Movies

Captain Nemo and the Underwater City (1969) Robert Ryan seems an odd choice for Nemo in this Anglo-American Verneian fantasy, but he carries the stern misanthropy well. Chuck Connors is one of the people saved from a shipwreck by Nemo's gilded-age scuba divers, and his only desire is to escape from the domed city, with Luciana Paluzzi tossed in as temporary love interest. Large and elaborate sets with lots of gold paint and colored lighting, and nice models almost make up for the blatantly stupid script. They were clearly trying for the Disney Adventure Film audience, so they dropped a kid and a kitten in for no other purpose. The story is episodic and incoherent, and I soon saw that asking why and how about anything would be pointless. There is a giant mutant devil-ray called Mobula, and familiar face Allan Cuthbertson takes the "Dr. Smith" role - hysterically flipping out and frenetically wrecking things for everyone - to a self-destructive extreme. All that said, it was still kind of fun to watch, and I saw it long ago in its optimal environment, a Saturday afternoon kiddie matinee. At least there was a kitten. 5.5/10