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The Mysterious Island (1929 film)

The Mysterious Island is a 1929 American sound part-talkie science fiction film directed by Lucien Hubbard, based on Jules Verne's 1874 novel L'Île mystérieuse (The Mysterious Island). The film was photographed largely in two-color Technicolor. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The sound was recorded via the Western Electric sound-on-film process. The film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[1]

The Mysterious Island
Theatrical release lobby card
Directed byLucien Hubbard
Screenplay byLucien Hubbard
Based onThe Mysterious Island
1874 novel
by Jules Verne
StarringLionel Barrymore
Jacqueline Gadsden
Lloyd Hughes
Montagu Love
Harry Gribbon
CinematographyPercy Hilburn (*French)
Edited byCarl Pierson
Music byMartin Broones
Art Lange
Color processTechnicolor with black-and-white sequence
Production
company
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • October 5, 1929 (1929-10-05)
Running time
95 minutes
93 minutes Turner Library print
67 minutes restored version
CountryUnited States
LanguagesSound (Part-Talkie)
English Intertitles
Budget$1,130,000

Plot

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On a volcanic island near the kingdom of Hetvia rules Count Dakkar, a benevolent leader and scientist who has eliminated class distinction among the island's inhabitants. Dakkar, his daughter Sonia and her fiance, chief engineer Nicolai Roget, have designed a submarine boat which Roget pilots on its initial test voyage shortly before the island is overrun by Baron Falon, once Daggar's friend, and now the new despotic ruler of Hetvia. The Baron has Dakkar and his daughter tortured so that Dakkar will reveal all his discoveries. Dakkar is able to escape with the intervention of his loyal men. But Falon sets out after Roget and Dakkar using the Count's second submarine. The two underwater craft dive very deep to the ocean floor, where they discover a strange land populated by dragons, a giant octopus, and an eerie, undiscovered humanoid race.

 
Jane Daly (Jacqueline Gadsden) prepared for a scene in The Mysterious Island

Cast

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Production

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The film had a budget of $1,130,000.[2] According to an article in the original Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, production was actually started in 1926. There were various problems, including weather and the advent of talkies, which slowed/halted production several times before the film was finally completed and released three years later. The article included stills showing the original 1926 undersea denizens and the redesigned version which actually appeared in the film. Footage directed by Maurice Tourneur and Benjamin Christensen in 1927 was incorporated into the final 1929 version.

Adaptation

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The film is loosely based on the back-story given for Captain Nemo in the novel The Mysterious Island, and might more properly be thought of as a prequel to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. It is the story of Count Dakkar (Captain Nemo's real name is revealed to be Prince Dakkar in The Mysterious Island), how he built his submarine, how he was betrayed, and how he became an outcast seeking revenge.

Reception

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The film's financial failure cost MGM $878,000.[2]

Preservation

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Until recently, only one reel with a color sequence was thought to have survived, in the collection of the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

In 2013, Deborah Stoiber from the George Eastman House film archive visited Prague to examine the sole existing color copy of The Mysterious Island. The U.S. film experts, in cooperation with the Czech National Film Archive, restored the color print of The Mysterious Island.[3] After the complete Technicolor print was discovered in Prague in December 2013, a new print of the film premiered at the 33rd Pordenone Silent Film Festival in October 2014.[4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Progressive Silent Film List: The Mysterious Island at silentera.com
  2. ^ a b Medved & Medved 1984, p. 220.
  3. ^ U.S. film historians find treasure in Czech archive, Radio Praha December 13, 2013
  4. ^ 2014 Pordenone Silent Film Festival

Works cited

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  • Medved, Harry; Medved, Michael (1984). The Hollywood Hall of Shame: The Most Expensive Flops in Movie History. Angus & Robertson. ISBN 0207149291.
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