Conseil – Aronnax's Flemish servant, very devoted to him and knowledgeable in biological classification.

Professor Pierre Aronnax – the narrator of the story, a French natural scientist.

The title refers to the distance traveled under the various seas: 20,000 metric leagues (80,000 km, over 40,000 nautical miles), nearly twice the circumference of the Earth. Its depiction of Captain Nemo's underwater ship, the Nautilus, is regarded as ahead of its time, since it accurately describes many features of today's submarines, which in the 1860s were comparatively primitive vessels.Ī model of the French submarine Plongeur (launched in 1863) figured at the 1867 Exposition Universelle, where Jules Verne examined it and was inspired by it when writing his novel.

The book was widely acclaimed on its release and remains so it is regarded as one of the premier adventure novels and one of Verne's greatest works, along with Around the World in Eighty Days and Journey to the Center of the Earth. A deluxe octavo edition, published by Hetzel in November 1871, included 111 illustrations by Alphonse de Neuville and Édouard Riou. The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-Jules Hetzel's fortnightly periodical, the Magasin d'éducation et de récréation. Thanks to them, the movie could keep a certain charm and nowadays, it lets itself watch with pleasure.Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas ( French: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. No matter that the movie was launched in 1954, the special effects aren't antiquated. Then, Paul Lukas and especially Peter Lorre are outstanding. But in parallel, Douglas makes his character funny and likeable. It's probably true if you study his character of Ned Land. As for Kirk Douglas, well he said once: 'I've made a career of playing sons of bitches'. James Mason is an unforgettable captain Nemo. Of course, the movie is supported by a dazzling performance. In this way, Jules Verne's novel introduces a reflection about man and the extension of his power thanks to the machine (the Nautilus). Moreover, he regards himself as a sort of governor of the ocean. You can describe him as a despotic man who's got a grudge against the earth that made him suffer. This sadistic side is epitomized by the captain Nemo himself.

But the movie also includes a sadistic side. Fleischer introduced humor in a few sequences and especially in dialogs. This is an excellent adventure movie told with quite a lot of humor. Very simply, Richard Fleischer made a gorgeous adaptation of Jules Verne's famous novel.

20 thousand leagues under the sea