Still Watching the Skies: Episode 139 “Mysterious Island (1961)”

By Robert Reineke

This month, Robert and Nat go it without an under the weather Cody. To make up for that absence, we are joined by Hunter Fagan of Dis-Order and Grim Grinning Hosts to talk Jules Verne and Ray Harryhausen in 1961’s MYSTERIOUS ISLAND.

There was a Jules Verne boom in cinemas in the 1950s and 1960s sparked by Disney’s 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. Verne’s scientific romances with globe trotting journeys to exotic places proved to be a respite from the grim realities of the 20th century in the aftermath of World War II and in the midst of the Cold War, promising simpler times and pleasures.

Starting with an escape from a Confederate military prison, a disparate mix of prisoners, a war correspondent, and a Confederate guard soon find themselves trapped on a volcanic island in the middle of the Pacific. An island, with an unusual bevy of native creatures.

Under the lead of Union Captain Cyrus Harding (Michael Craig), the castaways encounter a series of giant size beasties, adapt a cave into a home, are fortunate to have some shipwrecked women wash up on shore (a thing that only happens in movies, find a mysterious benefactor, Captain Nemo (Herbert Lom), and have to escape the island before a volcano erupts. All in a brisk, breezy, colorful 101 minutes.

It’s some breathless storytelling with Ray Harryhausen being a major selling point. We discuss if a little more time taking a breath would have been useful to take in Nemo’s change from villain to hero and if some more development of characters in general would have made for a better movie. We marvel at the Ray Harryhausen effects and discuss what’s been lost in the modern polished CGI era. We also discuss Bernard Herrman’s score before engaging in some general silliness around the film.

No need to find a long-lost super science submarine to enjoy the podcast; give us a play below or download the episode. Also, feel free to let us know what you think by commenting on our page at Facebook or you can Email Us at skiespocast@gmail.com as we appreciate feedback.

Time tracks:
0:00:00 – MYSTERIOUS ISLAND Discussion
1:26:57- Next Movie and Outro

Next month, we journey back to the 1980s and a film described as a mix of MELVIN AND HOWARD and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND with UFOria. We hope you’ll join us.

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Robert Reineke

Robert Reineke was born in the dark era before cable television, but somehow survived based on a steady diet of Universal Monsters, Hammer Horror, 1950s science fiction, and Godzilla on his local UHF station. As a college student, he discovered the works of David Lynch and Akira Kurosawa which opened up different vistas for him. When he’s not doing useful things like heading up environmental investigations and cleanups or designing sewers, you can find him watching movies, writing about them, and talking about them. He’s a booster of the Milwaukee Film Festival. Somehow he puts up with young whippersnappers Nat Almiral and Cody Lang on the Still Watching the Skies podcast.