steampunk-movie alert on Turner Classic Movies

Late this afternoon, Turner Classic Movies is showing 1969's "Captain Nemo and the Underwater City"





Here is what I had written about it in Steampunk and Hollywood

“Captain Nemo and the Underwater City” was a big-screen MGM production, with Robert Ryan as you-know-who and Chuck Connors sporting an awesome pompadour. I've always liked the movie in spite of itself. Instead of adapting (or mangling) an existing story, it used its central character for a completely new tale. For decades Nemo’s been building a Utopian society deep under the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. As usual he is a very scientifically advanced man, but not THAT advanced when it comes to the contributions women can make to Society. Those appear to mostly involve teaching kids how to swim. Some of Nemo’s innovations include the theremin, lobster-shaped alarm bells, and radio communication between divers but not between submarines for plot-convenient reasons. Did I mention genetic engineering gone horribly wrong with one giant demented manta? For all his genius though, Nemo has blind spots: when one of the people you saved from a shipwreck tells you he reallyreallyreally is claustrophobic, do pay attention before the rescuee tries to punch a hole in your underwater city's dome.

Enjoy!