Thirty Leagues Under the Sea

This was the first film shot with the underwater filming apparatus invented by Captain Charles Williamson and controlled by the Submarine Film Corp., which was headed by Williamson and his sons J. Ernest and George. Contemporary trade articles in July 1914 announce the film's early showings in Washington, D.C. and New York City, where it was to play under the title The Terrors of the Deep. The Variety review in October 1914, however, implies that the New York City booking May not have occurred until the fall of 1914. Reviews in the fall of 1914 and thereafter generally refer to the film as Thirty Leagues Under The Sea, though the Variety review calls the film Under the Sea. Trade articles in the summer of 1914 call the film a five-reeler, but a review in the fall of 1914 gives the length as six reels, and a December 1916 ad calls the film a seven-reeler. Thanhouser and Mutual were in charge of the film's distribution in the summer of 1914, although no reference to the film's distribution is made in the fall 1914 reviews and articles. Universal signed a contract with the Submarine Film Corp. to distribute the film in 1915; when this contract expired on December 10, 1916, the Submarine Film Corp. put the film on the state rights market. The film's underwater photography was done near Nassau in the Bahamas.