8mm Forum: Monster From Under the Sea 1x200ft

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Posted by Patrick Walsh (Member # 637) on August 23, 2007, 03:37 AM:

A great digest from the Disney film 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA
film begins wit the sub underway under the sea then we see the squid and it follows the sub and attaches itself, inside the sub a electrical charged is released onto the squid causing it to let go and have another go at the sub, Nemo decides to surface the sub and attack the beast face on, sub surfaces and we see Nemo and his men go after the squid that is now on the surface on the back of the sub, some nice shots of the squid prop complete with a big beek, we cut to Mr Douglas Sr's escape from a cell, then we see a small shot of Peter Lore on the sub's bridge, back to the squid and Capt Nemo is now caught in the "arms" of the beast, and Mr Douglas appears just in time to save the Capt and kill the squid by throwing a spear into it's head, the squid drops off and sinks then the sub is under way again,fade to THE END card.

A nice 200ft from Disney and the colour and sharpness is very good.

Posted by Trevor Adams (Member # 42) on August 23, 2007, 05:04 AM:

Nice one Patrick.You know,in the book,Capt.Nemo rescues Ned Land... [Wink]

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on August 23, 2007, 12:09 PM:

Got a whale of a tale to tell ya, lads
A whale of a tale or two
'Bout the flappin' fish and the girls I've loved
On nights like this with the moon above
A whale of a tale and it's all true
I swear by my tattoo

Doug

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on August 23, 2007, 01:39 PM:

Was the late great DEREK SIMMONDS offered the full feature of this title,when he signed that deal with Disney back in the early 90's?.
I heard it wouldhave been in scope too.Any truth or was it just hear-say?.Andy.

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on August 23, 2007, 10:20 PM:

Andrew,

I also would have loved that
film as full length feature in
scope.

On an earlier topic
it mentioned that Derek declined
a full length scope release
of 20,000 Leagues under the sea.

quote:
Topic: Derann is asking what would you like to see in 8mm?

Barry Attwood
Master Film Handler

Posts: 476
From: Enfield, U.K.
Registered: Aug 2003

- posted June 04, 2006 03:08 AM

"As to titles like "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" I had a few years back a lovely IB Tech 16mm edited version, professionally edited by Disney, and I offered this to Derek to release, and he told me he had the chance to release it F/L in Scope, but at the time no one was interested, all the collector wanted was the animated classics, and now it was too late, and wouldn't sell!"

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on August 24, 2007, 10:40 AM:

This was just one of the highpoints of this feature. On the 2 disc DVD release of this film, it has the original giant squid fight, which was done at sunset. The squid was laughable, the cables could be easily seen. Disney wisely said, "Trash it!" and they redid the sequence and, needless to say, it became a classic!

Yes,a feature of this would have been magnificent!

Posted by Patrick Walsh (Member # 637) on August 24, 2007, 05:08 PM:

This digest was the 1st film I brought on super 8, I just watched it again and I am amazed at the good quality and sound.
the film also comes up with a copyright warning at the start this is the only film I have that has this on it, is there other films out there that have this warning on it, it is like the ones on the VHS tapes at the start.
Pat

Posted by Richard Fullerton (Member # 2457) on September 23, 2012, 09:56 AM:

Hi there all,
Today I shall be doing a brief review (my first, might I add) of a little gem known as ‘Monster from under the Sea’ (essentially just the 20k squid scene).
I shall start with a short overview of the making of the film that this extract is derived from:
Early in Walt Disney’s career, the man was known mainly for his cartoons. Sure; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs won several awards; but nobody in the business was really prepared to take him seriously.
Disney had been obsessed with 20,000 Leagues under the Sea for some time, and designer Harper Goff shared his passion for Jules Verne. While Disney was off working in England, Goff decided to some work of his own.
Disney returned to find that while he had been away, Goff had mapped out his vision for the entire film. Disney was even more surprised to find that Goff had envisioned the film as live-action (something that Disney could never have dreamed of earlier in his career). Safe to say, Disney realised that an animated feature just wouldn’t do; and little did he know that he was laying the stepping stones for something bigger than he ever had imagined.
Of course, Disney’s dream wasn’t the only thing that was growing. Leaps and bounds were going on at the Disney Studios too. Stage 3 was built as a stage with a pool to house the full-sized nautilus deck, underwater shots and the giant squid; and various props and large set pieces were being constructed.
Disney knew that as part of the film’s success, serious actors were needed for the main quartet. And this fell, as usual, to Disney’s brother Roy who had to deal with the money.
The actors finally cast were James Mason, Paul Lukas, Peter Lorre; and Kirk Douglas.
Among the final castings were award-winning cinematographers and set designers, France Planer and Emile Kuri; along with director Richard Fleischer (a surprising choice, considering that Fleischer was the son of Max Fleischer; one of Walt Disney’s main competitors).
In the following 2 years required to make the film, the cast and crew went through disasters (don’t even ask me about that first squid) that had the potential to shut down the whole film, and even threaten Walt’s plans for Disneyland. But they survived; and the rest is history.

Now, I am aware that I have been neglecting the super 8mm release that I am here to talk about; so I’ll get straight to it.
All in all; Monster from under the Sea is a lovely little feature. It isn’t a proper digest (like the excellent Piccolo release) and it is far from the full film (like that Italian bootleg); but it is what it is, and that is a ruddy great slice of classic cinema history. And nice quality it is too; sharp with barely a blemish.
I’ve heard that the English/American copies were printed on faded stock, and if you want nice colour, check the foreign ebays; but my print doesn’t appear to have suffered. In fact, I would describe it as pretty much mint condition, and any scenes that look slightly dubious are really down to lighting. The sound is decent, but I have to mark it down for not including the fantastic main theme for the film.

All in all- a quite exciting release of a very exciting extract. And even if it has its flaws; I love the movie itself too much to really care (I know; I’m very biased). So I rate the release itself 9.5/10, but if you really want nice colour, you’d be better to look for a foreign copy, as I just got lucky.

Screencaps are here:
http://www.photoshop.com/users/thephanfullerton/albums/a04b2d6c83884cdd83eaaf6c0b2c0b19

by Richard Fullerton.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on September 23, 2012, 10:01 AM:

Hi Richard, Disney of course did their own stuff in the USA, but
Bucks Films printed some over here,Derek can be seen selling
copies of this little 200' for £1.00 on their video at Pinewood.
I have both these prints and both are still holding up well.I did
say in a different thread that I would do a side by side test,
because I think the Bucks print has the edge.A second extract
would have been definate bonus,considering it was such a big
budget feature.

Posted by Laksmi Breathwaite (Member # 2320) on September 28, 2012, 02:08 AM:

Hey Patrick, any body got a good color print of this for sale my print is a bit red. I would love to get a real good color print on good stock of this classic And I would love a digest if I could get one.

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