40 years ago, the movie Captain Nemo was released. Three series of science fiction filmed based on the novels of Jules Verne "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Steam House". For the Soviet screen, the tape was simply extraordinary. Three episodes of "Iron Whale", "Prince Dakkar", "Nautilus continues to fight" were watched in one breath.
Romantic for life
Beautiful unusual shooting under water, talented actor Vladislav Dvorzhetsky, who played Captain Nemo, music by Alexander Zatsepin (lyrics by Leonid Derbenev) brought success to the film. As well as director Vasily Levin. The film has remained his most famous directorial work.
- Vasily Nikolaevich was a romantic nature, - recalls Vadim Kostromenko, director of the Cinema Museum of the Odessa branch of the National Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine. - By the way, he drew well, the pictures were fantastic. Fantasy, adventure, travel attracted him in the cinema. It's no wonder why he took on this film and did it so well (and by the way, Levine's next film was about space flight). It took a lot of work in the studio. A submarine and its interiors were built in the pavilion. A layout was made, which was filmed in the film studio pool. In general, there were a lot of combined shootings. This genre of film was then a rarity. As a result, there were a lot of reviews, letters addressed to the film. Fans even looked for Dvorzhetsky's address through a film studio.
Filming was carried out not only in Odessa at the film studio, but also in Belgorod-Dnestrovsky, in the Crimea, in the Artek area, in the Sevastopol dolphinarium.
Kalyagin was unlucky
The cast was stellar: in addition to Vladislav Dvorzhetsky, the roles were shared by Yuri Rodionov, Mikhail Kononov, Marianna Vertinskaya, Vladimir Basov, Alexander Porokhovshchikov. But few people know that Mikhail Kazakov auditioned for the role of Nemo, and Alexander Kalyagin auditioned for the role of Aronax. But their nominations were not approved in the end. This can be seen from the album of photo tests, which is stored in the Museum of Cinema.
This is how Ukrainian actor Vladimir Talashko, who played the harpooner Ned Land, recalls in an interview about screen tests.
- When I showed photos of screen tests to Slava Dvorzhetsky. He, a man wise by experience, tactfully clarified: who thought of this before. I proudly admitted: "I came up with it myself."
To which he replied: "Well, a fool." I ask him: “What for?”
He asked me a question to the question: “Do you know how much we will shoot?” "Almost a year".
“So imagine what will happen to your face after such makeup.” Well, in fact, then there was a problem with the face, I had to treat it, but still the game is worth the candle. Although I had to get up earlier, sit for hours at the make-up artists. Then we wanted everything to be more correct, more interesting. I took my role very seriously. Among the applicants were five very strong, already well-known Moscow actors. When I found out that it was me who was approved, I immediately began to learn the text. He himself thought out his image, this sweater ...
How did the Nautilus come about?
This is how the Wikipedia encyclopedia describes the process of creating an “underwater home”.
The writer decided to place his hero in the depths of the ocean, and for this he needed a submarine. This is how the image of the future Nautilus began to take shape. In the 1860s, submarines were already fairly well known, they were being built in a number of countries, and the writer knew quite well about them. So, back in 1862, he saw the Plongeur (Diver) under construction, which was considered a real giant among submarines. In 1867, returning to Paris after a trip to the United States, Verne visited the World Exhibition on the Champ de Mars, where the Fairy of Electricity, the project for the future Suez Canal, as well as the technologies of the first submarines and spacesuits, many of which the writer later introduced on your fantastic submarine.
It is difficult to determine exactly which submarine served as the final prototype of the Nautilus. So, outwardly, it is very similar to the American submarine "Alligator", launched in 1862. However, in terms of internal equipment, the Nautilus is closest to the French Plongeur: a compressed air tank in the bow, a mechanical propeller drive, blowing ballast tanks with compressed air, and huge dimensions compared to other submarines.
It is widely believed that the Nautilus was named after the boat of the same name by Robert Fulton, which he demonstrated to the Parisians on the Seine in May 1801. However, in his works, Verne, who was born in 1828, never mentions his name, especially since Fulton offered his submarines not only to France, but also to its potential enemy - England. Thus, Verne had no reason to name a fictional submarine after a real one. Moreover, in the novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, an episode is described when the passengers of the Nautilus watch a flock of nautilus mollusks (in the novel they are called argonauts) and compare the mollusks and their shells with Captain Nemo and his ship. The same episode reveals the meaning of the Nautilus motto - "Moving in the movable" ("Mobilis in mobili").
After "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Mysterious Island" (1875), J. Verne did not return to submarines for quite some time. Finally, in 1896, the novel Flag of the Motherland was published, in which a submarine appears. Like the Nautilus, its main weapon is a ram, but it is much smaller, equipped with a periscope, and batteries are the source of electricity. There is no more detailed description of the submarine in the novel. It is not commanded by a noble captain, like Nemo, but by Ker Karrage, a villain who uses a submarine for pirate attacks on ships. Later in the novel, another submarine, the Sword, appears for a while, and then follows a description of the battle of two submarines, which ends with the defeat of the Sword. At the end of the novel, Ker Karrage and his submarine (which is not called otherwise than the "tug") die.
In 1904, the novel "Lord of the World" was published, where "Terrible" appears - a machine capable of moving through the air, on land, on water and under water. The Terrible has a metal spindle-shaped hull 10 m long. The hull is rather narrow, and it is more pointed at the bow than towards the stern. The machine is driven on the ground by 4 spoked wheels with thick tires, and 2 Parsons turbines are used to move under water. For orientation under water, a periscope is installed in the bow. For movement through the air, wings are used, which are usually pressed against the sides and straighten only in flight. Powerful electric accumulators are a source of energy. The captain of the Terrible is Robur, who previously appeared in the novel Robur the Conqueror. At the end of the novel, he, imagining himself the Lord of Nature, directs the car to the very center of the thunderstorm, where the Terrible is struck by a lightning strike and it falls into the ocean.
Both novels were published in large editions and translated into many languages of the world, but they never reached the popularity of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island, and Terrible remained just one of the writer's fictions.
Screen versions of "Nemo" in the world
The first film adaptation was French, 1907. Already in 1916, a full-length American version of the novel was published, then there were still in 1927, 52.
In the United States in 1954, the bright film "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" produced by Walt Disney Pictures was shown. In 1969, "Captain Nemo and the Underwater City" was filmed, and in 1973 in Europe - "The Mysterious Island of Captain Nemo" (France, Italy, Spain, Cameroon). 1997 saw the release of the American television film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea commissioned by the Hallmark cable network and the American-Australian television film produced by Village Roadshow. And in 2007, the last film adaptation of Jules Verne's book "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" was filmed. The action has been moved to the present day, and there are very few references to the book in the film.
Disney has been trying to launch a movie about the new adventures of Captain Nemo for years, according to online sources. In November 2009, the project called “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo” was stopped, and in 2010 it was again unfrozen, but already led by David Fincher, who was promised help with this by James Cameron. At this point, the flow of new project events has so far been exhausted.
According to oKino.ua, while Americans are fumbling, horror director Theo Pirri is preparing to start filming "The Return of Captain Nemo" In Great Britain. The film is being produced by Amy Krell, who has secured funding for the project from American, Asian and British investors. The film's budget was $10 million.
Hugh Bonneville, popular in Europe, thanks to the Downton Abbey series, has been approved for the lead role of Captain Nemo. David Morrissey has been cast as chief adviser to President Ulysses Grant, who frees Nemo from prison to discover mysterious sea creatures that are sinking ships off the Atlantic coast. The counselor's daughter, Sarah, will be played by The First Avenger and Allen's Cassandra's Dream star Hayley Atwell.
Snezhana Pavlova
Materials provided by the Cinema Museum of the Odessa branch of the NCU
Who was he really - the famous Captain Nobody?
In a good book, everything should be good: the plot, the characters, the composition, the style.
And yet, a bright, reliable protagonist makes it a masterpiece.
“Just like alive,” readers say about this.
Literary heroes who had real prototypes are distinguished by exceptional reliability. Creating his hero, Jules Verne combined a mysterious past, immense wealth, a thirst for revenge and added a new component - an unprecedented technical ability to carry out his plans. And a character was born with the Latin name Nemo - Nobody.
"Captain Nemo is known throughout the world as a talented engineer, designer and explorer of the ocean. Few people know that he was an Other. And only a few guess that he was the creator of the strongest amulet that protects the mind of the owner ...
The reasons that prompted the brave captain to create this item are lost in the dust of past years, but in order to somehow shed light on them, you can try to turn to his youth...
Nemo is the Indian prince of Dakkar, who led the uprising of Indian sepoys in the 50s of the 19th century against the British invaders who enslaved his native country. Despite the numerical superiority, the uprising ended in the defeat of the sepoys. Official sources claim that the reason for the defeat of the rebels was the military advantage of the British, by and large they are not so far from the truth, but the reason for this advantage was the incubus (according to other sources, a strong magician), who managed to suppress the will of the rebels ...
India was again under British rule, and a huge price was placed on the head of the crown prince and leader of the rebels. The prince became the first person to step into the depths of the ocean, he lost, in his own words, both his faith, his homeland, and his name - and began to be called Captain Nobody (Nemo). Time passed, the depths of the sea replaced human society for him, life on the surface began to be forgotten ... But the insult to that nameless incubus, which caused the death of his army and the expulsion of the prince-captain himself, did not disappear. The years went on, but the time for revenge did not come, and quick revenge is not so terrible as postponed, deliberate, every step towards which is calculated and verified many times ... And here it is, the sweet hour of reckoning, the revenge of which the captain has been waiting for so long has taken place. Rejoice Others, tremble Incubus! Long live the Guardian of the Soul! May the soporific-charming hordes not encroach on the minds of honest Others!" (http://byaki.clan.su/index/8-6)
A comprehensively gifted aristocrat who incarnated not in the savior of his people, but in the Evil Genius - the image is all the more dangerous because it is so aesthetically designed. This narcissistic arrogant did not bring happiness to any of his people, he doomed everyone to isolation and death - he rolled him up in a beautiful prison. But he got bored, and he needed to have fun - to torment the guests, dashingly showing off. A wonderful image of another tracing paper from Dennitsa in the form of a man.
Summing up his life, Captain Nemo says:
“All my life I have done good when I could, and evil when necessary. To forgive insults to enemies does not mean to be fair.
(Jules Verne. Mysterious island.)
If you look, then Captain Nemo is the first full-blooded image of a terrorist in literature. Moreover, a terrorist in the most modern sense of the word - one who owns advanced technologies of destruction and annihilation. He pressed a button, connected contacts or simply dialed a number - and trains derailed, planes fell, houses with peacefully sleeping people exploded ... Jules Verne also understood this, hesitated, was tormented by doubts. Yes, he defended the "angel of vengeance" before the publisher. But at the same time, his character, personifying the conscience of the scientist, Professor Aronax, condemned Nemo's actions and did not hide it, although he was completely at the mercy of the captain. Jules Verne expressed both of these irreconcilable positions, made both convincing and gave us the choice. This is the honesty of the writer, even if he is a science fiction writer a thousand times over.
There is rapture in battle
And the dark abyss on the edge,
In the angry ocean
Amid the stormy waves and stormy darkness,
And in the Arabian hurricane
And in the breath of the Plague.
The stanzas from the dramatic scene “A Feast in the Time of Plague”, the words from the song that its Chairman sings at the feast, and the image of Captain Nemo involuntarily give rise to the same emotional state, without experiencing which life would be very insipid food.
________________________________________ _______________________________________-
Where did Captain Nemo go?
... Everyone saw him, but no one knows by sight
K. Yu. Starokhamskaya
Was the enigmatic Captain Nemo just a fictional character invented by Jules Verne?
In the novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, it is said that Captain Nemo is the Indian prince Dakkar, who led the uprising of the Indian sepoys against Britain. The uprising ended in the defeat of the sepoys, and Dakkar's wife and two children were taken hostage and killed in captivity. He has since left society and devoted himself to revenge.
Thanks to a brilliant all-round education and numerous talents, he was able to build the world's first working submarine, along with a handful of his supporters, on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean, from where he began his voyage. He abandoned the name and became known as Captain Nobody (Nemo - lat.). Moreover, he fundamentally renounced everything earthly and for all his needs used only the gifts of the ocean.
In the novel, Captain Nemo is a rather tough, and sometimes even cruel person: he sank an English frigate, refused to release Professor Aronax and his companions who came to him. But at the same time, he saved a poor pearl diver, is interested in the science of the underwater world, and achieved considerable success in its development. He is well versed in art, on board the Nautilus there is an excellent library, a collection of art masterpieces, sheet music with scores by great musicians.
There is another interesting side to the description of the life of Captain Nemo on the Nautilus. Despite living in a submarine, Captain Nemo is in excellent shape, does not suffer from lack of appetite, overweight, or beriberi. He eats his food seasoned with "a sauce of seaweed, the so-called porphyry and laurencia." He drinks water, always adding to it "a few drops of a fermented infusion prepared ... from an algae known as rhodimenia cinquefoil." Spirulina algae gives him a useful supplement to tea. That is, Captain Nemo actually discovered what is now called dietary supplement. (Due to the dominance of various scammers and aggressive marketing, this phenomenon is already stuck in the teeth, and dietary supplements are already called anything horrible, just to make money, but among them there are also products containing really useful substances).
And many scientists consider this spirulina to be an alien from outer space. It is believed that 3.5 billion years ago it was she who brought indomitable biological energy to a dead planet. American astronauts received food from spirulina that was incredibly rich in complete, balanced protein and other substances important for life. The largest scientific centers have developed strains of spirulina, which has a beneficial effect on blood cholesterol levels, protects a person from heart and vascular diseases. There is evidence that spirulina effectively strengthens the immune system, reduces the risk of cancer and diabetes. And it also improves metabolism, cleanses the body of toxins, toxins, heavy metals, removes radionuclides. If at least some of this is scientifically confirmed, it is already useful.
A few years after meeting with Professor Aronax, Captain Nemo was left alone, all members of his team died, and he found refuge in an underground lake on a volcanic island east of Australia, where for some time he helped travelers who suddenly found themselves on the island ("Mysterious Island"). To them he revealed the secret of his life and died.
Did he die?
Jules Verne has a certain inconsistency in his description of the end of his life. In the novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the action takes place in 1868, and Captain Nemo is in the prime of life and health. But in the novel "The Mysterious Island" already in 1869, Nemo appears as an ancient old man and dies. Something is wrong here. And here we smoothly move on to another hero of literature and cinema ...
There lived at the same time a man known as Duke Juan North. It is known that in 1895 he visited India, where he had an affair with a certain woman, from whom he had children. Under the name of Garn, with the rank of sergeant of artillery, he participated in the Anglo-Boer War. At the end of the war, he became aide-de-camp to Lord Edward Beltham of Scotwell Hill and fell in love with his youngest daughter, Lady Maud Beltham. When her husband discovered their relationship and wanted to shoot his wife, Garn killed him with a hammer blow. Since then, he has embarked on a path of crime, and this horrified Lady Beltham so much that she committed suicide.
For his criminal purposes, he used amazing devices - a powerful submarine, cars that transformed into an airplane, and even rockets. He, just like Captain Nemo, lived completely closed, having with him a team of the same silent faithful accomplices, and just like Captain Nemo, he appeared and disappeared at the most unexpected moments ...
You already guessed, of course, that it was Fantômas. The name comes from the word fantom, that is, something that does not exist. It is quite clear that Captain Nemo - still in excellent physical shape (thanks to sea food and extracts from spirulina) - was slightly damaged on the basis of revenge on all mankind and embarked on the path of abstract evil ... Maybe he overate underwater fly agaric, or maybe maybe he was not at all any Indian prince Dakkar, but simply told Pierre Aronnax this romantic version, presenting himself as a noble avenger?
Now no one will know this.
Fantomas (fr. Fantômas) is a fictional character, a brilliant criminal who hides his face, one of the most famous negative characters in French literature and cinema. Fantomas was created by French writers Marcel Allen and Pierre Souvestre in 1911. Fantômas appears in 32 novels co-written by Allen and Souvestre and 11 novels written by Allen after the death of a co-author.
J. Verne is the author of childhood, and for many children, the love of books began precisely with the works of this writer. Probably more than one thousand readers opened the first page of this book with trepidation. I really liked the book, it takes you to a completely different world, it captures you with a whirlpool of events, although it’s really a bit difficult to call novels a cycle.
Jules Verne's book predicts many discoveries made decades after the author's death. As for me, the author can safely be considered a kind of prophet.
The fantast accurately foresaw the direction in the development of the intellect and the intellectual component of human intuition.
I think that this is a very strong writer, because he is the engines of the ideas of contemporary scientists. Let us recall only his famous phrase, written in a letter to his father - "Everything that a person can imagine, other people can do."
The scrupulousness with which Werth described the structure of the ship is striking - having never seen anything like it before, which once again speaks of a person’s rich and strong imagination, even despite the fact that he himself spent a lot of time in the National Library of Paris for textbooks and books on physics , astronomy, chemistry, geology. He communicated with engineers of various specialties, shipbuilders, mechanics. I traveled a lot and seriously tracked all the innovations, or at least a hint of the alleged discovery in the field of science.
P.S. It is believed that it was Verne's stories that prompted scientists to build spaceships. "Nautilus" became the embodiment of technological progress, and his name became the most popular among submarines. Because of him, Verne began to be called the "father of submarines." Electronic devices, computers, spacecraft, as well as restaurants, hotels, rock bands and sports clubs are named after the Nautilus.
Finally, I’ll say that it’s a pity that modern children, tempted by Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, will not appreciate the works of Jules Gabriel Verne, but even so, you just need to read these works.
Jules Verne is without a doubt the greatest French writer.
Score: 10
these novels can be called a cycle only conditionally. In fact, they are different: Captain Grant's Children is a purely adventure novel, 2000 Leagues Under the Sea is fantasy, The Mysterious Island is also an adventure, although it also features heroes from previous novels - Captain Nemo and Ayrton from Captain Grant's Children. Otherwise, the works are different and, apparently, even from different genres. However, there is also some commonality. This is mainly the manner of narration - the author gives the reader a huge amount of knowledge in all branches of science, and this is not only "descriptive", such as biology, geography. But also physics, chemistry, mechanics, astronomy.
The best novel from the cycle IMHO Mysterious Island, at least I liked it the most. and it is in it that we learn about the tragic end of Nemo, although he died as befits a real captain: on his ship, the Nautilus.
In general, all novels deserve close attention and are worthy of the pen of the famous and beloved Jules Verne.
Score: 10
I really liked the cycle. Although the books in it were quite different in their subject matter, they were still catchy. I especially liked the book 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The idea itself intrigued me. Yes, and the language of the author did not disappoint either, it is always written interestingly and brightly in its own way. I started reading Jules Verne after this particular book. Then gradually got involved in everything else.
I won’t say, of course, that this series of books came out one of the best - I just read it first and maybe that’s why I’m interested in re-reading it and raking something new out of the pages, out of the text ...
Score: 8
The three-episode fantasy-adventure film was filmed at a film studio in Odessa and shown on screens to residents of the Soviet Union in the winter of 1975. This article outlines the plot of the movie Captain Nemo (1975). Actors and roles are also featured. The director and scriptwriter was V. Levin. The role of Captain Nemo was played by the legendary M. Kononov, who embodied the image of Konsel on the screen. Alexander Porokhovshchikov got an equally significant character - Captain Faragut. The actors of the film "Captain Nemo" played their roles perfectly - this is how the audience who read the famous book imagined the images of the heroes.
Plot
The story is based on the works of the classic fantasy genre - Jules Verne.
The authorities of the United States of America are in despair. Their maritime space is threatened by a huge monster that attacks the warships of the state. Often the damage is so severe that ships sink with the people on board. To capture this monster, they decide to involve the famous scientist Pierre Aronax from France. He receives an official request to participate in the expedition on the day of his marriage and immediately sets off on the Blue Star military vessel, owned by the Americans.
The ship also has a servant and assistant to Professor Conseil. In addition, there is also a whale hunter from Canada, who is passionate about catching a sea monster with a harpoon. The team on the frigate wanders for a long time across the expanses of the ocean. Only three months later they manage to notice this dangerous creature.
While trying to kill the monster, they miraculously stay alive. The ship takes heavy damage and cannot stay afloat. All people end up in the ocean, but remain alive. They find themselves on an underwater vessel under the control of the mysterious Captain Nemo.
The film "Captain Nemo", the actors and roles of which will be presented below, won many awards and was positively noted by the country's political figures and film critics.
Vladimir Basov
This magnificent actor was born in the summer of 1923 in the Kursk region. In 1941, he intended to enter the theater school and had already begun to collect documents, but the war began. When Vladimir turned 19, he went to the front without a doubt, where he managed not only to survive, but also to start a brilliant career. Everyone expected him to continue serving after the end of hostilities.
Fortunately, the war did not change his plans, and he nevertheless entered VGIK to become a director. Since 1952, Vladimir began his career as a professional. He not only supervised the filming, but also decided to participate in them personally as various bright characters. "Shield and Sword" became his most famous work as a director. The actor starred in 80 films, playing episodic and leading roles. Anyone who has ever seen paintings with the participation of V. Basov will remember him forever. Basov and other actors of the film "Captain Nemo" were remembered by the viewer thanks to the unusual presentation of famous characters from the book, great acting and emotions. In 1987, this talented man could not recover from a second stroke. He was buried at the Kuntsevo cemetery in Moscow.
Alexander Porokhovshchikov
The talented actor was born shortly before the start of World War II, in 1939. His mother was also an actress, his father was a practicing surgeon. When the boy was two years old, the head of the family left. Therefore, the stepfather was engaged in the upbringing of the growing young man.
His dream of a medical career was interrupted by the move of the whole family to the capital. There he began to earn extra money as a furniture restorer in the theater and had a burning desire to go on stage. After receiving acting education, he changed different jobs. Alexander at first often acted as a substitute for V. Vysotsky, when he was unable to play. Gradually, he also had his own roles, but they were mostly villains. This state of affairs of the actor was very upset.
At the age of 27, he starred in the movie "Search" for the first time and did not leave this field of activity. At the age of 52, A. Porokhovshchikov directed the film "I do not allow censorship to memory." Then he began acting in various popular TV series, which is what the mass audience remembers. The Captain Nemo actor later admitted in an interview that working hard on multiple projects sometimes took a toll on his health, but he didn't mind it.
Alexander married a young costume designer Irina, already at a respectable age. But he never left heirs, having died from complications caused by diabetes in 2012. Shortly before his death, his devoted wife hanged herself in the attic of their mansion. So tragically ended the Porokhovshchikov family.
Mikhail Kononov
The famous Soviet actor of the film "Captain Nemo" was born in Moscow on a beautiful spring day in 1940. At 23, he received a professional education, graduating from Pike. But five years later, he decided to leave the stage forever and act in films, where he made his debut while still studying.
Behind him was the image of a simple guy. He starred in such films as "Guest from the Future", "Head of Chukotka", "Big Break", "Captain Nemo" (1975 mini-series). But then he stopped accepting invitations from directors, as he believed that cinema was going through hard times. His last and very poignant role is Spiridon Danilovich in the film "In the First Circle".
Exactly one year after filming, the actor died of a banal lung disease. Before his death, he was in poverty and had no money even for medicines, which is why he started his health. Despite the fact that M. Kononov had been married to his wife for about 40 years, the couple did not have heirs.
Chapter Sixteen
Captain Nemo. - His first words. - The story of a hero who fought for the independence of his homeland. - Hatred of invaders. - Companions of Captain Nemo. - Life under water. - Loneliness. - Lincoln Island is the last refuge of the Nautilus. - The mysterious genius of the island.
At these words, the man lying on the sofa sat up, and the light shone on his face: he had a magnificent head position, a high forehead, a proud look, a gray beard, a mane of thick hair thrown back.
He stood up and leaned his hand on the back of the sofa. His gaze was calm. It was noticeable that a long illness gradually undermined his health, but his voice was still sonorous when he said in English with extreme surprise:
I have no name, sir.
I know your name, said Cyrus Smith.
Captain Nemo looked at the engineer with such burning eyes, as if he wanted to destroy him. Then, collapsing on the sofa, he whispered:
But it doesn't matter in the end. I will die soon.
Cyrus Smith came closer to Captain Nemo, and Gideon Spilett took his hand. The hand was hot. Ayrton, Pencroff, Herbert, and Neb kept at a respectful distance, in the corner of this splendid room, lit by electricity.
Captain Nemo quietly withdrew his hand and motioned for the engineer and journalist to sit down.
Everyone looked at him with sincere excitement. So here he is, the one whom they called the "genius of the island", a powerful being, whose intervention in many cases proved to be saving; here he is, the benefactor to whom they owe so much. In front of them was a weak, dying man, while Pencroft and Neb expected to see a demigod.
But how could it be that Cyrus Smith knew Captain Nemo? Why did Captain Nemo jump up when he heard his name, which he thought no one knew? ..
The captain lay back on the sofa and, leaning on his elbow, looked attentively at Cyrus Smith, who was sitting beside him.
So, sir, do you know the name that I bore? asked Captain Nemo.
I know, - answered Cyres Smith, - and I also know the name of a wonderful submarine ...
“Nautilus,” the captain said with a half smile.
Yes, Nautilus.
Do you know?.. Do you know who I am?
But for thirty years now I have not had the slightest connection with the inhabited world, for thirty years I have been living in the depths of the sea, because this is the only environment where I gained independence! Who could give away my secret?
A certain person who has made no commitment to you, Captain Nemo, and therefore cannot be accused of treason.
Is it not the same Frenchman who, by chance, came on board my ship sixteen years ago?
He is.
So this man and his two companions did not die in the Maelstrom when the Nautilus ended up there?
No, they didn't die. And then there was a book called Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, which tells the story of your life.
The story of a few months of my life, and nothing more, sir! the captain retorted brusquely.
You are right, Cyres Smith confirmed. - But it was enough to live near you for several months to form a judgment about you ...
Like a great criminal, isn't it? said Captain Nemo, and an arrogant smile flickered on his lips. - Yes, as a rebel, a renegade of human society.
The engineer didn't answer.
Why are you silent, sir?
I have no right to judge Captain Nemo, said Cyrus Smith, at least not by his past. After all, no one, including me, knows what made him lead such a strange life, and without knowing the reasons, one cannot judge the consequences. But I know for certain that your beneficent intervention has guarded us unceasingly since the day we found ourselves on Lincoln Island; I know that we all owe our lives to a kind, generous, powerful patron, and that that kind, generous, powerful patron was you, Captain Nemo.
Yes, I helped you, - Captain Nemo answered simply.
The engineer and the journalist stood up. Their comrades approached, wanting to express to Captain Nemo the gratitude that overwhelmed their hearts.
Captain Nemo stopped their outpourings with a wave of his hand, and with an emotion which he could not conceal, said:
Wait, listen to me first.
And Captain Nemo, in a few words, concisely and clearly, told his whole life.
The story was short, but the patient had to muster all his fading strength to bring it to the end. It was evident that he was getting weaker and weaker. Several times Cyrus Smith asked him to rest, but Captain Nemo shook his head. After all, he knew that he might not live to see tomorrow, and when the journalist offered him his services as a doctor, Nemo replied:
Useless, sir, useless. I have a few hours left to live.
Captain Nemo was a Hindu by birth, the son of a rajah who ruled the then independent principality of Bundelkhand, a nephew of the famous Indian hero Tippo Saib. At the age of ten, his father sent him to Europe, wishing to give him a comprehensive education and secretly hoping that someday his son, as an equal opponent, would fight against those whom the Raja considered the oppressors of his native country.
From ten to thirty years, Prince Dakkar, a man endowed with high talents, nobility of soul and mind, studied, mastering various sciences, and achieved great knowledge both in natural science and mathematics, and in literature.
Prince Dakkar traveled all over Europe. Due to his noble birth and wealth, he was everywhere considered a welcome guest, but the pleasures of secular life never tempted him. The young handsome Hindu was always serious, even gloomy and consumed by a thirst for knowledge. An inexorable hatred burned in his heart. Prince Dakkar hated it. He hated that one country on whose soil he never wanted to set foot, the only country whose advances he constantly rejected; he hated England, and hated it all the more because he admired her in many ways.
This Hindu was the embodiment of the ardent hatred of the vanquished for the winner. The enslaver would find no mercy in the enslaved. The son of one of those princes who submitted to the United Kingdom only in words, a prince from the Tippo-Sahib family, brought up in the spirit of the struggle for independence and revenge, full of ineradicable love for his poetic homeland, chained by the British, he did not want to set foot on the land of that country, which he considered cursed, because she enslaved India.
Prince Dakkar became an artist - the wonders of art aroused noble excitement in him; became a scientist - nothing was alien to him in the field of high knowledge; became a statesman who studied all the subtleties of diplomacy at European courts. To a superficial observer he might have seemed one of those curious cosmopolitans, thirsty to know everything but incapable of action, one of those rich travelers, arrogant empty flowers who travel all over the world without stopping and do not belong to any country.
In fact, he wasn't like that at all. This artist, this scientist, this gifted man remained a Hindu at heart, filled with a thirst for revenge, a Hindu who cherished the hope that the day would come when his countrymen would demand rights for their country, drive out foreigners from it and restore its independence.
And in 1849, Prince Dakkar returned to Bundelkhand. He married a girl of a noble family, whose heart, just like his, bled at the sight of the suffering of her homeland. His wife gave him two children, he adored them. But, enjoying family happiness, he could not forget about the enslavement of India. He was waiting for an opportunity. And the opportunity presented itself.
The dominion of England laid too heavy a burden on the entire population of the country. Prince Dakkar became the spokesman for the discontented. He kindled in people the fire of that hatred for strangers, which was burning in himself. He traveled all over the peninsula - in the principalities, still independent, and in the regions that were already under the direct control of the British. He appealed to those heroic days when Tippo-Sahib, defending his homeland, fell in battle near Seringapatam.
In 1857, a major sepoy uprising broke out. His soul was Prince Dakkar. He lifted huge masses. He gave to a just cause all his talents and his wealth. He fearlessly went into battle in the front row, risking his life just like the simplest person of these heroes who rose to liberate their homeland. He participated in twenty fights and was wounded ten times. But in vain he sought death for himself when the last warriors who defended the independence of India fell, slain by English bullets.
Never before had Britain's dominion over India been so threatened, and had the sepoys, as they hoped, been helped from without, probably the influence and dominance of the United Kingdom would have been ended in Asia.
The name of Prince Dakkar became famous in those days. The hero who bore this name did not hide and fought openly. His head was valued, and although there was not a single traitor ready to betray Dakkar, his father, mother, wife and children paid with their lives for him - they were killed before he knew what danger threatened them because of him ...
Once again, right was crushed to dust before power. But civilization never retreats, one might think that it borrows its rights from inevitability. The sepoys were defeated, and the ancient principalities of the rajahs again fell under the cruel dominion of England.
Prince Dakkar, spared by death, returned to the mountains of Bundelkhand. Lonely, full of boundless disgust at the very name "man", harboring horror and hatred for the civilized world, striving to escape from it forever, he converted the remnants of his fortune into money, gathered around him the most devoted comrades-in-arms and one fine day disappeared somewhere. with them.
Where did Prince Dakkar go? Where did he look for that independence, which the earth inhabited by people denied him? Under water, in the depths of the seas - where no one could follow him.
The scientist replaced the warrior. A desert island in the Pacific Ocean served as his haven; he founded a shipyard there, and a submarine was built on it according to his drawings. By means of methods that someday will be known, he managed to take advantage of the immeasurable mechanical power of electricity, extracting it from inexhaustible sources, and applied this power to all needs in his submarine - electricity served as the engine of the ship, illuminated and heated it. The sea and its innumerable treasures, myriads of fish, water fields with algae abundantly growing on them, huge mammals - everything that nature buried in the depths of the sea, and what people lost in them, completely satisfied the needs of Prince Dakkar and the entire crew, and most importantly, his most ardent desire was fulfilled - to no longer have any connection with the earth. He gave his ship the name "Nautilus", called himself Captain Nemo and disappeared under the water.
For many years the captain sailed in the depths of all oceans, from one pole to the other. A pariah in the world of people, he collected marvelous treasures in unknown underwater worlds. The millions that sank in the Bay of Vigo in 1702, when the Spanish galleons with a cargo of gold went to the bottom, became for him an inexhaustible source of wealth, always at his disposal, and remaining unknown, he used this gold to help those who fought for the independence of his country.
For a long time he did not have any communication with people, but suddenly on the night of November 6, 1866, three people unexpectedly found themselves on board his ship: a French professor, his servant and a Canadian fisherman. These people were picked up by Captain Nemo when they fell into the sea during the collision of the Nautilus with the American frigate Abraham Lincoln, which was chasing the submarine.
Captain Nemo then learned from the professor that the Nautilus was mistaken either for a gigantic marine animal from the cetacean family, or for a submarine owned by pirates, and that he was hunted in all seas.
Captain Nemo could throw three aliens into the ocean who, by chance, invaded his mysterious existence. But he did not do this, he kept them prisoners, and for seven months they were witnesses of all the wonderful vicissitudes of the journey, when the ship of Captain Nemo sailed twenty thousand leagues under water.
On June 22, 1867, these three captives, who knew nothing about Captain Nemo's past, managed to escape - they sailed away on a boat they had stolen from the Nautilus. But since at that time the Nautilus was captured by the swift current of the Maelstrom and dragged to the shores of Norway, the captain believed that, having fallen into this terrible whirlpool, the fugitives found their grave in the abyss of the sea. It remained unknown to him that the Frenchman and his two companions somehow managed to escape, that they were thrown ashore, that they were picked up by fishermen from the Lofoten Islands, and that the professor, returning to France, published a book in which he told about his seven-month sailing aboard the Nautilus, making available to curious readers the many adventures that took place during this extraordinary journey.
For a long time Captain Nemo led such a life, sailing all the seas. But then all his companions died one by one, and he buried them in a coral cemetery at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. It became empty on the Nautilus - of all those who fled on it from the world of people, only Captain Nemo survived.
He was then sixty years old. The lonely old man managed to lead the Nautilus into one of the underwater harbors, where his ship sometimes settled after sailing.
This harbor was a cave that formed under Lincoln Island, it was now the home of the Nautilus.
Captain Nemo had been living here for six years, not sailing, for he was waiting for death - the moment when he would join his comrades, and suddenly, by chance, he was an eyewitness to the fall of the balloon, on which the prisoners of the "southerners" fled from Richmond. Putting on a space suit, he made a walk under water a few cables from the island, in the place where the engineer Smith was swallowed up by the sea. Captain Nemo succumbed to a burst of generosity and saved Cyrus Smith.
At first, he wanted to escape from five aeronauts who had crashed, but the exit from his harbor was closed: under the influence of volcanic forces, the bottom of the basalt cave rose, and the Nautilus could no longer get out of its dungeon. Where it was deep enough for a light boat, the Nautilus could not pass, because its draft was quite large.
So Captain Nemo stayed. He began to watch his neighbors thrown onto a desert island and deprived of the most necessary. But he didn't want to show himself in front of them. Little by little, seeing what noble, energetic people they were, what brotherly friendship they were connected with, he became interested in their struggle with nature. Willy-nilly, he penetrated all the secrets of their lives. In a diving suit, it was not difficult for him to make his way to the bottom of the failure that existed inside the Granite Palace; climbing up the ledges on the walls of this well to its upper opening, he heard the colonists talking about their past, talking about their present situation and their plans for the future. From them he learned about the bloody struggle in which one part of America rose up against another in the name of the destruction of Negro slavery. Yes, these people, who accidentally ended up on the island, were worthy of all respect and could reconcile Captain Nemo with humanity, for they were its noblest representatives.
Captain Nemo saved Cyrus Smith. He also brought his dog to the Slums, he saved Top from a dugong in the depths of the lake; he threw a box on Cape Nakhodka, in which there were so many things useful for the colonists; he untied the boat, and it floated down the Thanksgiving River; during the invasion of monkeys, he threw down a rope ladder, reinforced at the door of the Granite Palace; launching a sealed bottle with a note across the sea, he said that Ayrton was on the island of Tabor; he blew up the robber brig with an underwater mine placed at the bottom of the strait; he saved Herbert from death by bringing quinine sulphate for him, and, finally, he also killed the bandits with electric bullets - his invention, which he used on spearfishing. This was the explanation for so many incidents that might have seemed supernatural; they all testified to the generosity and power of Captain Nemo.
This misanthrope had a need to do good. He wanted to once again help the people for whom he had done so much, to give them some useful advice, besides, he felt the approach of death; in this terrible hour, giving free rein to his heart, he, as we know, called the colonists to him, using the wire that connected the corral with the Nautilus, where a telegraph machine was also installed. Perhaps he would not have called them if he knew that his story was partly known to Cyrus Smith and that he would call him Nemo after him.
Captain Nemo has finished the story of his life. Then Cyrus Smith took the floor; he recalled all the times when the intervention of a generous stranger had proved beneficial to the colony, and thanked him in his own name and in the name of his associates for all that he had done for them.
But Captain Nemo did not demand recognition for his services. One last thought agitated him, and, shaking the hand extended to him by the engineer, he said:
And now, sir, when you know my life, judge me.
In saying this, the captain was apparently alluding to that unfortunate incident, which was witnessed by three foreigners who got on board the Nautilus - this incident, no doubt, was told by the French professor in his book, and it should have received notorious fame.
In fact, a few days before the flight of the professor and his two companions, the Nautilus, which was in the northern latitudes of the Atlantic Ocean, rushed at the frigate pursuing it, rammed it with its hull and sank it without any pity.
Cyrus Smith took the hint and said nothing.
After all, it was an English frigate! - exclaimed Captain Nemo, in which Prince Dakkar came to life for a moment. - English frigate! You hear? He attacked me. He locked me in a narrow, shallow bay ... I needed to break out ... and I broke out! - Then he said more calmly: - And the right and justice were on my side. Wherever I could, I did good to people. Sometimes I had to do evil. Forgiveness is not always an act of justice!
And after a brief pause, Captain Nemo repeated:
What do you think of me gentlemen?
Cyrus Smith held out his hand to the captain and answered in a serious tone:
Captain Nemo, your fault is that you wanted to revive the past and fought against necessity, against progress. Such delusions excite delight in some, outrage in others; they can be understood by human reason, and only God can judge them. You went the wrong way, but from good intentions, and, fighting against such a person, they do not lose respect for him. Your mistakes are among those that do not discredit an honest name, and you have nothing to fear from the judgment of history. She loves heroic folly, though she judges the consequences severely.
Captain Nemo sighed heavily and, raising his hand to the sky, said quietly:
Was I right or wrong?
Cyrus Smith repeated:
Let God judge great deeds, because everything comes from him! Captain Nemo, the honest people standing here, the people you've helped so much, will always mourn you.
Herbert went up to Captain Nemo and, kneeling down, took his hand and kissed it.
Tears rolled down from the eyes of the dying man.
My child, - he whispered, - I bless you! ..
We are talking about the uprising of the Greeks, whom Captain Nemo really helped in this way. (Author's note.)
