keep the pictures levity buoyant. This cheeriness comes from the actors Bill Fraser, who plays Barnaby and Kenneth Connor, playing Swallow. Their cheery chemistry lifts the film into the light.
Captain Nemo And The Underwater City is an average movie, and I'd only recommend it to Jules Verne fans, and then for one watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Luckily, there is a more entertaining Japanese version of this film titled Latitude Zero. I'd recommend watching that instead - it should keep you awake on that lazy Sunday afternoon.
I can't let you leave Utopia, so you'd better get used to it. Now, peruse my IMDb list - The Final Frontier to see where I ranked Captain Nemo And The Underwater City.
Take Care & Stay Well.
Story: 1.25 Direction: 1.00 Pace: 0.75 Acting: 1.25 Enjoyment: 1.00
TOTAL: 5.25 out of 10.00
As I stated in my review of Latitude Zero, Captain Nemo And The Underwater City features plenty of similarities with that movie, which got released in the same year. And LZ has my vote over CNatUC - it even sounds cooler when abbreviated. To find out my reasoning, please read both reviews.
The writers, Pip & Jane Baker and R Wright Campbell, keep this story firmly anchored in Jules Verne's Victorian era. So our sailing travellers are shipwrecked when a storm hits their vessel. Luckily, Captain Nemo and the Nautilus are in the area and rescue the still-breathing casualties of mother nature. Once aboard, the survivors are reasonably treated, though a tad unsympathetically, by the self-possessed Captain. The reasons quickly become evident when they reach his underwater Utopia. None of them will be allowed to leave. Nemo doubts that his accidental tourists would keep their blabbering mouths shut to what they have seen and the location of his submerged metropolis. They have to stay. This decision doesn't sit with all the topsiders, especially the brothers, Barnaby and Swallow Bath, who have notions of taking one of the gold-making machines back to terra firma with them, and Senator Robert Frasier, who has a crucial mission of import to accomplish. Will they find a way out of the aquatic paradise and back up to dry land, or are they doomed to stay forever in Utopia? The writers try to make the characters as enthralling and intriguing as possible, but most are hard to relate to and appear dry. The three individuals who come out for the better are Captain Nemo and the Bath brothers. Nemo is crabby, composed, and self-centred - he's not a man who likes to be proven wrong - he doesn't play well with others. Whereas the Bath brothers are the light entertainment of the tale. Barnaby is the logical thinker of the dishonest duo, the mastermind behind the caper, leaving brother Swallow as the gopher of the team. The fingers that pick the pocket and open the safes. Their brotherly banter is snide, witty, and highly enjoyable. The trouble with the narrative is that if you're a minor character in the play, then you're pretty much disregarded when the writers handed out personalities. Even the lead women in the story are undercooked and lack dynamism. And that is a real shame.
I am unsure why James Hill directed this picture. Something of this scale required a director of considerable skill. And, though Hill does a respectable job, I believe the project would have improved with a more experienced movie director. Hill's movie resume doesn't pack much of a punch. Nemo was his most significant contribution to filmmaking - though he did have a more solid career as a TV director. If this had been a made-for-TV film, it would have been outstanding. But for the big screen, it needed to be bigger and have more pizazz. Hill's cinematography is rather ordinary. There are not many gripping or exciting scenes, though plenty that should've put your bum on the edge of your seat. This failure to deliver isn't merely down to Hill's camera work but also the pace, which is slow enough to make some sections of the film twitch your boredom nerve. The special effects aren't too outstanding, and the giant manta-ray is shot out of focus in most of its segments, making it a dark globulus blob and not something to be feared.
The cast is relatively decent. Sadly and regrettably, the ladies don't fair too well. Nanette Newman is a good actress but oftentimes appears blank-faced as the shipwreck survivor, Helena Beckett. It's an embarrassment as the writers make her a knowledgable and robust woman, but Newman doesn't portray those traits. And the same can be said for Luciana Paluzzi, who plays Mala. She's not as vacant; she's merely underused and a missed opportunity. But this is the 60s, and women, well, they weren't even on the success ladder then - not really, just the odd one or two. The male cast is better utilised, and everyone comes across heartily. And as I said before, the Bath brothers keep the pictures levity buoyant. This cheeriness comes from the actors Bill Fraser, who plays Barnaby and Kenneth Connor, playing Swallow. Their cheery chemistry lifts the film into the light.
Captain Nemo And The Underwater City is an average movie, and I'd only recommend it to Jules Verne fans, and then for one watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Luckily, there is a more entertaining Japanese version of this film titled Latitude Zero. I'd recommend watching that instead - it should keep you awake on that lazy Sunday afternoon.
I can't let you leave Utopia, so you'd better get used to it. Now, peruse my IMDb list - The Final Frontier to see where I ranked Captain Nemo And The Underwater City.
Take Care & Stay Well.