20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)

Based on Jules Verne's story of revenge, this is actually quite an impressive production that tries pretty hard to deliver a reasonably plausible production of this tale of "Nemo" (Allen Holubar). He has built this magnificent undersea vessel so he can avenge the death of his beloved Princess "Daaker" at the hands of "Denver" (William Welch). Meantime, acclaimed French scientist "Aronnax" (Dan Hanlon) and his daughter (Edna Pendleton) have embarked upon a ship that is sunk by "Nemo" and both of them, as well as harpoonist "Ned Land" (Curtis Benton) are taken on board. Initially as prisoners, but once the captain discovers the credentials of "Aronnax" that regime is relaxed. How long can this man continue to raid the shipping lanes before the military might - and a bit of a fifth column - track him down? To get any joy from this, you have to remember not just how embryonic cinema was then, but underwater photography (and action imagery, at that) too. Certainly, the cast are really nothing to write home about and much of the start has more to do with the author's "Mysterious Island", but it is still a groundbreaking piece of cinema that though frequently rather slow and stodgy, is still worth watch.

A very cool production, unfortunately dragged down by whatever the SE Asian term is for blackface. Well worth watching the underwater footage, but skip the rest.