The Mysterious Island of Captain Nemo

This new rendition about Jules Verne novel is developed during the American Civil war (1861-1865) , Union POWs (Jess Hahn, Philippe Nicaud , Gerard Tichy and a boy , Rafael Bardem Jr) escape in a balloon and end up stranded on a lonely South Pacific island . They must use their ingenious and wisdom to survive risks and dangers , as weird ray-guns and to devise a way to return at home . They also find another island , a shipwrecked man (Gabriele Tinti) who joins the motley group , besides , appearing Captain Nemo (Omar Sharif) and his submarine . Meanwhile , a band of pirates (Rick Battaglia , Mariano Vidal Molina , Victor Israel , among others) attack the island.

This is the following to ¨20000 leagues under the sea¨, containing fantastic adventures , suspense , thrills , shootouts and wonderful outdoors . The cinematic version -two hours approximately- is plenty of flaws , however the overlong miniseries in 6 episodes, being more adequate . The film is marvelously set on location in Lanzarote , natural park of Timanfaya , Canary Islands , Alicante and Cameroon . Captain Nemo is middling played by Omar Sharif , he was very angry because being hired for a cinema production when the picture turned into a TV mini-series . Average special effects with a cheesy submarine made by means of scale model , though interiors are well realized . The film packs a sensitive , touching musical score by Gianni Ferrio , an usual musician of Spaghetti Western (Sledge, Desperados) . Colorful cinematography by cameraman Enzo Sarafian, though being necessary a rapid adjust but the copy is worn-out . The movie was professionally co-directed by Juan Antonio Bardem and Henry Colpi . Bardem is one of the best Spanish directors with various excellent pictures ( Main street , Vendetta , and Comedians) . Henry Colpi was a prestigious editor and occasionally director and here was assistant direction . Other versions about this known story are the following ones : The best version in 1961 directed by Cy Endfield with monsters created by Ray Harryhausen and with Herbert Lom as Nemo and TV version , 2005 , by Russell Mulcahy with Patrick Stewart as Nemo .