Mysterious Island (1961 film)

Mysterious Island
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Cy Endfield
Produced by	Charles H. Schneer
Screenplay by	John Prebble Daniel B. Ullman Crane Wilbur
Based on	the novel L'Île mystérieuse by Jules Verne
Starring	Michael Craig Joan Greenwood Michael Callan Gary Merrill
Music by	Bernard Herrmann
Cinematography	Wilkie Cooper
Edited by	Frederick Wilson
Production company	Ameran Films
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	December 20, 1961 (1961-12-20TUnited States)
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United Kingdom United States
Language	English

Mysterious Island (UK: Jules Verne's Mysterious Island) is a 1961 science fiction adventure film about civil war prisoners who escape in a balloon and then find themselves stranded on a remote island populated by giant mutated animals. Based very loosely upon the 1874 novel The Mysterious Island (L'Île mystérieuse) by Jules Verne (which was the sequel to two other novels by Verne, 1867's In Search of the Castaways and 1870's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea), the film was produced by Charles H. Schneer and directed by Cy Endfield. Shot in Spain and at Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, England, the film serves as a showcase for Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation effects. Like several of Harryhausen's classic productions, the musical score was composed by Bernard Herrmann.

In 1865 during the American Civil War, a massive storm sweeps through a Confederate prison camp. Union soldiers Cyrus Harding (Michael Craig), Herbert Brown (Michael Callan) and Neb (Dan Jackson) are planning an escape via a gas balloon tethered next to the compound. When a new prisoner, Union war correspondent Gideon Spillet (Gary Merrill), is brought into their cell, they knock out the guards and escape from the prison house. Once they arrive at the balloon, they drag one of the Confederate guards named Pencroft (Percy Herbert) aboard. After he explains that he knows how to pilot the balloon, they let him join the group.