User Reviews

Exciting and thrilling submarine movie dealing with the Nautilus captained by Nemo well played by Robert Ryan who along with his crew save some survivors of a drowning from a shipwrecked . When a ship is sunk , some passengers (Chuck Connors , Nanette Newman , Luciana Paluzzi , Alan Cuthbertson..) are rescued by a submarine and they are taken and get thoroughly involved with power-hungry captain Nemo (Robert Ryan) and take an extraordinary adventure underseas in an advanced city ; however they may be trapped for the rest of their lives. 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 riveting underwater city of the future .

Silly but agreeable adventure with action , thrills , love story , full of fun and amusement , including some spectacular sets . Surprise-filled entertainment and with plenty of action on middling scale with acceptable though Naif special effects and some submarines by maquette or scale model . The underwater scenes , pyrotechnics, flood , flamboyant FX to make large-size Squid seem like horrible monster , all of them are spectacular and the film is another acceptable British product . Edge-of-the seat thrilling scenes as when happens an exciting pursuit among two submarines : Nautilus 1 and Nautilus 2 . Director James Hill renewed his acquaintance for little boys with this enjoyable and amusing movie . Our heroes incarnated by a throughly believable casting of the first-rate character players get stuck in the underwater city and Nautilus , undergoing numerous adventures and suffering innumerable perils . Memorable and great cast as Robert Ryan , Chuck Connors as a senator , both of whom have to grit their teeth and play it for real . English's Kenneth Connor and Bill Fraser provide light and brief relief and some laughters as a couple of not-too-intelligent greedy men . They were a pair who worked as a comical duo in various films . Gaudy camera work by excellent cameraman Alan Hume , the cinematography results to be clear and glimmer . Atmospheric and vivid score by Walter Stott .

The motion picture made at Metro Goldwyn Mayer British studios was middling directed by James Hill . He was an expert on children films and serials for showing at schoolboy cinema . Hill designed his acquaintance with amusements for the young generation and costume adventures blending with Lions (Born free , The lions are free , The lion at world's end) , Horses (Black Beauty) , Foxes (The Belstone Fox) , Elephants ( An Elephant called Slowly) and sea animals as Sharks and Squid like this ¨Captain Nemo and underwater city¨. ¨Born Free¨ remains his triumph in which the way the protagonists romp with three lionesses who play Elsa at several stages of growth is near-miraculous . Forever in search of a similar movie to equal this hit , he never quite found it . James Hill best movie turned out to be ¨Studio in terror¨ a Sherlock versus Jack Ripper terror thriller with lurid killings . Other films dealing with Jules Verne's Captain Nemo and his Nautilus are the following : the vintage story are an old mute (1916) by Stuart Paton . The classic movie marvelously directed by Richard Fleischer starred by Kirk Douglas , James Mason , Peter Lorre , Paul Lukas . And for TV directed by Rod Hardy with Michael Caine , Mia Sara and Patrick Dempsey ; and directed by Michael Anderson with Ben Cross and Richard Crenna ; furthermore a cartoon movie directed by Arthur Rankin. The motion picture will appeal to fantasy-adventure buffs and it's a wonderful popcorn story . Rating : 5, 5 . Acceptable and passable .

I saw this in the theater as a kid and loved it. The story about people living a Utopian existence in a domed city underwater sticks with me today. I'm not sure how I'd feel seeing it again, when the so-called 'good guys' in the movie are so anxious to get back to their own world that they endanger the underwater city and steal a submarine. But it's a fun movie with good sets, great miniature work on the subs, the cities, and the giant sea monster. I wish this was released on DVD as the sets and sub were quite neat looking.

A neat aspect of this movie is that they tried for a bit of science "fact". For example, the most common material in the undersea city was gold, because they used a process to pull gold out of sea water.

I wonder if those people are still living down there to this day? :)

Despite having Captain Nemo and the Nautilus, this does not appear to be a sequel or prequel to "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea". Instead, it takes a few story elements and weaves an all-new tale--one where Nemo seems like a pretty cool guy and all the people from the Earth's surface are total jerks! Talk about role reversals!

The film begins during the US Civil War. A ship from America to England is foundering in a storm. Eventually, when it sinks, six of the passengers are rescued by a passing submarine--Nemo and his Nautilus. At first Nemo is very brusque and gloomy, but soon he warms up to the passengers--announcing they are on their way to Nemo's underwater paradise. And the place IS terrific--like Heaven on Earth. Yet despite the people being kind and the city being paradise, most of the rescued people behave like boorish jerks. Two only see ways to exploit the city and cannot appreciate anything of its beauty. One is an angry claustrophobe who tries to destroy the city simply because he will not be allowed to return home since Nemo wants to keep the city a secret. Another is a Senator who is on a diplomatic mission and he insists on completing his mission--even though his country is in the middle of annihilating itself. And the final two are a mother and child who don't seem like total jerks! There is quite a bit to like about this fantasy film. I much prefer seeing a kinder, gentler Nemo and his hopeful vision for the future. Plus for 1969, the special effects and underwater scenes are pretty nice (aside from the silly monster). And, the story and acting are pretty good. My biggest complaint about the film are the characters from the surface. While it is hard to believe that they would not love this wonderful kingdom, the fact that they seem so unreal--like caricatures--that bothered me. Again and again, they were offered kindness and friendship yet they acted horribly--and for little discernible reason. Greed alone did not explain all this, though the film does amply illustrate that humans suck. I which these people had been more complex--it might have made the film a lot more enjoyable. However, despite this, the movie is a nice adventure--well worth seeing.

By the way, at one point in the film, Nemo tells the guests that they are 10,000 leagues under the surface. Judging by the types of fish you see and the few scenes where you can see light from the surface, the city (if it were real) is about 100 feet or less from the surface.

This film is a pleasant surprise with much charm. No, it is not on the same level of Hollywood's best adventure-fantasies, but I thought it better than other Jules Verne adaptations, such as the recent TV movies or something like FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON.

This particular motion picture is neither a sequel nor a prequel to 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA nor MYSTERIOUS ISLAND; indeed, its premise (which one may or may not warm up to) is to ignore the other tales and try acting alone as its own story. The result is a weird amalgam of 20,000LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA and LOST HORIZON.

It benefits from some lavish, if glossy sets, and the casting of Robert Ryan as Nemo, which for its time was offbeat. In recent years, stars, such as those of Michael Cain and Patrick Stewart, have played Nemo so far differently from Verne's original that Ryan's interpretation almost seems faithful. While purists may be put off by Ryan being so very American and lacking the swarthiness, exoticism, and aristocracy of previous actors, he nevertheless exudes a saturnine authority and substance that's right.

All in all, the movie falls short of the eyefilling fun of the best Verne adaptations, but it's still watchable. It must be seen letter-boxed.

This prequel to 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea takes place during the American Civil War and before Jules Verne's Captain Nemo embarked on a policy of aggression against warmaking sea power nations. The Nautilus is just doing scouting expeditions and comes across some survivors of a sea wreck and takes them to Nemo's undersea domain of Temple Meer.

Robert Ryan plays a dedicated and fanatical Nemo who has built an underwater Shangri-La which is surviving a whole lot of water pressure from the ocean. Among the survivors are a US Senator played by Chuck Connors, and British people Allan Cuthberson who has claustrophobia and doesn't deal well with the atmosphere, two brothers who are petty crooks, Bill Fraser and Kenneth Connor from the Carry On series and Nannette Newman and her young son Christopher Hartshorne.

As the High Lama of Shangri-La was, Ryan is looking for good people to help with his underwater paradise. He marks Connors as talent, but Connor who is on a mission from Abe Lincoln to European powers does not want to be the Robert Conway of Temple Meer. He's resolved to escape and all the men want out, each for their own reasons.

Among other things Temple Meer has is electric lights before Edison and alchemy. For water and electricity they have a machine which produces gold as a waste product. That really interests Fraser and Connor. In fact gold has no monetary value in Temple Meer. It's used for various drinking cups etc. because it is the most malleable of metals and doesn't corrode. Of course it's a got of value where Connor and Fraser hail from.

There are some nice underwater action sequences when the Nautilus tangles with a giant stingray all in the Jules Verne tradition. Captain Nemo And The Underwater City combines the best of both Verne and Hilton, two of the most popular authors around.

A very enjoyable movie for young and old; a bit sci-fi, a bit fantasy, a bit action and a joke here and there. This movie isn't a groundbreaking masterpiece, but who cares? If you want to have yourself a very nice evening with a feel-good movie ... this might be the movie for you!

'Captain Nemo and the Underwater City' is a film about a crew who is shipwrecked and then picked up by Captain Nemo in an underwater city where they must remain and never tell anyone about the underwater city. The film explores the underwater city and the way that the people live here. It's like a utopia, and the underwater life is quite imaginative. I was hoping for a little more scenes about the city and the way that people live here, but the story is taken over by a few of the crew who try to escape with gained knowledge.

The special effects are a little to be desired. In fact, some of the acting itself is also a little laughable. It's got its flaws, and it is one of those films where you can sit back and poke some fun at the characters and events in the film.

In the incredible futuristic world of Jules Verne, the story of Captain Nemo and his crew are forever etched in the minds of adventure seeking readers. This movie is called " Captain Nemo and the Underwater city " and set in the world of the 1800's. The story is taken from one of the many adventurous stories concerning Verne's mysterious Captain Nemo (Robert Ryan). In this chapter a group of drowning passengers are rescued by Nemo's futuristic crew and taken to his incredible Underwater city. There they discover a fantastic world which he offers then as a permanent resident. However several of the survivors don't which to remain and try to escape. The stars playing the reluctantly survivors include Chuck Connors, Bill Fraser, Kenneth Connor and Allan Cuthbertson. The others include Helena Beckett (Nanette Newman) and Phillip Beckett (Christopher Hartstone). The film is a genuine Classic and one which entertains audiences as well today and it did back in 1969. Great fun. ****

This is worth seeing just to get a glimpse of the sets. My God!-the ship is so awesome it's hard for me to describe. There's a machine that makes air & drinking water & in the process spits out waste material into this big room. The waste material is huge piles of GOLD! It's worth nothing to the people in the Underwater city because they have everything they need. They live in a sustainable utopia of their own & don't need money or the U. S. Government to survive. Beautiful pools & living quarters. Good food & musical instruments. The downfall of this movie is the story. I hated it. The whole story after they rescue people from their sunken ship is about these idots trying to escape. Why would you want to escape a utopia where don't need money? We're stuck watching one foiled escape plan after another. They blow up parts of Captain Nemo's Submarine & Underwater City. It took years for Captain Nemo to build it & the people that live there are happy & content. Instead of being grateful to Captain Nemo for saving their life they spend the whole time complaining & destroying the Underwater City. It's despicable. I would have scored this higher if the story hadn't of been so depressing.

A Lavish and Ultra-Fanciful Production full of Fantastical Costuming and Gaudy Psychedelic Colored Sets, this Captain Nemo Story is about as Preposterous as could be. Far-Fetched even for the most Goofy of Sci-Fi, it still manages to be Entertaining and is Decidedly Marketed for the Kids.

But by 1969 the Kids who were Weaned on Saturday Matinees of this sort in the 50's and 60's and Perhaps the Youngins at the Time of Release were more Sophisticated than this Disney-Like Fluff Piece.

It can be Viewed Today with some Camp Appeal but Audiences back in the Day were not having any of it. It Flopped and was Forgotten. Robert Ryan and Chuck Connors were both Miscast but do Their Solemn Best and Play it Perfectly Straight.

There is an Abundance of Eye-Candy and the Story Kicks into gear a few times with some Action and Attempts at Adventure. But the Movie is Insufferable sometimes with Awful Comedy Relief and a way Over the Top emphasis on the Lust for Gold.

Worth a Watch with the right approach. The Sets and the Silly Costumes seem Inspired by the Flash Gordon Serials and are quite a Surreal Treat. The Monster's Part is Underwritten and is Filmed so Murky it comes off as a bit Lifeless.

Good to see a great character actor like Ryan in the lead role but this is sure one shallow deep sea movie. And the sets look like Weeki Wachee Night at the Playboy Mansion.

Sort-of based on the Jules Verne character Captain Nemo, steering his ship to "Templemir". this chapter explores another adventure of what might occur, deep under the sea. This time, studio star Robert Ryan is Captain Nemo. Chuck Connors, a couple years after being "the Rifleman", is the Senator, who wants to get to the bottom of things. Nanette Newman just BEFORE being a stepford wife. and Allan Cuthbertson is the uptight, claustrophobic Lomax... he's going to be trouble. demanding to know what's going on right now! some great special effects, when they unveil the underwater city, which they now inhabit. Penguins everywhere, for some reason. they go exploring, and accurately discuss fire coral and weaver fish, both of which can be BIG trouble, if touched. and a discussion of the machine that produces gold as a by-product. that sparks the interest of some of the crew! a theramin concert. and of course, a room called "Forbidden Area", which can only be trouble. and the alarm bell, where lobster claws ring the bell... funny. Directed by James Hill, who had already won the oscar for best documentary. had also directed Born Free, which we ALL saw, growing up. The kid, Phillip, (Christopher Hartstone) apparently died quite young at 33; i wasn't able to find any details of his death. only had two roles... this, and and an appearance in the series "wicked women" the following year. Film is worth watching... some cool special effects, and of course, J. Verne is awesome. This one is really good.. highly recommended. it's silly, but the story and special effects are just amazing.

Captain Nemo never interested me as a kid. I never thought about it enough as to why I was not interested, but I decided to watch a 1969 movie today, and now I know why. Its kind of boring. All the characters have limited charisma. For a film to work you have to like & care about the characters, but the characters in this film are either empty & bland or actually unattractive in all kind of ways. It's a fairly banal story. Nothing really happening here. Certainly no Journey to the centre of the earth (original) Logan's Run or Star Wars. Chuck Connors is so suited to westerns. He destroys this film & steers it towards gun toting fight out vibes. Pass in 1969; pass on it in 2021.

Sequel to "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (the Disney version) and prequel to "Mysterious Island" (1961 version) relating the further adventures of Jules Verne's Captain Nemo and his submarine community. As in those two films (and the Jules Verne novels by the same name), shipwrecked survivors are rescued by Captain Nemo and in this case, taken to his underwater city. Robert Ryan is no James Mason and brings the plot to a sleeping halt with his monotone delivery and wooden appearance and Chuck Connors is terribly miscast as the head of the survivors, however director James Hill ("Born Free") excels at filming nature and the film comes alive whenever people interact with animals such as a shark attack. Jules Verne stories are always fascinating and some of the set design is inspired (including an underwater resort-style swimming pool shared by children and penguins!). Really fun to watch as a trilogy since the story line holds together from one film to another (despite different producers and film studios!)

Words almost fail to describe how immensely I looked forward to seeing this "Captain Nemo and the Underwater City"! Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" is my #1 favorite novel of all times, but I can't say I was very fond of the 1954 adaptation starring Kirk Douglas and James Mason. It was a more than adequate and visually impressive film, but a little bit too "Disney" for my taste.

The plot of this film wasn't penned down by Jules Verne; - it only takes place in the wondrous aquatic universe that he - and only he - created. It not a sequel, nor a prequel, nor in any way related to the novels "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" and/or "The Mysterious Island". It is, however, written the utmost respect and admiration for Verne's creations by husband & wife writing team Pip and Jane Baker. Quite obviously, there are some derivative aspects (giant manta ray instead of giant octopus) and other plot-elements are rather naïve, but the story of "Underwater City" stands solidly.

Six people, including a young child and a US-governor, are about to die horribly by drowning when their ship gets wrecked in a storm. They are rescued and, to their enormous astonishment, brought aboard the Nautilus and taken to a dreamily domed underwater civilization. Captain Nemo doesn't want his uninvited guests to leave the undersea city of Templemer ever again, as he feels their wealth and technological superiority should remain secret to the above sea-level world. Despite being offered a life of luxury, the new arrivals want to escape, although for various reasons.

Although flawed, "Captain Nemo and the Underwater City" remains a magically perplexing viewing experience, with ingenious and fabulous set designs, exhilarating sequences, and excellent performances. Luciana Paluzzi, one of my most beloved Italian cult muses, stars as Mala. She's Captain Nemo's loyal acolyte in charge of teaching children how to swim, which does indeed seem like a useful skill if you live in a glass dome under the sea! I still can't believe she fall for the square-jawed Chuck Connors, though. I also really like Robert Ryan in the role of Captain Nemo. In many reviews, his performance gets described as dull, but I think he hits the exact right melancholic tone of how Jules Verne invented him.

Since the smashing success of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea made by Walt Disney production, Roger Corman suggested an embryonic project of a sequel self-called "The Floating City" which they didn't move forward, Then in late sixties MGM has draft "Captain Nemo and Underwater City" a low budge around 1.500 million against 9 millions spend in his predecessor, the range of both budge reflects for itself when we look the final product that are opposite sides as quality.

This British production wasn't a bad picture at all, just made in tight budge where the money allowed talk louder, starting by the casting, let's face that Chuck Connors doesn't fits perfectly as the hero, he was a harsh actor often played bad guys, miscasting for the role, further Robert Ryan as Captain Nemo not a patch with the classy James Mason, although here we have Luciana Paluzzi to make up for.

The Underwater city shouldn't go unnoticed, even with small model-making is profusely well-crafted, such as Nautilus submarine, with painstaking look on Victorian era, the plot is the same, the survivors of a shipwreck taken on board of the Nautilus under orders of Captain Nemo, thus they headed to the bottom of the sea where the breathtaking underwater city called Templemer, which should lives there forever, a sort of utopic city where the civilization are save of human conflicts, whom Jules Verne tries exposes his novel, fully adamant of Cap. Nemo's concept that the human race are fated to everlasting clash, thus he created his own peaceful world.

Somewhat the lowest rates gives here with mere 5.7 makes me feel sad, it aside a minors flaws is a great peace of cinema fantastic utterly enjoyable upon all point of views!!

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1985 / Source: TV-DVD / How many: 3 / Rating: 7.25.

Captain Nemo (Robert Ryan) and his submarine Nautilus rescues survivors of a passenger ship sinking. He brings them to his secret underwater city.

Non of these characters are that compelling. I don't care about the Senator. I don't understand Nemo. The character work is where this movie falls down. It does have some nice underwater work and interesting designs. The gold doesn't make much scientific sense or monetary sense. This has some good design work and some fine chaotic action. After Lomax almost destroys the city, one would expect more tension in the story. It is unable to raise the intensity in writing or in acting. It's all very flat.

Captain Nemo (= personne,nobody) was a fallen Hindou prince ,victim of British colonialism ;his hatred for this country was boundless but he saved the shipwrecked people whatever their nationality ;a stateless person ,he had reneged on the human society .....

Although only inspired by Jules Verne, the hero portrayed by the great character actor Robert Ryan has kept his disgust for his fellow men's timeless wars ,and wants to keep his underwater city ,a Shangri La of sorts, secret and unknown ; Ryan 's performance is restrained ,even when he sentences one of his guests to death ; his weary face reflects all that he's been through (though the movie remains vague, as far as it concerns the mysterious captain's past.

Ryan is easily the stand out ; the cast includes sexy Lucianna Paluzzi,former James Bond girl (Fiona Volpe in "thunderball") as a schoolteacher and an instructor , rifleman Chuck Connors as a distinguished gentleman,a mom (Nanette Workman) ,her son and his kitten ,and for good measure a pair of greedy men who covets the captain's gold.

Average adventures film,with passable settings (nothing to match the other Verne adaptations ;" vingt mille lieues sous les mers" and "voyage au centre de la terre ")but watchable thanks to the lead.

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.

Shipwreck survivors are rescued by an authoritarian ruler of a secret underwater city during the 19th century. Nice underwater photography, enough action and special effects to offset wooden acting and less-than-sublime script. (Rating B+)

Shipwreck survivors are rescued by an authoritarian ruler of a secret underwater city during the 19th century. Family film features nice underwater photography, enough action and special effects to offset wooden acting and less-than-sublime script. (Rating B+)