A group of confederate soldiers escape from prison and steal a balloon. Swept off course during a violent storm they land on an island populated by giant creatures crabs, chickens, bees - you name it, and all intent on attacking our intrepid heroes.
This Ray Harryhausen special effects binge (he gets but the barest mention by the way) was made in 1961. A 40Oft cut-down was issued by Columbia on Super 8. It was not very well edited and had irritating narration. This exciting trailer includes all the highlights of the film which starred Michael Craig, Gary Merrill, Herbert Lom (as Captain Nemo) and Joan Greenwood. Rather surprisingly, Mysterious Island was made in the UK with the escape in the balloon being filmed in Shepperton Square and in miniature back at the studio
Spiffing good fun as they used to say. Nice sharp print with pretty good colour and excellent sound. The master has some wear evident but that is often the case with older master material.
Columbia Pictures once released a 400ft edited version of Mysterious Island. It is no longer available new.
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Distributed by: Classic Home Cinema. I have this film in my collection my rating: Picture |
The above review was printed in |
This page was last updated 02 Dec 2002
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