A very suspenseful tale, in my opinion. The story takes place during an actual event in American history, the Civil War, where Union prisoners-of-war escape from a Confedar8 POW camp, in a hot air balloon, 2 a very mysterious island where there seems 2 be someone other than the escapees from the POW camp which turns out to be Captain Nemo. I like the part with the bonfires to guide the boat back from the island where a supposed survivor was said to be which was revealed via a message in a floating in a bottle, on a nearby island who turns out to be what appears 2 be a "wildman" from England but turns out to be quite civilized after being pardoned from acts of piracy. The pir8 was betrayed & he escaped 2 the island which he retells 2 the escapees. They all then see Nemo in an old fashioned diving suit walking out of the water on2 the beach after he's destroyed a pir8 ship with some sort of explosive charges which was bearing down on the island. Nemo informs the castaways that the island's gonna self destruct via an earthquake & chooses 2 remain behind 2 die after persuading the others 2 escape which they all do, except Nemo by his own choice not 2. I happened 2 c the movie which was made abt 1955-1960. There were some differences in the motion picture version: 1)the castaways had an encounter with a giant crab & defeated the crab by overturning it with planks & making it slide in2 a pool of scalding fresh water. 2)One of the castaways was approached by a creature which was revealed 2 be a giant, mut8ed chicken, the size of a pickup truck, which the castaways were able 2 defeat with bullets from their rifles taken from the POW camp & they cook & eat from the bird they discover a bullet fired from a rifle other than the 1's they had taken from the Confeder8 POW camp which they escaped from. 3)2 Englishwomen, a young woman & her aunt, become shipwrecked in addition 2 the escapees. 4)A soldier & the niece were out walking & happen upon a beehive where the honeycombs r large enough 2 park a car in.

A lone honeybee, the size of a Navy F-14 Tomcat, returns 2 the hive & catches the 2 "explorers" where they r able 2 crawl 2 safety inside an unused honeycomb 2 safely get away from the lone bee which then seals them in the honeycomb with newly made bee's wax but the 2 castaways melt the bee's wax with a little bonfire & are make it back 2 safety with the other castaways. 5)Like with the RMT play, a pir8 ship comes on the scene & is sunk but with a torpedo from the Nautilus(if my memory serves me right, it was in the 90's when I last saw the motion picture). The castaways the meet Capt Nemo who informs them of the quake abt 2 take place & the need 2 escape. They do this by taking the balloon material the POW's used 2 escape from the prison camp with & somehow get the defl8ed balloon inside the sunken pir8 ship & successfully refloat the ship. In this motion picture version Nemo wants escape the quake with the castaways which are now embarked on the ship while Nemo, meanwhile, is on the Nautilus getting some of his pertinent documents. The quake begins & Nemo tries 2 escape from the Nautilus but is killed in the process from a collapsing beam & the Nautilus explodes. The castaways on the refloated pir8 ship see this(somehow.....as I said earlier, I last saw the movie in the 90's) & they have their own version of a eulogy 4 Capt Nemo & are able 2 escape the island after it self destructs. In my opinion, both RMT & motion picture versions are riveting even though they don't have the same characters or events. I give an 8.5 out of 10 & just wanted 2 make readers aware that there is a motion picture version also which'd probably be shown on TCM most likely. Well.....I think I've overstayed my welcome(LOL). So I'll take my leave 4 now & I'll be back next time 4 another adventure in the macabre. Until next time.....pleasant dreams(LOL). :-)