Mysterious Island (1961)

Genres

Action, adventure, science fiction

Source

Based on The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne. (Sequel to both Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and In Search of the Castaways.)

Elevator Pitch

Castaways fight giant animals and pirates with the help of Captain Nemo while trying to escape before the island’s volcano erupts.

Reasons to Watch

• Harryhausen creature effects
• Joan Greenwood
• Herbert Lom

Random Observation

Although based on a Jules Verne novel, the giant creatures came in by way of H.G. Welles’ The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth. Nemo is trying to solve world hunger through enlarging food sources, a common misconception about the motivation of the scientists in that book. This is an ironic combination of plots, as Verne despised the lack of scientific basis in Welles’ stories.