Special Features Include: 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA

Journo Justin Beahm continues his column chronicling his favorite jam-packed DVD and Blu-ray releases.

In the age of streaming and downloading movies, Blu-ray and DVD releases are more and more dependent on additional features being included to entice the buying public. Special Features Include will spotlight the cream of the crop, exploring the bonus elements that elevate a good release to a great one.

20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA

Distributor: Disney

DVD released: 2003

Original release: 1954

Director: Richard Fleischer

Special features include:

– Audio commentary with direcor Richard Fleischer and film historian udy Behimer

– Original 1954 radio spots

– Peter Lorre’s ADR tracks

– The making of 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA featurette

– Jules Verne & Walt Disney – Explorers of the Imagination behind-the-scenes featurette

– The Humboldt Squid: A Real Sea Monster!

– The Musical Legacy of Paul Smith

– Touring the Nautilus

– Lost Treasure: The Sunset Squid Sequence

– Disney studio album

– Production Gallery

– Monsters of the Deep

– Trims

– Script excerpt: Nemo’s death

– Movie merchandise

– Themed cartoon (theatrical animated short GRAND CANYONSCOPE which was presented as part of the theatrical release

– Theatrical trailer

– Storyboard-to-scene comparison

– Unused animation

The crown jewel in Disney’s live action stable is their lush 1954 production of Jules Verne’s 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, directed by Richard Fleischer. Walt himself so adored Verne’s classic novel that he personally funded the film, going uncredited but taking a hands-on approach with the shoot. The results are nothing short of stunning, and as the film has been embraced through generations, Disney has continued to heap love and attention on their underwater epic, most notably in their 2003 double disc DVD release that has few equals in the annals of deluxe video releases.

The story revolves around Professor Pierre M Aronnax (Paul Lukas), his sidekick Conseil (Peter Lorre), and harpooner Ned Land (Kirk Douglas) heading to the high seas to investigate a series of reported monster attacks on ships. The trio end up stuck aboard a mysterious submarine called the Nautilus piloted by the mysterious Captain Nemo (James Mason). Aronnax, Conseil and Land are have to fight not only to survive, but to thwart Nemo’s mad murder spree. Douglas steal nearly every scene, but has stiff competition from the incredible sets, locations and gorgeous underwater cinematography. Add in battles with islanders, a squid, and you have the ultimate nautical adventure. The film really is peerless in its era and all since, a timeless, completely immersive experience.

Disney released the film just before Christmas on December 23, 1954 along with the Donald Duck starring GRAND CANYONSCOPE cartoon shot, and audiences ate it up. The success was met with a wave of tie-in merchandise including books with records, games and more. Disney is known for taking good care of their films, but few have had the love that 20,000 LEAGUES has seen, including numerous home video releases on VHS and laserdisc, but they trumped all previous efforts when they unleashed a glorious 2-disc special edition DVD in 2003, and it over delivers as much as the film itself.

The first disc is a gorgeous remastered transfer of the film in 2.55:1 with 5.1 surround. Disc one includes the aforementioned Donald Duck cartoon and a fantastic commentary with director Richard Fleischer and film historian Rudy Behlmer. Behlmer keeps the conversation on track and really gets Fleischer to dig in on details and revelations throughout the running time. Nary a dead moment with these two, with stories about all stars, the challenges of underwater shooting, and more all the way through to distribution and legacy. Included is the story of the aborted first attempt at the squid battle, initially shot at sunset. Fleischer says Walt Disney saw what had been shot, and disliked the results so much he had them not only shoot everything over, but dictated replacement of the massive octopus itself, having his creature shop team at Disneyland work up the beast that finally ended up in the film. Great stuff.

Disc two is borderline ridiculous in how packed it is. We get a tour of the Nautilus, a featurette made up of footage of the film intercut with blueprints, workshop stills and photos from set. This ship has become the iconic “Face” of the film, and some say a pioneering influence on the steampunk movement, and it is easy to see why when you move from stem to stern, exploring all the incredible detail.

The making-of documentary clocks in at 90 minutes and is nothing short of incredible. It is really special, and since many of these kinds of materials are often lost to time after a film wraps, it is precious that Disney not only cataloged everything shared here, but assembled them as they have for fans in this feature. You see it all, from a mountain of behind the scenes footage to interviews with all the main cast and crew, mixed with rare stills and a beautiful score. Just fantastic.

One especially exciting piece is the inclusion of some 16mm on set footage of the infamous sunset squid attack sequence. Once Walt scrapped what was initially shot, he had all the footage scrapped, but decades later some behind the scenes footage was found, assembled here in sequence as close to the storyboards as possible. A real treat for fans who have been reading about this for so long.

From there you get an informative featurette on squids, on composer Paul Smith, and a 15 minute short blending the lives of Disney and Verne. Some unused animation clips, scene trims, and a script excerpt showcasing the originally planned sequence where Nemo commits suicide, takes the ship down with himself and everyone left on board. Beyond all of that there are galleries, merchandise pics and more.

This release is a revelation. A dream for fans of this film and film in general. Disney is best known for animation, but as that is changing now with the inclusion of STAR WARS, Marvel and the other efforts made in the last decade, especially. When looking back at the lineage of this important studio, 20,000 LEAGUES must be considered as an incredibly important moment on a timeline that has influenced so much in our entertainment. There is no Blu-ray of the film yet, but a HD transfer is available via iTunes, although the differences between it and the DVD transfer here are negligible. Some unnecessary tinkering also happened in the process, including a general teal colored wash, darkening of several scenes (including the octopus battle), and making Lorre’s face a weird shade of pale in the scene where he has a seasick conversation with Douglas on the deck. Regardless, we can hope this ends up on Blu at some point. Until then, we can treasure this 2-disc goldmine.