Jules Verne Movies

Stranded on a deserted island after their boat is destroyed in a raging storm, a group of young boys band together against a nefarious group of shipwrecked criminals in this rousing adaptation of author Jules Verne's timeless tale of adventure. When these boys were thrust upon the sandy shores of this lonely ocean paradise, they thought that the worst was behind them. They couldn't have been further from the truth, because when yet another treacherous storm finds a ruthless gang of thieves washed up on the very same shore, the stage is set for am epic battle for supremacy from which only the most cunning and inventive of combatants will escape with their lives. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Not long before his emigration to Hollywood, director Victor Tourjansky polished off this French filmization of Jules Verne's Michael Strogoff. The screenplay follows the Verne original to the letter, with diplomatic courier Strogoff (Ivan Mosjoukine) going through hell and back to deliver a vital document to the Czar. Betrayed by the duplicitous Ogareff (Acho Chakatouny), Strogoff is captured by The Grand Khan (Defae), who prepares to shove hot pokers in the hero's eyes while Strogoff's mother looks on helplessly. Despite these and other perils, Strogoff completes his mission and wins the hand of the beautiful Nadia (Nathalie Kovanko). Released in the U.S. by Universal,Michael Strogoff was memorably remade as a multi-lingual production in 1935, with Anton Walbrook in the leading role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A couple of silent screen "names," Edmund Burns and Molly O'Day flounder badly in this penny-ante shipboard melodrama from Poverty Row producer Larry Darmour. Second-billed Burns plays Richard Charters, a young man imprisoned for a murder he didn't commit. Escaping, Richard dons a beard and while hiding out in a dockside dive overhears a plot to steal a sunken treasure after it had been salvaged by Captain McCall (James Donnelly). After a chance meeting with the captain's flirtatious daughter, Ann (star-billed O'Day), and her pet monkey, Richard stows away on McCall's ship. His presence, however, is revealed when he comes to the rescue of Ann, who is being mauled by Johnson (Walter Long), the villainous first mate. Although cornered by the crooks, Richard manages not only to save the day for Captain McCall and Ann but also catch the villain, Killer Lundgren (William F. Moran), who sent him to prison in the first place. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Based on a story by Jules Verne and featuring battle footage from a French film version of the tale, this epic action-adventure follows a courageous courier of the Czar Alexander II as he struggles to deliver vital information to Russian troops fighting a losing battle against the invading Tartar hoards in Siberia. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This 1954 Disney version of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea represented the studio's costliest and most elaborate American-filmed effort to date. Kirk Douglas plays a trouble-shooting 19th century seaman, trying to discover why so many whaling ships have been disappearing of late. Teaming with scientist Paul Lukas and diver Peter Lorre, Douglas sets sail to investigate--and is promptly captured by the megalomaniac Captain Nemo (James Mason), who skippers a lavish, scientifically advanced submarine. The film's special effects, including a giant squid, were impressive enough in 1954 to win an Academy Award. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Razzle-dazzle showman Michael Todd hocked everything he had to make this spectacular presentation of Jules Verne's 1872 novel Around the World in 80 Days, the second film to be lensed in the wide-screen Todd-AO production. Nearly as fascinating as the finished product are the many in-production anecdotes concerning Todd's efforts to pull the wool over the eyes of local authorities in order to cadge the film's round-the-world location shots--not to mention the wheeling and dealing to convince over forty top celebrities to appear in cameo roles. David Niven heads the huge cast as ultra-precise, supremely punctual Phileas Fogg, who places a 20,000-pound wager with several fellow members of London Reform Club, insisting that he can go around the world in eighty days (this, remember, is 1872). Together with his resourceful valet Passepartout (Cantinflas), Fogg sets out on his world-girdling journey from Paris via balloon. Meanwhile, suspicion grows that Fogg has stolen his 20,000 pounds from Bank of England. Diligent Inspector Fix (Robert Newton) is sent out by the bank's president (Robert Morley) to bring Fogg to justice. Hopscotching around the globe, Fogg pauses in Spain, where Passepartout engages in a comic bullfight (a specialty of Cantinflas). In India, Fogg and Passepartout rescue young widow Princess Aouda (Shirley MacLaine, in her third film) from being forced into committing suicide so that she may join her late husband. The threesome visit Hong Kong, Japan, San Francisco, and the Wild West. Only hours short of winning his wager, Fogg is arrested by the diligent Inspector Fixx. Though exonerated of the bank robbery charges, he has lost everything--except the love of the winsome Aouda. But salvation is at hand when Passepartout discovers that, by crossing the International Date Line, there's still time to reach the Reform Club. Will they make it? See for yourself. Among the film's 46 guest stars, the most memorable include Marlene Dietrich, Charles Boyer, Jose Greco, Frank Sinatra, Peter Lorre, Red Skelton, Buster Keaton, John Mills, and Beatrice Lillie. All were paid in barter--Ronald Colman did his brief bit for a new car. Newscaster Edward R. Murrow provides opening narration, and there's a tantalizing clip from Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon (1902). Offering a little something for everyone, Around the World in 80 Days is nothing less than an extravaganza, and it won 5 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Cinematography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Czechoslovakia-filmed Fabulous World of Jules Verne is based on the 1896 Verne novel Face the Flag. The story concerns the machinations of evil millionaire Artigas (Miloslav Holub), who plans to use a super-explosive device to conquer the world. Artigas operates from a pirate submarine, wherein he has imprisoned the explosive's inventor, Professor Roche (Arnost Navratil). One of the ships destroyed by the pirate sub includes among its passengers the scientist's daughter Jana (Jana Zatloukalova), who is rescued and spirited away to Artiga's headquarters inside an enormous volcano. Here Jana falls in love with Simon Hart (Lubor Tokos), Roche's assistant, who'd been abducted along with the Professor. Jana and Simon plan to escape the volcano in Artigas' observation balloon. Professor Roche, who foolishly believes that Artigas is a humanitarian, stays behind, but when he discovers Artigas' plans he sets off the explosive himself. The volcano is destroyed as Jana and Simon's balloon floats into the sunset. Fabulous World of Jules Verne is brilliantly filmed in a special process which causes every image on screen to resemble an old-fashioned woodcut engraving, replete with forced-perspective sets and props. The film's deliberately unrealistic visual texture, coupled with the slightly satirical, larger-than-life performances of the cast, make the delightful Fabulous World appear to be a 19th century "futuristic" novel come to life. For reasons best known to the distributor, the American version of this film is introduced by Hugh Downs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

There was neither a heroine nor a villain in Jules Verne's 1864 novel Journey to the Center of the Earth, but scenarist Charles Brackett evidently knew what he was doing by adding both to the 1959 film version. The picture proved to be a significant success in an otherwise disappointing year for 20th Century Fox. James Mason stars as amusingly absent-minded professor Oliver Lindenbrook, whose first step on a fabulous journey is prompted by a lump of lava brought to him by his student Alec McEwen (Pat Boone -- and, yes, he gets to sing). Melting down the curiously composed lump, Lindenbrook discovers a hastily scrawled message from long-lost explorer Arne Saknussem, with directions for reaching the earth's core. Accompanied by Carla (Arlene Dahl), widow of a famed geologist, and Icelandic guide Hans (Peter Ronson), Lindenbrook and Alec head down, down below. They are closely followed by the villainous Count Saknussem (Thayer David), descendant of the lost explorer who wrote the directions; the count hopes to use Lindenbrook's discoveries for his own personal and political gain (we know he's really bad when he eats Han's lovable pet goose). What follows is a festival of superb special effects, fabulous subterranean sets, and gigantized reptiles posing as dinosaurs, all brilliantly accompanied by Bernard Herrmann's ominous musical score. Journey to the Center of the Earth would later be adapted into a Saturday-morning cartoon series, again produced by 20th Century Fox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In several Have Gun, Will Travel episodes, gunslinger Paladin (Richard Boone) crosses the paths of actual historical figures. This episode represents the one-and-only time that Paladin confronts a fictional character from classic literature--namely, Phileas Fogg (Patric Knowles), the unflappable globetrotting protagonist of Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days. During the American leg of his world-girdling odyssey, Fogg hires Paladin to safely guide himself, his valet Passepartout (Jon Silo) and his beautiful travelling companion Princess Aouda (Arlene McQuade) to the town of Reno, Nevada. Unfortunately, Paladin's assignment nearly ends before it begins when the tiny party arrives on the shore of a particularly treacherous river. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this sci-fi fantasy, based on a Jules Verne story, two 18th-century men are preparing for a duel when they find themselves caught in the tremendous tailwind of a passing comet. They get sucked onto the comet's head where they find a strange world inhabited by dinosaurs and cave men. The rivals are forced to split up. When they see each other again, each has become the leader of rival cave-man clans during a war. Peace is restored when the heroes each fall for a woman belonging to the other's clan. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

With Five Weeks in a Balloon, 20th Century-Fox hoped to cash on the success of the studio's earlier Jules Verne adaptation Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1959). The plot is set in motion when 19th-century explorer Fergusson (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) volunteers to head a balloon expedition to claim an otherwise unreachable chunk of African territory for the British Empire. Along for the ride are reporter Donald O'Shay (Red Buttons), absent-minded professor Sir Henry Vining (Richard Haydn), Vining's assistant Jacques (Fabian) and schoolmarm Susan Gale (Barbara Eden). Along the way, the little party acquires another passenger when they rescue native girl Makia (Barbara Luna) from a slave trader. Their many near-death experiences include a run-in with evil potentate Sheik Ageiba (Henry Daniell). Other reliable characters on hand include Peter Lorre, Herbert Marshall, Reginald Owen, Mike Mazurki, and, in a dual role, sneezemaster Billy Gilbert. Since no one could be expected to take this sort of fare seriously, Five Weeks in a Balloon is played tongue-in-cheek, peppered with such overripe dialogue as "You, sir, are a cad!" and "Kismet! We are doomed!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Arthur Lempereur (Jean-Paul Belmondo of Breathless) is a globe-hopping millionaire, engaged to Alice (Valérie Lagrange), a beautiful young woman. As the film opens, Arthur has cut the break line on his fine automobile and proceeds to drive it off a cliff. This, we learn, is his ninth suicide attempt in the past week. Arthur is bored with his easy life. Even learning from his accountant, Biscotton (Darry Cowl), that he's ruined doesn't perk him up. On a cruise to Hong Kong, his friend Mr. Goh (Valéry Inkijinoff) comes up with a solution to Arthur's woes: "Adversity carries the chance for happiness," he explains to the despondent young man. Goh convinces Arthur to take out a two-million-dollar life insurance policy, with Goh and Alice as the beneficiaries. The policy will expire in one month. Goh then tells Arthur that his life is in danger. He may be killed at any moment. Arthur soon realizes that he's being followed. He's not so eager to be murdered. Arthur and his valet, Leon (Jean Rochefort of The Hairdresser's Husband), frantically search for Goh to ask him to call off the hit. At one point, Arthur ducks into a nightclub to dodge his pursuers, and instantly falls for Alexandrine (Ursula Andress), the stripper on-stage. Alexandrine is fascinated by the ways men try to manipulate women and assumes that Arthur's story about hired killers is a bizarre ruse. All the more determined to survive the month, the bumbling Arthur engages in a fierce battle for his life. Up to His Ears is both a loose adaptation of a Jules Verne story (Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine) and a hyped-up return to the form of director Philippe de Broca's previous action comedy, That Man from Rio, which also starred Belmondo. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide