Despite their Cray Computers and industrial light and magical arts, Hollywood has not yet matched this version in cinema verite. Walt Disney came close in 1952 but one can plainly see that that Mason and Douglas are in relatively still waters, sometimes in a pool and, at other times, shallows of the Bahamas.

The long undersea march by Nemo and his crew is just that, a long march, an undersea trek, fighting (real) sharks while lurching, falling and struggling against a real 3-4 knot current in a spectacular but fading film trek. The waters seen here are not tropical and appear to be cold Atlantic waters like those of Rhode Island.

This film demands restoration. One feels privileged to be seeing it at all, a century later. This 1916 film is real action footage, and with real men doing real things… struggling for breath, struggling for life.

Moreover, with the earliest of "special effects" (montages and double exposures, models and mockups) to create the Nautilus, the submarine as depicted by Laemmle is as streamlined and nearly as sleek as anything the US Navy or any other navy has today.

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