Spencer screened the oddball 1929 silent/sound hybrid The Mysterious Island at NWFF tonight, and according to his presentation notes, the film was budgeted at over $4m – the equivalent, according to this, of from $40m to $400m today.

You could, as they say, see the money on the screen, in huge and elaborate sets and miniatures and in a peculiar grand finale involving what must have been a thousand midgets in rubber suits.

All in all, a film I found worth seeing, but one which must be characterized as muddled in construction. Other folks have written about it at length.