Mysterious Island (1941 film)

Mysterious Island (Russian: Таинственный остров, romanized: Tainstvenny ostrov) is a 1941 Soviet film adaptation of the 1874 novel The Mysterious Island (French: L'Île mystérieuse) by Jules Verne.

Mysterious Island
Directed byEduard Pentslin
Written byBoris Shelontsev
Mikhail Kalinin
Based onThe Mysterious Island
1874 novel
by Jules Verne
StarringAlexei Krasnopolsky
Pavel Kiyansky
Igor Kozlov
CinematographyMikhail Belsky
Mikhail Karyukov
Music byNikita Bogoslovsky
Production
company
Release date
  • 1941 (1941)
Running time
88 minutes
CountrySoviet Union
LanguageRussian

Plot summary

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During the siege of Richmond, Virginia, in the American Civil War, five northern prisoners of war decide to escape in a rather unusual way – by hijacking a balloon.

The group eventually crash-lands on a cliff-bound, volcanic, unknown (and fictitious) island, located in the South Pacific. They name it "Lincoln Island" in honour of American President Abraham Lincoln. With the knowledge of the brilliant engineer, the five are able to sustain themselves on the island, producing fire, pottery, bricks, nitroglycerine, iron, a simple electric telegraph, and even a seaworthy ship. They also manage to find their geographical location.

The mystery of the island seems to come from periodic and inexplicable deus ex machinas: the unexplainable survival of Smith from his fall from the balloon, a box full of equipment (guns and ammunition, tools, etc.), and so on.

A crew of pirates arrives at the Lincoln Island to use it as their hideout. After some fighting with the heroes, the pirate ship is mysteriously destroyed by an explosion, and the pirates themselves are found dead, apparently in combat, but with no visible wounds.

The secret of the island is revealed when it turns out to be Captain Nemo's hideout, and home harbour of the Nautilus. Captain Nemo had been the savior of the heroes, sending a message about a fellow castaway, torpedoing the pirate ship.

Cast

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References

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