Journey to the Center of the Earth
An Edinburgh professor and assorted colleagues follow an explorer's trail down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the earth's center.
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- Cast:
- Pat Boone , James Mason , Arlene Dahl , Diane Baker , Thayer David , Robert Adler , Alan Napier
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Reviews
Just perfect...
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.
This is the classic adaptation (1959) by Henry Levin with great cast such as James Mason as Lindenbrook , Pat Boone , Diane Baker and Arlene Dahl as a wealthy widow . An Edinburgh (in fact , many of the people in the crowd scenes were students of Edinburgh University) professor (James Mason who replaced an ailing Clifton Webb) and assorted colleagues as his pupil (Pat Boone) , a woman looking for her husband who disappeared various years earlier during a voyage follow an explorer's trail down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the earth's center . Meanwhile , they are chased by a mysterious scout , the Count Saknussemm (Alexander Scourby started shooting at Carlsbad Caverns , but the producers were unhappy with him and he was replaced with Thayer David) who has usurped a map for his own greedy purposes . As the expedition to the center of the earth starts in a volcano located in Iceland . The professor and his compatriots descend into deep caverns filled with stalactites and stalagmites and encounter a tunnel system leading to the center . Along the way they find prehistoric beasts , a magnetic storm and the lost city of Atlantis . This superior adaptation is a colorful recounting of the Jules Verne adventure yarn . Lighthearted romp for kids and teenagers based upon the famous book . Dealing with the known story about an anthropologist scientific named Linderbrook , James Mason , and his student , Pat Boone , and a woman , Arlene Dahl , undergo a hazardous voyage to find clues of her husband who disappeared some years earlier . As the peculiar trio along with a Island explorer descend into deep caves and discover a way leading to the planet's center . The highlights of the movie are the numerous risks and dangers they have to deal with , such as endure torrential floods , prehistoric animals , terrifying earthquake , and discover the lost city of Atlantis as happens in the classic novel . Fox gave the green light to this big-budget CinemaScope production partially on the basis of the success of the recent Jules Verne adaptations , Walt Disney's 20.000 leagues under the sea (1954) and Michael Todd's Around the World in Eighty Days ; as with those earlier films , turned out to be big hits . There're rip-roaring action , spirit of adventure , derring-do , sense of wonder , thrills , and results to be quite entertaining . It's a big fun with great special effects , adequate set decoration and impressive art direction . Spotlights of the voyage include a roller-coaster trip , a terrifying odyssey in sailing, with appearance of prehistoric reptiles , and many others events . The "Dimetrodons" in the movie were played by a large type of lizard called a rhinoceros iguana , in real life was a type of Synapsid reptile . Acceptable cinematography full of color by Leo Tover , though there is an excessive use of matte-painting . Thrilling and breathtaking musical score by Bernard Herrmann in his peculiar and Hitchcockian style . The motion picture was well directed by Henry Levin , the heavy cost proved to be a good investment, resulting in a big hit at the box office . It was nominated for four Academy Awards including Art Direction , FX , and set decoration.Other versions about this known story based upon the Jules Verne's 1864 fantasy are the followings : Spanish version (1976) by Juan Piquer with Kenneth Moore , Jack Taylor , Frank Braña , Ivonne Sentis , Pep Munne , José María Caffarel , Emiliano Redondo . 1988 retelling titled Journey to the center by Rutsy Lemorande with Ian Mitchell-Smith , Paul Carafotes . TV version made its way to cable by George Miller with Treat Williams , Jeremy London , Tushka Bergen , and Bryan Brown and another inferior television picture (2008) by David Jones with Greg Evigan and Dedee Pfeiffer . In addition , Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008), (TV) , by T.J. Scott with Ricky Schroder , Peter Fonda , Victoria Pratt , Steven Grayhm . Furthermore , a cartoon movie : Journey to the Center of the Earth (1967) was based on this film version rather than the original novel by Jules Verne and features several characters that were created for the 1959 film . And of course , recent and successful take on filmed in 3D , produced and starred by Brendan Fraser with Anita Briem and Josh Hutcherson being followed by a sequel titled : Mysterious Island , with Josh Hutcherson and Michael Caine . Rating : Above average.
An Edinburgh professor and assorted colleagues follow an explorer's trail down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the earth's center.Bosley Crowther said that the film is "really not very striking make-believe, when all is said and done. The earth's interior is somewhat on the order of an elaborate amusement-park tunnel of love. And the attitudes of the people, toward each other and toward another curious man who happens to be exploring down there at the same time, are conventional and just a bit dull." Crowther is a stick in the mud. Other reviews are generally positive, as they should be. Yes, some of the effects are cheesy. And yes, given what we know about the inside of the earth, this is a lot of nonsense. But isn't it okay to just have fun sometimes?
For an "Old Movie", "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (1959) holds up pretty well. It takes Jules Verne's subject seriously enough to keep a good element of drama in the film, but has enough light moments to make it very "Family Friendly". To be honest though, some the visual effects are "dated", especially the encounter with the dinosaurs, but they are good enough to not take you out of the movie.The story is also very dated in its portrayal of women. Admittedly, this film was made in the fifties about Scotland in the 1880's, but it is very startling to see in the light of today and the prominence that women have on the world stage. Again, for the type of entertainment that it is, it does provide an interesting "time capsule" for the attitudes of the day toward women for those who were not around witness or too young to understand the evolution of women from the sixties to now.This is one of my favorite performances by James Mason. He treats the material with a degree of seriousness that makes his character very engaging and credible. His performance here is easily as good in his other work in another Jules Verne classic Disney's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" as Captain Nemo of the Nautilus which he made in 1954.With today's frenetic film pace that can leave you exhausted by the time you exit the theater, this film builds slowly and deliberately. The pacing of this film is "slow" in comparison and there are times when the film "seems" to drag, but it is to good purpose to allow the viewer to digest the visual magnificence of the journey. This pacing also helps to immerse the viewer in the sense of exploring the wonders found by the characters in the film.The bottom line is that this version of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" is very much worth seeing. Odds are that if you have never seen the film before, you will want to watch it again. It makes a great center piece for a family afternoon or evening activity, or a fun film for those who appreciate when film was more interested in the craft of a story and visuals that you could see nowhere else versus constant breakneck action. For full disclosure, I am a huge fan of those "Fast Paced Action" films as well, but with that being said, I really like enough in this film to say that I actually enjoyed watching it, and plan to watch it again.
Based on the classic novel by Jules Verne, this adaptation stars James Mason as a Scottish professor who organizes an expedition into Iceland in order to locate the entrance to the center of the Earth, where a volcanic piece of rock he came into possession of originated from. Along with him are the widow of a colleague(played by Arlene Dahl) and a student(played by Pat Boone) They further enlist the services of local guide Hans, who brings along his duck Gertrude. They encounter an amazing array of things in the vast caverns including dinosaurs, and end up lost, though they meet up with the treacherous leader of a rival expedition(played by Thayer David). Can this group survive their attempts to return to the surface? Entertaining film is overlong and dated to an extent, but is still elaborate and imaginative, with a good ending(though poor Gertrude is another matter...)