20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a 1916 adaptation of the Jules Verne book. This film was the first to use underwater photography -not underwater cameras, but an ingenious series of watertight tubes and mirrors.

The book can be read online.

via Youtube:

Moria compares this one with the Disney version with James Mason and says,

What is also noticeable about the film is that half of the screen story has been mixed in with Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea sequel Mysterious Island (1875), which was about Confederate prison escapees who land on a desert island where they were aided by Captain Nemo.
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What is also noticeable about the two versions of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is their focus as science-fiction films.

Horror News has information on how the photography was done. Wild Realm Reviews concludes, "Not a very good film, testing one's patience to get through it, this version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea does have visual content advanced for 1916, & must be granted a larger place in the history of cinema than it justifies in terms of watchability."