Series Edited By David Hutchison

SPECIAL EFFECTS
PART XXV:
A look into the world of Vernian SF
with Disney's great SF classic -
"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"
Undersea with
Harper Goff

By DAVID HUTCHISON

This month marks the 25th anniversary
of Disney Studio's landmark SF film
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,
adapted from the Jules Verne novel. It was
Disney's first live-action film to be made in
this country and the second CinemaScope
feature ever to go into production. The film
starred James Mason as the lonely and embit-
tered Captain Nemo, Paul Lucas as the truth-
seeking Professor Aronnax, Kirk Douglas as
the harpooner Ned Land and Peter Lorre as
Conseil.
The film, which won Academy Awards for
art direction and special effects, was directed
by Richard Fleischer and is principally
remembered for James Mason's definitive
portrayal of Nemo, a number of exciting
. underwater sequences and the Nautilus sub-
marine designed by Harper Goff.
"It began," remembers Goff, "with some
exceptional footage shot in a laboratory
aquarium by Dr. McGinnity of Cal Tech's
marine biology lab in Corona Del Mar. I was
assigned the task of putting together a 'true-
life adventure' using the footage. Walt
thought that inasmuch as 20,000 Leagues was
in public domain, we might do worse than to
use the title for our true-life adventure short
subject. Walt went to England while I stayed
in Burbank storyboarding a live-action ver-
sion of the classic, using McGinnity's footage
. as a sort of ballet episode in which Nemo
shows Professor Aronnax the wonders of the
deep. Walt liked the storyboard well enough
to give me an 'A.R.I.' (audience reaction in-
quiry) to a group of exhibitors who were in
town. They were enthusiastic-and the rest is
history."
Most of the remarkable underwater se-     quences were filmed on location 3,000 miles
from Hollywood near Nassau in the
Bahamas. Visibility, even 30 feet down, fre-
quently extends to 200 feet in that part of the
Atlantic. Here, for eight weeks, a 54-man
troupe live and worked. The crew shot more
underwater footage than had ever been seen
in a film up to that time. Systems were


Designer Harper Goff stands in the wheelhouse of the nearly completed Nautilus.


developed to stage intricate underwater
scenes with the same care and precision that is
possible. on a sound stage. One sequence-in
which Captain Nemo and the crew of the
Nautilus raise a coral cross at the underwater
grave of a slain companion-set a record for
its day as the biggest sub-surface scene ever
attempted. For this one shot, there were 42
men working on the ocean floor; 20 actor-
divers in front of the camera; 22 technicians
behind it. In this latter group were Director
Fleischer, cameraman Till Gabbani, prop
men, special-effects men, camera assistants
and water safety personnel.

Filming In the Ocean
   A slow, laborious process at best, making a
movie on the floor of the ocean presents four
special headaches:
   1. You need a perfect combination of
three factors before you begin. You must


have bright sunlight, clear water and calm
water. Any two of three is not sufficient. The
slow film emulsions in the early 50s de-
manded nothing but the finest of conditions
for clear photography.
   2. You are literally "out of your depth."
You must wear strange apparatus, breathe
compressed air and can suffer from exposure
and fatigue.
   3. It is virtually impossible to com-
municate once you are underwater. The
troupe invented a series of 12 hand signals
which cover such basic things as "Cut," "Ac-
tion, " "Repeat Scene" and "Emergen-
cy-get me out of the water!"
   4. Your actual working time is limited .
The unit could allow no more than 55 minutes
from the time the first man "went on air" on
the deck of the boat until the last man was
back aboard the boat. It took 10 minutes to
lower everyone to the ocean floor and


56      STARLOG/February 1980

 

 

 

 

another 10 to bring them up.
To make certain that the time underwater
would be used to the fullest, every scene was
first diagrammed on a blackboard and then
rehearsed "dry," either on the boat or on
land, until cast and crew alike knew each
gesture and each step that would be made.
The burial sequence, which required 42 men
in the water simultaneously, took two days to
plan and three days to shoot.
Certain underwater sequences, however,
had to be shot under very controlled condi-
tions in a studio tank. Accordingly, Stage #3
was constructed at Disney's Burbank studios.
The stage houses an enormous 90' X 165'
tank, which ranges in depth from three to 12
feet.
Nemo's "Nautilus"
The design of the Nautilus, itself, however,
proved to be one of the most interesting.
challenges of the movie. "Jules Verne," ex-
plains Goff, "while foreseeing brilliantly the
atomic submarine of today, did not at that
time invent the periscope, the torpedo tube or
sonar. He did not prophesy closed-circuit
television. "
In a way, it was the personality of Nemo
that determined a good deal of the design.
"According to Verne," Goff continues, "if
Nemo wanted to see what was happening on
the surface, he simply poked the glass ports of
the wheel house out of the depths and took a
direct look. Nor would it have been true to
Captain Nemo's nature to skulk along and
fire an armed torpedo at his enemy. He risked
his vessel and himself and crew by ramming
the enemy at frightening speed. If he wanted
to study the marvels of life beneath the sur-
face, he reclined in his elegant bay window
lounge and passed the hours studying the
marine life outside of his luxurious salon.
These items dictated much of the direction of
my design."
Faithful to the book, the main lounge of


Captain Nemo introduces such undersea delicacies as filet of seasnake, unborn octopus.

the Nautilus had to contain a pipe organ, a
library, rare paintings, comfortable sofas and
chairs, aquariums filled with unusual fish and
soft carpets. Though some of the furnishings
were built in the Disney shops, many of the
pieces of furniture and set dressings came
from local antique shops. Sometimes the
hunt for Victorian furnishings for the sub-
marine brought startled looks of wonder
from the shop owners. Goff explains: "At
the time, I owned my own boat. One Sunday
afternoon I went browsing through antique
stores with my wife instead of going out on
my boat. It seemed appropriate to be looking
for Captain Nemo's set dressings, while wear-
ing my captain's cap. One shop had these
bronze dolphins on display. I called my wife
over to look at them. 'What would you do

with them?' she asked. 'For my submarine
... ' I said. 'You know, when you walk
around the edge where the big davenport is by
the viewport? Well, I need something right at
the edge that you can put your hand on or a
chain across. And if I need it for the viewport
on the other side, we can make castings of
them!' Well, at that point I happened to look
up-at a number of open-mouthed people
who were listening in gaping wonder to the
explanation of my submarine's furnishings."
The sets for the interior cabins of the
Nautilus were built exactly to scale, with ceil-
ings. Though this technique heightened the il-
lusion of being underwater and added to the
reality of the film, it meant that many of
Nautilus cabins measured a scant 8' x 10'. In-
(continued on page 60)

One of Peter Ellenshaw's matte paintings for the film. Intended to be used as glass shots, the paintings are about 8 feet long.


58        STARLOG/February 1980

 

 


to these had to be placed several actors, a
camera and crew, microphones and other
sound engineer's gear and the usual array of
technical equipment.
    A tricky piece of business was building the
main section of the U.S. armed frigate, the
Abraham Lincoln, in which Professor Ar-
ronax, his assistant and the U.S. Army are
looking for evidence of the reported "sea
monster" which has been sinking warships
and munitions supply ships. The entire
80-foot set of the Abraham Lincoln was con-
structed on hydraulic rockers, which could
tilt as much as 30 degrees to port and star-
board. The ship would then appear to pitch,
list and wallow realistically with the actors on
board and yet allow filming to proceed under
the controlled conditions of a sound stage.

"Nautilus" as Sea Monster
    Goff comments on the exterior design of
the Nautilus in its "sea monster" guise: "Ear-
ly reports of the destruction of ships describ-
ed a so-called sea monster of terrible speed
and tremendous power, with great glowing
eyes, a great dorsal fin and a tail which
churned the sea into a froth when it attacked
its victims. It would ram ships with such speed
that it passed clear through its prey-usually
leaving the broken hull in two parts.
    " My idea has always been that the shark
and the alligator were the most terrifying
monsters living in the water. I therefore bor-
rowed the scary eye of the alligator that can
watch you, even when the alligator is nearly

Left: A section of
the Nautilus was
rigged to the U.S.
submarine Redfish
for the sequence in
which Nemo begins to
submerge with Lorre,
Lucas and Douglas
Clinging to the
structure. Below:
The set of the
Nautilus under
construction at the
Disney Studios.


One of the smaller models of the Nautilus constructed by the Disney Studios for the miniature tank set-ups.

60       STARLOG/February 1980

 

 

submerged. The disgusting rough skin of the
gator is well-simulated by .the rivets and
barbed protuberances that cover the sub. As
Verne insisted that the Nautilus drove its way
clean through its victim, I designed a protec-
tive saw-toothed spine that started forward at
the bulk of the ram and slid around all the
out-jutting structures on the hull. These in-
clude the conning tower, the diving planes
and the great helical propeller at the stem."
    Most remembered is the action climax of
the film involving the fight with the giant
squid. Disney research teams corresponded
with oceanographers and scientists around
the world to learn about giant squid. They
found reports of squid tentacles 90 feet long
, and weighing in excess of 20 tons! The beast
created for the Disney picture had eight ten-
tacles measuring 40 feet and two "feelers" of
50 feet. Weighing two tons, it could rear up
eight feet out of the water. It took a staff of 28
men to operate the beast, sometimes working
as much as 50 feet from the set. The sequence
takes place on the surface during a storm, but
it wasn't originally designed that way.
    "Originally," explains Goff, "the attack
of the squid was shot under a fiery sunset sky.
But we had a problem with the wires. Most of
the time they were invisible, but just at a peak
of action suddenly wires would spring into
'visibility' all over the set. Walt was unhappy
with the results.
    "I suggested reshooting the sequence with
a slanting rain effect to catch the light and
hide wires: Walt liked the idea, but thought
that we should go one better and have a full
storm! This was no small undertaking, since
we had to build all of the dump tanks and
practically start from scratch. But, of course,
the result was much more dramatic."

An Unexpected Shot
    There was another shot that turned out dif-
ferently from the way it was planned. In the
film, Kirk Douglas and Peter Lorre ask per-
mission of Captain Nemo to go ashore. The
submarine is hung up on a coral edge and
must wait for the tide to float it free. Kirk
Douglas as Ned Land is looking for a means
of escape and tells Lorre to explain to Nemo
that they are only going ashore to collect
specimens for Professor Aronnax, and that
Ned would be willing to row. Nemo looks at
them suspiciously and warns them that the
island is inhabited by cannibals who eat liars
with the same relish that they eat honest men!
They take the lifeboat, which fits into the rear
of the submarine, and row for the island.
Land ignores Nemo's warning to stay on the
beach and heads for the jungle and freedom.
    Not very far along, he is discovered by the
cannibals who are intrigued at the idea of a lit-
tle variety in their diet. Ned declines their in-
vitation to dinner and runs for the beach. He
and Lorre were supposed to leap into the boat
and row for the submarine.
    Unfortunately, the production crew had
gotten tired ,of lugging the lifeboat around


The first filming of the squid fight was shot before a sunset sky drop, but wires were visible.


The sequence was reshot with a storm. It was much more dramatic and it hid the wires.
 ________________________________________________________________________
with all of its ballast. The boat was made of
wood, but painted and riveted to look like
iron. In order for it to ride low in the water
like an iron boat, sand was shoveled into the
bottom. Kirk Douglas had gotten used to
rowing the boat with its ballast at a certain
level during rehearsal. "But during the lunch
break the crew shoveled out a lot of the sand,
because they had gotten tired of lugging it
around. So during the take Kirk dashes for
the boat pursued by cannibals, leaps, grabs
the oars and tries to row to the sub. But the
boat was so high in the water that the oars
didn't reach the water at the same angle that
Kirk had rehearsed it. Kirk fell backwards in-
to the boat on the first stroke of the oars. He
was terribly angry, but Dick Fleischer, the
director, thought it looked so funny that he
left it in."
    It is no surprise that the Academy Award-
winning 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea has
continued to delight and intrigue audiences
since its release 25 years ago. The film has
become a classic, and for Harper Goff, the
film's designer and driving force, it was the
work of a lifetime. He expresses his devotion
for the project: " ... In motion pictures, the
text of a classic like this is sacrosanct, like the
Bible. The 'word' of Jules Verne is not-to be
made light of. The duty of the designer like
myself is to take the sometimes arbitrary
descriptions of the Nautilus as recorded by
Verne and 'make them work.' "
    Twenty-five years later they still work,
thanks to the talent and dedication of the
Disney team.

STARLOG/February 1980        61