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1868 an armed frigate, sent to seek out a fabled destroyer of ships, is itself sunk and three passengers from the frigate are rescued: a harpooner, Ned Land, a professor, who is an expert on the creatures of the sea, and his assistant. They discover that the "monster" that they were searching for was in reality the first man-made submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by Captain Nemo, a madman who is only willing to share his secrets of nuclear energy with the world on his own terms. Land rescues Nemo from the clutches of a giant squid and eventually manages to alert the outside world to the location of Nemo's secret island base, and Nemo and his creations are destroyed.
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The first Disney feature filmed in CinemaScope®. Disney special-effects wizards constructed the giant squid of rubber, steel spring, flexible tubing, glass cloth, lucite, and plastic, with tentacles measuring 40 feet with two feelers of 50 feet. It could rear up eight feet out of the water, its tentacles and feelers moving with frightening realism. It took a staff of 28 men to operate the intricate remote controls. Using hydraulics, electronics, and compressed air, they succeeded in giving a life-like appearance to the squid. But there were problems. The squid fight had to be filmed a second time after Walt Disney and the director, Richard Fleischer, were unhappy with the initial results. It had been filmed in a special tank on brand-new sound stage 3 at the Disney Studio as if it were sunset on a placid sea; unfortunately this allowed one a view of too much of the mechanics that enabled the squid to move, and it looked fake. The scene was shot a second time, as if it were a stormy night, with 100 backstage workers on hand providing the needed lightning, rain, turbulent seas, and hurricane winds, and the illusion was perfect.
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Based on the classic story by Jules Verne. Academy Award® winner for Best Special Effects and Best Art Decoration/Set Decoration (John Meehan and Emile Kuri); nominated also for Best Film Editing. 127 min. The movie featured the song "A Whale of a Tale" by Al Hoffman and Norman Gimbel. Director Fleischer was the son of Walt's early animation rival, Max Fleischer, who had created the Out of the Inkwell and Betty Boop cartoons, and Walt made sure that Max did not object before he hired his son. Locations for the film included the Disney and 20th Century Fox lots in California, and various locales in The Bahamas and Jamaica. The Nautilus was designed by Harper Goff. Reissued in theaters in 1963 and 1971. Released on video in 1980, 1985, and 1992. A television show on the making of the film, "Operation Undersea," won the Emmy for best television program of the year. The Nautilus set was displayed for a time at Disneyland® Park.
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