Believe it or not, this silent 1916 version of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea is actually the third film version of the Jules Verne classic. And according to everything we've read, this one is also the first feature film to use underwater footage.

Now, if you've read the book, or even seen any of the other film versions, you'll recognize some of the basics here -- Captain Nemo, the Nautilus, Professor Arronax, Ned Land and the giant cephalopod. Beyond that, good luck finding anything familiar.

The plot is convoluted, to say the least, mixing elements of Verne's 20,000 Leagues, Mysterious Island, and the director's own fantastical musings. Part of the problem may have been that film was still a relatively new art form at the time, and its use in telling of a complicated story was still not completely understood. And then again, maybe these guys just didn't know what they were doing. There is Nemo, looking like some kind of Hindu Santa Claus. There's a group of militray officers who commandeer a balloon for reasons unknown and then crash on Mysterious Island. There's a "child of nature" -- a woman clad in a leopard skin dress who seems inordinately preoccupied with interpretive dance. And there's some colonial guy who did some bad things back in India.

But forget all that -- it makes no sense. There are two main underwater scenes in the movie, each about eight minutes long. The first is simply the camera panning over a long expanse of virgin reef. The second is Nemo and friends walking along the bottom in a hunting expedition.

Most of this footage is in pretty bad shape -- remember, it was shot almost 100 years ago -- but it's still interesting, particularly the lush condition of the reef. We're also treasted to some footage of schools of fish swarming over the ribs of a small wreck. And, of course, there's a fair amount of shark footage (some things just never change!). There's also one short, aberrant sequence with a horrendously bad giant octopus that fans of Ed Wood will love.

So, do we recommend this version of Twenty Thousand Leagues? Kind of. Watch the underwater scenes strictly for their historical importance. Forget the rest. This movie is available on DVD.