20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Hosted by Jeff Kurtti + Discussion w/ Kevin Kidney
- Sat, Sep 26
The Frida Cinema's seating is first-come, first-serve. For our Midnight Screenings, please plan on arriving by 11:30pm to ensure ample time for parking, picking up concessions, and securing optimal seats. Screening will begin promptly at midnight.
Director: Richard Fleischer Run Time: 127 min. Release Year: 1954
Starring: James Mason, Kirk Douglas, Paul Lukas, Peter Lorre, Robert J. Wilke
Board the submarine Nautilus and plunge into a strange undersea world of spellbinding adventure as we kick off our Walt Disney Studies series with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea! This evening’s event will be hosted by Jeff Kurtti with a presentation and discussion with Disney Historian Kevin Kidney!
Kirk Douglas, Paul Lukas, and Peter Lorre star as shipwrecked survivors taken captive by the mysterious Captain Nemo, brilliantly portrayed by James Mason. Wavering between genius and madness, Nemo has launched a deadly crusade across the seven seas. But can the captive crew expose his evil plan before he destroys the world?
Disney’s brilliant Academy Award®-winning (Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects) adaptation of Jules Verne’s gripping tale makes 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea a truly mesmerizing masterpiece, his first feature in the widescreen CinemaScope process!
Kevin Kidney is a designer, writer, product creator, puppeteer, sculptor, and illustrator. He is a renowned Disney authority and has created an array of celebrated work including 2D and 3D art, the design of Parades and some of the most respected and sought-after collectibles. His new book, The Making of Walt Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson, will be available in 2027. Kidney is a renowned Disney authority, he and Jeff Kurtti will discuss the origins of this feature in the efforts of early Imagineer Harper Goff, a film designer who played a significant role in the creation of Disneyland.
Jeff Kurtti is the most prolific nonfiction author in Disney history, with more than 40 volumes to his credit over 25 years. A leading authority on The Walt Disney Company, its founder, and its history, Kurtti is also a writer-director of award-winning documentary content, and a respected public speaker. He was
creative director, content consultant, and media producer for The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, and a producer of The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story, a critically acclaimed documentary about the famed songwriters. In June 2024, Kurtti was appointed Presidential Fellow in Walt Disney Studies at Chapman University in Orange, CA.
All schedule details and speaker lineups are tentative and subject to change without notice.