Very well executed

Truly Dreadful Film

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This colourful adventure yarn has plenty going for it. There's lots of action, some romance, a cast populated by B-movie types (aside from Herbert Lom, who once again puts in a distinctive and fun performance) and glamorous girls, some excellent special effects, and lots of nice scenery and photography. Sure, it doesn't exactly stick close to the plot of Jules Verne's original novel, as lots of liberties are taken with it, but it's pretty much all you could want from a simple, old-fashioned adventure yarn.I myself have always been a fan of shipwreck movies and this doesn't disappoint. The opening kicks off with a thrilling battle for escape, involving fist fights, shoot-outs, and lots of near-misses. A lot of clichés pass us by including the frightened hero who turns out to be one of the strongest of the group, plus the young glamour interest who wears a tiny short dress which also just happens to be extremely low cut. There's a lot of inconsequential dialogue and some naïve (by today's standards) romance going on between a couple of the group, but these bits never get in the way of the action.One of the film's main problems is that throughout the film mysterious events occur (to make up for the title I suppose), and when it turns out that Captain Nemo is responsible, we're supposed to be surprised. Well, we're not. I actually think Herbert Lom is billed as being Captain Nemo at the beginning credits, which kind of defeats the object of the whole thing. When Lom actually arrives on screen (not until the final third of the film) the whole thing actually falls apart a little, as it was a lot tighter adventure up until this point. Then suddenly we're bogged down in dialogue and some dodgy special effects of polystyrene rocks being thrown about. The method the survivors use to escape is implausible to say the least, involving as it does so an inflated balloon being used to raise a sunken ship. The balloon is blown up via a pipe line (constructed by bamboo) running from the ocean to Nemo's secret underground base, where a submarine pump does all the hard work. It sounds silly and it definitely is.Thankfully, up until this point, there are some great scenes involving various superbly-animated creations from the stop motion master himself, Ray Harryhausen. From the first monster, a giant crab, you know you're going to be in for a good ride and these giant horrors are 95% realistic. They're wonderfully animated too, none of this jerky motion seen in other films. From then on we get giant birds, giant wasps (again, excellent effects, and pretty creepy too), and even a giant octopus to join in on the action. Basically, Harryhausen's wonderful creations raise what is, in other respects, a fairly average yarn into something unique and exciting to watch. Worth tracking down for fans of the animator's work, or nostalgists.

Ray Harryhausen has garnered the Honor, Distinction, and Respect of Fans Worldwide. So much so that His relatively small Filmography is known simply as "Harryhausen" Films. He rises above Stars, Genre, and Directors to make the Movies He works on His own.Pretty much without Peer, His time consuming, meticulous, and painful method of Stop-Motion Animation is so difficult that few Artists even attempted to duplicate His crafty Artistry and Success. He truly was, after the death of His Mentor Willis O'Brien (King Kong 1933), one of a kind.This is a marvelous adventure underscored by the great Bernard Herrmann, shot in luscious color on location, and Herbert Lom as Captain Nemo makes an impression alongside Harryhausen's outstanding Creatures, a Crab, Chicken, and Bumble Bee.The only weakness is the Opening Act, but once on the Island it is unforgettable escapism that charms and never lets up. A beautiful Film for all ages thanks to Jules Verne and Ray Harryhausen and a good Production.

I don't believe that you can make a bad film of a Jules Verne story. Some better than others, some inferior ones, but not a bad film. The plots and the characters were born for the screen. If Verne had been born later and allowed full credit control in writing and producing films, what films they would have been.Mysterious Island with the help of that other creative genius Ray Harryhausen concerns some Union soldiers who escape from a Confederate prison in a Confederate observation balloon. There's also one Confederate stowaway as well. In what is described as the greatest storm in American history this balloon is blown WAAAAAAAAAAAAY off course and they land on an island they later learn is 1000 miles from New Zealand. And what a place with all kinds of giant creatures, crabs, bees, and even a giant chicken all brought to life by Ray Harryhausen with some of his best work.The man responsible for all this is Captain Nemo late of the Nautilus which it turns out was not sunk as written by Verne in 20000 Leagues Under The Sea, but rather limped into its home base by Herbert Lom in a measured and calculated performance. Nemo has reassessed his life and now thinks that instead of blowing up the ships of war from every nation, he should work toward providing abundance for man. Hence he pioneers organic food and that giant wildlife is part of the experiment.Two women also are shipwrecked as well Beth Rogan and her aunt Joan Greenwood. Michael Craig and Michael Callan are Union soldiers, Percy Herbert who usually plays cockney characters didn't quite get the southern accent down for the Rebel hitchhiker and Gary Merrill is the war correspondent whose got the best lines and the best story in history and no way to report it out.All the human players however pale in comparison to Ray Harryhausen's animation monsters. Mysterious Island which while not a faithful telling of Verne's story is still good entertainment, as good as I remember it at 14 seeing it in the theater.

This is a typical '60's Harryhausen movie, set on a remote island with lots of big creatures on it, who of course got all created by Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion effects, for which he got so famous.It's a movie that got based on a Jules Verne novel, that isn't really his best known one today though. It still is a real fun and adventurous story, that has lots of entertaining moments in it. It has a great and imaginative main premise. Still the movie doesn't always know how to handle it very well and instead the movie decides to repeat itself too often, in an attempt to show off with its Harryhausen creature effects. Also the ending seems quite rushed and out of place, from the moment on that captain Nemo suddenly shows up in the picture.Otherwise, the movie still remains for most part a quite maintaining movie, that is made to look real fun and adventurous. It's definitely made a movie made for pure entertainment and this movie must have really exited some people at the time of its release. Now days it's of course all a bit too dated to watch and we look upon this movies more critical than when it got released for the mainstream audience in the early '60's. It's effects as well as all of its settings are quite dated and cheap looking by todays standards but this of course also has become part of the charm of these type of movies.The acting really isn't much special, including the performance from Herbert Lom. But this also is quite suiting for the genre, which never was about its performances or story but always all about its stunning early effects and its means to bring pure entertainment, that is made all the more spectacular by the great Bernard Herrmann musical score.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/