Disney was tired of filming in the U.K. While Treasure Island and Robin Hood proved to be financial successes and for the most part were met with critical praise, his latter two films in the U.K., The Sword and the Rose and Rob Roy, were not. Wanting to film primarily in Burbank on a soundstage, Disney realized that a property that he had on the backburner for some time, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, would be perfect. Disney had first considered making the Jules Verne story into an animated film in the early 40's, but changed it to a live action in the early 50's since he had been finding some success in that medium. 20,000 Leagues would prove to be a turning point for the Disney company, as it was completely different in scope from his previous four films in the U.K. Those were made relatively cheap thanks to the funds left over from WWII in U.K. and thus there wasn't a huge risk in them failing. 20,000 Leagues ended up being the most expensive movie ever made at that point in history, topping out at a production cost of $9 million thanks to the elaborate sets, star power, and delays. If it performed poorly, Disney had a very good chance of facing financial ruin.
Story Background
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was written by the French author Jules Verne and was published in 1870. Originally serialized from 1869 to 1870, the story proved to be a humongous hit and is considered one of the greatest sci-fi novels of all time and a precursor to the steampunk genre. The movie stays pretty true to the book, only straying in a few ways. The story follows Professor Pierre Aronnax, a French marine biologist and the narrator of the story. He is tasked with joining an expedition to kill a mysterious sea beast that has been compared to a giant narwhal. Joining him are his loyal assistant Conseil and master harpoonist Ned Land. Once on the expedition the crew is attacked by the mysterious beast and the three main characters fall into the ocean, holding onto the beast's "hide". To their surprise it is not a monster at all but a futuristic submarine. They are quickly captured and taken aboard to meet the enigmatic Captain Nemo. Nemo is a man of no nation, a man at war with "civilization". He travels around the world in his electric-powered submarine called the Nautilus and seeks knowledge, along with a bit of revenge to the nameless nation that destroyed his family. Nemo is bound and determined to keep his work a secret so he tells the men that they can never leave the Nautilus. 
Aronnax and Conseil marvel at all the wonders that Nemo shows them, but Ned wants nothing but to escape his underwater prison. They visit many fantastic places, even the lost city of Atlantis, but the fun comes to an end when the ship is set upon by a pack of "pouples", which literally translates to octopus in French, but is usually named giant squids. They are able to fight off the pack though they lose a crew member. Nemo begins to change in demeanor, ignoring Aronnax, though he enjoyed having scientific discussions with him before. The Nautilus is attacked by a warship from the hated nation and Nemo destroys it though Aronnax begs him to have mercy. Aronnax is horrified by Nemo's actions and knows now that they must escape the Nautilus at all costs. Nemo falls into a depression; the appearance of the hated nation reminds him of his family and with him distracted the Nautilus appears to be moving around randomly. Ned and the others see this as an opportunity to escape and they steal a dinghy. Aronnax sees Nemo one last time, who is still despondent and seemingly ready to die. The Nautilus unfortunately wandered into a maelstrom while the three escape, but they make it out alive and get to an island off the coast of Norway. Disney's version follows the same beats, but instead has them visit Vulcania, Nemo's secret island base. It is inferred that Nemo holds the secret to nuclear power and once his enemies find the island to find his secrets, he blows the island to kingdom come. Nemo is mortally injured by a bullet while planting the bomb and declares that he will take the sub down one last time. Luckily for Ned, Aronnax and Conseil, the sub hits a reef on its way down and they are able to escape, leaving Nemo to his fate. Other than that it seems the biggest change was having the one giant squid attack the sub.
Production
Disney had enough of doing costume dramas and sought to make something that would be an epic turn for Disney movies. For 20,000 Leagues he wanted a bigger production, bigger stars (sorry, Richard Todd), and a local production. Disney had two soundstages, but they weren't able to be used for this kind of production, so soundstage 3 was built, complete with a water tank. Along with sinking a ton of money into the new soundstage and production, Disney was also starting a little park known as Disneyland. Much of the credit to the film's success has been attributed to the unfortunately uncredited production designer for the movie, Harper Goff (Goff was not a union member, so he had to go uncredited). Goff had been part of the production since it was still be considered an animated film. He was responsible for the look of Captain Nemo's famous vessel, the Nautilus. Goff always thought that the shark and alligator looked very dangerous when swimming so he took those characteristics and used them in the Nautilus's design. Walt actually didn't like Goff's design at first because he was expecting something simpler, something closer to how Jules Verne described in his book. Goff was able to convince Walt of his design by explaining that Nemo built it using iron salvaged at his island hideout.
Disney went searching for a director for his risky endeavor. He had enjoyed the family comedy, The Happy Time (1952), written by Earl Felton and directed by Richard Fleischer and approached the latter to be a part of the production. Fleischer was a little surprised by this, but Disney claimed that he liked him so much because Disney's contract actor Bobby Driscoll was in The Happy Time and "if anybody can make an actor out of that kid, he's got to be a good director." It seemed that Disney had soured on the child actor and would drop him as an employee soon after Peter Pan premiered in 1953. The ironic thing about Disney hiring Fleischer was that Richard was the son of Max Fleischer, who ran Fleischer Studios in the 30's and 40's. Fleischer Studios and Disney were bitter rivals during this time, but Fleischer had long been absorbed into Paramount Studios and Max was enjoying his retirement. Max even gave the hiring his blessing and buried the hatchet with Walt, eventually becoming good friends. Richard Fleischer and Earl Felton were a fundamentally a duo, so Walt hired them both for 20,000 Leagues. Felton's script attempted to give Nemo more of a motivation for his actions. Nemo wasn't just sinking a warship out of revenge, but to destroy a vessel carrying munitions to war, so in his mind he was saving countless lives. He also added a story addition of Nemo and most of the crew being slaves at one point, which helped make Nemo a more sympathetic character. Disney, for one reason or another, decided to hedge his bets and have another writer, John Tucker Battle, known for his sci-fi scripts do his own treatment. Ultimately none of Battle's script would make it into the movie, which is a testament to Felton's script. 20,000 Leagues would become the first live action production to be storyboarded from start to finish, adding up to 1300 drawings. 
Stage 3 would prove not be enough room for Disney and they would have to borrow space at Universal and 20th Century Fox's backlots. Filming also took place in tropical locations for the underwater shots, namely in the Bahamas and Jamaica. The underwater funeral scene was very tricky to shoot, but it was nothing compared to the scene dedicated to the giant squid attack on the Nautilus. Filmed in Stage 3, the scene utilized a full size mechanical squid with rubber and steel springs used for its tentacles. The tentacles would be moved by wires that hung from above. The scene originally called for the attack to happen at sunset against a calm sea. They finished the whole shoot with this set up and then Walt saw a screening of the scene. Though Fleischer had done everything he could, he could not make the squid look realistic in any sense. Walt demanded changes because all he could see was a bunch of wires holding up some limp tentacles. The idea then came about that they should instead film it to be a night scene and during a terrible storm. Hydraulics were used to improve the movement of the tentacles and the night and storm helped cover up the wires, thus making everything look much better. The re-shoot cost the company six additional weeks of production and $200,000. Considering that this scene is the one people remember the most from the movie, I would say it was worth it.
Cast
Though most of the cast is not recognizable to people under 30, it was full of some of the biggest stars of that era. James Mason was cast as Captain Nemo, who had made a name for himself in Britain in the 40's, quickly became one of the biggest stars in the U.S. by the early 50's, starring in such pictures as The Desert Fox (1951) and A Star Is Born (1954) with Judy Garland. Mason brought the gravitas needed for portraying Nemo, as that role was the most important in making the film work. Perhaps the most recognizable star in the film is Kirk Douglas, who at the time of this writing is still alive and kicking at 102. Douglas played the master harpooner Ned Land, who is about the polar opposite of the stoic and moody Captain Nemo. Douglas was used to playing very serious roles, so him playing a light-hearted character was a welcome change of pace for him. Douglas gets the only song of the movie, singing the incredibly infectious "Whale of a Tale". Truth be told, this was about the only exposure to this movie that I got as a kid, because the song was on a Disney music compilation CD and on the Disney Singalongs: Under The Sea. Playing Professor Aronnax was Paul Lukas, best known before this movie for Watch on the Rhine (1943) for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Unfortunately Lukas, at age 60, was suffering from memory problems and would lash out at cast and crew members, making the production tense at time. Famous character actor Peter Lorre rounds out the cast, playing Aronnax's assistant Conseil. Lorre's major films included The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1942), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). His career fell off after 20,000 Leagues, mainly because he was routinely typecast as a sinister foreigner.
Reception
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea would be the first film distributed in-house for Disney, as their contract with RKO had run out and Disney was in no hurry to renew. In his mind RKO had taken far too much money for each film, so he created Buena Vista Distribution, named for the street that Disney Studios is located. 20,000 Leagues opened just before Christmas in 1954 to excellent reviews. Critics singled out the production value and star performances, something that hasn't changed when the film has been re-assessed in the modern era. The film ended up being the second highest grossing film of the year domestically with $8 million. In total the film grossed $28.2 million, making the $9 million budget worth it in the long run, though initially it didn't make any profit for Disney, though the film showed the world that Disney could make big budget live action movies. The film would be recognized at the Academy Awards for Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects, and deservedly so. Again, since Production Designer Harper Goff was not a union member, he did not receive an award for his contributions. The film was, along with Mary Poppins, the biggest of Walt's career and is still considered not only one of the best live action Disney movies, but also sci-fi adventure movies.
In The Parks
The set of 20,000 Leagues was put to good use after the movie wrapped, being shipped over to Disneyland when it opened in 1955 as a walkthrough attraction in the Tomorrowland section that detailed the production of the popular movie. This stayed in the park until 1966 when Tomorrowland was revamped and the walkthrough was replaced by Adventures Thru Inner Space. A similar walkthrough would open decades later at Disneyland Paris called Les Mysteres Du Nautilus. The Magic Kingdom at Disney World would be the first to get a 20,000 Leagues ride, opening with the park in 1971. This ride had people go into a submarine that appeared to submerge, but was just barely underwater. It would take you through a narration of the story and you would see different creatures and such through the portholes until the fateful giant squid attacked. The ride was popular but very expensive to run and maintain, so it eventually closed in 1994. The next park to get a 20,000 Leagues ride was Tokyo DisneySea. This version, though being a spiritual successor to the Disney World version, is much more technologically advanced, with the bright idea to not have you submerged underwater at all, but just create visuals to make it look like you are. The ride has been open since 2001 at the park and is moderately popular, so hopefully it will stick around a bit longer than the Disney World version.
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