The Mysterious Island
Encyclopedia
The Mysterious Island is a novel by Jules Verne
, published in 1874
. The original edition, published by Hetzel
, contains a number of illustrations by Jules Férat
. The novel is a sequel to Verne's famous Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
and In Search of the Castaways
, though thematically it is vastly different from those books. An early draft of the novel, initially rejected by Verne's publisher and wholly reconceived before publication, was titled Shipwrecked Family: Marooned With Uncle Robinson, seen as indicating the influence on the novel of Robinson Crusoe
and The Swiss Family Robinson
.
. The story begins in the American Civil War
, during the siege of Richmond, Virginia
, the capital of the Confederate States of America
. As famine and death ravage the city, five northern prisoners of war decide to escape by the unusual means of hijacking a balloon.
The five are Cyrus Smith
, a railroad engineer
in the Union
army (named Cyrus Harding in some English translations); his black manservant Neb
(short for Nebuchadnezzar
), whom Verne repeatedly states is not a slave but an ex-slave who had been freed by Smith; the sailor Bonadventure Pencroff (who is addressed only by his surname, but his "Christian name", Bonadventure, is given to their boat; in other translations, he is also known as Pencroft); his protégé Harbert Brown (called Herbert in some translations), a young boy whom Pencroff raises as his own after the death of his father (Pencroff's former captain); and the journalist
Gedéon Spilett (Gideon Spilett in English versions). The company is completed by Cyrus' dog
'Top'.
After flying in stormy weather for several days, the group crash-lands on a cliff-bound, volcanic, unknown (and fictitious) island, described as being located at 34°57′S 150°30′W, about 2500 kilometres (1,553.4 mi) east of New Zealand
. (In reality, the closest island is located at 27.6°S 144.36°W. In location and description though, the phantom island
Ernest Legouve Reef
may correspond to the rock that is left of the mysterious island at the end of the novel. ) They name it "Lincoln Island" in honor of American President Abraham Lincoln
. With the knowledge of the brilliant engineer Smith, the five are able to sustain themselves on the island, producing fire, pottery, bricks, nitroglycerin, iron, a simple electric telegraph, a home on a stony cliffside called "Granite House", and even a seaworthy ship. They also manage to figure out their geographical location.
Throughout their stay on the island, the group has to overcome bad weather, and eventually adopts and domesticates an orangutan
, Jupiter, abbreviated to Jup (or Joop, in Jordan Stump's translation).
The mystery of the island seems to come from periodic and inexplicable dei ex machina
: the unexplainable survival of Cyrus Smith from his fall from the balloon, the mysterious rescue of his dog Top from a dugong
, the presence of a box full of equipment (guns and ammunition, tools, etc.), the finding of a message in the sea calling for help, the finding of a lead bullet in the body of a young pig, and so on.
Finding a message in a bottle
, the group decides to use a freshly built small ship to explore the nearby Tabor Island, where a castaway
is supposedly sheltered. They go and find Ayrton
(from In Search of the Castaways
) living like a wild beast, and bring him back to civilization and redemption. Coming back to Lincoln Island, they are confused by a tempest, but find their way to the island thanks to a fire beacon which no one seems to have lit.
At a point, Ayrton's former 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. Six of the pirates survive and considerably injure Harbert through a gunshot. They pose a grave threat to the colony, but suddenly the pirates are found dead, apparently in combat, but with no visible wounds. Harbert contracts malaria
and is saved by a box of sulphate of quinine, which mysteriously appeared on the table in the Granite House.
The secret of the island is revealed when it turns out to be Captain Nemo
's hideout, and home harbour of the Nautilus
.
It is stated that having escaped the Maelstrom at the end of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
, the Nautilus sailed the oceans of the world until all its crew except Nemo had died. Now an old man with a beard, Nemo returned the Nautilus to its port under Lincoln Island.
All along it was Captain Nemo who had been the savior of the heroes, provided them with the box of equipment, sent the message revealing Ayrton, planted the mine that destroyed the pirate ship, and killed the pirates with an "electric gun" (Most likely one of the air rifles that is used in the previous novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea). On his death bed Captain Nemo reveals his true identity as an Indian Prince Dakkar, a son of a Raja
of the then independent territory of Bundelkund
and a nephew of the Indian hero Tippu-Sahib
. After taking part in the failed Indian Rebellion of 1857
, Prince Dakkar escaped to a deserted island with twenty of his compatriots and commenced the building of the Nautilus with the new name of Captain Nemo. Nemo tells his life story to Cyrus Smith
and his friends and dies, saying "God and my country!" The Nautilus is then scuttled and serves as Captain Nemo's tomb.
Eventually, the island explodes in a volcanic eruption. Jup the orangutan falls down a crack in the ground and dies. The colonists, warned by Nemo, find themselves at sea on the last remaining boulder of the island that is above sea level. They are rescued by the ship Duncan, which has come to pick up Ayrton and was itself informed by a message left on Tabor Island by Nemo.
, was a famous author of boys' adventure and sailing stories who had fallen on hard times in the 1870s due to business failures, and so he hired out to Sampson Low as the translator for these volumes. However, it is now known that the actual translator of Mysterious Island and his other Verne novels was actually his wife, Agnes Kinloch Kingston, who had studied on the continent in her youth. The Kingston translation changes the names of the hero from "Smith" to "Harding"; "Smith" is a name often used by gypsies and not suitable for an English hero. In addition many technical passages were abridged or omitted and the anti-imperialist sentiments of the dying Captain Nemo were purged so as not to offend English readers. This became the standard translation for more than a century.
In 1876 the Stephen W. White
translation (175,000 words) appeared first in the columns of The Evening Telegraph of Philadelphia and subsequently as an Evening Telegraph Reprint Book. This translation is more faithful to the original story and restores the death scene of Captain Nemo, but there is still condensation and omission of some sections such as Verne's description of how a sawmill works. In the 20th century two more abridged translations appeared: the Fitzroy Edition (Associated Booksellers, 1959) abridged by I. O. Evans (90,000 words) and Mysterious Island (Bantam, 1970) abridged by Lowell Blair (90,000 words).
No unabridged translations appeared until 2001 when the illustrated version of Sidney Kravitz appeared (Wesleyan University Press) almost simultaneously with the new translation of Jordan Stump published by Random House Modern Library (2001). Kravitz also translated Shipwrecked Family: Marooned With Uncle Robinson, published by the North American Jules Verne Society and BearManor Fiction in 2011.
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
, published in 1874
1874 in literature
The year 1874 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*Arthur William à Beckett joins the staff of Punch.*Johan Nicolai Madvig loses his sight, forcing him to give up most of his research and writing....
. The original edition, published by Hetzel
Pierre-Jules Hetzel
Pierre-Jules Hetzel was a French editor and publisher. He is best known for his extraordinarily lavishly illustrated editions of Jules Verne's novels highly prized by collectors today...
, contains a number of illustrations by Jules Férat
Jules Férat
Jules-Descartes Férat was a French artist and illustrator, famous for his portrayals of factories and their workers.He illustrated the books of many known authors, such as Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe, and Victor Hugo. Some critics consider his illustrations for Jules Verne's novel The Mysterious...
. The novel is a sequel to Verne's famous Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne published in 1870. It tells the story of Captain Nemo and his submarine Nautilus as seen from the perspective of Professor Pierre Aronnax...
and In Search of the Castaways
In Search of the Castaways
In Search of the Castaways is a novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1867–1868. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Édouard Riou. In 1876 it was republished by George Routledge & Sons as a three volume set titled "A Voyage Round The World"...
, though thematically it is vastly different from those books. An early draft of the novel, initially rejected by Verne's publisher and wholly reconceived before publication, was titled Shipwrecked Family: Marooned With Uncle Robinson, seen as indicating the influence on the novel of Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in 1719. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and...
and The Swiss Family Robinson
The Swiss Family Robinson
-History:Written by Swiss pastor Johann David Wyss and edited by his son Johann Rudolf Wyss, the novel was intended to teach his four sons about family values, good husbandry, the uses of the natural world and self-reliance...
.
Plot summary
The book tells the adventures of five Americans on an uncharted island in the South PacificAustralasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
. The story begins in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, during the siege of Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, the capital of the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
. As famine and death ravage the city, five northern prisoners of war decide to escape by the unusual means of hijacking a balloon.
The five are Cyrus Smith
Cyrus Smith
Cyrus Smith is one of the protagonists of Jules Verne's novel The Mysterious Island. He is an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War...
, a railroad engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
in the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
army (named Cyrus Harding in some English translations); his black manservant Neb
NEB
neb may refer to:*neb, meaning nose or mouth**neb, meaning nosy in Pittsburgh English*neb, meaning snout or beakNEB may refer to:* Pseudonym of a well-known Spanish architect from Granada city.*Nose in Everyone's Business, a Busybody or Gossip...
(short for Nebuchadnezzar
Nebuchadnezzar
Nebuchadnezzar was the name of several kings of Babylonia.* Nebuchadnezzar I, who ruled the Babylonian Empire in the 12th century BC* Nebuchadnezzar II , the Babylonian ruler mentioned in the biblical Book of Daniel...
), whom Verne repeatedly states is not a slave but an ex-slave who had been freed by Smith; the sailor Bonadventure Pencroff (who is addressed only by his surname, but his "Christian name", Bonadventure, is given to their boat; in other translations, he is also known as Pencroft); his protégé Harbert Brown (called Herbert in some translations), a young boy whom Pencroff raises as his own after the death of his father (Pencroff's former captain); and the journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
Gedéon Spilett (Gideon Spilett in English versions). The company is completed by Cyrus' dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
'Top'.
After flying in stormy weather for several days, the group crash-lands on a cliff-bound, volcanic, unknown (and fictitious) island, described as being located at 34°57′S 150°30′W, about 2500 kilometres (1,553.4 mi) east of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. (In reality, the closest island is located at 27.6°S 144.36°W. In location and description though, the phantom island
Phantom island
Phantom islands are islands that were believed to exist, and appeared on maps for a period of time during recorded history, but were later removed after they were proved to be nonexistent...
Ernest Legouve Reef
Ernest Legouve Reef
Located in the South Pacific Ernest‑Legouvé Reef was reported in 1902 by the unnamed captain of the French ship "Ernest‑Legouvé". The reef was about 100 metres long and another reef was sighted near it...
may correspond to the rock that is left of the mysterious island at the end of the novel. ) They name it "Lincoln Island" in honor of American President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
. With the knowledge of the brilliant engineer Smith, the five are able to sustain themselves on the island, producing fire, pottery, bricks, nitroglycerin, iron, a simple electric telegraph, a home on a stony cliffside called "Granite House", and even a seaworthy ship. They also manage to figure out their geographical location.
Orangutan
Orangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have proportionally longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping...
, Jupiter, abbreviated to Jup (or Joop, in Jordan Stump's translation).
The mystery of the island seems to come from periodic and inexplicable dei ex machina
Deus ex machina
A deus ex machina is a plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object.-Linguistic considerations:...
: the unexplainable survival of Cyrus Smith from his fall from the balloon, the mysterious rescue of his dog Top from a dugong
Dugong
The dugong is a large marine mammal which, together with the manatees, is one of four living species of the order Sirenia. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest modern relative, Steller's sea cow , was hunted to extinction in the 18th century...
, the presence of a box full of equipment (guns and ammunition, tools, etc.), the finding of a message in the sea calling for help, the finding of a lead bullet in the body of a young pig, and so on.
Finding a message in a bottle
Message in a bottle
A message in a bottle is a form of communication whereby a message is sealed in a container and released into the sea or ocean...
, the group decides to use a freshly built small ship to explore the nearby Tabor Island, where a castaway
Castaway
A castaway is a person who is cast adrift or ashore. While the situation usually happens after a shipwreck, some people voluntarily stay behind on a deserted island, either to evade their captors or the world in general. Alternatively, a person or item can be cast away, meaning rejected or discarded...
is supposedly sheltered. They go and find Ayrton
Tom Ayrton
Tom Ayrton is a fictional character who appears in two novels by French author Jules Verne. He is first introduced as a major character in the novel In Search of the Castaways...
(from In Search of the Castaways
In Search of the Castaways
In Search of the Castaways is a novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1867–1868. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Édouard Riou. In 1876 it was republished by George Routledge & Sons as a three volume set titled "A Voyage Round The World"...
) living like a wild beast, and bring him back to civilization and redemption. Coming back to Lincoln Island, they are confused by a tempest, but find their way to the island thanks to a fire beacon which no one seems to have lit.
At a point, Ayrton's former 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. Six of the pirates survive and considerably injure Harbert through a gunshot. They pose a grave threat to the colony, but suddenly the pirates are found dead, apparently in combat, but with no visible wounds. Harbert contracts malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
and is saved by a box of sulphate of quinine, which mysteriously appeared on the table in the Granite House.
The secret of the island is revealed when it turns out to be Captain Nemo
Captain Nemo
Captain Nemo, also known as Prince Dakkar, is a fictional character featured in Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island ....
's hideout, and home harbour of the Nautilus
Nautilus (Verne)
The Nautilus is the fictional submarine featured in Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island . Verne named the Nautilus after Robert Fulton's real-life submarine Nautilus...
.
It is stated that having escaped the Maelstrom at the end of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne published in 1870. It tells the story of Captain Nemo and his submarine Nautilus as seen from the perspective of Professor Pierre Aronnax...
, the Nautilus sailed the oceans of the world until all its crew except Nemo had died. Now an old man with a beard, Nemo returned the Nautilus to its port under Lincoln Island.
All along it was Captain Nemo who had been the savior of the heroes, provided them with the box of equipment, sent the message revealing Ayrton, planted the mine that destroyed the pirate ship, and killed the pirates with an "electric gun" (Most likely one of the air rifles that is used in the previous novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea). On his death bed Captain Nemo reveals his true identity as an Indian Prince Dakkar, a son of a Raja
Raja
Raja is an Indian term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...
of the then independent territory of Bundelkund
Bundelkhand
Bundelkhand anciently known as Chedi Kingdom is a geographic region of central India...
and a nephew of the Indian hero Tippu-Sahib
Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan , also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was the son of Hyder Ali, at that time an officer in the Mysorean army, and his second wife, Fatima or Fakhr-un-Nissa...
. After taking part in the failed Indian Rebellion of 1857
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
, Prince Dakkar escaped to a deserted island with twenty of his compatriots and commenced the building of the Nautilus with the new name of Captain Nemo. Nemo tells his life story to Cyrus Smith
Cyrus Smith
Cyrus Smith is one of the protagonists of Jules Verne's novel The Mysterious Island. He is an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War...
and his friends and dies, saying "God and my country!" The Nautilus is then scuttled and serves as Captain Nemo's tomb.
Eventually, the island explodes in a volcanic eruption. Jup the orangutan falls down a crack in the ground and dies. The colonists, warned by Nemo, find themselves at sea on the last remaining boulder of the island that is above sea level. They are rescued by the ship Duncan, which has come to pick up Ayrton and was itself informed by a message left on Tabor Island by Nemo.
Publication history in English
In September 1875 Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle published the first British edition of Mysterious Island in three volumes entitled Dropped from the Clouds, The Abandoned, and The Secret of the Island (195,000 words). In November, 1875 Scribners published the American edition of these volumes from the English plates of Sampson Low. The purported translator, W. H. G. KingstonWilliam Henry Giles Kingston
William Henry Giles Kingston , writer of tales for boys, was born in London, but spent much of his youth in Oporto, where his father was a merchant.-Popularity:His first book, The Circassian Chief, appeared in 1844...
, was a famous author of boys' adventure and sailing stories who had fallen on hard times in the 1870s due to business failures, and so he hired out to Sampson Low as the translator for these volumes. However, it is now known that the actual translator of Mysterious Island and his other Verne novels was actually his wife, Agnes Kinloch Kingston, who had studied on the continent in her youth. The Kingston translation changes the names of the hero from "Smith" to "Harding"; "Smith" is a name often used by gypsies and not suitable for an English hero. In addition many technical passages were abridged or omitted and the anti-imperialist sentiments of the dying Captain Nemo were purged so as not to offend English readers. This became the standard translation for more than a century.
In 1876 the Stephen W. White
Stephen William White
Stephen William White , son of Emily and David W. White, was the secretary of the Northern Central Railway as well as a number of other Pennsylvanian railway companies until 1910 when he retired...
translation (175,000 words) appeared first in the columns of The Evening Telegraph of Philadelphia and subsequently as an Evening Telegraph Reprint Book. This translation is more faithful to the original story and restores the death scene of Captain Nemo, but there is still condensation and omission of some sections such as Verne's description of how a sawmill works. In the 20th century two more abridged translations appeared: the Fitzroy Edition (Associated Booksellers, 1959) abridged by I. O. Evans (90,000 words) and Mysterious Island (Bantam, 1970) abridged by Lowell Blair (90,000 words).
No unabridged translations appeared until 2001 when the illustrated version of Sidney Kravitz appeared (Wesleyan University Press) almost simultaneously with the new translation of Jordan Stump published by Random House Modern Library (2001). Kravitz also translated Shipwrecked Family: Marooned With Uncle Robinson, published by the North American Jules Verne Society and BearManor Fiction in 2011.
2003 Edition of Wrecked On A Reef
This edition in English by F. Raynal has additional appendices by French scholar Dr Christiane Mortelier who presents a convincing case for the influence of Francis Raynal's 19th century publication "Wrecked On A Reef" (originally published in French as "Les Naufrages des Iles Auckland") on Verne's 'Mysterious Island'. Verne read Raynal's account of the wreck of the 'Grafton' (Captain Musgrave) on the subantarctic Auckland Islands and loosely based his story on this true account of shipwreck, survival, privation, and ultimate rescue. The Grafton was wrecked in the Auckland Islands on 3 January 1864. The crew of five (including Musgrave) survived for 19 months before three of them sailed to Stewart Island (New Zealand) in a boat they had made. The remaining two were rescued. Verne incorporated much of this historical material into his 'Mysterious Island' narrative.Film and television adaptations
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916 film)20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916 film)20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a 1916 silent film directed by Stuart Paton. The film's storyline is based on the novel of the same name by Jules Verne, along with other elements used from Verne's The Mysterious Island....
: This classic American silent feature combines 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island into a single narrative, shifting back and forth between the Nautilus and the island. - The Mysterious Island (1929 film)The Mysterious Island (1929 film)The Mysterious Island is an MGM film directed by Lucien Hubbard, a film adaptation of Jules Verne's novel L'Île mystérieuse , published in 1874...
: loosely based on the back-story given for Captain Nemo in the novel. It is an AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
all-color part-talking feature (survives only in black & white form) with talking sequences, sound effects and synchronized music. Filmed as a silent but a talking sequence was added to the beginning and brief talking sequences were integrated into the film. Directed by Lucien HubbardLucien HubbardLucien Hubbard was a film producer and screenwriter. He is best known for producing Wings, for which he received the first Academy Award for Best Picture. Lucien produced and or wrote ninety-two films over the course of his career...
with Benjamin Christensen and Maurice Tourneur. - Mysterious Island (1941 film)Mysterious Island (1941 film)Mysterious Island, or Tainstvennyy ostrov in Russian, is a USSR film adaptation of the 1874 novel by Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island...
: a USSR production, directed by Eduard Pentslin. - Mysterious Island (1951 film): directed by Spencer Gordon BennetSpencer Gordon BennetSpencer Gordon Bennet was an American film producer and director. Known as the "King of Serial Directors", he directed more film serials than any other director.-Biography:...
- Mysterious Island (1961 film)Mysterious Island (1961 film)Mysterious Island is a 1961 film released by Morningside Productions. Based very loosely upon the novel The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, the film was produced by Charles H. Schneer and Ray Harryhausen. Directed by Cy Endfield, it was released through Columbia Pictures...
: directed by Cy EndfieldCy EndfieldCyril Raker Endfield was an American screenwriter, film director, theatre director, author, magician and inventor, based in Britain from 1953.- Biography :...
, also known as Jules Verne's Mysterious Island, featuring special effects from Ray HarryhausenRay HarryhausenRay Harryhausen is an American film producer and special effects creator...
and Herbert LomHerbert LomHerbert Lom is a Czech film actor, best known for his role as former Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in the Pink Panther movie series.-Life and career:...
as Nemo - La Isla misteriosa y el capitán NemoLa Isla misteriosa y el capitán NemoL'Ile Mysterieuse / La Isla misteriosa y el capitán Nemo / Die Geheimnisvolle Insel is a 1973 European TV miniseries production adapted from Jules Verne's novel L'Île mystérieuse. It was later re-edited into a 96 minute motion picture for theatrical release...
(L'Île mystérieuse) (1973): directed by Juan Antonio Bardem and Henri ColpiHenri ColpiHenri Colpi was a French film editor and film director.Colpi directed the 1961 film Une aussi longue absence, which is well-known for sharing the Palme d'Or at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival with Viridiana, which was directed by Luis Buñuel...
: a TV miniseriesMiniseriesA miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
featuring Omar SharifOmar SharifOmar Sharif is an Egyptian actor who has starred in Hollywood films including Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Funny Girl. He has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won two Golden Globe Awards.-Early life:...
as Captain Nemo - Mysterious IslandMysterious Island (TV series)Mysterious Island is a Canadian television series based on Jules Verne's novel L'Île mystérieuse. It ran for one season in 1995.The beginning of the series is much as in the novel...
: a short-lived Canadian television series - Mysterious Island (2005)Mysterious Island (2005 film)Mysterious Island is a 2005 TV film made for Hallmark Channel that is based on Jules Verne's novel of the same name...
: a TV movie featuring Patrick StewartPatrick StewartSir Patrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century...
as Captain Nemo which is only loosely based on the novel.
Works inspired by The Mysterious Island
- The Japanese animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
Nadia: The Secret of Blue WaterNadia: The Secret of Blue Wateris a Japanese animated television series inspired by the works of Jules Verne, particularly Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and the exploits of Captain Nemo...
(1990), by GainaxGainaxis a Japanese anime studio famous for productions such as Gunbuster, The Wings of Honneamise, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann which have gone on to critical acclaim and commercial success, as well as for their association with...
, is partly inspired by the novel. - The computer game MystMystMyst is a graphic adventure video game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. It was developed by Cyan , a Spokane, Washington––based studio, and published and distributed by Brøderbund. The Millers began working on Myst in and released it for the Mac OS computer on September...
and several locations featured in the game were also inspired by Jules Verne's novel. - The computer game Return to Mysterious IslandReturn to Mysterious IslandReturn to Mysterious Island is an adventure game for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh based on Jules Verne's novel The Mysterious Island. The game was released in 2004 for Microsoft Windows and updated and released for Mac OSX in 2008. It was developed by Kheops Studio and published by The...
(2004) is an adventure gameAdventure gameAn adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
sequel to the story. Its heroine, Mina, is shipwrecked alone on the uncharted island, and finds the body of the previous inhabitant, Captain Nemo (whom she buries). She finally escapes by locating the NautilusNautilus (Verne)The Nautilus is the fictional submarine featured in Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island . Verne named the Nautilus after Robert Fulton's real-life submarine Nautilus...
and disabling the island's defenses. This game was followed in 2009 by Return to Mysterious Island IIReturn to Mysterious Island IIReturn to Mysterious Island 2 is a 2009 adventure video game by Kheops Studio and Microïds. It is a sequel to the 2004 video game Return to Mysterious Island, and is again based upon the work of Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island.- Development :...
. - Mysterious IslandMysterious Island (Disney)Mysterious Island is a "port-of-call" at Tokyo DisneySea in the Tokyo Disney Resort. It features a large volcano and is located in the center of the park.-Theming:...
is also the name of a themed land at Tokyo DisneySeaTokyo DisneySeais a 176-acre theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, just outside Tokyo. It opened on September 4, 2001. It is owned by The Oriental Land Company, which licenses the theme from The Walt Disney Company. Tokyo DisneySea attracted an estimated 12 million visitors in...
and features two attractions based on other Jules Verne novels, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the EarthJourney to the Center of the EarthA Journey to the Center of the Earth is a classic 1864 science fiction novel by Jules Verne. The story involves a German professor who believes there are volcanic tubes going toward the center of the Earth...
. - The creator of the American television program LostLost (TV series)Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
credits The Mysterious Island as the chief inspiration of the show. - The novel Captain Nemo: The Fantastic History of a Dark GeniusCaptain Nemo: The Fantastic History of a Dark GeniusCaptain Nemo: The Fantastic History of a Dark Genius is a novel by Kevin J. Anderson, published in 2002 by Pocket Books. It is a secret history and crossover work, the central premise being that many of the things Jules Verne wrote about existed in real life as told to him by the real Captain...
has the events of this novel based on 'real' events that occurred to the real Nemo, Andre, who gave the details of his encounters to Verne. - Journey 2: The Mysterious IslandJourney 2: The Mysterious IslandJourney 2: The Mysterious Island is an upcoming American 3D action-adventure film directed by Brad Peyton and the sequel to the 2008 film Journey to the Center of the Earth....
: journey to a mysterious uncharted island thought to have informed the writing of three literary classics: Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure IslandTreasure IslandTreasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's TravelsGulliver's TravelsTravels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, better known simply as Gulliver's Travels , is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of...
and Jules Verne's Mysterious Island.
External links
Stephen W. White translation (1876) W. H. G.Kingston (Mrs. Agnes Kinloch Kingston) translation (1875)- The Mysterious Island Sidney Kravitz unabridged translation (2001). The extensive introduction and notes for this volume are at Mysterious Island Introduction.
- The Mysterious Island interactive 3D model on CryEngine 1 by Crytek
- Librivox The Mysterious Island, public domain audiobook
- North American Jules Verne Society