Eric Chu

Had an excellent time at the Walt Disney Studies program at Frida Cinemas. This evening the series spotlighted Walt Disney’s classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea — The “American Cartoonist’s” first foray into a feature-length, live-action film.

It was my first time seeing this film. And it was much “weightier” than I had expected. Previously, I had only seen more light hearted clips, like Kirk Douglas singing a sea shanty, “Whale of a Tale” and a dramatic fight scene involving a giant squid. Of course there were some traditional scenes you might expect in a period piece like this — battle scenes between ships, underwater explorations, and even encountering natives in a foreign land. But the film touches upon much more serious subject matters like slavery, revenge, power, and greed.

I really enjoyed diving into the underwater world with Captain Nemo and can see why this 1954 film captured the attention of so many to this day.

The @waltdisneystudies are an exclusive and specially-curated film series selected and hosted by renowned author and Disney historian @jeffkurtti and shown at @thefridacinema. Jeff did an excellent job giving the audience some background and context before the film and special guest Kevin Kidney @kevinandjody bookended the evening nicely by sharing a presentation of rarely seen behind-the-scenes images and video from the making of the film — including the original (then completely reshot) fight scene with the giant “Sunset Squid”.

If you missed this program, don’t fret. There are 5 more additional films coming up. A link to find out more info can be found in the first comment.