The Return of Captain Nemo (1978 TV Movie) User Reviews

THE AMAZING CAPTAIN NEMO {Condensed Theatrical Version Of TV Mini-Series THE RETURN OF CAPTAIN NEMO} (Alex March, 1978) **

[Bunuel1976 · 4/10 · 2 November 2007]

I know this film was shown on local TV when I was a kid, but I can't remember whether I watched it or not; seeing it now, considering how utterly forgettable it is, I still don't know – so I counted it as a first viewing! There have been several films featuring the title character, a creation of visionary French author Jules Verne; these include: 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1954; with James Mason in the role), MASTER OF THE WORLD (1961; Vincent Price), MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961; Herbert Lom), CAPTAIN NEMO AND THE UNDERWATER CITY (1969; Robert Ryan) and THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND OF CAPTAIN NEMO (1973; Omar Sharif).

This version stars Academy Award winner Jose' Ferrer. However, even if the premise itself isn't half-bad – awakened from suspended animation in his submarine, "The Nautilus", and finding himself in modern times, Nemo adopts all his ingenuity to aid the U.S. Navy in defeating megalomaniac scientist Burgess Meredith – it emerges as easily his most infantile adventure yet! For instance: five seconds into the film, Meredith's assistant – donning a steel mask – rants that "The World Shall Be Ours!"); equally hilarious are the zealous gesticulations of the similarly decked-out midget, whose task it is to fire The Professor's all-important "Delta Beam" - and how about those android-type minions aboard Meredith's vessel who never seem to do much of anything?!

Ferrer manages to maintain his dignity throughout, but Meredith is an embarrassment (in what is virtually a retread of his Penguin characterization from the 1960s BATMAN TV series and film) where the budget was so tight – mostly invested in bland production design and shoddy special effects, no doubt, and both evidently influenced by STAR WARS (1977) – that, apparently, they couldn't even afford him a decent costume (he looks positively idiotic wearing a tie in a sub)! The supporting cast includes Mel Ferrer (playing a saboteur in the vein of Joan Fontaine from another Irwin Allen production, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA [1961], and who engages in a swashbuckling routine with his namesake inside the engine-room of "The Nautilus"), Lynda Day George (unsurprisingly, she's the only female character around) and Horst Buchholz (as the King Of Atlantis – for whatever reason, Nemo is obsessed with locating the famed Lost Continent).

By the way, having been reduced from a three-part mini-series for theatrical exhibition, the film obviously feels choppy – though one is still able to discern where one episode ended and another began.

Surprise-filled entertainment and with plenty of action on middling , scale as well as primitive special effects

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 3 December 2020]

After a century of being in cryogenic suspension, Captain Nemo : José Ferrer is revived by two US Navy divers : Burr DeBenning , Tom Hallick . Then Nemo is transported to San Francisco , being assigned the mission to stop a megalomaniac Professor , Burguess Meredith, who attempts to bomb the capital Washington and other cities in the World . Along the way , Nemo goes on his search for the lost city of Atlantis , delated a hundred years by his long time in stasis by suspended animation, and he even he meets an Atlantis prince : Horst Bucholz. His goal was Atlantis , but first he must conquer the menace of the depths ¡ .

Silly but agreeable adventure movie with thrills , action , full of fun and amusement , including some spectacular sets . It is a thrilling movie with some psychotronic elements , blending fantasy , science-fiction , cheesy conversation , and underwater adventures . This is a corny and camp amusement with a nonsensical plot , mingling embarrassing stories as atomic missiles, Atlantis , underwater fights . The pic results to be a rip-off from other films as "The lost City of Captain Nemo" in which takes partiallly its plot and the submarines war , as the villains appearing are in "Batman" series style , as well as " Irwin Allen's Voyage to the bottom of the sea" by copying the scale model subs and similar sea scenes . Main and support cast are acceptable . Jose Ferrer is pretty well as a serious Nemo who will fight at whatever cost to detain the villain Professor and his ominous purports . While Burguess Meredith overacting as a mad scientist threatening the World in exchance for several million dollars , and he will stop at nothing to get it. Secondary actors are decent such as Horst Buchholz , Tom Hallick, Burr DeBenning , Linda Day George , Warren Stevens , Peter Jason, Mel Ferrer , among others. The scale model submarine utilizad in shooting was originally constructed as one of the Seaview , as both of them bear remarkable resemblance .

This condensed theatrical rendition based on a TV series was regularly directed by Alex March. Other films in which shows up this mythical literary personage are the following ones : 20.000 leagues under the sea 1954 by Richard Fleischer with James Mason , Kirk Douglas Peter Lorre. Mysterious island 1961 by Cy Enfield with Herbert Lom, James Craig , Joan Greenwood , Michael Callan . Captain Nemo and the Underwater city 1969 by James Hill with Chuck Connors , Robert Ryan , Nanette Newman, . The Mysterious Island 1973 by Juan Antonio Bardem with Omar Shariff, Rock Battaglia , Gerard Tichy . Mysterious island 2005 by Russell Mulcahy witb Patrick Stewart , Gabrielle Anwar , Vinnie Jones , Roy Marsden and 20.000 leagues under the sea 1997 by Rod Hardy with Michael Caine , Patrick Dempsey , Mia Sara , among others .

Jules Verne was also a biographer

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 8 July 2015]

This short lived television series based on a cryogenically frozen Captain Nemo coming to life in the latter part of the 20th century and and putting his Nautilus at the disposal of the USA whom he sees as the good guys. Of course it helps that Naval Intelligence undersea branch in the persons of Tom Hallick and Burr DeBenning discover him and thaw him out. They serve as first and second mates on detached duty from the navy.

His Nautilus even beats our nuclear submarines, but it isn't the Russians who have a better boat. It's arch villain Burgess Meredith as a mad scientist who wants to rule the world with a half human, half robot crew that wants that.

This film is compilation of three episodes of the television series. While it was done it must have been a hoot for both Jose Ferrer and Burgess Meredith. These guys were just loving trying to top the other in outrageous displays of ham acting. They make it a joy to watch this most inferior science fiction film.

Best line in the film was when Hallick says Captain Nemo was a figure of fiction, Ferrer says that Jules Verne was a biographer as well as a science fiction writer. From there get set for some ham a la mode.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Meets 1966 Batman And Star Wars

[StuOz · 5 August 2003]

Captain Nemo is still alive in 1978.

The Amazing Captain Nemo (aka three episode TV series The Return Of Captain Nemo) is an odd ball mix of TV's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964), TV's Batman (1966) and Star Wars (1977). This show is totally unique. There has never been anything like this ever before where these three classic titles all come together so well.

I was just 12 in 1978 when this appeared on Australian TV in 1978. I had spent the last few years of my life watching Irwin Allen sci-fic TV like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Lost In Space but they were all afternoon re-runs of something that was made in another decade. Nemo was NEW!

Even today I remember the constant TV advertising that played for seven days and seven nights before the show screened! Then on a Saturday night it appeared and one of the characters even mentions the year as being 1978, which really pushed the point that it was current. I seem to remember enjoying the show at the time but I was perhaps a bit too young to like the well spoken lines of Jose Ferrer as Captain Nemo and Burgess Meredith as the Batman-ish bad guy. Seeing the sub encounter a force field and having the crew get frozen in time was interesting to a 12 year old. But now let me move on to my adult reaction ....

Never dull for a second.

Outstanding Richard LaSalle score.

The not perfect submarine miniatures do the job (better than having CGI).

The acting/dialogue from the whole cast is first class. Not a single dud cast member, they all shine!

It has a sense of playful fun not seen in Irwin Allen's City Beneath The Sea (1971) and other Allen TV movies.

Don't expect the Captain Nemo of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954) or the Mysterious Island (1961). This is Jose Ferrer's fun loving version of the character that reminds me of his work in the movie Cyrano de Bergerac (1950).

In a nutshell: don't listen to the critics of this film (aka three episode TV series), who cares if Irwin Allen took his name off it, if you love Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and 1966 Batman, you will love this 1978 take on Captain Nemo!

Bad Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea redux

[TVholic · 3/10 · 9 January 2011]

Two years after Irwin Allen did some of his best work with his Time Travelers TV movie, he did some of his worst with this summer replacement series. I remember rather liking this back then. Revisiting it via the recently released Amazing Captain Nemo DVD, it's nothing like what I thought I remembered. It was much less fun and exciting. I think I'll stick with my memories. Thanks to the Towering Inferno and the Poseidon Adventure, Allen earned the sobriquet, "Master of Disaster." With this, that was certainly accurate. It was definitely a disaster.

The plot made no sense at all. At one point, Nemo tells Tom to set his hand weapon to stun because "We are not murderers." Never mind that a stunned scuba diver would probably drown, probably a less pleasant death. Only minutes later, they utterly destroy the villain's submarine, so presumably everyone onboard is killed. The Atlanteans appear to be able to breathe water, but Nemo insists that they take his mini-sub to escape. Amazing Captain Nemo, edited down to two hours from several episodes, was even worse. The editing was completely haphazard, jumping from scene to scene at times and being hard to follow.

This cast was utterly forgettable. Jose Ferrer chews the scenery but does little else, once flinging his cape backwards as if he were auditioning for Phantom of the Opera. Tom Hallick, who had previously appeared on Allen's Time Travelers, was okay, but the character was about as two-dimensional as they come, like all of the other characters. Lynda Day George stood around as decoration but didn't actually do anything to help the crew.

A superior undersea effort came a year earlier, with the Man from Atlantis TV movie. That also featured a former Batman guest villain, namely Victor Buono (King Tut) while this had Burgess Meredith (the Penguin). That movie also featured mind control devices. Was Allen cribbing again? Like most Irwin Allen works, there was no character development here. Nemo is stuffy and good. Cunningham is crabby and evil. The Navy pair are loyal. Nobody grows or changes at all through the series.

Allen stole from everything this time. It's no accident that the corridor on Professor Cunningham's sub resembles the one from the beginning of Star Wars. Even the music during that fight shamelessly apes John Williams' iconic score, but without the master's touch. Allen reused (twice!) a shot of two mines colliding and exploding, taken from his 1961 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea movie.

Just how chintzy was the budget? The filming model of the villain's submarine was recognizably built using major parts from a model kit of the Space: 1999 Eagle, which you could buy from any hobby store at the time for less than $10. Maybe that's why they called it the Raven. I can't imagine any other reason why someone would name an undersea vehicle after an aerial creature. To mask the poor effects, every "underwater" shot was filled with swirling particles and silt. There were "robots" in cheap rubber masks and spray-painted wetsuits. The mask on Tor muffled the actor's voice and they never bothered to even dub it, even though it would have been easy since there were no lip movements to match. Not that hearing him more clearly would have been a blessing. His lines were monotonous, ridiculous ones like, "Aliens live! Aliens must be destroyed!" If you must watch one of Irwin Allen's undersea works, I strongly suggest going with his Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea series instead. That was ten times better than this. Or better yet, get the 1961 Voyage theatrical movie with Walter Pidgeon and Barbara Eden.

Fire Delta Beam!

[Rob_Taylor · 3/10 · 27 November 2005]

This has to rate as one of the cheesiest of TV shows in a long time.

Jose Ferrer played the title character, Nemo. He did the part justice and certainly looked the part. But nowadays, it strikes me that the Nemo he was made up to be bore more than a passing resemblance to Captain Bird's Eye, from the TV commercials. Or maybe it's the other way around.

His nemesis, Professor Cunningham, was overacted brilliantly by Burgess Meredith. He never seemed to get over his "Penguin" days from Batman. Although he doesn't do his Penguin "quack" here, he is without parallel as the maniacal Professor. Only John Colicos, of Battlestar Galactica fame, chewed up the scenery better as a maniacal despot.

I never can recall what the grudge was between Nemo and Cunningham, but it must have been severe, since the Prof. never missed a chance to try and scupper Nemo, and vice-versa.

The effects were nothing special, though Prof. Cunningham's submarine was way better looking than Nemo's. It also had a crew of strange, fish-like amphibians that served Cunningham and did his every bidding.

However, the most memorable aspect of the whole show was Prof. Cunningham's secret weapon. The Delta Beam! He was forever saying "Fire Delta Beam!", whereupon, a fishy crewman would horribly overract the motion of firing the weapon by use of a full shoulder shrug. Truly priceless! They don't make them like this anymore, and perhaps just as well. But like other series of this era, for those who remember it, it will always have an affectionate, if cheddar-covered, place in our hearts.

"Someone has taken control of my nuclear submarine!"

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 21 July 2022]

The legendary Captain Nemo (Jose Ferrer, "The Caine Mutiny") is revived after a century in suspended animation, and has a series of adventures in the modern-day seas. His order of business often consists of contending with a persistent nemesis, Professor Cunningham (Burgess Meredith, "Rocky" 1 to 3), a power-crazed mad scientist. Cunningham utilizes contemporary technology that is comparable to that devised by Nemo in the 19th century, and also commands a half-human / half-mechanical crew.

'The Amazing Captain Nemo' was conceived as a three-part pilot for a proposed series, and in fact SEVEN writers are credited with its script (including "Psycho" scribe Robert Bloch). It's too bad that such a series never materialized, as this TV movie has a wonderfully giddy, goofy, and old-fashioned quality that makes it good entertainment of its kind. While obviously not a patch on the Disney feature film of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", it looks like a fair amount of money was spent on this; the sets are good, and the special effects DID win an Emmy for the production. Overall, this viewer had fun with it, although the story kind of fades in the stretch; the final third is not as much fun as the first two.

But it's a treat to watch this cast at work. Ferrer makes for a very engaging Nemo, and Meredith is suitably amusing as the bad guy. They're well supported by Mel Ferrer ("Lili"), Horst Buchholz ("The Magnificent Seven"), Tom Hallick ("Hangar 18"), Burr DeBenning ("The Incredible Melting Man"), Lynda Day George ('Mission: Impossible'), Warren Stevens ("Forbidden Planet"), and Med Flory ("The Nutty Professor"). Anthony Geary ("UHF"), Peter Jason ("They Live"), and Jerry Maren ("Little Cigars") have small roles.

'The Amazing Captain Nemo' is, in general, quite agreeable; it's played with such affable earnestness that this viewer couldn't resist it, even if the resolution ultimately fell short of real satisfaction. It did do its job to an extent. As previously mentioned, it makes the audience interested to see how an actual weekly series might have played out.

Seven out of 10.

He's wet! He's wild! He's visited by men in short skirts!

[afnaste · 10/10 · 16 August 2002]

A very fun bad movie. Jose Ferrer (who played Emporer Shaddam IV in the fake video version of Dune) was the only good actor in this film. I saw this for the first time on TV in the late eighties in Woburn MA. I love submarine shows, fact and fiction, and my friends and I were heckling bad movies long before MST3K did it professionally. Professor Cunningham is the world's most senile supervillain. Tor the xenophobic psychic android was hilarious with his "Aliens must die!" lines. I swear that Cunningham's sub the Raven looked like it was made from Space:1999 Eagle parts. When Mr. Miller said that,"The U.S. government is not a commercial enterprise" I howled with laughter. Also laughed when Miller held up a Betamax videotape (another case of superior marketing [VHS] beating out superior technology [Beta], like Microsoft's brilliant marketing of crappy software, or the soap opera-like addictiveness of the WWE). Nemo's submarine the Nautilus was an incredible anachronism, psychedelic nuclear fission reactor, stealth projector, laser cannon, force field, 120 knots top speed (I believe our fastest subs today go almost 40 knots), and a crush depth deeper than anything other than the Bathyscape Trieste (which reached the deepest part of the oceans in 1960 with 2 crewmen aboard). Good guys fired blue stun lasers while bad guys fired red kill shots. Tor had the best handgun, 5 settings, stun, kill, 'freeze', 'thaw', force field. They even slowed down some Star Wars music for a corridor fight scene! The Atlantean King's two top advisors set off my gaydar. Apparently the formula for Nemo's laser beam is only about 10 characters long, according to Cunningham's brain tap, like wow man. I give this a 10 as a bad movie!

A Hybrid of Voyage Bottom Sea-Galactica under Irwin Allen's cinema fantastic!!

[elo-equipamentos · 6/10 · 17 October 2023]

What was planned to be a TV series "Return of Captain Nemo" the producer Irwin Allen already aware just in three episodes envisages a failure or something alike, thus they adjust all fulfilled episodes in a TV movie "The Amazing Captain Nemo" Irwin Allen's concept, also he brought his old whole crew to do it according his early standards of cinema fantastic.

In far off 1877 the Nautilus struck in a cliff on deep water, thus Captain Nemo disbanded Nautilus's crew to surface and to save the advanced submarine he enters in a suspended animation on cryogenic chamber and 101 years ahead thru a war games on pacific area two Naval Officer finding him there, through a shock wave he awakes in 1978, soon they invite Nemo to Nautilus repair on US's Naval shipyard's drydock in San Francisco, in the meantime a diabolic genius Prof. Waldo Cunningham (Burgess Meredith) is willing to vanish of map Washington by a delta beam if the USA's president pay him on billion dollars in gold, he has another high-tech submarine.

In exchange of Nautilus's repair and upgrade Mr. Miller (Warren Stevens) chief of secret service asking for a help to Nemo aiming for locate the wild Prof. Waldo and try stop the menace at Washington, the same US's naval officers joint in a Nemo assignment as Nautilus's crew members, Captain Nemo has an agreement with Mr. Miller after struggles against the evil Prof. Waldo if he accomplishes the task, will be free to pinpoint the sunk Atlantis civilization after Hercules's portals.

As said for a reviewer here I've rather the older miniatures instead any CGI process, aside it has some technical aspects that will against beyond imagination as Nautilus is stronger under high pressure on deepest waters that any highest advanced Atom Submarine available in late seventies, well we've to stand such outrageous benchmarking, the obsolete Nautilus has a handheld operation, instead the US's Submarine are driven by high-tech computer, the casting is fabulous, José Ferrer and Meredith got the show for themselves, the supporting is fine as well, a hybrid of Voyage from the Bottom of the Sea and Galactica with those hooded machine men with metallic voice, great fun indeed.

Thanks for reading

Resume:

First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: Youtube / Rating: 6.

Camp fun

[egregiusnotanumberdamnit · 19 July 2004]

The Amazing Captain Nemo is a movie not worth searching out, but definitely worth watching if it's on TV late at night, when you don't take everything that is shown very seriously anymore. The movie has a deliciously nonsensical story about 2 Navy-commando's who accidentally find Captain Nemo and free him from stasis. After a 100 years, the Nautilus is still light years ahead of other submarines in terms of technology. When a mad scientist threatens the world in exchange for a ransom, Captain Nemo's help gets asked, even though he really wants to continue his search for Atlantis.

The movie is full of over-wrought cheesy dialogue, over-acting, and unbelievable technology, but that's really the movie's charm. The mad scientist's dialogue could be used, line-for-line, as samples in techno-songs; that's how campy it is. Jose Ferrer is really the right man for the role. Although I know him more for his serious roles in secret intelligence movies, he plays the role of the larger-than-life Nemo fantastically. A fun movie to watch on a bored Friday night.

A merely-tolerable surrogate for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

[mahatmarandy · 28 September 2005]

I fondly remember watching this show when it first aired in 1978. I was very excited about it thanks to previews in Starlog magazine, and had been waiting for it for months. I videotaped all three episodes on my dad's Betamax. I was 11.

I enjoyed it, but even at 11 I was *very* aware that it was, at root, a retread of the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea premise about a super-sub and it's super-genius owner/builder who save the world from certain annihilation every week. The sets were similar to Voyage ones, the feel of the show was similar, and at one point during a dive scene, we even get a few bars of the old Voyage theme music. I would not have been surprised if Admiral Nelson or the Seaview showed up at some point, it was just that similar. (And I later found out that the Nautilus miniature was actually a heavily re-worked Seaview miniature!) That said, it wasn't that good. I enjoyed it as only an 11-year-old weaned on crappy Irwin Allen shows can, but I was very much aware that it wasn't a really great show. It's about on par w/ some of the 4th season episodes of Voyage: watchable, but kinda' lame. Not only was it derivative of Allen's earlier work (And even managed to use a lot of stock footage), it had a strong dose of "Whatever people like right now" so you had shootouts very similar to the ones in Star Wars in corridors that resembled those of the Death Star, etc.

I'm a bit confused about the production, however: This aired as a 'series' that ran for 3 weeks, and wrapped up it's entire storyline. Years later, I saw it as a movie version that included - as far as I can tell - all of the 3 episodes of the series. I get the feeling this was perhaps filmed as a 2-hour-and-change movie, and then chopped into three parts to fill a hole in CBS' schedule or something.

I wouldn't mind watching it again, just to see how fuzzy my memory has gotten, but I didn't mind too much when it got canceled.

Great Premise

[Sargebri · 22 November 2003]

This show had a pretty good premise. It took the Jules Verne's legendary character of Captain Nemo and placed him in the modern day facing various threats to mankind. If C.B.S. who broadcast this as a mini-series back in the 70's had any sense, they would have made it into a regular series. Also, I know the science is pretty bad, but this was an action packed show.

Fun if you don't take it too seriously

[rudge49 · 16 May 2013]

This is sort of a "1930s Serial as done by Irwin Allen". Imagine what Republic or Mascot could have done with 1970s movie technology. Superb special effects, the acting ranges from good to hammy, the dialog often inane, the premise preposterous, but if you don't take it too seriously, it's fun, a good rainy/snowy afternoon entertainment. It does contain one of my favorite movie scenes however. When the two Navy officers awaken Captain Nemo and he starts to talk about his crew and his ship, one of them says: "But Captain Nemo was a character in a book by Jules Verne!" To which he replies: "Had it perhaps occurred to you that that writer was a biographer as well as a novelist?"