Nemo

 

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND-1961-In 1865, during the second siege of Richmond, 3 Union soldiers prisoners Capt. Harding (Michael Craig), Corporal Neb Nugget (Dan Jackson) and Herbert Brown (Michael Callan) escape in a hit air observation balloon along with Union reporter Spilitt (Gary Merrill) and rebel Sgt. Pencroft (Percy Herbert). After they crash the balloon in the ocean, they wind up on an island surrounded by a volcano. After eating giant oysters, they are attacked by a giant crab which they manage to kill, boil and eat. 

While exploring they find a rowboat containing the upper-class twit Lady Fairchild (Joan Greenwood) and her niece Elena (Beth Rogan) who’s boat was wrecked. They build huts and try to get along. It seems an unknown presence is also helping them. Neb finds a trunk that they determine belonged to the infamous Capt. Nemo, now presumed dead. Then they are attacked by a giant chicken monster. It seems like Herbert kills it but while eating it they learn it was shot by a bullet. Herb and Elena fall in love and are menaced by giant bees and sealed in a honeycomb. They escape and discover Nemo's powerful sub, The Nautilus. Then the group is attacked by pirates but something sinks their ship. Of course, Nemo (Herbert Lom) is still alive but the Nautilus is broken. He devises a plan to re-float the pirate ship he sunk so they can leave before the volcano blows. Problems arise especially from a giant octopus. 

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND is the sixth collaboration between producer Charles Scheer and SFX genius Ray Harryhausen, who's stop motion effects in this film are fabulous. The music is by Bernard Heerman conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. The story is loosely based on the 1874 novel of the same name by Jules Verne. Nice direction by Cy Enfield who was blacklisted in the 1950's and relocated to England.

This is actually the second adaptation of the Verne novel. There's a silent version:

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To The Moon

 

 (themoviedatabase)

FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON-1958-Florida 1868: The International Armament Club, a group whose members profited by making weapons for both sides during the Civil War are about listen to Victor Barbicane (Joseph Cotton) explain that he's invented Power X, an explosive so devastating it's too powerful to detonate on Earth! He plans to shoot a projectile to the moon and test it. Meanwhile industrialist and southern sympathizer Nicholl (George Sanders) wants to stop Barbicane from destroying the world. He has created a metal that could be used to send the explosive to the moon. He agrees to build a casing only because he thinks it will fail. President Grant (Morris Ankrum) tells Barbicane he must not send a charge to the moon because 22 nations see it as an act of war. He gives up Power X and everyone hates him. He breaks with his colleagues (Henry Daniel, Patrick Knowles and Ludwig Stossel) but his assistants (Carl Esmond and Don Dubbins) stand by him. With Nicholl's help, Barbicane wants to go to the moon and back. To slow things down, Ben (Don Dubbins) romances Nicholl's daughter, Virginia (Debra Paget). With Nicholl's help, he, Barbicane and Ben man a rocket into space with Virginia as a stowaway but the flight seems doomed as Nicholl's has sabotaged it. 

Melville Cooper is also in it as well as the voices of Robert Clarke (same year as THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON) and Les Tremayne. This Technicolor science fiction is based on a novel by Jules Verne. It was originally produced by RKO but they went out of business and it was picked up and released by Warner Brothers. It's a farfetched but enjoyable tale with the two leads great when they butt heads. Byron Haskin (THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953)) directed. This would be his last S.F. movie until 1964's ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS.

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No Dragons Though

VALLEY OF THE DRAGONS-1961-In 1881, 2 guys are going to have a duel. Hector Sevadac (Cesare Danova), Frenchman  and Michael Denning (Sean McClory), from Ireland are starting their paces when a comet seems to sweep across Earth. At first they think civilization has been destroyed and they are the last survivors. They battle comical looking cavemen and a large phony spider. They also encounter the overused footage of the Earth cracking open and little lizards made up to look like dinosaurs from ONE MILLION BC. When night finally falls and they look up in the sky and see the planet Earth they realize the truth. They have in fact been swept up on the passing comet! 

The duo save each others life and forget their duel and become friends. After much exploring they come upon a tribe of human inhabitants but the group runs away. Eventually Hector is found by Deena (Joan Staley), a blonde haired female of a local tribe. He tries to teach her English (shouldn't he had tried to teach her French?) and of course winds up kissing her.  Meanwhile Michael falls in with another tribe and has his own female problems in the form of cave brunette Nateeta (Danielle De Metz) and Anoka (Mike Lane), her cave guy. He causes trouble but Michael uses a sling-shot to keep him in line.

Later after Hector and Deena frolic (too long) in an underwater love scene they wander into a cave and are attacked by creatures that look suspiciously like The Morlocks (George Pal's version of THE TIME MACHINE was made the year before). Deena escapes the Morlock wannabes but is captured by another tribe. Fortunately it's the tribe Michael has been hanging with.  Just when it seems as if the two tribes are going to fight the nearby volcano erupts more stock footage. When the smoke clears everyone gets together to help rescue some survivors trapped in a cave. Hector creates gunpowder and makes a bomb to destroy the giant lizard guarding the cave! Everyone lives happily ever after on the prehistoric comet. 

VALLEY is a very low budget production with lots of stock footage, super-imposed monsters and jungle and cave scenes obviously filmed in a studio. The biggest surprise though is a cameo appearance by Japan's Rhodan! Yes, a flying creature shown quickly several times is none other than Godzilla's old pal!

Perhaps it shouldn't  be that much of a surprise as one of VALLEY's producers was Al Zimbalist, the man behind ROBOT MONSTER!

Director Edward Bernds made this between THE RETURN OF THE FLY and THE THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES. Bernds worked a lot with The Stooges and The Bowery Boys as well. He died in 2000 at the age of 94.  

VALLEY is based on the Jules Verne story "Career Of a Comet".

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