Original subtitles

A hundred years ago, in the confines of this small room, the unconfined

imagination of Jules Verne created the fabulous shape of things to come.

In these century-old books lies the prophecy of our own era of atomic energy

and a guided missile.

The fantastic accuracy of Verne's predictions is demonstrated in the story

you will now see on this screen.

A story Verne wrote when the newest creations of science were the steamship

and the primitive balloon.

Our story is told in the words of his hero, Simon Hart, just as Verne wrote

it. Simon Hart was a man of the 19th century, but these illustrations from

the original book indicate that he saw the 20th century sharp and clear.

Now the droll, delightful, fabulous world of Jules Verne, brought to life

from these hundred-year-old illustrations by the miracle of Miss

Demation. My adventures began when I booked passage on the Savannah, the

first steamship to cross the Atlantic.

The sky was clear as she sailed proudly to her destination.

Her chief steward perched atop the main cabin, pointing out for our delight and

edification the various gallant ships assembled in the roadstead to cheer the

end of our daring journey and bid us welcome home.

High in the clouds, a prodigious sight.

Man who had mastered the sea and tamed the land was now set to challenge the

very kingdom of the clouds.

All the elements of Earth were conquered and forced to yield their most precious

secrets.

Ah, what an age to be living in when each day brought science new and ever

more glorious triumphs.

Yet, strangely enough, it was not without a hint of foreboding that I

watched that bloated and silent monster slip beneath the waves.

My journey was continued overland.

The steel juggernaut which carried me devoured every obstacle in its path.

A machine of steam and steel so cunningly fashioned that it required

only the most perfunctory attention from its driver.

Inside the coaches, the travelers rode with a degree of comfort and elegance

undreamed of scarcely a generation earlier.

Terrible times we're living in.

Will man never be content with the fate that nature has given him?

Here, read that.

What a catastrophe, that so-called submarine steamship.

Lost with all hands, not a trace of it to be found.

It's a divine judgment, I call it.

Thank heaven there are a few men in this world who believe in the dream of

progress.

Yes, I say again.

Thank heaven for those brave souls who, fired by imaginative genius, have

enabled men to penetrate the domain of the eagles.

Our century, the century of steam power, the age of that mysterious force,

electricity, has overthrown tradition and tossed by the wayside old-fashioned

ideas and outmoded ways of life.

Look up there. The albatross. A fantasy come to life.

The wildest dream of the centuries translated into reality by the

indomitable genius of man.

Flying at heights that no human being has ever before attained.

I was nearing the end of my journey. The retreat where my venerable friend,

Professor Roche, the brilliant scientist, was pursuing his researches

into the nature of pure matter.

Though somewhat startled by this rude encounter, I immediately saw the wisdom

of having this guard on the premises, for if the professor's research bore

fruit, he would discover an explosive thousands of times more powerful than

any yet in use.

Good afternoon, Gustav. I hope the professor's in a good mood.

Unfortunately, his creditors are becoming impatient.

As you know, my trip was in search of the funds to enable him to continue

working quietly... to complete his project.

So far, I've failed to find them.

I don't have to tell you, my dear colleague, that the professor is one of

my most cherished friends.

Even so, I cannot help hoping that in this case, his research will end in

failure.

Late that night, a strange scene was being enacted near the side door of the

castle. The chief player was the swarthy villain whom I had encountered earlier

in the day and whom I had mistaken for one of the professor's guards.

I promise I will do my best, sir. I hope your best will be enough, Mr. Hart. My

creditors will have me in prison if you fail.

Heaven help a sailor on a night like this.

The next day, the world was shocked to learn that the eminent scientist,

Professor Roche, and his assistant had been kidnapped.

The authorities were alerted.

A frantic search was pressed for the missing men.

But they haven't the right.

Might makes right.

Belay there. Reef yourselves.

I must inform Captain Articus about this. I'll be right back.

My respects, sir. I have been ordered to make an inspection of your vessel from

stem to stern.

You are Count Artagus, the master of the ship.

My respects, Excellency.

I have been ordered to make an inspection of your vessel from stem to

stern. Very well.

Carry on, Lieutenant.

Rawr!

Well, I suppose we can get underway now.

Your Excellency?

Of course.

Well, I suppose we can get underway now, Your Excellency.

Not quite yet.

I don't wish to be followed.

We'll wait.

Under cover of darkness, the order was given to get underway.

But how can a ship move with all its sails hauled in?

That heavy cable which disappeared beneath the waves, perhaps that was the

answer.

For at the other end was the submarine which had been lost with all hands only

a few days before.

Good morning, Professor Roth.

I trust you find your accommodation satisfactory.

I feel I must apologize for the way in which you were brought here. It was the

only way to prevent certain persons from stealing your great invention. Where is

my assistant?

Let me come to the point.

My invitation was extended only to you, my honored guest.

Now...

Permit me to show you my domain.

Here before your eyes, you see the greatest empire of the world. And I am

its master, thanks to this submarine, Professor.

Its riches surpass the combined wealth of all the nations of Earth.

Here I have an inexhaustible supply of the most precious natural treasures.

And in addition, gold, diamonds, pearls, all the precious cargoes of past

centuries lying here waiting for me.

All I need do is reach out for them.

All of this, do you hear me, Professor?

All this is at your disposal, at the service of science.

I have faith in your theories, and I believe in the eventual success of your

research. I want to help you perfect it.

On my island, I have built a complete laboratory for your use, Professor.

Your great mind, together with the wealth that I control, will ensure your

success.

We shall rule the world together.

What have you done to Professor Roche?

Professor Roche is now my colleague.

Once we were alone on the trackless wastes of the South Atlantic, Professor

Roche was allowed to exchange his quarters aboard the submarine for the

comparative freedom of the ship.

Professor.

I present Captain Spade at your service.

And Dr. Serko will have the honor of being your assistant.

I might add that he has been responsible for building the laboratories on my

island. Professor?

I would like to show you, with your permission, Professor, the plans that

I... Get out!

It's the Amelie.

She's supposed to be the richest merchantman afloat.

A gallant prize, that.

Have the men prepare for action.

I will see to our guest.

Professor, may I have the pleasure of your company?

Alone in my cell, I had only one friend, my diary.

To its silent pages I confided all the terrible anxieties to which my mind was

prey.

Prepare for boarding!

At last, everything became horrifyingly clear to me.

I knew the reason for the so-called catastrophe that had befallen the

submarine steamship.

It had been stolen to serve the plans of a gang of pirates and the leader of that

vicious crew, Count Artigas.

This little stop will no doubt be to our profit.

Our submarine has chanced upon the wreck of a merchant ship.

I would imagine it...

A rare stroke of luck to discover a valuable wreck on the bottom of the

ocean. I wouldn't say it's merely a question of luck, Professor.

Help!

Help! Help!

It's much more a question of organization.

Help!

Help!

Listen.

What was that?

There's something... Yes, there's something out there, I'm sure. I can

barely make it out.

It's someone swimming.

It must lower a boat.

A remarkable professor.

You're right.

Stop the ship.

Heave to and lower a boat.

Look alive now.

Look alive, you miserable scum.

left this hatch open.

What are you doing down here?

Well, answer me, girl.

Captain, that is no way to enter a lady's chamber.

Are you mad?

What are you trying to do, blow up my ship?

I'm not surprised the Amelie's 100 fathoms down with passengers like you

aboard her.

Now get your things together.

We'll be making port in a few hours.

Captain, do many ships call at your island? I'm anxious to proceed with my

journey. You'll see when we get there. Captain, won't you at least tell me the

name of... Back up!

Back up!

Land ho!

Back up, Professor.

The capital of my domain.

That volcano.

It seems ready to erupt.

Actually, it's been extinct for centuries. The smoke provides an

excellent camouflage, don't you agree?

It's a melancholy place even for my work.

Oh, hardly.

It's the one place in all the world where you'd be allowed to complete your

experiments, Professor.

A short distance from the island, the entire party boarded the submarine in

order to pass through the undersea entrance into the crater of the dead

volcano.

I learned later that this was the only access to the pirate citadel.

We surfaced in a quiet lagoon dominated by the precipitous walls of the crater.

This was the harbor of Baku.

The count's hellish kitchen spewed forth a dense black cloud of smoke which rose

swirling through the air and out the mouth of the extinct volcano.

The far side of the lagoon was commanded by a fantastic castle.

perched high on a rocky crag.

It was the residence of Count Artigas, the last and most diabolical

of the buccaneers.

Opposite the castle, a flimsy shack clung precariously to the crater wall.

There would I spend many long months swaying between high hopes of imminent

rescue and the depths of abject despair.

The submarine had come to a stop in the harbor. It was deathly quiet without the

constant hum of the engines.

I heard a step outside the door of my cell.

We've arrived at our destination, Mr. Hart.

Easy there, young man. You'll wreck your house.

What have you done to the professor?

Don't you worry your pretty little head about him.

He'll be all right as long as the Count needs him.

What do you hope to learn?

I'm trying to produce heavy water. To produce heavy water? Quite a program.

We hope to witness the ultimate success of your experiments, Professor.

If you ask me, I think his assistant would be much more to our purpose,

Excellency. Mr. Hart?

You might speak to him.

What is this supposed to be?

Well, its immediate purpose is as part of an experiment in the manufacture of

heavy water.

Ultimately, I expect you to help me learn the secret of pure matter.

It will be a great advance.

For all mankind, I ask.

And we must learn to handle it with wisdom.

As our last and greatest possession.

This is my latest invention, a machine that will give us command of the air.

And with the high explosives the professor is developing, we will

dominate the world.

We would welcome you as a worthy colleague in our project, my dear Mr.

Hart.

I?

Never. I want to see the professor.

That is out of the question. However, if I were assured... I will never become

your accomplice.

Very well as you wish.

Thank you for coming, Mr. Hart.

The surprise awaited me on my return to my quarters.

In my absence, they had transformed my shack into a laboratory, complete with

all the equipment necessary to resume my own experiments.

It was a tremendous temptation, to which I almost yielded.

Dr. Roche, on the other hand, even though a brilliant scientist, was in

some respects as trusting as a child.

And from these generators, we will draw current for this tremendous, massive

magnet. Above it, we will construct a reinforced chamber with a

receptacle for a few grams of prepared lead.

We will then close this circuit. You will have an explosion.

A fantastic amount of energy will thus be liberated. However, we must take

proper precautions to conduct this energy into productive channels.

stressed that the experiment has fallen short of expectation.

Not at all, Professor.

Not at all. This is what I've been waiting for.

A marvelous demonstration, Professor.

My compliments.

When I heard the explosion, I knew at once that the Professor had innocently

revealed his precious secret to those villains.

His invention...

which offered such immense hope for all mankind, was going to be used as a force

of destruction in their hands.

There wasn't a moment to lose.

Desperately, I cast about for some way to tell the world about this.

How ironic that they had given me the very means to do just that.

Not being content with warning the outside world, I racked my brain for

some way to communicate with the professor.

I wrote a long note to him describing the villainous scheme and waited for an

occasion to send it to him.

My chance arrived sooner than I had expected.

One day I saw the submarine returning from one of its criminal expeditions.

It was difficult to tell at that distance, but I thought I detected the

scars of battle on her hull.

A fond hope surged in my heart that the outside world was at long last aware of

the menace.

Part of the plunder brought in by the silent monster ship was a new invention

which caused pictures to move on a screen.

By means of this, Count Artigas learned that his secret had been unveiled.

That's our ship, Excellency.

They kept trying to bomb us every time we surfaced.

Fortunately, our luck held out.

I've been betrayed.

Be sure to hunt us down, Your Excellency. So much the better.

This eternal hide-and-seek bores me. We shall give them a warm reception.

When will the preparation of the new bomb launcher be completed?

We've run into some trouble there because the tunnel's too small.

And we must build a bigger one, that's all.

Nothing will ever stop me, do you hear?

For I am afraid of nothing. The machine has broken down, Your Excellency.

While the diabolical count was preparing to exploit the professor's invention for

his own infernal ends, the trusting man of science continued steadfast in his

research, hoping to place this gigantic power at the service of mankind.

Shortly after this, I was summoned to another meeting.

with Mr. Serco, the engineer.

He was at his post directing the work on a great new tunnel through which the

giant cannon was to be brought to the beach.

Mr. Serco, I must ask you once more. For the last time I tell you, you will not

see the professor.

You might as well forget it.

Hello?

Hello?

Yeah?

Go on.

You mean you haven't repaired that cable yet?

We'll send a team of deep-sea specialists.

Huh?

What? He vanished, huh?

Send someone else, then.

I do not want to hear about the risk.

I promised him that cable would be repaired.

Mr. Serco, I have worked underwater, and I will repair your cable if you're

willing to let me try.

Very well, Mr.

Hart. I accept your offer on the condition that your intentions are

honest.

You will go to the bottom of the lagoon, locate the cable, and trace it to the

break. Two men will accompany you.

They will answer to me if you do not come back.

I, of course, was not in the least concerned with the broken cable.

I merely wished to examine the bottom of the tunnel.

So that I might devise a plan of escape.

Back down there and take more men if you need them. I want that engineer to be

found dead or alive.

They didn't see me.

My chance had come.

Before me loomed the entrance to the tunnel and freedom.

a trace of him sir looks like the octopus got him how much reserve oxygen

did he have half an hour

That very day, the first reconnaissance ship of the combined world fleet arrived

off the island.

You are among fans, Mr. Hart.

The harbor is swarming with guards, but we'll be safe in the tunnel. Have speed.

Be careful now, Captain.

Look here.

Pirates, stop the engines.

Drop to the bottom.

Forgive me.

I had no intention of disturbing you.

I must have help immediately.

Will you please wait outside for a moment while I put something on?

By all means.

Allow me to introduce myself.

My name is Hart.

I am Professor Rossi's assistant.

I am delighted to meet you, Mr. Hart.

You will be happy to know the professor received your letter without delay.

Was he alarmed when he read it? He did not read it in my presence.

But later, surely he mentioned it.

No, not even later. He never spoke about it.

You may come in now.

Thank you.

Come and warm

yourself. You might have caught a chill.

I'm surprised at your acceptance of this situation.

But I refuse to believe that you were in league with these cutthroats.

These good people saved my life when my ship was wrecked. And you call them

cutthroats?

They sent the Amelie to the bottom so they could loot her.

And they're preparing even more devilish schemes right now.

Professor Roche is the only one who can stop them.

Sorry, my patron is unable to observe this reaction.

It's the most important turn of events.

Don't worry about the count, Professor.

You just keep playing around with your experiments as long as you like.

We already have our work cut out for us.

I'm sorry, sir. I don't see the professor anywhere.

He can't have gone far. We must find him.

Your Excellency, I have assembled all the necessary data and figures for the

first stage, that is, the defensive stage.

I have received information to the effect that the entire Allied fleet is

steaming towards us under forced draft.

Last night, our submarine destroyed an Allied reconnaissance craft that had

penetrated the tunnel almost as far as the harbor.

The wreck contains some extremely valuable information indicating the

nature of the attack we may expect.

And what is more important, the when.

We have precious little time to lose. We must be prepared within a matter of

hours. Although they can bring to bear against us guns of all the navies of the

world, it is yet within our power to reduce them all to rusting, burnt-out

hulks.

With your permission, Excellency, I would like to clarify the overall

strategy of the campaign I have designed.

It is really quite simple and quite deadly.

The new bomb launcher commands the only approach to the tunnel and the interior

of the island, as you see.

And as the Allied ships converge on their target, we'll blow them out of the

water. The special shells containing our new explosive are so powerful that a

direct hit is unnecessary.

And furthermore, we'll be able to zero in on them while they're still beyond

the horizon.

High above the crater, we will have our observation balloon, which will send us

reports on each shot. And now, may I present...

The men who will work this balloon.

Note their equipment, Your Excellency.

And beneath the visible appurtenances, you may rest assured you'll find men

tuned to a fine pitch of confidence and courage.

Each is provided with a magnetic telephone which will ensure contact with

our ground position.

Each also carries with him special breathing apparatus for high-altitude

work, equipment of my own design.

They are now on the way to their supply center for rations in a last-minute

check. And once they're aloft, they'll give us the coordinates for aiming our

bomb launcher.

Furthermore, their observations will enable us to prepare... Our navy will be

destroyed. We must warn them somehow.

I have a plan, but I will need your help. What about the professor? We must

act at once. He cannot help us now.

so

Sir, what a surprise. We really didn't... I, uh...

Prepare

to fire.

Look here.

There must be some mistake.

Ah, good day.

We're about to put your theories to the test.

Shoot them down, the breakers! Go on, shoot them down!