Jules Verne Forum

<jvf@Gilead.org.il>

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 19961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009

Re: MYSTERIOUS ISLAND TV SERIES (fwd)

From: Brian Taves <btav~at~loc.gov>
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 18:28:13 -0500 (EST)
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~math.technion.ac.il>

Walt has much in the way of innovations to his credit, but this is not one
of them. JV and Nemo are first linked to atomic power in the serial
MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1951), as R.F. Bagby has noted. This is not so
important as a "first" but rather a reflection of the atomic concerns of
the 1950s that impinged the whole sf genre, in movies particularly. The
fear of atomic power and its potential dangers was a widespread motif;
Verne filmmaking emerged as a cycle out of the suddenly growing interest
in sf films; hence Verne movies quite naturally adopted these themes, not
only in the US (for instance, also the 1958 version of FROM THE EARTH TO
THE MOON), but abroad as well, as in Karel Zeman's VYNALEZ ZKAZY (THE
FABULOUS WORLD OF JULES VERNE), originally released in 1957).

Brian Taves
110 D Street, S.E. #515
Washington, D.C. 20003-1815
202-675-4525 (h)
202-707-9930 (w)
202-707-2371 (work fax)
email: <btav~at~loc.gov>


Disclaimer--All opinions expressed are my own.

On Sat, 12 Feb 2000, Michael Crisafulli wrote:

> Re: << I wonder why so many movies have Nemo using nuclear
> power for his Nautilus. What's wrong with good old-fashioned electricity? >>
>
> It was the Disney movie that started this, but I think THAT change from
> electricity to nuclear energy, implied but never stated, was a good
> updating. When Verne wrote 20,000 Leagues electricity was in its infancy
> and a new, mysterious, and perhaps frightening force. In the 1950s,
> electricity was mostly commonplace and nuclear power had supplanted it as
> the new force. So like Harper Goff's updating the Nautilus from the cigar
> shape, new and strange in the mid 1800s, to the sea monster craft that would
> be strange to movie goers who'd seen submarines for half a century, the
> switch to nuclear power was valid.
>
> I agree that after nearly another half-century the edge is gone from the
> change, but perhaps the newer screen writers, who may take more from Disney
> than from Verne, can't conceive of electricity as a great force.
>
> Michael Crisafulli
> http://home.att.net/~karen.crisafulli
Received on Tue 15 Feb 2000 - 01:28:55 IST

JV.Gilead.org.il
Copyright © Zvi Har’El
$Date: 2009/02/01 22:36:11 $$